the end of november, really?

it’s is hard for me to believe that november is pretty much over.  I mean, it went by so fast!  it helped that I was a single mother for nearly half of it.  those were days that I prayed would pass quickly.

so here we are, at the end of the thankful train.  not sure I got out all that I was thankful for, I know I didn’t post every day like I wanted to.  but hey, there is always next year, right?

I am thankful for the gifts and talents I have been blessed with.  there are many things I enjoy doing, and most of those things are to the credit of others teaching me how to do them.  I am thankful for many creative people in an inspirational world, who share, teach, and inspire me daily.

here’s a couple of layouts with products from some pretty amazing talented women.

(click on images for full credits.)

so if you love what you see, there is a pretty amazing sale going on at jessica sprague.  save up to 35% on product and 20% on classes (even the new ones)!!  they would make some pretty fun gifts..  for you or someone you love.

not to mention a FREE holiday class.  she does this every year!  how sweet..  it starts monday, so go register!

(click here to register.)

now go tell your friends!

not so great with the follow-through.

so I realized, I said I was going to catch up on the picture-posting, and well, I haven’t.

I could toss out any number of excuses, the effects of a head cold, the effects of little people when they are sick, holidays, houses, global warming..

but really?  like any of those have stopped me?

(okay, maybe a couple have aided me in my failure..)

so I am going to attempt to rectify this situation.  and I will do you one better than that, I will even get a thankful thing out too!

what better way to start than to start off with my best friend.  mostly because she is my best friend, but secondly because she is amazing, and so is her family.  and then, well, because she is my best friend.

I am so thankful (if you can’t tell already) that she is part of my life.  I am so thankful to have her right next door pretty much any time I need her, or anytime I just want to be near her.  she was my sanity while merrill was gone for two weeks (far, far too long a period of time for that man to be absent), and she has been the sidekick to many of my creative projects (many of which were undertaken while merrill was gone).  she is there to listen to me, talk me off of a cliff, ledge, or any other bad spot in life.  we laugh a lot and she never makes me feel guilty about my choice in food groups (sugar anyone?).  my family loves her.  partly because she notifies me when our favorites have gone on sale at a local store, but mostly because she helps me maintain my sanity.

I am thankful for her family too.  I love her kids!  we enjoy double dating when we can, and love getting our families together (although it has been a while..).

I am thankful that she asked me to snap some new family pics this fall.  it is always a good time with them.  it is quite an honor to capture a family, especially when it is one I love so much!

love ya ju!!

   

little lynnie turns 9.

I was a little (and to say a little, is totally understating it) shocked to think that it has really been 9 years since this kid has entered our lives.

I like to relive every moment of her entering our world, reliving that moment when she made me a mom.

gosh that was awesome!

today, I am thankful for her.  she is turning into such a little lady!  I mean, she really was all along.  sure, she had her dinosaur phase, her super-hero phase, but all the while, underneath it all, she has been a girlie girl.  she called lip-gloss and lipstick, “glip-gloss” and “yip-stick” for the longest time.  she never went anywhere without it.  still doesn’t.

lynn, I love that you love to read, even if it is four different books at a time.  I love that you sing, no matter what.  even if your friends (or family) give you weird looks, you belt it out.  you are silly.  I love it when you are tired, and something really tickles that funny bone of yours.  that giggle is awesome!  I will buy you orbit gum just to hear you do your own version of an orbit commercial.  that giggle again…

I am thankful that you are such a great help with your younger sisters.  I am so happy to see you take peyton and give her make-overs.  I love seeing that special relationship that you have with her.  I am so happy that you and ashley are so close.  even on the worst days, when you two swear that you will never play with the other one ever again, we can find you two snuggled up together in one of your beds.  sometimes you are even asleep!  you have inherited my gift of gab, and it is quite entertaining to have you talk, non-stop, as soon as you are in the door after school.  I love that you have also inherited my love of carbs.  a roll with butter should be considered part of every meal, especially your sack lunch (which is a sandwich, drink, sometimes chips, and cookies).  I am thankful that you give everything your best, that you can be so stressed over an up-coming test, but you get 100s like it’s nothing.  you give it your all.  I know that you and your dad are best buddies, you almost couldn’t survive with him gone for two weeks, but I am thankful for the relationship that we have and that is growing everyday.

