Wow!

Tonight I had the privilege of going to a class taught by Charles Marcus, a motivational speaker who has overcome all odds. The class was absolutely phenomenal, I don't even know how to put into words how amazing this man is! I am so happy with my decision to transfer to Taylor Andrews Hair Academy to finish my schooling and I am so grateful that our owner Larry Curtis cares so much about his students that he will bring amazing guest speakers like this to come speak to us! If you or anyone you know has ever considered a career in the Beauty Industry, I HIGHLY suggest attending Taylor Andrews. Before moving back to Utah I attended what I thought was a good school in Kansas City, but it doesn't hold a candle to the education and opportunities I have been given at Taylor Andrews. I feel like I am getting so much more than just the stereotypical 'beauty school education' and I am loving it!!

Tonight while listening to Charles Marcus I took 5 pages of notes, seriously he was amazing! Charles suffers from a very serious stuttering speech impediment that for a good portion of his life caused him to have very low self esteem. Through lots of hard work and dedication he now speaks very well and is a motivational speaker all over the world! Here are a few of the things he said that REALLY spoke to me personally...

"Negative people will rain on your parade because they have no parade of their own."

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!" *Be a sponge *Be a life long learner

"Successful people never forget where they came from."

"Great intentions mean absolutely nothing until they are put into action."

"You make a living by what you get, you make a life by what you give."

"Fear can be paralyzing, learn to overcome fear. Fear is a reaction, courage is a decision."

"If you don't respect yourself first, how do you expect others to?"

"The more you give, the more you get."

"You are only as successful as the dreams you dare to live."

"Life isn't about deserve, it is about desire."

"Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines." -Brian Tracy

"When life gets tough, dig down deep."

"If you want to soar with the eagles you can't hang out with the turkeys."

I could seriously just keep going and going! I absolutely LOVE going to classes like this. I love the way I feel when I leave, I love the feeling of being motivated to be a better me!! More importantly I don't want to just feel this motivated after hearing a great speaker like Charles, I want to really learn from the things these people have to say and apply them to my life daily. I think that all of these quotes above could be applied in multiple aspects of our lives. There are so many different areas of my life that I want to improve on, being a better mother and wife, being more faithful in my religion and relationship with my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ, being a better friend, being healthier, being more organized, etc, etc..... One of the things that Charles talked about that I also loved was that he said, "Set large goals, but take small steps getting there." I LOVE that because I often set these HUGE goals for myself, then I get really overwhelmed and completely give up. Taking things one step at a time, slowing down but keeping your eye on the big picture is so important if you want to be successful in life! It isn't about coming in first, it is about finishing the race :). I can't wait to read his book, Success Is Not A Spectator Sport!

Favorite Quotes...

"Without hard work nothing grows but weeds."
- Gordon B. Hinkely (LDS Prophet)

I Love Sunday's...

(journal entry)

Yesterday was a great day! My visiting teachers came by in the morning and we had a great chit chat. Court was a good sport and took the kids to the kitchen to make french toast so that I could talk with them in peace and quiet. I am so grateful for the Relief Society and for the Visiting Teaching program!! I love that I have cute sisters in my ward(church congregation) that faithfully come to check on me and visit with me once a month.

After my visiting teachers left both Court and I had interviews to get our temple recommends renewed. I can't wait to go to the temple with him this coming weekend! It sure comes in handy living RIGHT across the street from the Church, he ran over first while I watched the kids, then as soon as he got back we switched and I was able to run over. Being so close to our Church and the Temple is such a great blessing. When we lived in Kansas City we were lucky enough to be about 7 minutes from our Chapel, but the closest temple was in Omaha, Nebraska, over 3 hours ONE WAY! Those hours in the car going to and from the Temple were long, but I learned so much from that sacrifice. I truly believe that my testimony was strengthened during those drives, my love for the Temple and the sacred ordinances that take place there took on a new meaning.

