Strength of Character

The New Year is here!  I love New Year's.  Like LOVE.  Time to start fresh, make goals, and dream big.  Even if half the stuff I dream doesn't pan out how I planned, it's fun to plan it anyway:).  I'll get to my personal goals in a later post, but for our family, Buns and I talked a lot about what we wanted to focus on this upcoming year.  What we wanted to improve on as a family and individuals.  A lot of our resolutions revolved around just getting down to business and taking ACTION.  I guess that's the set back for most all resolutions haha.  Just buckling down, showing some commitment, and making things happen.  So we decided to make that our family theme for this year.  Yes, we have a family theme.  Yes, we had one last year.  And yes, we forgot about it.  Whoops!  Haha, cheers to trying again!

In efforts to make it more memorable, I decided to make a print to display where we can see it everyday in the front of our living room.  The story we thought of when we thought of "Strength of Character" was the story of the 2,000 stripling warriors in the Book of Mormon.

"And they were all young men, and they were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all--they were men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.  Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before Him." (Alma 53:20-21)

Buns and I want to be people who ACT, instead of people who REACT.  We want to take our life back.  We feel like we've let circumstances that we can't control dictate our attitudes.  We want to be reliable, honest, strong, kind, and brave.  We want to be purposeful in how we spend our time and who we spend it with.  We want to strengthen the relationships with those we care so much about, including each other.  We want to make the best of anything that is thrown our direction.  We want to work hard as parents and spouses.  We want to be intentional in those roles.  We want to be stable.  We want to think the best of others.  We want to draw closer to God.  

We want to have strength of character.

I've got a gut-feeling about this year.  I think it's gonna be one of our best years yet.

Cheers to 2015 y'all!

❤, Ashton Tilton

Just Because She's the Bomb

Post by Alicia Keys.

On What You Say To Your Children

The Tongue of Angels: "We must be so careful in speaking to a child.  What we say or don't say, how we say it and when is so very, very important in shaping a child's view of himself or herself.  But it is even more important in shaping that child's faith in us and their faith in God.  Be constructive in your comments to a child...always.  Never tell them, even in whimsy, that they are fat or dumb or lazy or homely.  You would never do that maliciously, but they remember and may struggle for years trying to forget...and to forgive.  And try not to compare your children, even if you think you are skillful at it.  You may say most positively that 'Susan is pretty, and Sandra is bright,' but all Susan will remember is that she isn't bright, and Sandra that she isn't pretty.  Praise each child individually for what that child is, and help him or her escape our culture's obsession with comparing, competing, and never feeling we are 'enough.'" (Jeffrey R. Holland)

Click here to read more.

Living Intentionally

I'm back!  It's been a while since I've posted, but things have been crazy for our little family!  The best kind of crazy.  For most of July, Todd's whole family was in town, and we spent most of our spare time up at Grandma Hawl and Grandpa Bill's house.  I can't even recall (nor do I have the desire to because it's totally overwhelming to recap everything haha) all the fun days and nights we all had together while everyone was in town, but it was wonderful.  I truly love my in-laws.  I've said before and I'll say it a million times over, but I really lucked out with such a great crew.  The pictures above are from one of the last nights before people were leaving town, and I went around and snapped some shots.  

I specifically remember one of my favorite things that night was watching Todd play baseball with his nephews.  It gave me major flashbacks to growing up.  My dad would always play sports with us in the backyard.  My favorite was football.  He would draw plays on the football itself or just on our chests, and I always listened so carefully, ready to nail the play.  I looked up my dad so much in those moments.  I remember smiling from ear to ear with such excitement when it was my turn to go out for a pass.  I remember throwing the baseball with my dad too.  I always loved that even though I was a girl, he would still do "boyish" things with me.  I was all about proving that I could do things just as well as the boys could if not better.  Ha!  But all of those memories came flooding back when I saw Todd playing with his nephews.  I know Todd will be such an amazing dad to our kids, and I can't wait for the days of football, baseball, and basketball in the backyard, teaching them all the ropes.  Geez la weez, just talking about it is getting me all choked up.

I've been thinking a lot lately about creating memories for my children.  About creating a home that is safe and warm and full of love.  Todd and I went to California this past week for a little getaway before school started (lots more on that in posts to come!), and my sister-in-law said at one point in a conversation, that it's important to find out what your values are, what's really important to you and really focus on that.  It was one of those moments for me where I found myself "amening" and nodding my head profusely.  This concept of getting back to the basics.  The basics of who you are, what you believe in, and the values that you hold near and dear to your heart.  Eliminating waste in your life.  Eliminating things that are of no worth.  Making your days meaningful.  Living intentionally.   But be careful...making your days meaningful doesn't mean jam-packing them with activities and to-do lists galore.  Making your days meaningful means finding what makes you happy and fulfilled.  It means loving and truly enjoying the people around you that you love.  It means creating a safe place for your kids.  And when I say "safe" place, I mean a place where they are always loved.  Where they can "take risks" so to speak and learn from their own mistakes with your loving guidance.  Where they can be themselves.  Because unfortunately they live in a world that tells them they are not good enough.  And that's just not true.  Making your day meaningful means to cultivate an environment that your kids can be themselves.  A place where their confidence is built and nurtured.  But even if your not a mom.  If your single, divorced, a co-worker, a friend, or whatever you may be...this nurturing environment can be within yourself!  Create an environment within yourself that is accepting and allows the people around you to feel safe and loved when they're in your presence.  Be the person that cultivates "safe" relationships.  Relationships where confidence is encouraged and nurtured through love and truly caring for the other person's well-being.

Having said all this though, I hope you don't think I'm discounting the days that bottom-line really just stink.  The days where you're so down in the dumps that the thought of even trying to lift someone else's spirits is seemingly impossible.  The days where your outward thinking is non-existent, and it's really all you can do to get yourself through the day.  I get those days.  I understand those days oh so well.  And if it's one of those days, I pray you can find some hope in that you're not the only one feeling the way you're feeling.  And that tomorrow does come.  Geez it sounds so cheesy writing that out, but how true is it!?  Tomorrow does come, and there will always be the chance for a clean slate and a new start.  

This post kind of took itself in a direction I didn't plan on it going, but that's really what this blog is for me sometimes...helps me navigate my own thoughts! 

Thanks for all the support and love!  Y'all da best.  Have a great weekend!

XO, Ashton Tilton