Day Five: Happiness

Hey guys! So I felt pretty rotten yesterday after a weekend of binge eating and just being plain lazy. I had once again pulled a muscle in my back and so it seemed as thought that combined with Scot being out of town a few days over the last week, I just gave up the gym all week. Talk about feeling pretty crummy! It made for a verrry lonnng Monday, and I was bound and determined to kick it into high gear and workout with a vengeance this morning, so that's just what I did!

So being that I am motivated to blog more, pray more, and eat better, I want to do a sort of "cleanse" in my life right now. Each week, I add the things I want to focus on and pray on. I also want to get accomplished. This is my goal anyways for the next few weeks, moving into the end of summer.

I have really enjoyed indulging more into some things about ME as I blog more lately, so here goes the next post about Moi!

#5 What Are the Five Things That Make You Most Happy?

1) This one's obvious! My family :) I went back to some of my favorite moments as a family of FOUR, and found these five pictures. There are so so so many more fun moments I can think back to since welcoming Brynley to our family, but we need to do a better job of taking a family of four picture. My family makes me smile everyday. From the time I wake up and am greeted by Brynley jumping and smiling in her crib, to when I kiss Ryder good night and we say prayers and sweet dreams. And so many more in between! Sure there are the hard moments too. The tantrums, the teething, fights with Scot, sleepless nights, Terrible Two's, and times when I just want to plain pull out my hair. But then Ryder will say or do the funniest thing, and I find myself smiling about it and I forget about those hard moments.

Of course my family {My parents, extended family, and friends} all make me happy too!
2) Reading It's no secret that I love to read, and have just recently started reading again. I guess when Brynley was younger, I found my "free" time much more sacred and I favored sleep over anything else. But now that I've caught up from all those sleepless nights, I love reading and letting my mind drift off to the adventure in the book I'm discovering. I only wish that Scot shared my love for this. I always bring 2 or 3 books along when we go on vacation. Just in case I finish one, or there's a book that isn't worth the read. I'd love to hear some of your favorite books so I can add them to my list of must haves.

3) Traveling An ideal life would be to get to go on vacation two or three times a year. For now, since our kids are so young, I would be content traveling to places like the mountains or the beach, but one day I'd really love to see the world and going as a family would be that much sweeter! Scot is so fortunate that he was able to backpack all over Europe when he was single, but I know that's probably not in our near future while we still have bottles and diapers to change! Traveling most definitely makes me happy though, and I am so glad to have a husband that loves it too. Where is your favorite place to travel to?

4) church {God} and my Quiet Time This one is kind of lumped all together. I find that when most areas in my life are kind of all over the place, that it's because I'm not spending enough time reading God's word. This goes for every aspect of my life. My patience with my children, my marriage, my motivation to eat well and work out by taking care of my body and being healthy, and just an overall sense of feeling good. When I spend too much time watching reality shows (which I love), eating junkfood, getting angry at Ryder for not listening or impatient with Brynley for climbing the stairs for the 12th time that day, I realize that I need to stop right there and pray for wisdom or peace of mind or patience or to think before I speak. And I need to make sure that I am doing my quiet time. My relationship with God makes me happy. My new church and my new friends I've met there make me happy, and knowing that my children will be raised in a wonderful church home makes me happy.

Sure I stumble more often that not, but I am so glad that Jesus died for all of my sins so that when I do stumble and fall, he's right there to pick me back up.

5) a warm bath at the end of a long day I admit that from the time I was a little girl, I LOVED taking a warm bath. You might even go on to say a HOT bath. Like, you get out and you're red all over because it was so warm. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that I love a hot bath at the end of the day even more so now. While I was pregnant both times, I remember thinking how it wouldn't be fun to take a cool bath, since you're not really supposed to boil in the tub with a bun in the oven ha! I take showers if I'm in a hurry, and usually after I workout. But I don't love a shower like I do my bath. The funny thing is that I've gotten both of my babies to love the bath too, from the time I would set them in the tub and lay them on my chest with me too. Ryder LOVES a hot bath, and so does Brynley. Now They take them seperately from me, and I have come to looking forward to my bath each night after Scot gets done with work, and I can have a few minutes of peace and quiet to myself as I relax and forget about the day for a bit.

So those would be the first five things that come to mind that bring a smile to my face!