a WeEkS wOrTh

So this time getting behind was intentional and I will continue to update a week at a time in hopes that my sad computer will make it until we can afford a new one. There is no hope for this one long term and we have to save up the money to get a new one as I do not classify a computer as a necessity.

April 15, 2013

Grateful for those moments in the day that you catch your kids doing something unexpected and "heart warming." I have had so many of those moments lately that I cannot help but be grateful for those moments and the joy I receive from them.

April 16, 2013

I am grateful for the time we spend in the morning reading our scriptures. There are many wonderful verses that I come upon during those morning reads. Not only that but I know that it starts out my children's morning on the right track as well as teaches them what to center their lives around.

April 17, 2013

I am so thankful that I can understand my sweet Owen bug. I do not always understand what he is saying but I do understand enough of what he says now that it isn't such a huge upset for him now. I didn't realize that I ought to be thankful for this until the other day when Owen was being tested and the lady turned to me and said, "can you understand him?"

April 18, 2013

I am so thankful that we were able to spend the whole day with mister Owen on his 3rd birthday. It is so fun to celebrate with my kids on their birthdays. He had a lot of fun and his cute little personality really showed through. I even got some super cute pics.

April 19, 2013

I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to use my creativity recently. It has been so much fun to jump back into dance. I had given it up since I had Aiden and I wouldn't change that for the world, but I have really enjoyed creating these dance workouts. Not the same as I use to do but it is better than nothing. Now I just have to remember them as I teach them and start out left. : /

April 20, 2013

I am so thankful for the beautiful relaxing Saturday we had. I was able to go outside and play with my kids. Thanks to the weather for behaving like spring. :) Then we got to watch the Sandlot which of course meant smores. I love that we were able to share something so simple with our kids but it will be something that we can share with our kids regularly and create some really fun memories for them.

April 21, 2013

I am grateful for sunglasses. Odd maybe but someone with light sensitive does learn to appreciate something so simple. Without my sunglasses I would have ridiculous headaches all of the time. This at least makes it so they don't get so out of control.

Be grateful for the small things in life. Those are the blessings most often passed by.

hard getting done

April 12, 2013

I am so bad at getting on when the weekend comes around. We are always go go go busy. I don't mind though. I love soaking in all the family time. I love the uninterrupted time with my older school bound kids. Anyways I am grateful for the KCC cleanse I have begun and all the information that has come with it. I really do feel like I am starting to get such great life changing information for myself and my family. I love that this can become a new lifestyle. It will be a "fight" at first I am sure, but in the long run I think we will all end up loving the new food. Plus I know we will all feel so much better. :)

April 13, 2013

We had so much fun on Saturday. It was a new event for our family and to boot it was FREE. Who complains about free right. We went to the ladybug nursery at 9:30 in the morning for the free breakfast which was pretty good. The weather was a little chilly but at least it didn't rain or snow. Then all of the kids got to catch and keep all the ladybugs they could find. It was a lot of fun watching the boys try to catch all the ladybugs crawling around. It was so fun that I hope they do it every year so we can go.  One of the best things about the day aside from the family time was that Owen started saying bayeebug at the end of the time we were there. I love when he picks up new words. I love how hard he works to learn new things and pick up new skills. He is such an amazing little guy and such a huge light and joy to our family. Also our sweet little Dessa baby started pointed out ladybugs all over the place at the end of the time we were there and she also said bug bug bug. So cute. My kids are so much fun and I love every minute! Owen also got to see sheep with his brothers across the way from the ladybug nursery and he walked around going baa baa. So funny. All smiles that day and so thankful for our whole Saturday!  Honestly so grateful for all those beautiful moments I got to witness. They are small I am sure but I don't care because they were huge to me. :o)

April 14, 2013
For today I am grateful for the moments that my computer decides to be functional. It has been kind of a mess lately. I am thankful that I can still get on and get done what I need to on my computer. I am hoping that it will start behaving nicer! Guess we will see how long it will last and then if I stop posting we will know it died? Honestly I am sure it will last a while but it is pretty old.

