The Piano Guys

Last night my husband and I had the wonderful Opportunity to see Jon Schmidt in concert at a local High School.  He is usually with a couple of other people that make up the Piano Guys but last night he was just by himself.  He is such an amazing pianist and so I thought for Fabulous Friday I would share a few of my favorite songs that he played last night.  Enjoy and have a Fabulous Friday!



This one is my absolute favorite song! I actually learned to play it and love playing it every time I can!
This one was just so funny!! Love them!!

Sorry for the overload!

How to Stop Competing

The topic I would like to share with you today is about competing this is such a huge problem for me in my life. I tend to find myself competing with others over having a great blog, being skinny, and trying to be the best. I know I am not the best one bit but I compete with my inner self on being the best.  This video from Studio 5 is so great and is exactly what I needed to hear. Julie de Azevedo Hanks talks about 'How to Stop Competing with Others.' I would like to touch on a few key parts:

1. Here are 4 reasons why we compete:

• We compete to cover up insecurities and self-doubt
• We compete to prove self worth, that we're good enough and loveable. I think this may be the number one reason why I compete.
• We compete because we're afraid that there is a limited supply of love and success.
• We compete because we are grown up in a competitive nature where there is only one winner.

2. "Each woman has a unique path, unique talents, and unique challenges."  I love this! I believe this is so true.  I have a hard time with this because I find myself constantly saying "I wish I had a house like so and so," "I wish I had bills paid off like so and so," "I wish I had the strength to work out and lose weight like so and so," but I don't.  I am a unique individual with a unique path, unique talents, and unique challenges there is no one out there that is like me I am unique!

3. The last thing would be to appreciate all things beautiful.  I love this, it is so simple yet so powerful.  I think I need to focus more on how life is beautiful and how things just always seem to work out in the end instead of trying to control everything and try to be perfect in everything. 

I decided I would take my favorite quote from this subject on competing and create a little print out.  You can download it from the link below or just look at it.  I don't expect everyone to have to download it just thought I would create it for myself and share it in case anyone else wanted it as well.  Here it is:   

This is a free printable that I have created just for you! I hope you enjoy it! You can click here to download it for free!!

       

Back to Basics...

I first off just want to say thank you to all of those that left heart felt comments on my blog post "I Surrender" it truly means so much to me to have you take time out of your day to share those words of encouragement with me.  Having people leave comments makes trials and challenges a little easier to go through.  So, thank you so much again!

Now, I have been struggling lately with blogging.  I have had a hard time finding inspiration and encouragement to continue.  I have found myself focusing more on the page views and the followers than and competing with the big wigs of blogging and trying to be as successful as them overnight instead of focusing on why I started blogging in the first place.  I mainly started blogging so that I could have a place to talk about life issues as well as finding myself. You can read more about why I started blogging here.

Since my post is about going back to the basics I thought I would share 5 fun facts about myself so that you all might get to know me, and then tomorrow we can continue to dive into the serious topics of life.

1. I was married to my sweetheart, Derek Schouten, 4 years ago on Valentine's day 2009.  He is my everything, my support, and my rock.  He comforts me when I am sad or stressed and helps me know that everything will be alright.  We have two little dogs that are our children.  Patches (on the left) and Little Miss (on the right).

2.  My husband and I love to travel! My travel obsession started before I got married.  I have traveled to Europe twice seeing Paris, Italy, Germany, Austria, Belgium, and London.  I loved traveling there but my favorite places have been with my husband.  We have been to California, Albuquerque New Mexico, Hawaii and Mexico.

 



3. I have really small feet.  I realized this weekend that I can fit into my niece's shoes.  We were over at my sister-in-law's house on Friday, they live on a farm and I forgot to wear boots and wore slippers.  So I borrowed my niece's shoes.  Oh I forgot to mention one part, she is 8 years old.

This is my husband Derek kissing my sister-in-law's pig, Petunia.

4. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I love this gospel and I am so grateful for it in my life.  It helps me get through the tough times in my life as well as gives me knowledge about life.  If you have any questions about my religion you can ask me or click here.

5.  I am a perfectionist but I am in no way perfect.  I am working on myself and my confidence and self esteem.  I have struggled with depression and negative thoughts about myself for a long time and am working on changing those thoughts..  I even struggle with trying to be perfect with blogging and being one of the great bloggers that I lose focus on what is really important.  I strive every day to do everything to the best of my abilities.  

I hope this has helped you get to know me.  I hope that you will continue with me in the journal to find self esteem and who we all are as people.  Thanks for stopping by!

I Surrender!....

Have you ever felt like you just want to surrender from the challenges of life, throw down the white flag and just say I give in?  That's how I feel right now, I just want to surrender and get a break.  The last couple of months have been the hardest times for my husband and I and I don't understand why.  We have had so many car issues that are constantly breaking down we have had 11 cars in the 4 years we have been married.  A couple of days ago we just found out we owe taxes, $600 worth.  I hate taxes, I just don't understand them and I hate that we have to pay.  It's funny though if you think about it, when you have to pay taxes you hate them but when you get money back from taxes you love them.  This year we hate them.  Then to top it all off my husband, Derek, just got laid off from his job yesterday.  I just don't know how much more I can handle from all of this.

