I tried to sit down and update the millions of pictures I have from summer excursions but it wasn’t in me.  Sometimes I am just in a writing mood and have to share my thoughts when they freely flow.  Today is a day like that.  

Maybe it’s the booming thunder that has surrounded my town for the past 24 hours.  The lightning has been flashing across the sky and lighting up the clouds consistently as the rain sporadically falls.  The clouds are massive, blowing back and forth in the hot summer’s heat.  

I love Utah rain storms.  There is nothing quite as beautiful. 

 I love the smell and the sounds and I want to just sit in the mountains and watch.  It seems to slow down the speed of life just a bit, and for me, makes me reflect.  

Every once in a while Ifeelthe timing of life and when I do it is a gift.  Usually days are fast and furious bouncing from one task to the next, accomplishing everything I can.  I am not one to sit around.  Some might think that I must be crazy or miserable being so busy, but I love it!  I love life and don’t want to miss a thing.  I want to fill it with people and places, I want to live.  I don’t want to be a spectator.

Do you ever feel like you are part of a bigger picture, a plan?  I do.  

We are here to learn and grow…yes, a lot of people believe that, but I also believe that there is a path for each of us and we are placed where we are for a reason.  Nothing is chance in my opinion.  Our job is to figure out what things we are here to do and that answer is different for everyone.  

I try to listen everyday to the promptings of the spirit.  Sometimes they are a feeling or emotion, and other times it is noticing the hand of God in my every day life.  It’s crazy to think that the hardest things we all go through also serve a purpose.  Nobody wants bad things to happen to them, yet this is when we learn the most.  

Timing is everything.  

Things happen when they do for a reason.  There have been things I have prayed for, for years.  Some of my prayers are answered and some aren’t.  Sometimes I get frustrated because I am impatient but when I look back I realize that it all fell in place when and how it did because of a master plan. 

“Allow for many paths to your goal. Do not fixate on one path, because then you are likely to give up when that path is blocked.”

-Po Bronson

When you watch an artist paint a picture it isn’t always apparent what the end result will become, but eventually it fits…it makes sense.

  

Our challenge is to have faith in the master artist.

The faster we surrender to His will, the sooner we will enjoy the journey and isn’t that what we want out of life?  I am not saying it is all going to be easy, or pretty.  The final canvas will have many colors and mistakes.  No two pictures will be alike.  The great thing is that we have the free agency to create this canvas with Him.  

We went boating a few days ago with my brother Dave and his little family.  He is staying here for a week because he is getting his MBA atBYUand doesn’t want to commute every day after school.  I don’t blame him and have enjoyed hanging out with my sister in law Emmy and my cute nieceMadisenand son D.J.  

There was a stormy sky over the lake as the clouds blew in.  I pulled the kids on a tube because water skiing and wake boarding are not very enjoyable unless it is more calm.  

Once again we brought many friends and enjoyed the lake as the sun set.  

Our favorite part was watching Carly and Syd get launched several feet into the air when the tube hit the waves.  There was just something *wrong* about watching two beautiful girls get *beat up* so badly!  They loved it and hopped back on the tube over and over as the rest of us in the boat laughed until our stomachs hurt. 

 It seemed pretty barbaric, but funny nonetheless! Enjoy the rest of your summer! I have school clothes to buy, supplies to hunt down, and schedules to manipulate.  I love this time of year!  

*Can I tell you how much I love the smell of erasers and permanent markers..?*