The Secret of Happiness

"The secret of happiness consists not of having, but of being; not of possessing, but of enjoying. It is a warm glow of the heart at peace with itself - Man is the creator of his own happiness. it is the aroma of life, lived in harmony with ideals. For what a man has he may be dependent upon others; what he is rests with him alone." -Pres. David O. McKay, Gospel Ideas, p. 492

I realize it's been like a month since I last updated my blog so here's the skinny on what's been going on. Tate and Allie have pretty well adjusted to the new circumstances of our busy lives, except for Tate is still pretty moody and Allie has decided that she is no longer going to be potty trained. She was pretty well done (she still has a problem with the pooping thing) but when my sister told me that she couldn't watch the kids while Alex and I were at work anymore because her little girl wasn't sleeping except for during the drive to and from my house, Allie kind of rebelled against Alex's cousin Hillary who stepped in to take the kids. Sorry Hillary! She's cleaned up more than her fair share of accidents in the last week. Here's the kids at Halloween. They had so much fun.


Alex's knee surgery went well other than it was much more extensive and serious than we initially thought. Instead of just a torn meniscus there was also a huge chunk of cartilage that had completely broken off and was floating around his knee. So they had to drill into his bone in hopes of creating a clot to fill in where the cartilage was missing. Hence, he has to be off it for 6 weeks as apposed to a few days. And it hurts... a lot. Needless to say, he's very bummed. But the good news is he has taken a position with Salisbury Homes as a Realtor. It's a good move because it gives him a lot more opportunity to sell than where he was before.


I am now 16 weeks and suddenly just this week I started showing. Like I feel huge for 16 weeks. Work is good, but frustrating. I'm still not teaching private lessons yet. It's just been one big circle of never getting anything done to start lessons and a lot of confusion about what my job description is. Right now I'm more like the choir teacher's assistant. And in the case of this week. I've been the teacher since the actually teacher lost her voice. It's all good experiences though. School is...well going. I will finally graduate with my associates in science! Yeah! (it only took me 5 years) After this semester I'm wondering if that's as much of a degree as I'll get though. Maybe I'll go back when all my kids are in school for my bachelors.

You know that country song "it sounds like life to me. Ain't no fantasy. The only thing for certain is uncertainty." Now how do we see our lives as special and feel that peace in our hearts that Pres. McKay talked about when you and your husband are both in school, working, two kids under 5, pregnant with one vehicle that sometimes works. You know what I discovered this morning. The secret to happiness is smiling; laughing even if nothing is funny. You may look a little crazy, but it works.