Lots of Gratitude

Well, it's been a while since I posted about what I'm thankful for.  The #1 thing I'm thankful for is that Brian doesn't have cancer!!!

That was so scary having to wait for 2 weeks to hear the results since they had to send the biopsy to California.

I'm also very grateful to be able to spend time with my Mom.  We haven't always lived where we were able to spend so much time together so it's nice to be able to now.

Another thing I'm thankful for is music.  I like how hearing a song can affect you so much.  It's my favorite part of church (besides partaking of the sacrament) (and when they choose to sing songs that I've actually ever heard of :)!).  It's one of my favorite parts of celebrating Christmas.  Songs make me laugh. They make me cry. They make me feel and learn and grow.  I always tell Brian that at my funeral I want everyone to sing A Poor Wayfaring Man Of Grief...ALL 7 verses! It's one of my favorites. I like to read it during the passing of the Sacrament.  I like to sing I Love To See The Temple when we see the temple.  I like to sing My Heavenly Father Loves Me as we drive around town looking at all of he beautiful Lilac trees, Apricot trees, and every other tree that has pretty little blossoms on it.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE music!!!

I am SOOO incredibly thankful to be the mother of 4 beautiful children.  They are so AWESOME!!  They are smart, funny, fun to be around.  They remind me every day of what really matters in this world! Blessed doesn't even begin to express my feelings about them but I'll use it.  I am incredibly BLESSED!!! They are also a constant reminder to me that what I WANT isn't always what I really NEED and that Heavenly Father is the Captain of this ship so I need to just trust in Him and His plan for me!!!

Easter clothes, girl's day out, and cute stuff my kids did...

I've been thinking lately about how much I hate to move. Today, though, I have been thinking of all of the different people I have met over the years, in all of the different places we have lived. We have truly been blessed. We have lived in some of the best wards in the whole wide world. Some weren't so great but they have just helped us to realize how wonderful it is to live in great wards. I am so grateful for Facebook and blogs! My wonderful friends are just amazing and I still can have them in my life, even though we've moved away. I have also been so blessed to be able to see Heavenly Father's wisdom in sending my children to me when he did, instead of when I WANTED him too!!! They are wonderful kids and I'm so blessed to be their mother! I know, without a doubt, that if I didn't have my children to care for each day, I would have just stayed in bed when I was in so much pain, instead of getting up and doing what needed to be done.

~I couldn't wait all the way until Easter for my kids to wear their new church clothes! They all look so nice! I don't know why Max's tie is so small, but whatev'. It's really hard to take pictures of 4 kids at the same time! I am so proud of Gracie's dress! I don't think the pictures does it justice. It.is.beautiful! Every bit as lovely and well made as any I have ever had for her from The Children's Place. And can you believe it...I got it from KMART! AND, they had so many pretty dresses to choose from that it was kind of tough to choose which one to get! I got the cute little knit shrug at The Children's Place. It was so much fun buying her pretty little Easter outfit. Gracie and I went to Spanish Fork on Friday night for Steph's daughter's 2nd bday party. The boys all had other things going on. Saturday, we just had a wonderful time. Just the 2 of us. We went to lunch with my parents and then she and I went to the mall and had so much fun buying her little earrings, shrug, and pretty pink bracelet. We needed some girl time! I just love her! Max broke her little bracelet right after church today. I was NOT happy! When I was in the kitchen I heard Gracie say to him, "It's ok buddy! (She got the buddy part from Steph's son, Josh. He's SO cute!) It was an accident. Just say, I sorry, DeeDee." She calls herself DeeDee still sometimes cause that's how she pronounced Gracie for the longest time. When Max said he was sorry, she said, "It's ok buddy." She is THE sweetest little girl! Yes, I'm biased, but she melts my heart.