I am thankful that it was you who grew in my belly first.  you that we get to practice all of our parenting skills on.  I am thankful that you are such a good kid, and we don’t have to practice too many things on you (ashley bears the brunt of that, that darn kid).  I am thankful for your bedtime kisses, your spontaneous hugs, even though the top of your head is getting ever closer to mine…

I am thankful for how persistent you are at everything you do.  even if that means practicing your cartwheels inside the house, in the family room, when I have asked you not to, repeatedly.  but you don’t give up!

besides the fact that you look just like your dad, you were meant to come to this family, and I am thankful, above all, to a loving heavenly father who trusts me (somehow) to be your mother. 

I love you.

a funny story to tell.

so I will get to a funny story in a minute, I ought to catch up on those thankful bits and pieces.
- so thankful for date-in nights with merrill.  chinese take-out and a flick, time with him, awesome.  I should also note that nachos and and a flick on upstairs in the loft for the kiddos is a necessary addition to that awesome date night equation.
- sundays at home with the family.  all is quiet in the house, and we just get to be together.
- I am thankful for the talents I have, for the information that is available for me to add to those talents, to strengthen them.
- I am thankful for two days of school this week!!!  (although I am questioning if I will make it through…)
- I am thankful for this time of the year, for the holidays, the coziness of home, the baking…  having everyone together.
so here’s a funny story:
a friend of mine from school asked if I would take some family pictures for her.  I have taken her boys pictures a couple (here and here) of times already, and they are hilarious!!  I would just love to photograph ryker’s expressions and drake’s eyes all day long….  anyway, she wanted an orchard, but we were coming up short on an awesome orchard, so we opted for some old (or not so old?) tracks up the canyon.  I have been there MANY times, and have only seen a train once.  no problems.
we were not on the tracks (at the time) but a little close, and we had an engineer yelling at us and blaring his train horn.  how could we tell he was yelling you might ask?  head, hanging out of the window, arms flailing, mouth going..  he was yelling.
we continued on with our little shoot only to have a union pacific official come to visit us, make sure we were being safe and give us a heads up that the engineer was calling the sheriff. 
our shoot ended a bit prematurely.
now I am not downplaying the safety issue or anything.  I felt like we were in a safe spot, like I want to kill my friends?  but I do understand how these guys would be extra nervous what with all the accidents that have been going on with trains+people lately.  I would be ticked too.
so we had to do part two.
just a few of my favs:
(and by few, I really mean more than a few.)

a few things to be thankful for…

- the snow falling right this second.

- a husband to back me up when my voice doesn’t sound stern enough.

- tissues.

- triaminic (in both the day time and night formulas).

- bubble baths.

- my new, uber-organized laundry room (it’s awesome I tell you).

- three little girls, who, despite being sick, and all of them being home, are pretty alright.

- cousins who share their babies with me, especially their milestones.

it’s like christmas at the pitcher house.

seriously.

it started with snow, and then I started in with the christmas tunes, and movies (and for all the bah-humbuggers/grinches, I have a totally valid argument for that, to come later..), and then the scentsy scents, and well, the best present of all…

merrill came home!!!

(it was only two weeks…  two very long, much TOO long weeks.)

I found ways to kill time..

painting a couple of rooms.

re-doing my picture wall. 

painting a bookcase in the living room.

re-arranging/re-working a couple of rooms.

taking apart and fixing my dryer.

a couple of photo shoots (one in which we had to leave quickly, before the sheriff arrived).

editing photos.

(which I need to catch up on posting, like desperately.)

playing with the girls.

playing just dance with the girls.

watching movies with the girls.

putting little girls to bed early so my brain and emotions could have a release.

and some scrapping…

exciting news at jessica sprague:

pink paislee has joined the ranks of awesome designers there!!

 

darling stuff there..

(click on layouts for full credits.)

and then there is some new lovely goods from miss samantha walker.

the name of the paper pack I used for this layout is “foundations gray baby”.

and well, if you know me, ever been to my house, you’d know just how much I adore babies and the color gray.  I would have painted the whole first floor of my house gray while merrill was gone if I could have also refinished the cabinets.

(but I am not that crazy.)

I will have to post pictures of what I did while the husband was away (for far too long I might remind you again..) soon.

so to catch up on the thankfulness:

friday-

so very thankful that I have lovely pictures of the temple to display in my home.  so thankful to have them so abundantly and so near us.

saturday-

I am thankful for my body, for my health and strength, and ability.  thankful for the fun (and exercise, and sometimes bruises) I get with good girlfriends playing volleyball.  (BEAM!!)

