Living "in the moment".

Yesterday we had a great Relief Society Lesson on living "in the moment" and not letting life pass us by. A great quote that was given (and I apologize, but I didn't catch who said it, and it may not be perfectly accurate, but the gist is the same) was "Learn from the past, Plan for the future, Live in the present"

I really liked that. So often I'm so caught up in planning for something or remeniscing about something else, that I fail to take advantage of the time that I have right now to just create memories right now. I'm trying to remember to write down little instances of things the kids do, just so I don't forget them... and I think I'm re-energized to play more games with the kids and do more "small things" with the kids in our day to day lives.

I've loved having church in the mornings again, because I've started to have "baking time" with the older kids individually. They take turns, but each Sunday we've made something in the kitchen- just me and Alex, or me and Ashley, or me and Alyssa. In the past I would just try to bake with all of them and then out of frustration with too many hands in the cookies... I'd banish them all from the kitchen and finish it by myself... this way with one child at a time I'm much better at really cooking "with" them and letting them have fun learning and doing this with me.

It also reminds me of President Spencer W Kimball's saying (I think it was him? It was when I was a little girl and it was either him, or President Ezra Taft Benson) "Just do it" Sometimes we need to just live, and have fun in the moment and "just do it" and get down and play with our kids, or get out of the house and get those errands and chores done. If I just go ahead and do my errands and household chores- I get them over and done with and I can enjoy the time I have free to do other things, instead of planning and preparing and anticipating... and really what it boils down to- is that I'm procrastinating and not doing it until the last minute... and then I don't have that free time to do fun stuff.

So... it was a great lesson for me... lots of stuff I've heard before, but it was the right time for me to hear it again... :)