The Happiness Choice

I was perusing facebook the other day and came across a post with a link to this article about happiness.

(Just a side note about facebook...I am more of a facebook stalker than a facebook participant.  I think I have posted 2 things on my wall in the last 3 years.  One was a notice to those in our Relief Society that our activity was cancelled a few Januarys ago due to really bad weather.  The other was just about 2 weeks ago to announce Amber's mission call.  I am trying to at least wish people happy birthday when it comes up on my news feed, and I may make a comment occasionally or like something, but for the most part, I'm just there to see what others have posted.  I really never used to go on it until we got the iPad, mostly because I never wanted to bother with looking up my password, but now that I have the app, it is cake to get on.  Hence, my habit of checking it daily to see what my "friends" are posting. Just felt the need to state my Facebook philosophy.  Oh, and the Downton character I most am like is Anna. :) and I am an Idaho Mormon, which seems appropriate although I would have guessed Pacific Northwest Mormon.  Probably because I didn't choose a cabin to live in.  I rarely check out stuff like that, but for some reason this week, both of those sucked me in.  :)  Moving on...)

Anyway, I took a look at this article and a few things struck me.

Fifth from the bottom of the list is this..."You have a sister"  I have 3 sisters.  Yay for me.  My kids all have at least 4 sisters, Trev has 5.  Yay for them.  My husband has 2, and my sons-in-law all have at least one sister.  Yay for them.  We are all on the road to happiness!  :)  I actually found that one a bit amusing because as anyone with a sibling, not just a sister, knows, we often let them be a vehicle for unhappiness.  Which brings me to another thing that struck me...

as scientific research has discovered, happiness, to some extent, is a choice --

This stuck out to me as I was doing my Book of Mormon reading one day this week. (By the way, I am loving the bofm365 instagram posts I get everyday.  I have been a daily scripture reader for years, but I appreciate the questions that come with each day's scriptures.  It has enhanced my studying experience.  I also started reading in the Book of Mormon commentary book as I read the assignment.  I love pondering on the question and also the added insights from the commentary book.)  But again, I digress...

We are in the section of the Book of Mormon where Lehi's family has been in the wilderness for 8 years, and Nephi broke his bow, and of course, Laman and Lemuel murmured.  Several of the comments brought out that happiness is a choice and that L & L chose not to be happy.  By contrast, Nephi did.

I have never equated their murmuring with unhappiness.  Disobedience? Yes.  Rebellion? Yes.  Jealousy?  Yes.  Never unhappiness.  But it does make sense.  It was a real light bulb moment for me.

I don't consider myself an unhappy person, but I know there have been times when I have chosen to be unhappy by the mere act of not choosing to be happy.

There were a few things in this article that I find I am pretty good at - I try to appreciate the little things in life and I think I am getting better at the glass half-full philosophy.  I also find things that I could work on to be happier - more goals go right on by than are actually achieved (although I do set them), and as much as I try to laugh at myself when I do something stupid, the small stuff does get me down at times and knowing how to calm down when I'm stressing...yeah, that is a work in progress.

Overall though, I am here to tell you that the happiness choice is just that, a choice.  If we aren't choosing happiness, as I said before, we are choosing unhappiness by default.  I'm not sure there is any middle ground.

I choose happiness though, and invite you to do the same.  I have so many things to be grateful for, how could I choose anything else?

Have a HAPPY day!  :)

December top ten or fifteen or twenty

Christmas came, Christmas went.  Amber, Allison and Ryan came then they went too.

There were MANY things going on during the holidays, and I didn't take time to blog.  I was having too much fun with my family.

Here is a quick rundown in picture form since it will be nigh unto impossible to catch up any other way.  (It is taking me forever to get them in order, so I'm just going with how they are.  Sorry for any confusion that may cause)
So here goes...

The kids in their matching Christmas Eve jammies.  Kristin was good to demonstrate the flap in the back!  :)

Welcom to the world, Carter Joseph Dance.  Born on January 5th.  Here he is the floor model for the the quilt I made him (top) and the one Grandma Sollenbarger made (bottom) Such a cutie!!

Google hangout waiting for Amber to open her mission call.  I love that all the girls, near and far were able to participate!  Technology is wonderful!!!  Couldn't have done it without Ashley.  She knew just how to get it done.  She received her call on January 15th.  Just 11 days after she turned in her papers.

Last year, John and the kids had fun putting together a puzzle.  This was John's Christmas present from Chelsie and Dallin.  A very fun puzzle!!  It went together pretty quickly, so John and a few of the kids went out and bought another one to work on.

Amber's first day home was a SNOW DAY!!  The kids made a VERY tall snowman, Tiki style, you may notice.  So good to have her home.

