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We will be packing our time full of information that will help you get organized, customize your business to your needs, and get ideas that will give you great direction.

See you there!  Register before October 17th at $400.  After October 17th at $450.  Contact the studio at info@davinafear.com

good. LIFE.

what I'm reading.

Every morning, as all of you know, I journal.  These days I get the kids off to school then sit down on the sofa with my journal, scriptures, and a couple of books.  Right now it's "Boys Should Be Boys" and "What Got You Here Won't Get You There".  I usually read a chapter about how to be more in tune to my kids needs from "Boys" and then read about how I can be a better business person from "What Got You Here Won't Get You There".

It's important to me to get the parenting advice I need...and I need it every day.  I love the chance to see my kids from a different perspective and to also be educated on what is facing my children.  I want to know what they are up against and how I can help them to wade through both clear and mucky waters.  The thing I want most for my kids is for them to grow up to be nurturing, helpful, kind, to know how completely amazing they are and how incredible the person is standing next to them.  I want them to understand the value of work and the power of love.  So...I need some daily help with that from a variety of very inspirational sources.

I also know that I can always take steps to become better in my business.  I need it and if I don't get it I know that my business life will become pretty stagnant...not good.  I am loving "What Got You Here Won't Get You There".  It's the perfect book for me to be reading right now as I'm trying to take everything I've been doing to a new place.  It's exciting and perplexing at the same time and I'm grateful to have Marshall Goldsmith to give me some great counsel.

I love to read and without fail I get into a book and I don't want to put it down.  Now, though, I've decided that even a great book can stress me out, get me behind in things that matter, and make me waste away my day.  Sometimes it's the exact way I want to 'waste' my day...just not every day.

I read quite a while ago in "The 4-hour Work Week"  that it was important to read non-fiction...especially self-help (I'm addicted, I admit it) any time but  bedtime.  When you read non-fiction just before bed it typically fills your mind with all kinds of ideas...making it very difficult to fall asleep.  I was totally guilty.  I LOVE ideas.  I loved laying in bed at night with my book and having ideas just come to me like crazy.  I'd lay down and have my notebook by my bed and I'd keep turning the light on with another idea that I thought of and then turn the light off...and then I'd turn the light on again with another idea.  By some kind of miracle Mike didn't kick me out of bed.  I loved the ideas but I didn't love that I would have a hard time falling asleep because the ideas wouldn't stop.

So...now, I read only novels before I go to sleep.  A book as I lay in bed each night after a long day is one of the simple things that I really enjoy.  I love my 2 minutes...or my 20 minutes (depending on how tired I am) hanging out with Bud and Geri, Jack and Claire (the characters in Last Dance at Jitterbug Lounge").  Reading calms my mind and my thoughts before turning off the light and cuddling up with Mike before drifting off to sleep.  

Now I get all of my ideas when my mind is fresh in the morning and at a time when they don't keep me up way too late flipping the light on and off...on and off...on and off...

simple. LOVE.

sleep.

I don't know about everyone else but sleep is the thing that I am the quickest to let go. So often I'm in the middle of a project of some kind that I don't want to quit. I'm on a roll...I always regret it in the morning when the alarm clock goes off at 6am. Yes! Six am every morning. The kids have to catch the bus at 6:50am so we're all now early risers. No matter what I've done the night before.

I'm going to bed much earlier now.

I'm convinced that when I'm getting consistent nights of sleep the pounds don't stick around quite so readily, life seems brighter and the world doesn't feel as stressful.

Look at the way you're living and see if you can give yourself the gift of consistent nights of sleep. You'll be glad you did.

Here are some tips I got from my health insurance company that may help you to sleep better:

• Use your five senses to become aware of your surroundings. Is your pillow too hard, is there an annoying buzz from the fan, or is it too hot? Little things like these can ruin your sleep, so take the time to find and fix them.

• Get rid of the clutter in your bedroom. Your sleep environment should be clean and peaceful. The last things you need to look at are bills on the desk and dirty laundry all over the floor.

• Adjust the temperature in your bedroom for optimum sleep. In the summer, it should be 74 degrees; in the winter set it at 67 degrees.

• Keep a writing pad on your nightstand so when you start to think of things you need to do, you can write them down and then forget about them. Your mind should be clear of pressing thoughts.

• Get the TV out of your bedroom. The light and sounds are stimulants and will keep you awake. Your body needs to associate the bedroom with sleep, not with watching TV.

