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The Intro – A Sensible Life (Part 1 of 4)
I like to think that I’m my worst critic. I don’t care to find out if that’s true. I would love to look at my life and see something that makes sense, something worthy of praise. I know it doesn’t look that way at this point. We haven’t achieved any real financial stability. We don’t own a home. In fact… we don’t even currently live in our own place. We have four children- two more than most people would consider healthy. Believe me, I see it too. I’ve become the recipient of more than a few skeptical interactions. Let me replay one for you: New acquaintance: So, what brought you…
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Fight or Flight
I don’t know how I heard about it, but somehow I started following and watching a movement called 1000 hours outside (https://www.1000hoursoutside.com/). The basic premise is to replace screen time with green time. After observing other people’s adventures for a year or two we finally decided, as a family, to take the plunge and commit to the challenge for the year 2023. I am proud to say that we fulfilled our goal! We hit our thousandth hour on December 31st, 2023. The year was full of many adventures; the following story is merely one of them. We started 2023 strong- averaging two hours a day in the dead of winter.…
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Performing With Pickleville On Tour
Have you ever heard of the legendary outlaw El Juandito? Those of you who have have probably visited Bear Lake, where El Juandito has spent many a summer entertaining audiences at the lakeside theatre, Pickleville Playhouse. Once, a few years ago, we were fortunate enough to visit there as a family. It was an experience I will never forget, because the atmosphere was so different than any other I had ever experienced. The talent was phenomenal, the stage was intimate, and the air was fragrant with the fun-filled scent of popcorn and summer. This year, my actor hubby had the opportunity to co-star in a show with Pickleville On Tour.…
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No News Is… No News.
Those who know me already know that I am not an introvert. I enjoy going everywhere and getting to know new people. I like having new experiences every day. If you saw my family calendar you’d understand. At one point we lived near our cousins. They are much more homebodies than we are. They’d watch us go in and out of the driveway everyday feeling exhausted with the thought of such a busy life. That’s pretty typical for us. I intentionally fill my days with people, places, and adventures. If I’m home doing the “same old, same old” for more than two days in a row be assured that I…
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Thank You For Your Time
The job of an actor is varied, dedicated, and time consuming. When Ben was acting full time in LA he would usually have eight to twelve hours on set. That’s not including the time he would spend driving there (sometimes up to two hours), applying for jobs, networking, creating content, and developing skills. His weeks were often between fifty to seventy hour work weeks if not more. Now that he has a day job his days are just as long. He not only works his 40 hours a week for his day job, he also works at least 15 hours on acting/producing/screenwriting. When he was a banker we could expect…
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Summer Plans
The Christmas of 2021 was one to celebrate. It was the first time in a long while that we had our own tree, next to our own window, with our own ornaments, in our own home. We did everything we could to bring the Christmas spirit. We baked, wrapped presents, sang carols, and picked a Christmas read aloud. Since we started homeschooling we have tried to always have a book that we’re reading as a family. I decided on a childhood favorite of mine, “The Paper Bag Christmas.” My mother loves Christmas novels and is always reading a new one. She introduced this book to me as a teen and…
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An Uninvited Visitor
Our apartment has three bedrooms. Because Ben works from home, that means the rooms are divided as follows- our bedroom, Ben’s office, and one bedroom for the girls to share. Five girls in one room was a tall order- literally. To give them all their own sleeping space, going vertical was our best option; we decided to build a three story, tiered bunk bed. We didn’t have a lot of spare money to invest in a store-bought, several hundred dollar bunk, and Ben had wanted to build a custom bed for a long time anyway. He had the design already in mind, but lumber prices were crazy; building from scratch…
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Consider the Lilies of the Field
A few years ago, as I was first starting to embrace being minimalist, I decided to go through our storage boxes one at a time- keeping what was essential and getting rid of the rest. As I got to our boxes of baby clothes and gear, I began to question why we had them. We had three or four huge bins of clothes that Adrie had grown out of, keeping them because we might need them again someday. We knew in our hearts that there were more babies waiting to come into our lives, but I couldn’t fathom it happening while we lived in the current situation. I imagined that…
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Shutting Down and Getting Out
I wasn’t doing well. In fact, I felt so broken I couldn’t even talk about it… or write about it. There were things that were happening in my mind, my soul, and my body that weren’t right or normal. I was trying as hard as I could to “take care of myself,” but I knew I needed help. There were things that I couldn’t control no matter how hard I worked or prayed. In fact, here I am… finally writing this all down, a year and a half later, crying my eyes out because I can’t accurately portray how truly broken I felt. But, it’s part of the story and…
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Homesick
It’s been too long, I know. There is so much to tell. I’ve missed interacting with you all via this blog. So many of you have reminded me that I need to keep it up. Thank you. The last couple years have been tough for everyone. One thing the pandemic made absolutely clear to us was that being an actor is a “non-essential” job. Not like society doesn’t treat us that way anyway. This was different though. Before we were keeping busy, the both of us, trying hard to fill a schedule with gigs. We were gaining momentum. Ben had gotten an agent and a manager. We were gearing up…
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Prescription Strength Gratitude
On November 20, 2020, Russell M. Nelson, renowned heart surgeon and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, released a video. He talked about the “healing power of gratitude” and how “counting our blessings is far better than recounting our problems.” Thanksgiving was coming up in the middle of a pandemic, and the talk online was nothing resembling positivity. The news was dreary, heavily opinionated, and divisive. Social media was toxic and riddled with negativity. Russell M. Nelson, being a doctor, prescribed a cure to help heal souls. He asked people to post on social media everyday for a week telling what they were grateful for…
