Table for Eight

A Survivor fan made this Photochop and I love it! Well, tonight's a WAIL of a night for me on Survivor. I know yesterday's blogspot was a little focused on my stress o ver it all ... b ut today's a new day and I'm feeling really good about it all. So, r est assured I'm going to make it thro ugh-- laughing all the w hile. (W ith may be a few tears--I'm not a robot , afterall!) Thanks for all of the words of encourage ment and kind emails. T hey've helped me keep i t all in perspective. PS: I did get to talk with Jeff Prob st yesterd a y ( yes, I'm a name dropper now) , and he made me feel much better about how tonight will all pan -out. (Did I mention that I heart CBS and Jeff Probst and Mark Burn ett and the crew?) PPS: My friends and I will be wa tching t he epsiode tonight with Tootsie Rolls in hand. We're going to take some photos using t hem and post to Twitter once my cry-fest begins. (It will all make sense tomorrow. Pr om...

Our kids with Heather at her wedding on Saturday night. (We were neighbors for 6+ years and we love her guts.) I look at this p icture and think, " Wow, life really is amazing and beaut iful." But to be honest, there's a reason I haven't been blogging lately : L i fe has been hard -- super hard . And that's made it hard for me to journal/blog. You see, I'm usually a really po sitiv e person , b ut lately I've had a hard time SEEING and genuinely feeling positive.  I know it's just the roller coaster of life : --You win so me; you lose some.  --You've got the world on a string; the world has YO U on a string. -- One day you have immunity; the next day you're on the chopping bl ock.      --Etc., etc., etc.) . . . B ut it's sti ll hard and that's a bu mmer. (Ca n I get an Amen? Amen ! ) So there. That's the vague, yet genuine truth : w hen life is super hard, I don't have a ton of motivation to ...

The theme for the night was "Let Your Light Shine."   Last night our two teenage daughters celebrated the annual "Young Women in Excellence" program at our church. It's a really nea t night: each girl shares something she's worked on during the year or a talent she is developing. The re are motivational speakers, musical numbers, and of course--true to Mormon-fashion--TREATS! I know pride is a really wonky emotion, but I did feel really proud of our girls last night. They are both 100 times the young woman I was at their age. I'm really proud of the people they are becoming. They have kind hearts and are great daughters. And ... I'm super thankful for a program like this that give s them a chan ce to share their accomplishments.     Bam and her friends set out their displays. Bam shared her guitar and the musical number she is learning in voice right now. Papaya shared her Ukulele talent. Here's the song she's...

Papaya, Bam, Jay, and our favorite almost-two-year-old--at the park. I don't know about you, but sometimes I get a little too ramped up about things. Things like teenagers or car trouble or global climate change.... And I'll be honest, it's not in my nature to just take a deep breath and sing a round of Bob Marley's, "No Woman No Cry" ( Everything's gonna be alright .) when these things are going on. But as I get older, I am trying to respond to stress differently than I did-- say yesterday. Yesterday, when I was just a mere 42 years and 64 days old. See, the much wiser and mature 42 years and 65 days old Dawn knows better. I know life has its ups and downs.  But that's life. That's what it's about. (Not the hokey pokey, it turns out.) So today I'm taking a deep breath, letting go of my need to control everything, and just enjoying the good that does come my way.     Because life is good. ...