I am thankful for the snow today, and for the “elf” soundtrack.  (I will really have to get into my completely valid reasons why christmas is coming before thanksgiving in this house.)

I am thankful for red bull.  you see, I was awake at 5:45 and could NOT go back to sleep.  I was excited for volleyball, thinking of the finishing touches for a few projects, and mostly because merrill was coming home that night.(!!!!)

no napping.  too excited for napping.  thankful for red bull.

I didn’t tell the girls about merrill coming home until an hour before we left to get him from the airport.  their squeals of delight were awesome (and reminded me why I waited to tell them).  I was so thankful, that despite the snow, and many accidents throughout the day, we made it to the airport safely and in time.

that reunion was so sweet!

so thankful that he made it home, because if he hadn’t, I would have lost it.

for real.

sunday-

so thankful to have my WHOLE family under the same roof to enjoy the evening.  incredibly thankful for the many prayers that were answered over the course of our two (way too long) weeks.

I think bonus is the word of the day.

so here I am, at the end of the day, not one, not two, nope, not even three days later.

today I am thankful for things that one might call shallow.  but aren’t all things in life that either make life easier, us happier, blessings?

that’s what I thought.

so I am going to count them one by one.

so today I am thankful for the ogden rescue mission’s thrift store.  I found a nightstand for peyton’s little room and I scored a bonus chair!  (merrill will undoubtedly shake his head at yet, another chair.  this one has taken on a new identity of glossy black!)  bonus on top of that bonus, my purchase was an additional 25% off the marked prices!  bonus bonus.

I needed something to go by her bedside to hold a few special items and I didn’t want it to be just anything, I also wanted it to be a certain color.  so there ya go.  thrifty finds!

(I am still kicking myself for not buying a small statue for $7 that was of a couple, the woman sitting in a man’s lap, they were passionately making out.  would love to have that in my boudoir!)

the other thing I am thankful for is my introduction to polycrylic top coat spray.  I recently heard that polyurethane yellows (gross) but polycrylic doesn’t, and as a bonus, it is more durable.  has a harder finish.

then, as I moved on from this miracle in a can, I was thinking I would get me some cans of white spray paint.  I wanted this nightstand to be high gloss.  I thought I knew just what I was going to get, when an extra tall can of glossy white spray paint grabbed my attention (and my heart as I would later discover).

high performance enamel.

professional results.  (bonus.)

high durability.  (bonus.)

high gloss.  (hello, bonus!)

dries in 15 minutes?!  (holy bonus of all bonuses!)

dude, you so had me at high performance enamel.

this stuff is amazing.

I am so thankful for it.

it makes a lovely combination with my polycrylic topcoat jobber.

so you see, these seem to be a bit shallow.  but you weren’t in my head, dwelling on a night table for my sweet youngest baby.  finding things that were waaaay too pricey and oh, so not right.  then to find this?  and you will remember, I am sure, the sweet baby is 3 going on 4, and well, we need high durability like lindsay lohan needs to rewind the past 6 years of her life (know what I mean?).

so answers indeed.

blessings all around!

a little game we will call “catching up”.. and a funny story for your troubles.

that’s right, I promised a funny story (now it’s funny) if you can actually stick out this post of catching up on all that I happen to be thankful for.

let’s see…

saturday I was thankful for snow.  I wasn’t quite so thankful that it came and bent my poor tree nearly in half, but I was thankful for the great excuse to stay home, snap some first birthday pix of my cousins babies, then snuggle up with my girls and watch some “anne of green gables”.

what can I say, watching anne spelled with an “e” is a tradition with first snowfalls around here.

I was also thankful for the dryer parts that came in the mail, and the repaired dryer.  clothes are so much softer (aka not crispy) dried in a dryer versus on a hanger in my bedroom.

sunday I was just thankful that it was a sunday.  good heavens, I love that day!  I was also thankful for the little break I had from my single parenthood going to choir practice.  a half hour can do wonders for the sanity.

monday.  I am thankful for pink paint.  it is quite cheery.  I am also thankful for a best friend who let me borrow her paint rollers, because mine aren’t placed at my home at the moment, and she also let me borrow her body, her ears, she even dispensed comforting advice!

tuesday I found myself still grateful for the best friend, and a mom, who seemed to say all the same things that darn best friend had to say.

I am also thankful for south ogden fire department and a nice guy from questar gas company who made lovely company tuesday evening.

today, well today I am thankful that I have a perfectly pink, perfectly striped little girl room.  I am also thankful for a thoughtful mother-in-law who took the girlies to tumbling.  I am sure I will be thankful for nyquil in the next hour or so.

so you want a funny story?