If you are wondering where Amber is going, here is the answer.  California, Rancho Cucamonga Mission, reporting May 21st.  She will speak English.  She is excited and we are thrilled for her!!  (Here is a funny RC side story...As you may or may not know, Payton Manning calls out "Omaha" many times during a football game.  The other day, John saw an interview with him about that subject.  To paraphrase, Manning alluded to the fact that Omaha is a lot easier to say than Walla Walla or Rancho Cucamonga!  Two cities that are very meaningful to our family!)

I promised Trev I would take him to the walking path today so he could take his bike on the jumps out there.  Kristin came and ran the trail, I walked.  It was good to get out even though it was cold, and as you can see, foggy.  Sadly, Trev's jumping experience was cut short when his rear tire came apart from the frame.  He had to walk his muddy bike all the way back to the car.  :(  A happy thing - as we were walking back, we saw this Christmas ornament hanging on one of the trees with a dedication stone at the base.  It is not very clear on the picture, but there were little bits of ice hanging from the star.  It was COLD!!!

We took a quick trip to Seattle the day after Christmas.  We went to the Seattle Center and spent a long time looking at this train village!  It was very pretty and Trev especially loved it as the train is the same kind as the one Grandpa Rietz handed down to him a few years ago.  

You would not believe how many times I had to re-take this to get everyone jumping at the same time!  I'm sure people walking thought we were a little weird!! I think Alli and Ryan won the highest jump award, and Chelsie gets high marks for effort as she was a day over her due date!!!

We are on the steps of the Experience Music Project.  As I was getting ready to snap this picture, a woman asked me if I wanted to be in the picture, so I jumped at the chance.  John and I get the boring award.  No one told us we were supposed to pose!!!

This is one of my favorite places to take a family shot in Seattle.  I love the water and the island in the background.  A very nice man with an English accent offered to take this for me.  He didn't know how to change the focus on my camera and was pretty much shooting blind. :)

This was Ryan's first trip to Seattle, so of course, we had to take him to Pike's Place Market.  He is clearly amazed by the gum wall!  :)  It was our first experience with the gum wall as well.  Not sure we need to go back!!  Disgusting!!

This has to be a favorite shot of Carter.  He is reminiscent of a sloth, hanging off his dad's arm like he is!  Look at that head of hair!!  I thought that Carter favored Dallin when I first saw him, but that was confirmed to me when Chelsie showed me a picture of Dallin as a baby!  Except for the nose, he is the spitting image of his dad!!!

One evening while I was in Seattle after Carter was born, his other Grandma, Julienne, came to visit.  Chelsie took advantage of a photo-op and snapped a few pictures with both of us, Carter, and the quilts we made for him!  What a great moment!

A quick picture with Carter the day I was going home!  It didn't take long for me to wish I could turn around and head back!!

Their first family picture!  Sadly the quality is not very good.  Totally my fault because I don't know how to use my iPhone camera very well yet!!!

The winners of the New Year's ping pong tournament!  Amber attributed her success to that fuzzy cape!  :)  

Another shot by the water in Seattle.

We loved this building in the Train Village.  Especially appropo with a future dentist in our family!!

Of course, I love this picture because Chelsie and Dallin are in it, but I also love the fishermen on the top of the restaurant.  I find them enchanting, well maybe not enchanting, but fascinating.

It was a busy, fun Christmas break.  Some of the other things we did that aren't represented by a picture were...
-Frozen at the movie theater.  Do you wanna build a snowman?
-Gym time at the church to burn off some extra energy.
-Grandma and Grandpa Rietz visiting right before everyone left.
-Ryan getting to Skype with his missionary brother from Peru on Christmas day.
-Yummy authentic Mexican food made by Allison and Ryan.
-Several family movie nights - Despicable Me 2, Ephraim's Rescue, Man of Steel, The Great Gatsby
-Our now traditional Aloha Chicken Quesadillas while we watched BYU get beat in their bowl game
-Allison and I worked to make a dent in the thank you notes from their wedding.  I think they still have miles to go.

 Of course, we missed our Aussie family a lot and if it weren't for them having some great experiences themselves, we might feel really bad!!  
-Ashley and Brandon spent a few days before Christmas on a holiday a few hours south of Perth.  They had a great time.
-Talmage celebrated his 5th birthday at an animal park in Perth, complete with koalas and all animals Australian.  A more perfect day couldn't have been had for an animal lover like him.
-Ashley and Brandon are wrapping up a weekend in Melbourne after attending the Australian Open.  They were able to watch Serena live!  An opportunity of a lifetime.
We can't begrudge them for not being with us.  

And now everyone is back in school, I am home from Seattle, and we are back to real life. I did have to remind myself of Dr. Suess's quote about smiling because it happened, not crying because its over.  I was pretty sorry to see everyone go back to school.  Carter was a very good distraction!!!
But of course, all in all, Life is good!!!