Then this morning, I came into work to read my Bloglovin' feed and I read this wonderful blog post from Mallory from 'From California to Kansas' had a great post that is exactly what I needed today.  Head on over here to read her post.  I just wanted to share an awesome quote that she had on her blog that spoke directly to me.

Source: google.com via Mallory from 'From California to Kansas'

Source: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

I hope you all know that challenges will come and they will go but they will help you.  It could be that Heavenly Father could be lining things up in your life to make your life better.  I hope know things will get better for us.  However, sometimes it just sucks going through it.  Until next time!

Drops of Awesome!!

Yesterday I sent an email out to my mother-in-law and my sisters-in-law letting them know of this blog that I created not to long ago.  This morning I just received the sweetest email from my mother-in-law with a really amazing topic and attachment.  One thing that she said to me that really stood out was: "There are things about you that you are unhappy with.  That is the nature of this life.  We constantly strive to be more, to be better, to be different and are never happy with the 'me' at the present.  That's okay as long as we realize we are a work in progress."  I love this! I need to remember every day that I am still a work in progress, I may not be perfect now but I can continue to work on myself and the things that aren't perfect and make them perfect.

In this email that she sent to me she also included an attachment from an email that she received.  It was a copy of a blog post that talked about these 'Drops of Awesome.'  My mother-in-law was unsure where it came from but of course this wonderful thing that we have in our lives now called the Internet helped me find where it came from so I can give credit.  Kathryn Thompson with Daring Young Mom wrote this post about these 'Drops of Awesome.'  I would like to share with you a few things that I loved and learned from her.  She talks about these negative thoughts that come into our head either after we have done something that we thought was awesome or during.  Some examples she gives are: "Wow so you cleaned the kitchen today.  Want a cookie?  That dirty rag has been on the counter for a week and those dishes you so righteously cleaned are from breakfast three days ago.  You are embarrassing."  Unfortunately, I may or may not have had these thoughts at one point in my marriage.  She continues: "How destructive are these kinds of thoughts? As I said goodbye to Magoo and started to walk back home, my mind started to shift.  Drops of Awesome!  I thought.  Every time you do something good, something kind, something productive, it's a drop in your Bucket of Awesome.  You don't lose drops for every misstep.  You can only build. You can only fill."  I love this idea! For everything good thing that I have done lately I just think that's another 'Drop of Awesome' and eventually those negative thoughts will become not as prevalent anymore. One last thing that I loved that Kathryn said was, "You don't need to wait three months to be who you want to be.  Pick up ten things right now and say, 'Drops of Awesome! I am someone who takes care of my house.  That is who I am.  I have proof.'"  Isn't she so inspiring?  If you have a couple minutes today I just ask that you head over to her blog and read this post that she did on 'Drops of Awesome,' there is a lot more in there that I would like to share with you but then it would turn into an even bigger post than it is now.

So now we are at the end of this post.  I am so grateful that my mother-in-law shared this with me today.  It inspired me to change what I tell myself and just in the couple of minutes I have been writing this post I have given myself some 'Drops of Awesome' and I am starting to feel so much better about myself already.  I completed a blog post today! 'Drop of Awesome' in my bucket!  I have written two blog posts in two days! Two 'Drops of Awesome' for that one!!!  Try it all day today and see how you start feeling by the end of the day!

Until next time!

Stop Pretending to be "Fine"

Have you ever been asked the infamous question "How are you" and you respond with "Fine" when inside your heart is screaming out that it's not fine and that your not okay?  Have you ever wanted to scream out to the world that you are broken, frustrated, overwhelmed and not okay one bit?  If so, then this post is for you.

On my favorite show that I always talk about, Studio 5, they had a segment a couple of weeks ago called 'Stop Pretending to be 'Fine''  I really enjoyed this segment because it spoke directly to me.  Whenever someone asks me how I am doing I always put a smile on my face and say "I am fine" or "Good" when really I am having the hardest time.  But sometimes I am afraid of spilling my guts or complaining about things in my life that may not seem like such a huge deal to them. One thing that Julie de Azevedo Hanks said in this segment is to 'asses the relationship.' If anacquaintance asks you how you are doing you might respond differently than if a family member or close friend asks you how you are doing. I always try to sound happy and act like nothing is going on but sometimes I just let it all out to family and it has actually helped sharing somethings with them. I have a wonderful sister-in-law that has helped me through some dark times. She has been in these situations before and she has really helped me out. It's nice when you finally let out how you really feel and you find out that they have been through the same thing and share with you what helped them overcome that situation.

The last thing that I liked from this segment was when she talked about being brave. She says; "What will I gain if I share my real self with others? It takes courage to be real and share your struggles, but the payoff is worth it. Closer relationships, more emotional support and help are just a few of the benefits of sharing more of yourself with others. I hope this is true because that is why I started this blog. For the longest time I always felt like I was the only one going through some of the struggles I am going through but then a couple of weeks ago I found out that I wasn't the only one out there and that there were many others going through trials like me.