(it’s funny now…)

last night, it was not feeling so hot.  tired, run-down, had a little headache that was partially crying induced, partially because a certain third grader was arguing over homework, and partially due to the single-parenting situation I have been in the last week and a half.

(but that last little part is a story all by itself.)

I was supposed to go to a birthday dinner for my sweet sister-in-law but wasn’t really feeling up to it, headache, sore throat, swollen eyes and all, so I opted out.

the evening was turning out to be not so bad.  peyton decided to fall asleep earlier than she should (thank you daylight savings time…) and I was anticipating her waking up thinking she had an awesome nap and would want to party all night long and allow me a little sleep.  as I was getting her ready for bed, trying to do it all slowly and calm like, to keep her asleep, the smoke/carbon monoxide detector starts to be annoying.

I pulled a stool over to see what the deal was.  it was the carbon monoxide half of the deal freaking out.  I pushed the middle tester button thingie (cause that is what it is technically called nowadays) and then all of them started going off.  like as in every one in my house!  well, except for the wall guy one in the basement.  that one didn’t go off.  but the rest were.  as I went to put the stool away and find something sharp to put in my ears, all went quiet.

I put the sharp object down (okay, not really, I didn’t grab one in the first place), and went on getting the small people in my house to bed.  right after we said bedtime prayers, the blasted thing started going off again.

fantastic.

I decided to play it safe and such, seeing as I am kinda solely in charge of these kiddos, and merrill said he would not be replacing any of them if something happened, got coats on them, all zippered up and hoods on, bundled them up in blankets and sent them out to the front porch while I tried to find a non-emergency number for the fire department.

that was pleasant.  alarm going off, and I cannot seem to find the location of that number.  so I call my trusty neighbor, the one who is my best friend and lets me borrow lots of stuff. 

so I call the non-emergency dispatch number.  it refers me to another non-emergency dispatch number.  once I finally got a call in to the right non-emergency dispatch, they started asking all the typical carbon monoxide related questions:

“is anybody feeling ill?”

“well, I have a headache, but I know it’s crying related.”

“is there anybody else with you in the home?”

“yes.  three children.”

“get them outside immediately.”

“they already are.”

“good.  we need to verify your address and then you need to disconnect with me and evacuate the home.”

after I verified the address three times, and evacuated the home, I went outside to sit with the girls.  they were having the time of their lives.

it had to have been 20-something degrees.

they were so happy though.

we waited a few minutes and then watched as the fire engine passed our house.

then a police car.

then the police car came back, shined his spotlight on us and asked, “are you the ones who called about carbon monoxide detectors going off?”

“yupperoonies.”

(okay, so I said yes.)

he radioed for the fire engine to come back.  apparently, despite verifying my address three times, dispatch got it wrong.  while waiting for the fire engine to arrive, we then had a lengthy discussion as to whether I am a south ogden resident or a resident of unincorporated weber county.

it was ridiculous.

dispatch radioed back the correct address and added, “that’s in south ogden.”

ha!

(he was a really nice guy though.)

he asked the girls if any of them were feeling sick, and ashley piped-up, “I am.  I am sick of hearing that thing!”  isn’t she fantastic?

everyone was so cute with the girls, and they were equally cute with them.  the declined to sit in the back of the patrol car and the fire engine.  they were having fun after all.

after checking our house with their equipment, they couldn’t find any carbon monoxide, but the detector wouldn’t stop.  so they called out the gas company.

while waiting for him to show, they let us back in the house and they tried to get the thing to stop.  they eventually did by swapping it with another one in the house.

apparently I jinxed them.  we have two nursing/assisted living facilities right down the street, and they are there all. the. time.  so I matter-of-factly stated how it must be nice having a call to help out some people on the other end of the age spectrum.  they all groaned.  “you jinxed us!!  we haven’t had to go there yet today!  we are usually there 3 to 4 times a day.  now we’ll get a call at 3 am, and when we do, we are going to toilet paper your house.”

see, they were fun.

when he finally got there, he asked if there was anything gas on the main level, I replied with, “a little girl in that first bedroom.”  and, well, it’s true.

there was nothing wrong, all they could figure was the sensors are going bad in our detectors.

did you know that you are supposed to replace them every seven years?  well, now you do, just like I do now.

