Smile Book!

Happy, happy Wednesday!  The week is already half over!  Are you ever shocked at how quickly time flies?  I sure am!  That is why I think it is so important to really enjoy each day! So enjoy today!  Find something you love about today!  Have any of you started a smile book?  I had gotten the idea years and years and years ago from our family friend Lisa.  Lisa was a great friend of my family when I was younger.  She was so fun and she kept a smile book.  I thought what  a great idea and started one of my own.

Fast forward 20 years, Lisa is now my sister in law!  I married her cute brother Mike. (YES!)  Lisa still keeps a smile book and I love that!  I love looking through my old smile books, my favorites are from when Mike and I were dating and when we first started having kids.   Actually I love them all.  It is quite funny to see what made me so happy when Mike and I were dating.  I was over the moon in love with him.  Here are few from back then.
Mike sat next to me at church

Mike gave me a piece of gum.

Mike winked at me during class…. twice!

Joyce, Mike, Jeff and I went heart attacking!  I sat next to him in the car!

Ha! Ha! I think Mike could have walked by me and I would have written it down!  I love reading back through it and so do my kids.  They have some great memories. There are more meaningful ones.

Mike whispered “I love you”

Had a wonderful walk on the lake with my dad.

Family Home Evening…. I know this church is true.

Our first dance…. perfect …

I am really glad I kept one and I will continue to keep one.

It is really easy to start a smile book, Just get any book, with blank paper or lined paper!  I love the spiral bound lined notebooks, I can not write nor sew a straight line to save my life.  A lined notebook works super for me.  I also prefer the hard bound ones, they last longer I think.  Everyday just write one, two, three or five things that made you happy that day, things that made you smile or feel grateful.  Funny things that your kids said that you never want to forget.  We keep one as a family and I have recently decided to get each of the kids their own.  Those kids that are writing so, Heston, Tucker, Mikey and Emma.  I can not wait to see what they have to say!

These are a few smile books, the little one is from when Mike and I were dating, the hearts is my own and the stripe is our family!

This one from 2007! One of Tuckers is Got to Vacuum!  I love it!

 

Smile books are great~ I will share with you something personal.  Mike and I have been married for 16 years, and like every other couple in the world we have had some trying times.  Times when you can forget why you married in the first place, start to forget all the wonderful and good that your spouse has.  When we were going through this rough patch, I decided to keep a smile book just about Mike. Everyday I had to write at least three things about him that I loved or appreciated.  I also would tell him each night what they were.  I did not expect him to respond or to have three for me, it was for me to love him and to see the good in him.  The first few times, it was tough and a little awkward, it got better and better and soon we were both sharing three things a day that we appreciated about each other. It was fun to find the little less obvious things.

It changed our marriage.  It changed our outlook on our marriage and each other.  We were daily looking for the good in each other, looking to be kind ourselves.  Being aware of things as simple as bringing in the mail , to taking out the garbage that can so often go unnoticed.  It made us more aware of how we treated each other.  I am so grateful for the smile book! Even today, I look for three things that I appreciate about Mike.

So, I encourage everyone to get a smile book!   We have one as a family, that is always fun to look back on.  So get one for your family and get one for yourself!  If you would rather be on a computer, get a file for your computer that you add to daily.

I think being grateful is a choice, being happy is a choice.  You choose to see the good in the world, there is so much good….. The more grateful you  are , it seems the more blessings and joy you will have in your life.  I hope today is a happy day!  I hope tonight you take the challenge of starting a smile book! I would love to hear if you did and love to see the things you have in your smile book!  I always loved reading Lisas!

I have to say how grateful I am for Lisa, she is a sweet, kind, hard working, super, amazing ,talented lady and I am so grateful she is not only my friend and has been for years before I was blessed to be her sister in law.  I love her example of her grateful attitude!

Okay!!  So get a smile book!  See how it changes your life!! If you want add to mine by commenting on the post!  Maybe I should add a page that we can all add to daily… thoughts anyone?  SMILE LOTS TODAY!

Have a happy, happy day!!

HUGE HUGS!

Lara

SMILE BOOK!

1. Last night during prayer, Marsha would fold her arms, reach out grab some food, eat it and refold her arms!

2.Peanut butter Toast!  YUMMYYYYY!

3.Mike grabbing me and just kissing me for few minutes….. I loved it! The kids were all disgusted and yelling ewww but we did not care!!

4.  MY PHONE CALLER ID IS…… POOP INMY PANTS      Seriously, I shared this on facebook, I called Emma’s school about some volunteering for Emma, her guidance counselor would not stop laughing.  She said” I would normally not even tell a parent this but I think I can tell you, when you call, your caller  ID is Poop Inmy Pants! I did not believe her and she said ” no, it really is! ” I asked her to spell it out for me.  It really is Poop inmy Pants.  Every time I call a landline for over a month now, that has been my caller id.  Upon further investigating, I found out  my cute sister Tiffany is the culprit!  Last night, she was so happy and giddy that I finally knew!  What a stinker!  but oh the laughs we had over it!