{MERRY CHRISTMAS 2015}....

{Do you ever hear}...the whisper urging you to do something but fear speaks louder convincing you that now is not the right time? Deciding to put off what you are passionate about is like telling God "thanks" for giving me this talent but I think I will use it later on when all my ducks are in a row. GUESS WHAT? I have decided my ducks will never be in a row. Letting life happen and leaving your passion in the dust means that fear wins. Faith is always stronger than fear!! But fear can be debilitating and cause us to worry over things  that will most likely never happen. Aside from fear of failure we worry about our kids about our future and we worry about other having more talents than we do and worry, worry, worry....I get it. This trait runs deep in my family. But as I have approached my 40's,  I think it is time to tell fear to take a HIKE because I have better things to do with my time. It's time to do what I love....who is getting excited for Christmas, the little man for sure.

{Travel Baseball}.....at 7 years old.  First tournament playing with the Coyotos. 

{HALLOWEEN PARTY 2015}......just a zombie-like football player. Lots of fun details coming. This is according to the little man, the PARTY of the year.

{this LITTLE MAN of mine}.....he is intense, likes to do things his way, is in charge most of the time and really loves to be BOSS.  With that being said he is a lover of bread with gobs of butter,  building Legos, saving money, reading, playing the piano minecraft, being a homebody and of course his momma. Every night he wants me to lay by him in his bed he rolls over on his skinny little stomach and says....you can massage my back if you want to, and he knows I will. This days will be gone in a blink of an eye. He is my HAPPY....alisha (life is good.)

{Just hangin' with the crew}.....

{Overthinking on Monday}....

I am a walking contradiction...not gonna lie. I like things super clean and organized yet there are areas in my home that are embarrassingly ridiculous. I have a "grab the bull" mindset on learning new things, yet with some things it's more like 'I'll do that another day'.  I'll do that "tomorrow" is a nicer way of saying "NEVER".  It has taken me a long time to figure out why I am this way, but am some point I realized why I don't tackle a task , be it organizing my one unruly cupboard or building my business.  I put things off because I think I won't do a good enough job of because it won't be....wait for it.... PERFECT.  When a task feels huge and I am not sure how to chip away at it, the temptation creeps in to do nothing with it. The unorganized cupboard is not going anywhere.....it will still be there tomorrow.

Doing something good, or even okay, is better than not doing nothing at all. Fear of not doing it perfect is a lousy waste of what could be. If I were to add up all the times I think about doing something and/or talk about doing something, I could have actually done it 100 times! Yet, many times when I face something head on, I realize that it is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. With many of my fears,  I learned more about what it is that scared me, I realized 9 times out of 10 I had all the wrong information.

So, my overthinking Monday challenge to you is to take one thing you've left undone and do something with it. It might be simple like making a phone call or making a list. Don't let fear be so paralyzing that you do nothing. Start small and relish in that feeling. It's just like changing your lifestyle. Deciding to take a quick walk around the block turns into making better choices at dinner. The snowball effect started with a single snowflake. Imperfection is progress. Doing it OK is better than not doing it at all, right?

What will you take on this week? Will you be OK with mediocre? It's better than nothing. Besides, you might suprise yourself. You might find one little step was all you needed to soar...    Alisha

{ A little Rainy Day}.... I think Fall might be just around the corner. Today was a good day, the grass is green, the trees are shiny, the flowers bursting with the wonderful moisture. I love the rain, especially when you can just be home to enjoy it.

{Anderson Camp 2015}.....so much fun.

{tree picture courtesy of Jen Anderson}

{18 and life you got it}.....Perhaps there's more your want to do or perhaps where you're at right now in your life isn't what, if given the choice, you would choose. But don't wait for a better tomorrow to soak up what is AWESOME about today. Love ya kid....always make good choices and great consequences will follow.

{Sometimes it just takes you reminding yourself}......

{A few months down}...a few months from now I am sure I will still miss this game like crazy. So weird at the start of the school year 2016 and I am only sending one kiddo back to school. I look back on my life and ponder on the small things that I am missing and for some reason it is so hard to put into words how you feel when your kids graduate High School and move on to other things. It is not like our relationship has changed it is all the things that you are used to doing are just gone. It really just puts a small like hole in your heart....so to all the mommas out there ENJOY these years. They really are gone in the blink of an eye.

{School Days.School Days}....dear old golden rule days. Well summer has gone by for yet another year and now the little man is starting 2nd grade. This summer was fabulous for this kid. We played and I mean we played hard...stayed up late, watched lots of movies on Netflix, traveled and spent lots of time in the car, played with cousins, went swimming, played baseball, slept in, barely worked, and the list could go on and on. Now the time has come to buckle down pull out the school books and get to work. This kid has potential, he is smart...really smart  if he can figure out how to filter his emotions he will do great things. His teacher Mrs. Coon might not be ready for this kid. He has promised to not tackle the girls and put the boys in choke holds and recess this year. Bring on 2nd grade, can't wait to see you grow and learn new things....You're off to great places. TODAY is your day! Your mountain is waiting, so get on your WAY....and of course a little Dr. Seuss to brighten your day.

{Interesting}...don't you think.  I often wonder why people are handed certain trials in their life.