Truth

I am grateful for honesty. I love when people can be honest. I know that many do not enjoy honesty anymore, but I really do. I wish people were more honest. That being said you do not have to be rude to be honest. Honesty to me is when you tell someone the truth in a way that is least likely to hurt anyone's feelings.  It is hard to do that sometimes and of course there are times where the truth may not always be the very best choice. Don't ever go telling people they look fat when they ask you but you could possibly offer up a different option with a line like "this might go together better." Always a nice way to be honest and who wants to go out looking horrible in an outfit. Unless you are the husband then I guess the rules might change? I would still want my hubby to be honest with me. I am so thankful for the fact that he is honest with me. He is always so strong for me and I love that. He is always honest while being so strong and yesterday was a little different then the normal for him. I love him even more for letting me know how he feels completely about Owen going to school even if it went against his idea of being "strong" for me. I love him so much and I am glad that our relationship is such a positive one that we can have one hundred percent honest conversations with each other and not worry about a judgement. We support and love one another and do our very best to help each other through the struggles life tosses our way. Both Aarron and I are struggling with Owen growing up. It has been so hard because he has grown up all at once on us and we have never had to consider putting any of our kids going to school before they were 5. For some reason it is so much harder for us. We are going to do what is best for Owen. We will pray about it and we will trust in the Lord. I still hope to be able to have Owen in school for just 6 weeks and then we can get him caught up so he doesn't have to go next year. I do feel we should put him in school even though neither of us love the idea, but we will pray about it to know we are doing the best thing for him. I love the honesty of the preschool worker who tested him yesterday as well. I enjoy when people trust me with the truth and allow me to know all the facts. So here is to a more honest world. : )

good day

I am thankful for my day. Yes there were moments where I was super flustered. My sweet Owen decided to get into chocolate syrup. Can you say HUGE mess?!  Anyways even with those moments it was a great day. We got to go to the preschool today to do a few more tests with Owen. It was great to see how far he has come. It was great that the lady who was doing the testing told me she noticed how far he has come and that she can tell we work with him. It did a lot ot ease my mind about sending Owen to preschool. I am still hoping to only have to send him for the next 6 weeks and then keep him home and working with me. I am not a preschool mommy, but I do know they can offer him things I cannot and that he will greatly benefit from going. So for now I will send him to school and cry like a big baby about it. I love my kids and I will do  anything and everything I can for them as will Aarron. After that we were able to come home and get dinner done and spend some time together as a family at the dinner table. I love that time of day. It is so nice to sit down with my sweet kids and hubby and get to have everyone talk to each other. Over all I am just so grateful for my day it was a beautiful one :)

Light in the Darkness!!!

Yesterday night the power went out. Not a huge deal for me because the kids had already gone to bed and I have batteries lights around the house. I don't love the dark, but I dislike my husband being late coming home even more. I will readily admit that I am a worry and that it doesn't take me a whole lot of time to start thinking about the worst. I felt like my husband was okay but he wasn't answering his phone and was 25 minutes late. By that time I am starting to stress even though I felt like he was okay. I finally just said a prayer that Aarron would call me so I knew for sure that he was okay. Within no more then 2 minutes I get a call from Aarron. It was such a small blessing from my heavenly father, but such a testimony builder. In that moment I could not help but be more grateful than words can express for a Heavenly Father who knows and loves me. I have no doubt that he answered my prayer knowing that I needed that call from Aarron. I am grateful for the knowledge of his love for me that I do have. I am grateful that I have no doubt that he does hear me and more importantly cares enough about me to bless my life. I am not sure there is anything more precious in this life. There are miracles all around us and we are so lucky to have so many amazing and precious blessings in our life!

done...uh huh

Today I am grateful to have managed to get my laundry washed and folded. Yay it is done. Hehe right. I will probably be doing more tomorrow and if not Wednesday for sure but I am totally okay with that. I love to get my wash done. It is so nice to have it completed and put away. Plus then you get a clean bed out of it and clean clothes no complaints here. I also cannot stand stinky or soggy washcloth and towels so another bonus right there. If I get it done on the day that I wash it I feel like it is so much less work. Totally thrilled today and feeling accomplished!

the weekend...