~Max cracked me up on Friday. I noticed his shirt was on backwards and I told him he needed to spin his shirt around. He said, "I'm wearing it like this because the other side is dirty." I guess he figures that if HE can't see it, NO ONE can. LOL!!! I just love each of my kids so much! I don't know what I would do without them!

Today I am thankful for Brian, Zackary, Matthew, Max, and Gracie, my family and wonderful friends, my doctor, medicine that makes my trigeminal neuralgia mostly under control, my church, the gospel of Jesus Christ, our prophet, President Monson, Joseph Smith, missionaries, the young women in our ward, answers to prayers, my little no stress job that helps us make ends meet better and that doesn't interfere with my little family (most of the time. It wouldn't ever but since Brian's home I've been leaving when he can watch the kids and poor Gracie has had it with that, so I'll have to start going at night again, which is totally fine), a house to live in, food to eat, cars to drive, clothes to wear, freedom, living in a free country is a beautiful thing, our military and their families who sacrifice so much and do so much for us so we can all be safe. Our old bishop is losing his fight with cancer. He is a very wonderful man and we all just love him and his wife so much! We are heart broken for them and their family. They have wonderful attitudes! They are wonderful examples to us of faith and strength!

I am so thankful for Thanksgiving so we can all take time to think of all of the blessings we have. Sure, life isn't perfect and we have our share of problems and challenges and stresses and worries but we are so blessed in so many ways! What a wonderful, positive holiday this is! I just love it that most of the people in our country are united in gratitude on this day special day. It's just neat!

Christmas and ringing in the New Year

We had a wonderful Christmas this year even though I almost totally ruined the whole thing and we had a little change of plans.

How I almost totally ruined Christmas (for Zack anyway): I put Zack's basketball goal he wanted on layaway at Kmart early in November. I was going to get it off layaway December 23rd and it was going to work out perfectly! Well, lots of Dr's appointments, pain, festivities, callings, and craziness in general and apparently somewhere in there I was supposed to remember to make a payment on the thing at the end of November...big OOPS!!! Brian was inspired one day in December to check out the status of the layaway online...it was...CANCELLED!!! WHAT!!! WHAT!!!!!! Total heart attack city for me when I got that lovely phone call! Thank goodness Brian was able to find one on walmart.com that was actually like $40 cheaper anyway. There weren't any left in the stores here in our little town and we weren't planning any trips to the big city anytime soon so we were so LUCKY (blessed!) to find that one online! And it was delivered 2 days later which was awesome!!! Thank goodness Zack has a great dad!!!

Change of plans: We were planning to go to my parent's house for Christmas dinner but my mom and my sister Katie got sick with a stomach virus that morning that they got from my adorable niece, Emily. I feel so bad for them that they were sick because that would be a totally rotten way to spend Christmas. And my brother in law Chris who is married to Katie has his birthday on Christmas day. So he spent his big day watching Katie be sick. Fun stuff! Well, we obviously stayed home and it turned out to be an awesome day!!! I was worried how the kids would react to having a slimmer, but still, very nice Christmas gift getting experience this year compared to last years major over indulgence. They LOVED it! They were so happy with everything they got! They were disappointed to not be going to my mom's and we were too but it was SO awesome to just watch our kids relax and enjoy their gifts and enjoy the day. We haven't traveled for Christmas in several years because it just doesn't work for us anymore but we thought it would be nice to go for Christmas dinner. I'm thinking while our kids are still young enough to really enjoy the magic of Christmas this may just have to be the way we do it from now on. It was a great day! I had a lot of energy that day which is highly unusual for me so I cleaned a lot and accomplished a lot of things I had been wanting to get done so it worked great for me. I kept getting teary thinking about not getting to see my sister Dana and my brother Rob that day. I knew we'd see the rest of my family in a few days anyway but I was really sad to think I couldn't see Rob and Dana! We did enjoy just being alone for the day though and realize sometimes a change of plans isn't such a bad thing after all. We spent New Year's Eve with my family and had our belated wonderful Christmas dinner and exchanged gifts and had a great time!!! It's all good!
Here are some of our pictures from the fun and crazy month of December...