Since I am talking about being brave and sharing how you really feel, I would like to share with you what I am going through right now. This is a little hard for me to talk about but I can't overcome my feelings if I don't share them. I suffer with major insecurity. I always feel like what I do is never good enough. I was not an A student like my brothers, I am not amazing at sports like my brothers, or popular like them. I don't have children, and suffer from spending too much money and in result with debt. I don't have a lot of friends and feel like it is really hard for me to make friends. I feel like I have all of these great things in mind for me and can see where my life would go but then when I try to get there I just fall short and can't complete them like I thought. Maybe I just set my goals too high for me to complete, whatever it is, I would like it to stop so I can feel accomplished. Have you ever felt this way? If so, how did you overcome these thoughts and feelings? How have you succeeded in something that you really wanted to accomplish? If you want, take a minute to share some ideas, I would really appreciate it! Thanks for letting me share my true feelings! Until next time!

ABC's of Me!

I found this amazing idea from Catalyn with Confessions of a Northern Bell.  I loved her idea and I thought it would be a great idea for me to do so all of my followers can know more about me.  So here it goes:

A is for AGE:  23
B is for BED size:  Queen

C is for CHORE you hate:  Laundry

D is for DOGS:  I love dogs! I have two dogs Patches who is a Doxen, Terrior, Lab Mix.  Our other one is Little Miss who is a Yorkie Poodle.

E is for ESSENTIAL start to your day:  kisses from my husband ;)

F is for FAVORITE color:  Blush Pink and Grey

G is for GOLD or silver:  Silver

H is for HEIGHT: five feet, three inches.

I is for INSTRUMENTS you play:  I play the piano but I used to play the flute back in Junior High

J is for JOB title:  Receptionist

K is for KIDS:  Not yet!

L is for LIVE:  Farmington, Utah

M is for MARRIAGE:  4 years and going strong!

N is for NICKNAMES:  I don't really have any.

O is for OVERNIGHT hospital stays:  None! Count my blessings!

P is for PET PEEVE:  When people chew with their mouth open.

Q is for QUOTES:  "Our birthright—and the purpose of our great voyage on this earth—is to seek and experience eternal happiness."

R is for RIGHTY or lefty:  Righty

S is for SIBLINGS: 4 brothers: 16, 14, 12, 9

T is for TIME you wake up: usually 7 but most times I try to get up at 6:30 but don't get out of bed until 7.

U is for UNIVERSITY you attended: Weber State University in Ogden, Utah

V is for VEGETABLES you dislike:  Cucumbers, carrots, squash, potatoes

W is for WHAT makes you run late:  my hair and makeup.

X is for XRAYS you've had:  back, finger

Y is for YUMMY food:  sushi, pasta, brownies, Texas Sheet Cake

Z is for ZOO animal:  polar beer, tigers, elephants, monkeys

That is a little bit about me! Enjoy!

Allie Jeanene Stringham - The Most Amazing Person I Knew

I am sorry I have not written a blog post in a little bit.  I have been having a really hard time since Wednesday.  On Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. I got a phone call from my mom, she sounded very sad and I was unsure of what was going on.  She proceeded to tell me that my Grandma Stringham was in the hospital and that she was not doing good.  As soon as I heard this I knew she was not going to last long.  She had been in the hospital multiple times before but this time was different.  The doctors found a tumor in her stomach that was bleeding and also it looked like there could be cancer in her stomach. They told her that they had medications, and surgeries that they can try if she wanted.   She told the doctors that she can not fight anymore and that she felt it was her time to go.  She passed away that night at 5:30 surrounded by her husband and children and grandchildren.  

Jeanene was the most amazing person I have ever met in my life.  Last week I started a new topic where we focus on finding out who we really are as people.  You can see the blog post here. I had no idea that she was going to pass away just two days after writing that post.  I was not able to say goodbye to her when I got to the hospital she was too sedated, but I know she knows how I feel.  Her funeral was yesterday and it was the best funeral I have ever been to.  We had a lot of people that came out to support my Grandpa and show love to my Grandma.  There were a lot of wonderful talks reminiscing about her and sharing qualities and attributes about her.  Here are a couple of things about Allie Jeanene Stringham that I would like to share with you.  

 This is Jeanene at age 3. She was the cutest little girl ever!  

She loved riding horses and being outdoors with nature.  She always loved to sit outside on her patio and listen to the birds chip and watch the deer come into her yard.  

 This is her as Queen of a Green Ball growing up.  She was so beautiful.  She was also Miss Bountiful, one of the top 10 contestants of Days of '47 Rodeo Queen, and a hand model.  She was so talented and very intelligent. 

This is my Grandma and my Grandpa.  They were so in love throughout all of their marriage.  My Grandma was my Grandpa's eyes and he was her hands and at the end of her life her legs.  

My grandma is such an example to me and I hope to strive to be just like her.  She always kept a journal through out all of her life and scrap booked her life.  She has over 30 scrapbooks.  She loved sewing and painting and created the most beautiful things.  I could go on and on for days about how amazing my Grandma is but I won't.  I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit about the woman she was and what a great example she was to me.