April 6, 2013
I am so grateful for the conference weekend we just had. There were so many great words shared. I very much so enjoyed Thomas S. Monson's talk. He is so funny and real. He has a way of just letting you know we all live and learn. We mess up along the way, but we all can learn and be better. I am grateful for our church and the prophet. I am also so grateful for the many other leaders of our church and the many leaders who have impacted my life so greatly!

April 7, 2013
I am not only super thrilled about this but so thankful for it. I am thankful for the announcement of a temple to be built here in Cedar City. We will be so lucky and blessed to have a temple so close. I am excited to be able to attend the temple regularly! It is hard to say okay lets spend the next 4-5 hours away from our kids and trust them to someone else. I am not good at that. I do not lie and as much as it sounds like or is an excuse I can't change the fact that I struggle greatly with it. I have come to the realization that I do suffer from  some anxiety issues especially when it has to do with my family. Crazy I know but it is how I am. All of that being said I love the temple and do have a real desire to attend it on a regular basis. I hope to make that a possibility on a monthly basis or at least every other month. I am excited for the temple to be so close. It will drastically lessen our time away from the kids on those days. I do have to say I feel kind of bad knowing so many others in our church sacrifice so much to make a trip to a temple so far away and I will pray that more temples are built around the world for so many of the other members of our church. It is such an amazing blessing and everyone should have the opportunity to attend the temple!

Oh Boy!!!

Today I am thankful for the end of the week. Sometimes I feel like I am always just going going going until I fall in bed at night. This was one of those weeks. Things have been crazy busy and my younger kids have been rather grumpy this week. Not a super combo but I can think of many worse ones. I am so glad that the weekend is rolling around and that we will have a few lazy days. We will also have a few days where we are not worrying about homework every night. It is so nice to catch a breather. I of course will have things to do this weekend but we do not have to worry about so much. I am also super excited to get in some great family outside time again. Love this time of year! So here is to the weekend...YAHOO! I hope everyone else gets to enjoy their weekend as well. :)

Visit

So since moving back to Cedar City I have been a lot happier. I do not enjoy the crazy busy rude city. I don't like feeling pushed through life by others. Those are some of the things I struggled with while we were up north. I am glad that we have a good place to live with some good friends. All of that being said I do miss the ease of visiting family. We by no means went and visited everyone on a super frequent basis, but the option was there to just swing by. I miss that. I think the only thing I really miss from up north is family.

Today I am so thankful that we got some time to visit with some family. It is nice to get to hear how they all are. It is beyond wonderful to be able to catch up with them and to hear about how all of our siblings are doing. I know it is a long trip for them to drive but I am glad that they did. It is funny to me that the relationship with my in-laws started out so rough. I am very glad that it is so much better now. I do enjoy spending time with them. So thank to them for making the trip down and spending time with us.

giving time

I am one of those people who LOVES holidays. I decorate for everyone that I possibly can. I always have to have things to do with the kids for the holidays. So today I am grateful to the many persons who work on the holidays helping families so that others can enjoy their holidays with their families. Some of those people are police officers, fire fighters, and nurses. I am sure there are many other people who fit into this category. I am not sure we take the time to appreciate the safety they work to create for us. The time they are away from those they love to take care of us or our loved ones. I also am not sure how often we take the time to realize that they do put their lives on the line for us. I don't want to go around forgetting to thank some of those people that I don't know who are there to help make and keep us all safe.

Readers :)

I am so thankful for the fun books we happen to own. I am also so grateful that my kids love to read. I love that they always want to read and that most of the time they treat books so nice. I am so glad that Aiden is such a great reader. Last night was an epic fail moment for me. I have been letting Aiden read for 20-30 minutes after everyone is in bed. He does such a great job reading that I have to make sure I get back there to take the book away so he can get to sleep and so the book will last more then one day. If I don't make it back there he will stay up and read until he is done with the book. So last night that was my big fail. He finished his whole chapter book which made it so that he didn't go to bed until almost 10. I felt so bad this morning waking him up but he had to get ready for school. Future reference I guess I will set a timer so I don't forget.