Gracie had so much fun tormenting our poor tree this year. Eventually we had almost all of our ornaments on the top of the tree and only indestructible ones down low. I gave up trying to rearrange them to look halfway decent. I took this picture on Christmas Eve. Poor pathetic tree!!! I didn't want to put the gifts out until Christmas Eve because of our sweet little tornado but Brian talked me into it on the Sunday  before Christmas and sheesh...we should have waited. She unwrapped like 6 gifts. You can see that Brian's exercise bike he got was unwrapped. Silly girl! P.S. I wasn't trying to send Brian a message by giving him that bike or anything! That's what he wanted!!! Just wanted to make it clear that I didn't say here's an exercise bike fat a.. USE IT! He would just have said ditto!!

Brian made us each a hat for Christmas. Love them!!! We usually do Christmas pjs for Christmas Eve but didn't this year. Oh well, we survived! !

Apparently Gracie agrees that being surrounded by presents and chocolate = pure bliss!!!

Cute little Lucy on our way to Spanish Fork. Thank goodness Katie and Chris let her sleep over at their house with Sam and Sia when it's too cold to leave her home!!!

We came to Spanish Fork for our New Year's celebrations a day early on Thursday so we could go on a date while my parents watched all the kids. What I won't do for a date night! Even driving through white out conditions in the canyon couldn't stop me from cashing in on that prize!!!

 So, 2010..not my favorite year I must say!! A lot of trials and bumps in the road! Also many, many blessings!
Great things that have come from this year:
~A stronger testimony of our Savior Jesus Christ and a greater feeling of closeness to Him, our loving Father in Heaven, and the precious gift of the Holy Ghost.
~A stronger testimony of the power of prayer.
~A closer family unit seeing as how we are so CLOSE in our tiny house. They say love grows best in little houses and boy are they right!
~The joy we feel in watching our children grow and enjoying the precious gifts of being their parents is truly a blessing!!!
~Our children have been really healthy this year and we are so very grateful to our Heavenly Father for that amazing gift as well!
~Our gratitude to our Heavenly Father for all He has provided us with in our lives has grown tremendously this year!!!
~Brian has a great job with great benefits. We have a roof over our heads. We have food on the table. We have clothes on our backs. We have cars to drive. We have the gospel in our lives. We have friends. We live in Utah in the United States of America. We have people to love. We are blessed!!! And we are grateful!!!

So GOODBYE 2010 and HELLO 2011!!!!!  Please be kind to us!!! :)

Gratitude post...

So, with tomorrow being Thanksgiving and all, I thought I'd list some things I'm thankful for. In no particular order of course...