Yesterday at Church little man was in kind of in a 'little pill' of a mood, one o'clock church can do that to a two year old! Luckily I was able to take the Sacrament before he and I had to walk the halls all throughout the meeting. Usually he will sit still for at least half of Sacrament meeting, but not yesterday! Court and I teach the CTR 9 Sunday school class, it can be very fun and very challenging at times. We have a young man in our class who suffers from sever ADHD, he is constantly leaving the class room and not coming back , interrupting, being rude, and being just all around difficult. I know that Heavenly Father gave us this calling to test us! There are some Sunday's that it is hard to get excited about teaching because we know how difficult this boy is going to make things. Although serving in this calling is a challenge, I am grateful for the opportunity. We are learning LOTS of patience! Also I am loving that this year we are teaching on the Old Testament, I feel like I am learning more than the kids. We are lucky that the other children in the class are very sweet and well behaved, and this particular boy who at times makes things difficult is showing signs of improvement in his behavior! During primary sharing time we ran through our primary program with all of the kids. My daughters are singing a duet, I can't wait! AND I can't believe they are going to do it!! My oldest daughter volunteered them for the part, she is much more out going then my five year old, so we will be doing lots of practicing the next few weeks! The kids in our class are all going to bear their testimonies and I think that will be a real treat.

After church we came home and made Sunday dinner. Court barbecued some delicious steak and I made edimame (one of the kids favorite vegetables) and orange rolls (out of a can, come on people;), we also had pears with our dinner. The kids ate more than I have seen them eat in a LONG time. I sure love being home for dinner, with me being in school at night during the week it is a real treat to have all of us around the dinner table at one time! After dinner we let the kids ride their scooters to the elementary school right by our house, we kicked around a ball together and swung on the swings, WHAT A GREAT SUNDAY!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE spending time with my family! I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband and 3 darling children!!

Stopping To Smell The Roses...

Photos taken by Jodi Gallagher

Life has been super crazy lately for our family and it is going to continue to be that way for SEVERAL more months:( ! When I get busy, I get stressed, and STRESSED and me do not go together well. I am trying to remind myself to slow down, not stress about the little things, and focus on what really matters. I wish this wasn't so hard for me to do! Being a stay-at-home mom by day and a student 20 hours a week at night can make life pretty stressful at times. I don't regret going back to school, I KNOW that this is something that I needed to do for myself and for my family, but WOW it is seriously hard to juggle everything. Sometimes I will look around the house and think to myself, 'why can't I get everything done that I use to'. THEN I have to remind myself that I basically have the equivalent of a part-time job right now and it would be hard for most people to keep up with everything.

Yesterday I made sure that I had individual time with all of the kids. I took my little man to the library for story time while the girls were at school, made cookies and snuggled and read books with my 5 year old, and did homework and reading with my eight year old. It felt so good to give each of them the individual time and attention they need and deserve. I love my kids so much and it is SO hard to leave them at night to go to school! I love being at school, I love learning, I love all of the girls there, and I especially LOVE being a hair stylist and making people feel great about themselves... BUT I can't wait for the day when I can go back to being a full-time mommy, it is the hardest, most rewarding job in the world!

Is Your Childs Car Seat Safe???

I read THIS article on car seat safety this morning and wanted to share! I will most definitely be checking my little mans car seat to make sure it is installed properly, you can never be to careful with your PRECIOUS CARGO!! It REALLY upsets me when I see parents driving down the road and their kids are not in their car seats. I think this is so irresponsible. I have called the police several times because of this.

My husband and I were out running errands a few months ago and pulled up at a stop light next to a man on a motorcycle holding an INFANT, I kid you not! The baby couldn't have been much older than one, I seriously about died, I could not believe someone would be that stupid!!! I called the police right then, I don't know if he got caught because he turned and went a different way then us, but I sure hope so!!!

