I hope you dance.....

This is the season for weddings. It seems this time of year starting in May and going right through till October, we always have weddings to go to. They are a fun reason to get dressed up and celebrate love. I can't help but seem to reflect on my own wedding day and wonder in awe at how time flies.

We had the pleasure of attending a wedding this past Saturday. It was kind of funny because we didn't even know the bride or the groom but we knew both their parents so we got invited. I have to say I loved so many things they did at their reception that it made me want to have a redo of my own reception. Am I the only one who does this? Does anyone else go to weddings and think "oh I wish I had done my hair that way!...or "oh I love the way they did this...wish we had done something like that?" Is anyone else planning a 50th wedding anniversary party so they can put all these great new ideas to use?

You see...I grew up with a family of all girls but we were raised to be pretty practical and there wasn't any sitting around staring at brides magazines planning our big day. To be honest, I had not even attended that many receptions before I had to plan my own. I had no idea what I wanted really except that there was no way it was going to become a financial burden on anyone. Keep it simple and get friends to help to cut costs. We had the reception at the church, our Bishop's wife made our cake (it was gorgeous and sooo tasty!!), a friend did my bouquet, and I rented my dress.(I told you I was practical!!)

Don't get me wrong...our reception was perfectly beautiful and we were absolutely surrounded by so many friends and family that we couldn't help but fill loved. It became a reunion of two stakes, and family reunions on both sides. To this day, we are still amazed at how many people traveled to be there.

There were a lot of differences between our wedding reception and theirs but I think the biggest one was the dancing and music. Oh if I could go back in time I would have replicated everything they did with it.

At this wedding reception we went to, the bride and her father danced to an amazing song about dads and their daughters through the years. Half way through the song, the dj says "any dads with their daughters are welcome to join in". I have to say that watching little girls get out there with their dads and then looking at the bride with her dad made me tear up just a bit. The same thing happened with the groom and his mom. Watching the people during those dances was like watching the circle of life right before your very eyes. Then later in the night, the entire wedding party was dancing their hearts out. No one held back or worried what people would think of them. You could tell that they were having fun and truly celebrating and it made everyone want to get out there and dance.

Now I must give a side note here. I'm a dancer. I love to dance and I probably spent the biggest chunk of my time growing up dancing. Maybe that is why I love to see people of all ages getting out there and dancing. I don't know why more people don't do it.

Maybe this is why I tear up every time I hear the country song by Lee Ann Womack called "I Hope You Dance". So...next time you are at a wedding, and you get the choice to sit it out or dance...I hope you dance!

Here are some of the lyrics:

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that youll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....i hope you dance.

Those Eyes

I like having the baby sleep downstairs with us sometimes. It seems like if I can just lay her down all cozy in the corner of a chair that she will sleep for hours but if I take her all the way upstairs to her bed, she wakes up in the process.

This is what she looks like when she is asleep in the chair....





















One day I was doing something in the kitchen when I happened to look over to check on her and this is what I saw....





I about died. I wasn't even very close to her but I could those eyes and they were watching me. She wasn't making a sound. Nope not a peep. She was just watching me with those eyes.







I had to take a closer look and of course get a picture.

Baby Blessing

We had a wonderful weekend with family and friends as we blessed our sweet baby girl. She did great and kept her white dress white and didn't cry at all. I was a little nervous because she was not asleep during the blessing so I was afraid she would cry through the whole thing. Instead she just seemed like she wanted to be awake because she didn't want to miss this important day in her life.

To Join or Not to join

So I have a question for the masses....

It's about that time of year when I start trying to figure out if I will sign my boys up for fall sports. Part of me wishes that my boys would just love one sport or activity and then I would know I just sign them up each year. We could really get in a groove and get to know the other "soccer families or baseball families". I think focusing on one thing could be beneficial and then they could really have a chance at getting good. But it hasn't really been that way. At the end of the seasons they don't seem to really care if I sign them up for another season and I'm exhausted from running them around so I don't sign them up. Maybe they are still too young and they need time to figure out what they like. I know there are plenty of people out there that sign their kids up for tons of different things and they run them to activities all week long. I also have a friend who doesn't put her kids in anything during the school year but come summer their family is totally into the swim team and every kid in the family participates. I have tried just having my kids take different classes at the local recreation center and they liked that but they don't get any sense of a team and I swear it's the same girl who teaches every class.

I guess what I need your help on is how do you decide what to sign your kids up for?

What dictates your decision....money? time? their desires? your desires for them?

My son has been taking piano for the last year. He liked it and seemed to do well with it but he hasn't asked all summer long about it either...and I wonder if that is me wanting him to play more than him wanting to play. His brother just got drums. ..(yea for me!) so now I'm wondering if they are gonna want to take drum lessons instead.

It's funny cause when I don't have the boys in something, my husband sees them running all over the house and says "we have got to get them into something...they are going crazy!"

My question is WHAT??? I feel like once I sign them up for something there is so much money and time involved that they should just love it and want to do it forever because now we have invested something in it....ie purchasing uniforms and gear that would fit them for years if they actually loved it for years.

I had to laugh because I was watching a rerun of the Cosby show. (Hands down best show of the 80s!) My boys actually love watching it with me. Claire and Cliff were commenting on all the activities their kids HAD to do only to quit them after two weeks because they got bored. I don't want to do that...I don't have the patience or the money to do that...

so...help...I don't like the idea of having my kids so over scheduled that they crave just being home to do nothing. I don't want them to miss out on talents they could have developed either.

Maybe I should just tell them they are going to take up ping pong for the rest of their lives and that is that!