~My family...Brian G., Zacky T., Matty, Maxers, and Gracie Sue!!! They are the best!!!
~My family. I keep thinking about my childhood and all the fun memories I have! Thanksgiving was so awesome when my Uncle Don's family, Grandma Hazel, the missionaries, and people in our branch who didn't have anywhere to go, would come over and we had so much fun!
~The gospel of Jesus Christ and His redeeming sacrifice for us and His great love for us!!!
~My Heavenly Father and His love for me and all He does for me and for my love for Him!!!
~My calling
~Having our own place to live and just...be
~How cute it is when Gracie runs...cutest thing ever!!!
~My friends
~Sewing (I never thought I would say that one!!!)
~Making projects
~Modge Podge :) 
~Paper plates and plastic cups
~Chocolate popcorn
~A working forced air furnace
~Snow!!!! :)
~Warm clothes
~Pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin bars, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pancakes...basically all things pumpkin. Oh, and decorating with them too!
~Washing machines and dryers
~Blue skies in the dead of winter
~That Ibuprofen helps take the edge off of my TN when NOTHING helps most people!! HUMONGOUS blessing!!!
~Being diagnosed with SOMETHING. Not the actual diagnosis..that sucks big time..but I have gone to so many doctors and no one could tell me what was wrong. It was horrible not knowing for so long why I feel the way I do. Someone that was supposedly close to us even told people that he thought I was bipolar because of the extreme changes in me from one day to the next sometimes from one hour to the next. You try feeling excruciating pain in your head and different parts of your face ALWAYS but with varying levels of pain and then some days you don't feel SO bad so you actually CAN function a bit better and then the next day you're back to feeling like crap. Or sometimes you feel super for hours in a day and then suddenly you have so much pain you can't stand it or you wake up in pain at 4a.m. and don't get enough sleep on top of the pain you have and then see how super bright and smiley you are and how consistent your moods and functioning levels are. You never know what can trigger it to intensify it just happens (it turns out stress can make it worse and I was beyond EXTREMELY stressed in the living situation I was in at the time. AND you have 4 precious kids to care for AND I had a person in my life who was trying to make it as difficult as humanly possible. Not a good combination!
~I am so thankful for Brian I know I already said that but he has been amazing through this whole thing. He loves me and I love him. Our relationship has grown in many ways over these past about 2 years or so and he has helped me so much and has been so loving and understanding and I just don't know what I would have done without him!!!! We are not perfect. Our life is not perfect. Our relationship is not perfect. But we have learned a very important lesson this year. We might not have a lot of worldly possessions and life isn't easy but as long as we have each other and our sweet little kids we are ok. So sorry he has been through so much this year but I am so grateful for his unconditional love and I want the best for him!!! He is an amazing man and I just wish EVERYONE knew that!!!
~Prayer
~The Priesthood
~Blogging
~Music
~The scriptures
~My notebook/laptop thing Brian gave me for my birthday in January
~Nursery
~Vacuum cleaners
~Reading
~Journaling
~The healing power of gratitude! Life is so much easier, happier, and more enjoyable when we look for the good things in it rather than the bad things.
~Modern Medicine
~Healthy, happy kids!!!

Attitude and gratitude

My last post was all in jest but since I have been trying to count my blessings more I had a hard time keeping myself from talking about how much I love living here at the end of that post because I wanted to keep it light and silly. Do I wish I had a dishwasher...UMM, YEAH!!!  Do I miss having a garbage disposal...absolutely! Do I cringe every time I have to vacuum because I know that there will be less of the green carpet by the time I'm finished because no matter how careful I am a string of it ALWAYS gets sucked up in my vacuum and stuck on the roller thingy...DUH!  Could I go on and on about the little things that bug me about this house...FOR HOURS!!!

BUT I LoVe...

Having our own place to live.

             Our ward for about a gazillion reasons.

                          Our yard.

                                      That our kids are in the same school as they were last year.

That the bus picks them up at our house.

            The cute little bunnies that hop through our yard all the time.

                       That our kids see beauty in the things we find fault in. See previous post-orange carpet comment :)   

    That there were already holes in the walls and carpets and scribbles on the walls when we moved in so I am not SO worried that the kids will cause damage to the place.      

         That the atrocious green carpet makes me think of my Grandma Hazel every time I see it. She had ugly green carpet too. It was in perfect condition and very clean, unlike our green carpet but still, it makes me think of her so I still kind of like it.  

                     That sometimes when I walk into the back part of the house near the bathroom it smells like my Grandma Irvine's house did and makes me think of her. I LOVE that!!!

            That I am grateful every day to have a roof over our heads so that our family is protected from the elements and from harm. 