Reading is one of the best things we can encourage in our children for their future so I am so excited that my children really do have a love for books and reading. Each one of them really does try to read and improve on what they can already read. I am lucky that they want to so it is not a huge fight. I am grateful for my sweet self-motivating children!

HiLaRiOuS :o/

Okay so moving right along into what I am thankful for today...I am thankful for the hilariously embarrassing moments we get to watch together as a family for a long time now.

I am very grateful for the technology to be able to change our 8mm video camcorder tapes over to DVD's. I was very worried for awhile that we would lose all those wonderful memories that we had recorded especially when Aarron's video camera broke. What neither he nor I realized was how many funny (we should have recorded over this) moments were on there. Now those moments are stuck on the DVD but honestly I can't really complain about them. I am glad that those dorky moments are now on film for us. I am sure we will cherish them more in the future than we do now. Thank you to those who worked to get our tapes turned into DVD's. Words can't express the happiness it gives me to have those forever :)

Easter

I did not manage to get this post written before midnight rolled around but since I haven't fallen asleep yet it counts ;)

Today i am thankful for so many things today. I am grateful for the knowledge I have of the ressurection and the faith I have in it. I love that we were able to go to church and teach our primary kids about the ressurection. That is such a blessing to see such bright spirits latch onto the principles of our gospel with so much purety and assurity. They amaze me all the time and I love how much that can teach us as we teach them.

Today I am also thankful for my beautiful children. I know again...right? I honestly get to see so many moments that are just so sweet and special with them. I got a great picture today of my three sweet loving boys helping their baby sister walk to her daddy. It is so amazing to see a bond like that between your children and know that as they get older they will have one another as friends to lean on. I couldn't be happier about that. I also love that I know my boys care about their sister and want to keep her safe. She has three brothers to watch over her and protect her and a big daddy to as well. She is one lucky girl!

I am also very grateful for the working camera that we have that catches so many great moments of our kids. I do wish that our video camera was in working order so that we could catch all the moments inbetween what the camera catches but you can't complain when you can at least catch a good majority of them. Today is definately one of those days where you want to catch those moments. Some of those firsts and just the fun special holiday moments. We are lucky to have a camera and the access to get copies of those pictures.

Today well we were doing the Easter egg hunt we had the two older boys outside and the younger two kids inside. The Easter Bunny did it that was so it was fair. ;) So of course the two older boys did a great job finding eggs outside and only missed a few without help. Inside with the two young kids was such a special experience. I didn't at all expect what I say and I had to switch Aarron kids so he could share that experience as well. Owen is a sweet little guy and loves his siblings but he is also a really rough kid. He constantly runs over his sister just because he doesn't pay attention to what he is doing or who is around. He will just go up and hit his brothers (not that he gets away with behaving like that) but needless to say he is just a rough little guy. Our sweet experience today is such a perfect example of the little guy he really is. He is sweet and caring. He loves to share and he is loving! Today while he was easter egg hunting with his little sister he all of the sudden took a couple eggs out of his basket and put them in Dessa's basket. He saw that she only had 1 egg and wanted to share. After that as they were hunting in the bedrooms for eggs he would find an egg and put it in her basket and the next egg he found would go in his or vice versa. I think that is going to forever be such a priceless moment. I am glad that I got to share in that moment with my sweet kids and to witness the pure love they have for one another. I am blessed with such amazing children. They are stubborn and sometimes that makes my job as a mom so difficult, but these moments are the ones as a mom you live for. I couldn't imagine a more perfect show of love on such an amazing day.