I was also warned that our water heater is going to “blow”.  isn’t that fantastic?

I blame it all on merrill.  had he been home, instead of in the caribbean, none of this would have happened.  but he would claim the opposite.  he would tell me that it all happened because the universe knew it was his house.

you see, he has a bit of a persecution complex going on.  when things don’t work out the way he thinks they should, it’s because it is him.

buy a tv and the sleep timer doesn’t work, it’s because HE bought it.

want prime rib at a restaurant and they are out, it’s because HE is the one asking for it.

if our little family had been incorporated at the time color tv was invented, we would most certainly purchased a new color set the day they came out.  we would have brought it home, plugged it in, turned it on, and it would have been in black and white.

that’s my boy.

so that leads us to today.  I am thankful that those darn detectors have remained quiet.  I am also thankful that someone bought a calling card in aruba, and called.  finally.  it has been four days.

I bet you are thankful that my little (okay, not so little) story is done?

Days three and four.

I have so gratitude to catch up on! 

I am thankful for a working washer, one that doesn’t leak.

I am thankful for family, family that lives so close, family that I can spend time with, get support from.  A family that we have a lot of fun with.

I am thankful that my kids have cousins as their best friends.

I am thankful that we got to talk to Merrill today.  Two days with only a few texts as communication leads to weird/bad dreams.  The girls were so happy to talk to him.

I am thankful for my kids, to be able to look back on their little lives and to have so many memories of them.  I wish I were better at recording them..

As I took down the picture frames from our staircase to update the pictures, I got to go through the years of pictures underneath the most current one.  They go back eight years.  It was a little tearful, but I am so thankful for the blessings they are in my life!

Even though I love them like crazy, I was also thankful to have my best friend’s husband offer to come and sit with them as they slept last night so I could get out and play volleyball.

I am also thankful for this time of the year.  There is a feeling about our home as the weather turns.  We draw closer together.  It’s quite cozy.

On this snowy night, I am thankful that there is no school tomorrow, and the girls and I are snuggled up in my bed together enjoying a movie.

A lesson taken to heart.

I am not going to lie, last week was CRAZY!!  It seemed like we were hopping from one thing to another, add to that how emotional I was (over just about everything and anything, the smallest stuff would have me in tears), and the fact that we started the last month of the year (seriously, where did this year go?!), and it was nutso…

I finished off my month of gratitude with the intentions not to let that go, but at the end of the day, just about every day, I thought, “I will post that tomorrow.”  But when the tomorrows came, the craziness resumed.  Where was the time?

I do have to say what I am thankful for from the craziness of the last week.

-I am thankful for such a loving, supportive husband, who knows what I need better than I do most of the time.  He took care of the girls every night from Wednesday to Friday.  A lot of people would say, “Well, he is their dad, so…” but really, for me to have been gone or busy doing something (like having a meeting at our house), and to have him have fun with them, it was a huge relief to me.  I just wished I could have been having fun with them!  He took the day off Thursday and went to school with Ash, and from what I hear, they had a blast in class.  I was feeling bad for not spending much time with him, feeling like he was feeling neglected, add to that the “emotional” factor I was dealing with, and I was ready to call off a lunch/shopping date with a friend.  He told me, “No.  You better go.  I am taking the girls to McDonalds.  We are going to have fun, you better too.”  What a great guy!  I am glad that I went, I really needed it.  (LOVE YOU MER!)

-I was so thankful to be able to look back and reflect on each day at the end of it, and see all that had been accomplished.  Most days I had wished that I had had more time, but in the end, I was satisfied and able to sleep comfortably.  There’s nothing like the satisfaction of a full day.

-I am so thankful for our family traditions and activities this time of the year.  I am so happy that the girls remember and look forward to each and every one.  We went to the Festival of the Trees last week, and had so much fun!  I am thankful for these events that are fun, but remind us of the giving part of the season. 

-I recently made a goal to read the Book of Mormon (even though I was pretty far in it anyway) before the end of the month.  That is 18 pages a day!  It has been such a blessing to sit each day and read, mark, really study those 18 pages (sometimes more, I can’t stop sometimes!).  It helped me put life into perspective, and everyday, there were things in there that I needed to read.

-I am thankful for the kind phone calls, and messages from friends and family who know I have  been going through my own little “down”.  To know that they care, to hear their expressions of love and support are such a blessing!  I am thankful to know that I am surrounded by such great people.