{This my friends has been the highlight of my week}.... we LOVE this kid around here and we have really missed him as he has been pursuing his baseball dream. He has been traveling around this summer playing baseball for the Marshalls and was on his way through to California so we got to hang with him for a few hours. The little man has been counting down the days until they could get a real wiffle ball game going. This is intense, they are both competitive and both hate to lose so it usually ends in tears or a fight. SPORTS the reason we live and breath around here.
     This week for me has sucked, like I mean really sucked. I can't really pinpoint all of the reason but some of the reason is my friends little girl Kycie (5 years old) passed away from complications due to type 1 diabetes. Life is just not fair when little girls that should be dancing, playing, fighting and laughing with her 5 brothers have to die. It has bothered me ALOT. I heard a saying today that I am sure was said by Mike Tyson,  it goes something like this. We think we have life figured out that we have a Game Plan and as long as we stick to the plan things will work out fine....just as we think things are going great...BAM you get punched in the face and that Game Plan that you thought was going to work out fine no longer looks very good....so we have to regroup, redirect our plan to something that we don't want to use or do because it is not we had in mind. So often in life this happens, the redirected Game Plan sucks and it makes you want to scream and cry...but in the end you have no choice, this is what you are dealt. Eventually it gets easier with time and things become a new normal....I don't know things in this life have really been getting to me lately. To much sadness. We have to look past it and see the GOOD in order to move on.  {7.18.15} Alisha

{Land of the Free}...because of the Brave.  07/04/2015

{You Scream...I Scream....We all Scream for Ice Cream}.  Oh man this is a serious weakness for me, I love ice cream, but especially ice cream with hard dip topping on it. I really try to limit myself but hot summer nights just make me CRAVE it. Looks like I will be running extra miles over the next few months. I LOVE SUMMER SO MUCH.....

{What if}......I LOVE pictures.

{This just about sums up my summer so far}.....spending time with Mr. Naughty Little Man.  Never ever in my life have I met a kid that can drop..break..or spill anything he touches.  I love this kid even if he sometimes makes me CRAZY.

{Consider yourself might LUCKY}....if you get to play first base in machine pitch. Who doesn't like a little action. The little man sure does. 

{and just like that}.....his high school years are over. Possibly some of the best years of your life if you ask me. 5/21/15 a day to remember as the years go by.  He graduated with a lot of great friendships and teachers, a 3.7 GPA and many baseball games under his belt.

{The CV baseball season}....is in full swing and we are struggling. The boys are frustrated, the coaches are frustrated and this mom is frustrated. This is our year boys, what is going on? We started the Region 9 season splitting with Cedar, big Keat was hurt this game and I think we would have beat them twice with him in our line-up. Next, we moved on to Snow Canyon we had them beat the first time and they had a little rally and came back to beat us. One of our kids was ineligible, sheesh we can't buy a break.  We ended up beating them at home. This week we played Pine View and we really did not play good, our ace pitcher Brinkerhoff has not been on his game (back injury) and he was not able to pitch this week. The boys had a big sleepover in the batting cage last night after getting swept by Pine View, they talked, had a little nightime ritual and hopefully they will be ready to go get a win on Tuesday. Keep your eye on the prize boys and the BALL.

{It is HARD playing}....your cross-town rival. It is even harder losing to them, especially when kids on the team have played together or against each other for years, like these boys. They both have a love and respect for the best game on earth (baseball...duh). In the years to come you don't remember the winning or the losing but you sure remember the friendships made along the way. Last time for #4 playing on the Cedar Redman Field. Region 9 baseball is tough, but it ROCKS. What do you think about our "Ole School Uniforms"...I love them.  Jaden Black....Ryker Tom  {3.17. 2015}  Thanks Kim Hansen for the pictures. Life is flying by....

{2015 baseball season is in}.....full swing. We have had a little bit rocky start with our pre-season this year. We have played some nationally ranked teams and have found ourselves sitting at the bottom of the barrel. This week we started region play and our first game was against our cross town rival team...Cedar Redmen, both teams are always pretty good and it usually ends up being a barn-burner. Today was no different and it was a 2-2 ballgame until the sixth inning when Cedar was able to pull away for a 7-3 win. I took my lucky green shamrock coin in my pocket hoping that with a little luck we could pull it off.  It was St. Patricks Day after all. Jaden (#4) hit the ball hard with a double and then scoring. Ty Nielson pitched an awesome game, and it really was fun. Go get the win on Friday CV.... Thanks for the pictures Kim Hansen.

{So here begins}...the start of many awkward years to come. The little toothless grin is quite cute in a momma's eyes, not so much when you are a photographer. The little man was in no way going to put either one of his front teeth under his pillow. First, he doesn't really believe in the tooth fairy, and second if there really is one, he don't want it coming into his room and reaching under his pillow when he is asleep (that freaks him out), and third, he has had those teeth for 7 years and kind of likes them, and last of all, he has got a ton of money in his piggie bank so he can do without a couple of bucks from the fairy. This kid is quite logical and smarter than the average 7 year old, that's for sure. If that don't put a smile on your face,  THE TOOTHLESS WONDER has arrived.

{Are you Smart or Wise}.....think about it.

{7th BIRTHDAY PARTY}....you could say

was a hit. He decided he wanted to do a airplane party and so I decided to do a VINTAGE airplane party and it was fun. He invited 7 little friends over to his party and we had rented a bounce house and Jaden taught the boys how to fold real old school paper airplanes and fly them. Later we had a family party and he scored on a bunch of money and some cool new toys. Hope 7 is a good year for you little man.

I wanted to add the United States Map to his party, because he is only in the 1st grade but he knows the Capitols to all 50 states, pretty impressive and he LOVES the big map hanging in his room, he lays in his bed and studies. WHAT a little nerd.