     That I have realized that it doesn't take a lot of fluff to make a person happy. You can be happy or miserable anywhere you live. It is all in your attitude. We are choosing to be happy and boy are we ever happy! We have our fair share of trials that's for sure but ultimately we are happy. We love each other. We love our greatest gifts..our children. As long as we are together we don't care where we are. I feel such a lovely peaceful spirit in this house. I KNOW we are supposed to be living here right now. I think that the reason that we couldn't find a place to live, even though we were desperately praying, driving up and down every street in several towns all the time, diligently, desperately searching for our own place to live, that Heavenly Father knew that we needed to live HERE. The people that lived here had bought this house as a fixer upper only about a year and a half before we rented it. The husband lost his job and they ended up having to move to Montana. They didn't have any money to fix it up and so it's in the same condition it was when they bought it. Heavenly Father has a plan. He is in charge. We appreciate all He gives us every day. We are truly  blessed people!!! We might not have as much as others. We have more than some. We have sufficient for our needs. We NEED the gospel, our family, food, shelter, clothing. We have those bases covered so IT'S ALL GOOD!!! It seems the
less we have the more we feel blessed. The more we appreciate what we DO have. The more we are able to have our priorities where they need to be. 

One last thought...think of all the crazy celebrities you see in the news. Fame and fortune do not make you happy! You can live in a mansion and be a MISERABLE person or you can live in the gutter and be the happiest person on earth! It is all in your attitude and your gratitude! It's a very conscious choice. "Men are that they might have joy". Our bishop reminded us of that Sunday in his talk in church. This man who is fighting for his life in a battle against the stage 4 cancer that is in his body stood at the pulpit and urged us all to find the joy in life. To look at our lives and if we are not happy, then we need to live the gospel more fully and find the joy in life and be HAPPY!!! What an amazing man! What an amazing message! One thing that has been on my mind for the past few months is that we need to see ourselves as Heavenly Father and Jesus see us. It's not always easy but blesses our lives so much when we make an effort to see our eternal potential. 

WE...ARE...BLESSED!!!! 

I'm in love...

with this time of year!!!

I never thought I would be one of "those" mom's. You know the ones that just couldn't wait to have her kids go back to school after the summer. I always thought I would be super sad when they went to school. I am always a bit nostalgic, especially when my kids go to kindergarten, of course, but this year I felt PURE JOY when they went to school and it just gets better every day.  The kids were so restless by the end of the summer. I had started a schedule with them because they really thrive on knowing what to expect and having stuff to do. They made lots of science projects, played outside lots, played in our little swimming pool, had very little t.v. time, read books, made crafts, I taught them to sew pillow cases, they drew lots of fun pictures. They loved it! They were very excited for school to start. Matthew is our sleeping-in child and he is usually a bear every morning when he's getting ready for school.  He cries and begs not to go to school many mornings.  So I was getting nervous about the first day of school with him.

Usually I take them to school the first day. Take a picture of them in their new classroom. Sometimes I take a picture of them with their new teacher. Zack's getting older and this ritual embarrasses him. Matthew and I met his new teacher the week before school started in his classroom. He was very nice. Matthew found where his backpack would hang. Took a little tour of the classroom. It was great. So when they wanted to ride the bus (which picks them up in front of our house  HOORAY!!!) instead of having me take them to school that first day I went with it. I felt sad I wouldn't be taking their picture at school and stuff but I figured it would be better for Matthew to not have me there.  They LoVeD their first day of school!!! It was only half a day for the first 2 days. Matthew started begging to stay home the 3rd day of school.  He's such a little home body. He loves being home!! But he loves school while he's there. He just doesn't like the going part I guess. Probably hates the waking up early part most. Max started preschool last Tuesday.  He is a bit timid about it this year because he only knows one of the kids in his class. She was on his t-ball team this summer. It's a pretty big class too.  Once he makes some more friends I'm sure he'll love it even more. I am really enjoying the 2 hours, 3 days a week thing. Who knew that 6 hours a week with only one very quiet child could be so rejuvenating.  I all but did a happy dance the other day in the kitchen when I was telling Brian how great it had been having the kids in school again. It's wonderful!!!  I thrive on having my own schedule back again. It helps me be a better mom to have a bit of a break once in a while. They love interacting with friends and learning new things and the whole school thing.   