I know that my week could have been even better (and maybe a little less emotional) had I kept up on my gratitudes, actually listing them at the end of every day.  I love how it helps me to readjust my focus at the end of the day, start the next one off even better.

Day 30.

Heaven knows I love my girls…

But I am thankful for bedtime tonight!

They are crazy/hyper/fun/silly/emotional/demanding little girls from the moment they wake up.  Add that, multiply it by three, and mix in a typical busy day, and you’ll have one tired mom at the end of it all.

I am thankful for the usual ease in our bedtime routine, to end our day with family prayer, tuck-ins, and kisses all around.  Family prayer is something that we happen to be good at.  It draws us closer, reminds us of the love we have in our home, even after a crazy day.

I am also thankful for the quiet (and sometimes uninterrupted) time I have with Merrill after they are all in their own beds (or sharing with big sis).  Dinner time, is not the time for Merrill and I to attempt to have a conversation.  There are too many people excited to talk to him then, fill him in on the happenings of their individual days.  No, we need the “us” time to catch up on all that we want to.

(But I do enjoy snuggles from little people in my bed too.)

I am thankful for the satisfaction I feel when I lay down after a full day.  I sleep so much better!  I feel tired and I look forward to the rest.  I also look forward to seeing how much more I can get accomplished in the next day.

I just heard someone get up for fourths on the “bedtime drink”.  Better go put the smack down..

;)

Day 29.

Tonight was the first FHE for this Christmas season.  We sang Ashley’s favorite Christmas song from primary (she requests it every time she is in charge of the song though), discussed some things we’d like to do as a family, both fun and service oriented, and we talked about what Christmas means.  To finish off our evening, we watched, “Mr. Kruger’s Christmas”.  It has been a favorite since we were kids, and we are so thankful that the church has out it out on DVD.  We’ll probably watch it 100 more times this season, and I will cry more times than that just thinking about it..

I am so thankful for this time of the year, for the lessons I re-learn every year.  I am thankful for those gentle reminders of what life is all about.  I am thankful to be reminded of how personal my relationship is with my Savior.  That is what this movie does for me. 

While he is praying, imagining that he is right there that sacred night, Mr. Kruger says some very heartfelt things.  He begins by introducing himself, but then adds quickly, “You already know that.”  He talks about how Christ has always been there for him, during the darkest times, the loneliest, he hasn’t been alone.  He acknowledges that the Savior has walked with him many times. Even when he didn’t like himself too much, he realized that the Savior loves him, and that is enough.

My favorite is when he says, “You are my closest, my finest friend…”

This all hits me, every time.

He knows me personally.  He has always been there for me, even when I wasn’t doing everything perfectly.  He has been there, walking with me during the hardest of times.  His arms are around me when I feel the loneliest.

I need to know this every day, because not every day is easy.  They aren’t all ever easy for all of us, we all have our rough spots.  Those days when it just seems too tough, when we don’t think we can make it through, we need to realize that He is right there beside us, helping us along.  We need to remember, when we feel that all have abandoned us, that He loves us.  When we feel those feelings of abandonment, when thoughts arise that there is no other friend left, He is our friend.

I am making it a goal, to have Him be “my closest, my finest friend”.

This world is a cold harsh place a lot of the time.  We have friends that we think are our world.  Those friends come and go, but He is a constant.  I want to nurture that relationship.  What better gift could I ever give myself?

Day 28.

Today was yet another awesome Sunday spent in primary (the best place on earth!).  Merrill and I taught the oldest class in primary, and love those kids.  A couple of them are very well loved babysitters. 
Primary is always an uplifting experience and I am thankful for the great people that are there with my children every week, teaching them and loving them.  You can’t be in there and not feel the spirit.  It is incredible. 
Lynn also had her baptism interview with the bishop..  it’s a mixed bag of emotions there.  She is looking forward to all the fun to come.  I think she’s most excited for the new dress, I am excited to take pics, and design her invite.
It was also another snowy day here, something that we LOVE!  I am thankful to neighbors who help us out.  We pay this one pretty nice (and good looking) guy to take care of our driveway, cover his gas and all, ;) and another neighbor came by and took care of the sidewalks.  It was a nice blessing that made it possible for us to stay in and enjoy the day as a family. 
Merrill gets perks for putting the shoveling off, and I don’t win the argument that we should really look into a snow-blower.

Day 27.

The day isn’t even done, not even near being over, and yet I am thankful.

