I'm Thankful

Here's a cute picture of Kennedy and Rylee last Sunday.



I cooked Thanksgiving dinner this year for most of my family and extended family, a turkey and all the trimming. Here is a picture of Megan and Rylee pealing 10 pounds of potatoes. I was very grateful. Pealing potatoes is one of my least favorite food preparations. It was too crazy the rest of the day and therefore I didn’t take any other pictures.



It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without doing a grateful post. I don’t have 12 or more hours to do this so know that it will be utterly incomplete. There are just too many things on my list.

I will start with my family. I’m not sure how I got so lucky. I have the most beautiful children. They are also the smartest kids I know. Ok now I may be a little biased but this is my post. I am blessed to have 3 more children who are one of the greatest blessings in my life. They are amazing individuals who teach me by their example everyday.

I’m thankful for our air purifier. It’s about 20 years old and very loud. I need the noise to sleep. I am a very light sleeper and even with the rumbling of the purifier right next to the bed it’s still hard to tune out all the little noises.

I’m thankful for down comforters. My body turns into an oven in the night. I open the window in the winter and close our door so all the cold air stays in. Poor Steve freezes. The comforter helps him quite a bit. That way I don’t have to feel so guilty.

I’m thankful for take out. I use cook a lot and I think I’m pretty good at it. However in the last couple of years I have slacked on my job quite a bit. Take out has fed my family many nights.

I’m thankful for my membership at Spirit Fitness Club. Without it my sanity would not be intact.

I’m thankful for face bronzer. My skin tans rather easily in the summer and I’m still not too concerned with the skin damage, however on my face it is a different story. I am completely obsessed with covering my face. Therefore my face sees very little sun and therefore is white while my body is dark, not very appealing. That’s where face bronzer comes in. It is absolutely perfect. You can look like you have a tan without any damage. It clears up a lot of blemishes as a bonus.

I am also thankful for the peace of mind I am given each day. I am definitely a worrier. I have been all my life. It caused great stress and anxiety for me. For years now I have been able to control it with help from Heavenly Father and it has completely changed my life.

I am thankful for my friends. I am very blessed to be surrounded by amazing women. I learn so much from each of you and hopefully I am using your examples to better myself.

Lastly I am very grateful to have a testimony. Without my faith I would not be where I am today, which is HAPPY. I am truly a happy person. I have moments where I begin to feel otherwise, however those moments are short lived.

I am thankful for HAPPINESS.

Today I took some head shots of Megan for her portfolio. She is so beautiful.

Happy Day!!! No More Diapers!!!

JACK IS POTTY TRAINED!!!
YEAH OH YEAH!
The week before we went to Phoenix I started putting underwear on him and after he would pee in his pants he would want them off immediately. Several times I told him he would just have to wear them until I had time to change him. He did not like that one bit. Jack has a really hard time with his hands being dirty so to walk around in wet pants was not his idea of something that was ok for him. After about three days of this he told me, as we were sitting up to the table that he had to go to the bathroom. I was ecstatic. We ran in the bathroom and sure enough he had held it until he got onto the toilet. Since then he has been able to run to the bathroom each time he has had to go. I was worried that when we left he wouldn’t be able to keep it up but he did.

The biggest struggle since then has been trying to get him to wear a diaper when he goes to bed. The night before last he woke up at 4am (I was of course already in his bed from him waking up earlier) (that’s how my night generally goes) he was moving around a lot and crying. When he finally woke completely up he told me that he had to go to the bathroom. And again last night he woke up at 3am to go potty. Yeah again! I guess I won’t have to fight with him about diapers at night now.

I thought we would never get to this point and now that we have crossed the big hurdle I’m not sure why I ever doubted him.

YEAH OH YEAH!
I AM OFFICIALLY DONE WITH DIAPERS!!!

"HALLOWEEN" 4 Nights in a Row!

Wednesday was the Halloween party for Kennedy and Rylee at Gymnastics. I FINALLY got Rylee’s costume done so yeah she got to be the vampire she wanted just like Kennedy. I planned on making a costume for both Rylee and Kennedy. However, I began sewing Rylee’s the first of October and by the middle of October I was still working on it. Therefore when we went to Las Vegas for UEA I decided we had better buy Kennedy a costume. We did and it was a good thing because I only finished Rylee’s costume a few hours before the Gym party.







Thursday was the “Trunk-or-Treat” for our ward, again just another excuse to dress up. The kids decided they would dress up as something different for tonight.

Kennedy was a beautiful princess. She always looks like a beauty queen.

Rylee was also a princess. (not by her choice however.) It was short notice and that is all I could come up with. When she got her face painted they asked what she wanted and she told them a skeleton or a spider. Anita Bunker who was kind enough to paint the kids faces said “I don’t know how to paint those, how about a butterfly or fairy wings?” Rylee said “no” so she said “how about a shark” Rylee was ok with that. She’s really quite a tom boy. But at least she’s a cute tom boy.

And then there was Jack. I looked and looked but we had nothing to dress him up as so he said “how about a witch.” We did have that. So he was a cute little witch. He was pretty upset that we forgot his broom though.

Friday of course was Halloween. And lo and behold we had a sick ward. Both Rylee and I were up the entire night prior with the stomach flu. Not an enjoyable night. Poor Rylee was so sad when Kennedy and Jack were headed out the door to go trick or treating that I couldn’t bear it. I allowed her to get dressed up as well. Steve took her and Jack in the stroller. Jack was sick Monday night and once it was all out of him he was ok by Tuesday night. I figured it was probably just a 24 hour bug and that Rylee had the same thing. I couldn’t take trick-or-treating away from her.