Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

Forgiveness

Prime Rib

Homemade stuffing

Delicious food

Even better company

Cousins older than my kids who play with them without an ounce of complaint

No fighting amongst cousins!

Slides from Stanton's childhood

Early bedtime (way early tonight -- 6:30 pm) after a very late bedtime last night (after 9:00 pm)

The best kids in the world

Toilet Paper

An amazing 2009 filled with challenges, growth, fresh ideas, new perspective, and increased love

Jesus Christ and His unique love and care for me and those I love most

Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

A day for the kids to hang out in their jammies as long as they wanted.

Living in a town with multiple grocery stores.

The anticipation of a night and day spent with family.

Four kids who know how to shop. We hit 4 stores this afternoon looking for some ingredients and they were amazing!

4 kids who actually chose to come shopping with me rather than have a babysitter.

Google 411. (Free 411 info: 1-800-GOOG-411). Awesome!

A wonderful night with Stanton's family.

That I actually LOVE my in-laws.

My own incredible family.

My minivan.

The calendar alarm feature on my iPhone.

The very good man I married.

When I Grow Up

I want to be Julie Andrews. She is my idol for grace, beauty, class, musicality, and the voice I wish I had.

Oh, how I love her.

One Day I'll Learn...

To read the recipe all the way through. Really, I will!

My amazing appetizer for our appetizer party tonight is supposed to a Cranberry-Orange Brie Dip. I have everything I need and am making the recipe right now, but guess what? I'm supposed to let the cranberry relish cool for at least 2 hours in the fridge before baking it with the brie. Our party is in 1 hour and 10 minutes. And I haven't even gotten to the "put it in the fridge" part yet.

One day I'll learn.......

Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

Thanksgiving Break!

Preschool and Kindergarten. What marvelous institutions that bring excitement, joy, and a change of scenery to my childrens' lives.

McDonald's and the quiet hour to read while my kids get a ton of exercise and play.

My iPhone and the apps that are on it. I love that in one little device I have access to phone, text, email, internet, and fantastic books, among many other essentials, like the scriptures and maps of the nearest public restrooms.

Patience to ride out a particularly frustrating tantrum from Chloe and the ability to love her unconditionally when she was through with it.

A clean house.

The beautiful mountain view out my back windows.

That Chloe and Lily are both learning to read. It makes scripture time so much fun. It's been fun to see the two of them support each other in learning, rather than competing with each other.

Batman and ScoobyDoo DVDs.

Brigham's incredible ability to play with toys! It's so amazing to have a child actually play with toys!

Cannon's sweet disposition, snuggly nature, and the ability to really appreciate and savor this stage, knowing it might be the last time I ever experience it. I'm so thankful for perspective and the joy that it brings.

Newly aligned, much more realistic expectations from my children and the lesson that sparked them.

Family.

Family.

Family.

Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

A new perspective and more realistic expectations for Chloe in the mornings. And the time I get to spend with her as a result.

Realizing that my kids are different with their own weaknesses, strengths, abilities, desires. Feeling like I want to celebrate them more.

Getting the Sacrament Meeting Christmas Program FINISHED! Just need to turn it in and get it approved by the Bishopric. That's a wonderful feeling and it has been neat to work on. It's definitely the way to get into the Christmas Spirit.

Lily and Brigham getting all bundled up in their snow clothes for the first time of the season and spending 45 minutes making tracks and angels in the thin layer of snow.

Hot chocolate and buttered toast afterward.

An impromptu Family Home Evening at Angie's Restaurant with Dave and Erica, who totally "get" our life. They have four kids almost exactly the same age as ours. It was a crazy little circus of 8 kids running the show, but so so so fun. Thanks, Erica, for the phone call!

A disposal.

And a dishwasher.

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Also for this. Goodness me, it just touched me somewhere deep in my soul.



If you're not seeing the full shot of this, go here to watch on YouTube.

Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

People who just step in when I need help.

Kiki.

Feeling the Spirit in my church meetings.

Being able to relate to others.

Choir. I can't believe I'm actually saying that, but I am thankful for this new calling and the opportunity it is giving me to feel the Spirit in a new way.

Beautiful music.

The desire to play with the kids.

The enthusiastic cheers of "Bingo!" "Don't Eat Pete!" and games that no one has to win or lose.

Messy, smiley brownie faces.

Trudy, who showed up at 6:00 pm, not 3 minutes after I had run out of ideas for entertaining the kids for the last hour of the night, with a box full of preschool activities she was cleaning out. We colored and talked for the last hour and it was so fun.

My children, Stanton, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which makes the forever family ideal a reality.

Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

Disinfectant

3 out of my 4 potty trained

Chloe's snuggliness when she's sick

Steve Martin. Really, I love him.

Early bed times.

Stanton insisting I actually come to bed with him tonight -- it's been 3 nights of staying up past midnight for me and I really need to break that habit before it starts.

Oh, and the hour and half nap Stanton facilitated for me this afternoon when I could hardly keep my eyes open.

I'm shallow today. Shallow, but thankful all the same.

Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

The cute way Brigham expresses himself --- "Wiw you give me a kiff?" "No, Mom, I mean ______." And his new thing -- putting his hand on his hip when he's talking to you.

The way Lily and Brigham can play together for a couple of hours without fighting.

Cannon. The little love of my life. His cheeks, his arm around my neck, his giggle, his snuggles, his wanting to be attached to my hip (yes, I'm sometimes thankful for that), his curly hair, his grin, his love of Chloe, his absolutely filling personality.

Chloe hiding and trying to scare us. She actually did scare the crap out of me last night when she was supposed to be in bed.

A really fun date with Stanton.

High School Musicals. No, not that one -- real ones. We went to Logan High's Production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." It was fantastic and the leads were excellent. So much better than anything else we maybe seriously considered doing.

Chloe, Winston, and Adam -- little Kindergarten buddies. They have a great time playing every afternoon when they get home from school and it's so cute to see Chloe with those two boys who listen to everything she says and follow along with whatever plan she cooks up.

Family History Friday --- Temple & Marriage Edition

On what date were you endowed?
29 January 2000

What are your memories of that day?
I was single and young and am not exactly sure why my bishop recommended that I receive the endowment, but I am really grateful he did. I'm not sure I would have served a mission if it weren't for the temple experience.
I was surrounded by friends and family and remember thinking if that was what heaven and the celestial kingdom were, that I would do anything necessary to qualify for it.

On what date were you married?
I always have to think twice about this one, but it's definitely 30 August 2002.

What are your memories of that day?
It was a really wonderful day. The feelings are precious and I have a hard time articulating them. We were so lucky to have all 4 sets of our grandparents there with us in the temple. My Grandpa J served as the sealer and said so many wonderful things to us in regards to the covenants we were making and the road that lay ahead. He and my Grandma J had the ideal marriage, so his words meant so much to us.
It was a hot August day and I was so glad we had all of our pictures taken before the sealing that morning. The only ones we did after were the huge family pictures and that was enough!
At our luncheon, the nieces and nephews sang, our siblings had written songs for each of us. Come to think of it, Stanton's family had written a poem and read it and my siblings did a song based on My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music (Cindy and Lori - do you have this written down anywhere?). The songs were so fun to listen to.
Our grandpas all said a few words and Stanton's mom and dad had a fun slide show of our growing up years and the time we'd "dated." (Those quotes are absolutely used properly there, but that's another story for another Friday).
The other funny memory of that day was the song Stanton and I sang together. We really didn't know each other as well then as we do now and looking back I totally understand why Stanton was acting the way he was. Anyway, I had chosen (first mistake!) a Barbara Streisand/someone else duet that she'd sung on her wedding day. It was nice and cheesy and didn't really mean a whole lot to "us" even though the words really were lovely. Stanton practiced it half-heartedly with me and when it came time to sing it, he wouldn't look at me. I kept looking at him with googly loving eyes and he just looked straight ahead. Knowing him now, I completely understand why -- he was so embarrassed. He doesn't love sharing personal experiences, feelings, etc with the general public and this was about as personal a feeling as he'd ever felt. One of things I love about Stanton is that he is who he is no matter where he is or who he's with. That was one of my first tastes of that great quality that I love so much in him -- he wasn't comfortable singing a love song with his new bride in front of a room full of people and just couldn't fake it.
Now, for the record, I don't think anyone there even noticed he was uncomfortable -- it was a thing between he and I. He wasn't rude or anything, just not acting.

Now that that's all typed out, it seems kind of weird, but what's a life story without a little weirdness, right?

Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

awkwardfamilyphotos.com -- there are days when I nearly wet myself at the hilariousness. Also, I have an arsenal of photos that could qualify for submission....

The detachable head on my shower.

A great washing machine and nice smelling laundry detergent.

Patience.

Friends who love my kids almost as much as I do.

Stores close by.

Thankful For

Today I'm thankful for:

Really great friends.

Dora and binkies --- they made Brenner like me today and I was lucky to sit and snuggle with him.

Greater love for my children and the opportunity to realize it.

Stanton's increase of love and patience for them, too.

Our life. We are blessed and I am thankful.

Batman's got the Mojo, Baby