The girls have spent the past few days playing together.  It isn’t always perfect and peaceful.  Someone usually gets their feelings hurt, and the pretend plots need to be de-dramatized sometimes.  Sometimes the players need to be reminded that it is just pretend, that we can each have ideas, and take turns playing out our ideas.

As Ashley was crying because Lynn was bored with the Polly Pockets, and wanted to play something else, I told them of what it was like for me growing up…

I had no sisters.  The only people I could play dolls with continually were my friends in the neighborhood.  I didn’t always want to play dolls.  I didn’t always want to play with my friends either.  I was a homebody (still am!) and would much rather play with my brothers, in my own home 95% of the time.

We would spend our time playing G.I. Joes, Star Wars, Micro-Machines, Hot Wheels, Legos, Constructs, or building forts.  Bottom line, we had a blast together.  I loved playing with my brothers.  They were always there, and we always had a fun time.  There were times that I wanted to play Barbies, they knew it.  I remember them building giant “men” using their Constructs, so my Barbie could have some guy friends (besides the Ken doll who had hair issues).  There was one time that Ken, my oldest brother, not the doll, spent a while making a man out of a wire hanger, toilet paper, and duct tape.  We played late into the night with my Barbie and his “man”.  They were so good to me!

They still are..

My brothers are always there when we need help.  Their hands were many of the helping hands when we moved.  They have helped in home-improvement projects, have shoveled my driveway when we were on vacations, and even when I was pregnant or had a newborn.  They have been there for me during the hard times.  They have been a shoulder to cry on.  When others treat me unfairly, they are on my side.  They always support me.  They were on the couch, right next to my dad, “cleaning” guns when a new date came to pick me up.  They are what family a means to me.  We love each other unconditionally.  We have all made bad choices, but we have always been there to support and love one another through them.   They didn’t say a word to me about my “almost marriage”, they just wanted me to be happy.  They were planning on supporting me through it, if that was the choice I made.  I later found out that not one of them really liked him.  “He was alright..  but not good enough for you.”

We always joke about how protective they are.  Joe is referred to as “Sonny” from the “Godfather”.  (That leaves either Ken or Kev to be the “Fredo” and I am not going to do that…)  He can be a little hot-headed..  but so can Ken.  He once chased down a punk kid because he knocked over my snowman.  I was 17 at the time.  Ken was 22.  And then there were the snowboarding trips that Kev and I took.  He always tried to blame me for getting him into near squabbles, but he just got upset to hear other guys on the mountain call me not very nice names when I would ask them to move away from in front of the jumps we wanted to take.  Can you see the hot-headedness?  Geez, but I love ‘em!

I recently got a massive bruise on my forearm after a co-ed volleyball tournament.  It was pretty bad.  I wore long sleeves for the first few days, didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea.  Then I started to laugh to myself.  If anyone knew my family, they would know if Merrill had laid his hands on me..

Have you seen that scene in “The Godfather”?  Sonny goes off on Connie’s husband for hurting her.

Um, that is kinda how my family is. 

When I told Merrill that thought, he laughed at me and said, “You think really highly of yourself..  you think your family loves YOU more than they love ME?”

Because that is how they are.

My brothers might not have all things in common with my sweet (but very confused) husband, but they love him anyway.

I feel a little sad for my girls, that they don’t have brothers like I do.  I am thankful that they have each other though.  This time of childhood, the innocence and the play, is so fleeting.

Someday, they will be reminiscing about all of their fun times playing and pretending together..  I wonder if they are remembering this, as they play Polly Pockets with the Christmas village and Nativity…  amoxicillin snow anyone?

I might just have to buy some G.I. Joes and Legos for Christmas, just so they can have the experience.

I am thankful for the brothers I have been blessed with, and the sisters I now enjoy in my life because they have married them. 

I love you Ken, Joe-Bo, and Kev!

Day 26.

I am thankful for the day off today!

We spent it home, as a family.  We got out all of the Christmas decorations, put them up and put up the tree as well.

I am thankful that only one ornament was lost to the hardwood floor.  Peyton didn’t really believe me when I told her that certain things were fragile. 

Besides Ash and Pey having twin coughs, that drove me nuts, it was a great day spent together.

I am thankful to a thoughtful friend who snagged me some black Friday goods, knowing how I treasure my sleep (that and the fact that Merrill had to work last night so we wouldn’t be going out..), and also knowing of some things I have been eyeballing…  she saved me about $50.  (Love you!)

I am also thankful for the leftovers we got to munch on.