• Exercise tires your body and prepares it for bed. Also, eating healthy foods with lots of antioxidants will rebuild your body during sleep, helping you feel refreshed when you wake up.

• Whole grains contain magnesium and typtophan, both natural sleep sedatives. Try munching on some whole grain crackers an hour before bed.

• The scent of lavender has special sedative qualities, like helping you sleep through the night. Place a lavender sachet under your pillow or burn essential lavender oil for a little aromatherapy.

I would add:

• No computer in the bedroom!
• Make a schedule for your evenings that will help you get into bed
• I've been taking a walk in the evenings and I consistenly weigh less on the following morning than I do mornings after no evening walk. My evening walk is just a nice, casual walk with the girls or as a family.

healthy. LIFE.

family time.

I have been looking forward to having a chance to hang out with Saylor and her family for quite a while.  Our schedules finally matched up just before I left Utah and I'm so glad.

The relationship between Saylor and her dad, Nate, is fun, encouraging, and silly.  They love to laugh together and he loves to push her to try just a little harder.  Saylor has had a few setbacks with being able to walk since her last set of casts.  She decided to try and walk while I was there with out any help and her dad encouraged her through every step on the back porch until she made it to him on the hammock.

Saylor really doesn't let anything stop her.  She jumped like a monkey on the trampoline and then raced along the ramp (given to her as a gift from a cement company) like she was in the Indy 500, and then climbed the stairs faster than I can walk them.  She is brave in the face of things most adults would definitely be woosie over and has a bit of mischief in her eyes.

It's been such a gift to get to be with Saylor and Audrey.  I've seen some of the sacrifices, patience, and love that goes into their sweet relationship.  Now, to see how all of that translates over with Saylor's dad and her brother (Stockton) and sister  (Storie) was such a gift.  

Saylor has been through a lot...and none of it would have been possible without her sweet family.

Read more about them here.

family. LOVE.

9 loads of laundry.

Yes, really.  Nine (9) loads of laundry.  I do at least nine loads of laundry every Monday.  Some people do laundry all week long....whites on Monday, colors on Tuesday, darks on Wednesday, delicate on Thursday, etc...not me!  I don't want the dirty clothes hanging around all week long. 

Instead, I just make sure everyone has enough underwear and socks to get through a week and then I do the laundry on Monday.  I make it sound like I don't like doing laundry but really I do like to see those big ol' piles of laundry get done through out the day....the piles getting smaller and smaller and the really clean, wonderful smelling clothes coming out of the dryer are such a measured accomplishment.  I also love the way laundry day makes the house and the air outside around the house smell so good. 

All week long the clothes collect in clothes hampers in each of the bedrooms and the upstairs bathrooms.  By the end of the week they are all pretty full.  I gather all of the hampers and dump them all in our hallway upstairs.  From there I make big piles of white, color, dark, and delicate clothes.  I fill one of my hampers with clothes from the white pile.  (The hamper is the perfect size for an extra large load in my washer)  I usually end up doing at least 2 loads of each pile of clothes.  Gracie loves to help find the clothes with stains and stand on her tiptoes to put the clothes in the washer.  She thinks it's funny when I pile wet clothes on top of her for her to put into the dryer.  We laugh a lot and it makes the laundry fun.  When the clothes come out of the dryer they get piled on our loveseat.

I AM NOT A FOLDER...meaning I don't fold clothes and I really don't iron them (sacrilege!).  It needs to be pretty important for me to pull out the ironing board and iron.  So...I have a basket for each room.  I divide the clothes into the basket for the people that belong in the room where the clothes are supposed to be put away.  Everyone is responsible for taking their baskets to their room.   I have some kids who like to fold their clothes and some who take them out of their baskets and stuff them in their drawers.  Everyone gets to choose how they want their clothes to go into their dresser.  the laundry is now done until next Monday.

So...maybe the laundry is something that you could let go a little.  Maybe you don't need to do a load every single day.  Maybe your don't need to be folding all of those clothes that are going to end up in a heap anyway...and maybe your kids can do a little more to help with the laundry.  There are ways to make the chores around your house more fun AND easier on you.  Notice what you love about the things you do around the house, the smell of clean clothes, the laughing 4 year old with wet clothes on her head when she's helping move clothes from the washer to the dryer, and the feeling of getting a big job done.

There's sweetness in everything....

LOVE. LIFE.