And don't you just love everything about this time of year.  The weather is PERFECT!!! It's not too hot, not too cold.  It smells like fall. The food gets so super yummy and comforting.  I love it when I can start making soups, stews, and casseroles again.  And...apple pie!! So delicious!!!  No air conditioner. No heater.  I get to wear my light jackets or long sleeves.  I just thoroughly enjoy each of the seasons.  I love that we live somewhere that has all of the seasons.  There are places that don't really have much of a fall.  Who doesn't love the beautiful colors as the leaves change?!  I so enjoy the decorations and holidays of fall.  And the smell in the air and in the house.  It's just a wonderful time of year!!!  I feel so happy and so grateful for all of our blessings and to be living on such an amazing planet that our Savior created for us.  What marvelous gifts he gives to us.  How blessed we are to have fall.  To have seasons.  To have apples.  And pumpkins.  And the smell of cinnamon.  And such a gorgeous state to live in.  To have such great family.  To have the gospel in our lives.  To live in a free country.  To have shelter and transportation and food and clothing and shoes.  We are truly blessed!!!!!  I just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this time of year!!!!

Super blessed...

So, we have been going through some pretty tough stuff the past few months. One of the problems on their own would be a challenge but going through both trials has been really hard. We have been constantly amazed at the love of our Savior!!! We are so grateful for the many blessings He showers us with. It is sometimes hard to recognize the blessings when there are difficult times but we have been reminded of our blessings over and over these past months and we are grateful. It seems like when we have reached the end of our rope He throws us another line and we feel so blessed again to see His hand in our lives. It's been hard not to murmur and complain and feel discouraged and totally not blessed but we have tried so hard to remain positive throughout the hard times. We have good days and bad. The bad days are especially bad and thank goodness we have loving, supportive family members and friends to help us get through the really low times and then we can pick ourselves back up, dust ourselves off, and face the next day with a smile on our faces and a determination to be happy, even in our trials. I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father. I am grateful to know that He knows me and loves me and hears and answers our prayers. Not usually in our time frame but always in the time frame that is best for us. I know He lives and loves each of us. I know that He wants us to be happy. I know that He wants us to talk to Him. To pour out our hearts to Him and ask for His help, love, guidance, peace, and comfort. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for my precious little family! I feel blessed each time I hear them laugh, see them smile, get loves and kisses from them. They are the greatest gifts and blessings in my life! I am happy to be Brian's wife and to be parents of such amazingly wonderful children!!! I also feel so very blessed to live in our country. So grateful to all of the people who have fought for our freedom and for the freedom of others. So happy to know that all of my blessings come from my Heavenly Father!!!!

It's WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!

Isn't it a perfect day to be alive!!! I marvel at this gorgeous earth that our Savior created for us! It is truly AMAZING!!! From the most breath taking "Wonder's of the World" to the tiniest ladybug. The true "wonders" like snow falling from the sky, green leaves on trees changing to the most magnificent colors in the fall providing the most amazing afternoon drives imaginable. The way 2 of the tiniest things ever, can come together and create a person. A very detailed and intricate person. Every blood vessel, cell, eye lash, fingernail, heart valve, fingerprint, bone, crease and crevice, is in the right place and doing the right thing, working together to make a life.  A PERSON!!! Now that is INCREDIBLE!!! We are so blessed to live in this time of unbelievable medical technology and breakthroughs! And with so many conveniences and luxuries at our fingertips. It is a gorgeous day and I am so grateful for it! Grateful for a loving Father in Heaven who loves me and helps me through this crazy life! Grateful to have sweet little angels to raise, to nurture, to teach, to read to, to encourage, to pat on the back, and kiss and love!! I have a sign in my house that says Life doesn't have to be perfect to be WONDERFUL!!!! SO TRUE!!!! Not always easy to remember but SO TRUE!!!!