Herriman Fire

Just this last weekend we were out in Herriman, Utah looking at homes. Late last night Court and I were watching the news and we were shocked to hear about the horrible forest fire that started yesterday and spread into many Herriman neighborhoods, article on http://www.ksl.com/. I am so sad for all of these families that have either lost their homes or been evacuated from them. I can't imagine the devastation of not knowing if you will have a house to go home to. These families will most definitely be in our prayers. I personally have two friends that live in the area and have had to evacuate their homes.

When I was 12 years old we had a fire in my home in Denver, Colorado. It was the day after Halloween and my brother who was 4 at the time had pulled a left over candle out of one of our pumpkins. Somehow he got ahold of a lighter and lit the candle. He came into the family room to show my mom, she immediately made him blow it out, but what she didn't know was that he had lit 2 candles. Well he didn't want to get in trouble and was only 4 years old so he hid the second candle in our baby brothers bedroom under the crib, our baby brother was asleep in the crib at the time. I can remember hearing my baby brother screaming, but my mom said that he was trying to go to sleep and she was letting him cry it out for a little while, obviously she didn't know what was going on. Probably about ten minutes later my dad came in the house and had a strong impression to check on the baby, he opened the bedroom door to find the crib engulfed in flames, all of the bedding was on fire, and the fire was spreading up the walls of the room, EXCEPT for one small spot on the bed, the spot where my baby brother was laying didn't have any flames, he was protected and safe. You can't tell me that there weren't angels in that room that day protecting my sweet innocent baby brother!

I haven't thought about the fire we had in our home for quit awhile, until now. I am broken hearted for these families in Herriman! Having a fire in your home, big or small is a very scary experience for a child/family. I can remember having to stay in a hotel for a week before we could go back home and then once we were allowed back in our house we had all kind of crews working on our home for weeks! I vividly remember them cleaning our entire house with this strange orange cleaner and for MONTHS our food had a strange taste to it. It was a very horrible and scary experience. My heart goes out to these families and I pray that has many homes as possible can be saved!!!


Whenever there is a disaster like this it really gets me thinking about what I would do in an emergency situation. I know I would hope I was prepared for it! It's about time I finish up my family emergency binder!!!
Click here to see my post on how to make a FAMILY EMERGENCY BINDER

Scriptures 4 Kids!

I LOVE this website!!! http://www.scriptures4kids.com/

This site is so awesome! They have online scriptures for kids to read according to their reading levels. They also have scripture reading challenges, games, music, etc... Also on their site you will find links to other fabulous resources for family home evening, scriptures for toddlers, etc...

Quotes of the week...

I have started to change my header quotes more often, so I figured that I better jot them down so that I don't forget these powerful messages that inspire me!

"Happiness is something you ARE and it comes from the WAY you THINK."

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"The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything, they just make the MOST of everything that comes along their way."

I Love This Blog...

Recently found this VERY fun blog called Design Dazzle, such a cute blog with TONS of great ideas for birthday parties, kids rooms, etc... Make sure you check it out ;)http://www.designdazzle.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow I am having a carnival birthday party for my oldest daughter and I got so many fun ideas from this blog!

{CAN NOT BELIEVE my little princess is EIGHT!!! Pictures to come...}

Material Diaries

My cute and sassy friend, Mimi (from hair school) started a fun new blog, http://www.materialdiaries.blogspot.com/, it is all about fashion, make-up, and hair, CHECK IT OUT!

I LOVE playrooms!

I seriously LOVE playrooms!!! I am so happy that the house we are renting has room for a playroom (I'll have to post a picture later). I CAN'T wait to do an over the top playroom once we find a house!!! I love that our playroom doesn't have a TV, I love that the kids play 'pretend', I love that they spent hours coloring and drawing, and I LOVE that I constantly find them in there, all three of them playing together, giggling, and having fun!

Do you have a fun, creative playroom in your home? If so and you would like to share your ideas, please email me at courtbritt@gmail.com to be featured on this blog!

Here are a few playrooms that I LOVE...