I am thankful for Merrill, being home, and being so willing to run out and get things from the store when I need them (sometimes it’s just a little caffeine!), without complaint.

I am thankful for the feeling in our home, I look forward to the coming weeks, that same feeling, and the building of anticipation for the little girls who live here and are already quite excited.

Day 25: A Day of Thanksgiving.

I found myself thankful for many things today..

- Spending the morning with my girls, eating breakfast, watching the Thanksgiving Day parade together.  Seeing their excitement at certain floats (Sesame Street, Cookie Monster really..  Buzz Lightyear..).

- The girls wanting to go visit the cemetery to “see” Grandma, even though Grandma’s headstone is covered in ice and snow.

- Spending part of our morning with mom and dad.  Talking cameras with dad, talking everything else with mom.  I am thankful to have their help, interest, and support.

- Seeing my brothers and their families.  (Missed you Kev & Rand!)  It’s not often that we are ALL together, it has been a while.  I was thankful to see my nephews, be shot by them, to hold my sweet niece (who is suddenly too big..) and to enjoy a face-to-face (as opposed to phone-to-phone, or facebook message-to- facebook message) with my sweet sister-in-law (who is more like an actual sister to me).  I am thankful that we all live so close, that we can see each other often.

- Being able to come home and prepare a Thanksgiving meal for my little family.  I am thankful for all that my mom taught me, for all that my grandma taught me, so I would know how!  I am also thankful for the desire I have, that I enjoy being a homemaker. 

- I am thankful that even though Merrill was working today, he is close enough, that we could go spend some time with him while dinner was in the oven.  I am thankful for the job he has.

- I am thankful for three little girls who run when they hear the garage door shut, running to attack their dad with hugs and kisses because he is home.  (Even if it was just a little over an hour since they last saw him..)

- I am thankful for a husband who offers beautiful prayers everyday.  For the prayer of Thanksgiving he offered before our dinner tonight.  For his gratitude for all our Heavenly Father has given us, for asking that our family continue to be blessed.  I am thankful that he invoked the spirit to be in our home this Christmas season.

- I am thankful for the sweet things my girls said they were thankful for at the dinner table..  family, parents, home, sisters, good food, strong bodies, the earth, Christ & Heavenly Father, themselves.  Ashley was so cute, “Aren’t you thankful for yourself mom?”

- I am thankful to have a sweet husband, who helps me clean up dinner.  Who helps me to pick the turkey clean.  (All while watching “The Godfather”.)

- I am thankful for the traditions that continue on with our extended family.  For Darlene always gathering us together to laugh and create.  The girls ALWAYS look forward to making gingerbread houses (Peyton looks forward to eating them..) and grandma always comes through.

- I am thankful that I am always greeted with a kiss to the forehead and a hug from Dixon.

- I am thankful for the rest of this holiday season, for the feelings in our home, for the life that becomes more centered on our Savior. 

We have truly been blessed, we continue to be blessed.  At times I feel totally undeserving, but then realize that that in itself is a testimony of how much our Heavenly Father loves us.  He wants to, and waits to bless us.  I am so thankful for the gospel in my life, for the many blessings my family enjoys because of it.

Day 24.

Today, I am thankful for this little girl, that we are so blessed to have her in our life.

I am thankful that we were able to celebrate her!

She chose to get her ears pierced for her birthday.  Square CZs for this girl.  As she was prepped for the piercing, there were zero nerves.  Zero.  She didn’t scream, wince, or cry.  She just blinked.  I didn’t even know it was done until the gun was moved!  She is on cloud nine.

When I asked her what she wanted for her cake, she answered, “Carrot cake.  I had some at Grandma Pitcher’s and it was yummy!”

When I asked her what she wanted it to be decorated like, she answered, as if I were an idiot, “A carrot…”

Birthday dinner of fettuccine alfredo and grilled chicken.

Sparkling cider too, this is a special occasion. ;)

She was so excited to open her gift (a second opening, Peyton got to it first!) from Grandma and Grandpa Pitcher.  She loved it all.  Thanks Darlene!  Dixon tried to take credit. ;)

 

It was fun to watch her read her cards..

She was more than excited to get her own scriptures, with her name on them!

We surprised her with a new bike.  One that she won’t look like a giant riding a miniature bike, when she rides.  She was quite surprised.  Ashley kept telling her we bought her new socks and underwear.  She did go into the room where it was, didn’t notice a thing…

We hope all of your birthday wishes come true Lynn!

We love you!!!