A beautiful day with so much to be thankful for. :)

HAPPY EASTER!!!

hehehe

I am so thankful for the moments that my kids use their imagination. There was a time when Aiden would say "I hate my imagination." We have come far and oh boy does he come up with some of the most amazing ideas now. I also am thankful that I can hear those moments when my boys are playing off of each others imagination. I am also lucky enough to hear all the funny things my sweet kids say. Today while the boys were outside playing around with the rocks I hear Aiden say to Ian "These are my ugly rock collection and this pile of rocks is the one I like." I couldn't help but chuckle at that. Not only do you need a rock pile you like but lets have an ugly one as well. Not sure why he did that but I thought it was very cute and I am so grateful that I can enjoy all those fun and very sweet moments that my kids share!

Have you forgotten?

I think many times we get so wrapped up in our day to day lives that we forget those who have allowed us to do so. There are so many men and women who willingly serve our country and how often do we take the time to thank them? How often do you remember their constant service and the blessing it gives us without the reminder from an email or Veteran's Day? Those amazing people who serve now or have before had their lives change forever. They have seen things they should never have had to witness. They have made hard choices and they may have watched a loved "family" member die or be severely injured. Do we stop to think of that? Do we ever stop to realize their lives as they new them were destroyed and their is no going back for them? They wear such horrid wounds on a forever basis and I think we fail to remember those as well. I am grateful for those who have served bravely in the past and those who are currently serving. I am grateful to their families who have to live without them for the time they are deployed and for all the sacrifice their families make as well. I pray that all those who serve are safe and that they can come back home and find a way to cope with all those battle wounds. I do not envy them those hardships they carry and I don't know anyone who would want to take those from them and live with them. I do hope that they know there are many of us who do truly appreciate the freedoms and safety they allow us. We have lost to many service persons to those scares they carry and hope that we find a way to change that for those future men and women who come home. I want to shout a huge THANK YOU to each of those who kindly and bravely serve our country!

shath...?

This is one of those things that drives me absolutely crazy. I think it is so annoying when you get in the shower and the next thing you know there is a puddle starting in your shower and by the end of it you have ended up with a shower/bath or as I so recently renamed it a shath. I am so thankful that I do not have to deal with this because there is a solution. I love drano. It is fast and effective. Plus it is such a simple fix in my opinion. So come tomorrow morning I will be fixing my darling kids shath problem with a little drano. So glad it will be a simple and fast thing for me and then they will be back to have a more effective and less germy shower. :)

loud and wild :)

I am grateful for spring break. I love having my sweet kids home with me all the time. Yes it gets a little wild and extremely loud but I enjoy them being home and getting to share so much time together. I am so excited for the school year to be over and for summer to be here so that I can have so much time with my kids. I also can't wait to start enjoying all the fun outside activities again without freezing. I am also thankful for all the nice weather we have been having so we can soak up the much needed vitamin D. I have to say I have also really enjoyed seeing all the cute little birds and hearing all their chirps! Yay for what the season has to offer us :)

glimpse

Today was another special day. Honestly I feel that way more often then not but it was an exceptionally special day. I was lucky enough to go on a field trip with Ian. I did this with the last one as well. It is so much fun to get to see him interact with all of his little friends that he has made. It is also so nice to get to know some of the mom's of these boys so that I get a glimpse into these boys and if they are a good or bad influence on my little guy. I am thankful for the time I got to spend with him today during this field trip. He is a sweet little guy and I sometimes feel like I do not get enough time with him and that saddens me some, but in moments like this I feel like I am still getting that special time with my son and to grow the bond that we share. I love that I have the opportunity to create a strong bond with each of my children. They are my world and I would do anything I could for them.

the obvious

Okay so I again have to be thankful for my washer and dryer and will explain why in a little. I also am beyond grateful for walmart bags, baby wipes, and outside garbage cans!

So here comes the oh so fun story. :o)

Last night it was almost 10 p.m. and I was wanting to go to bed early since I went to bed late a couple times this week. Ten is not early for me at all but I was getting ready to get into bed because I knew I needed to get in bed A.S.A.P because it was a school night and I am the one who gets everyone in the family functioning and ready for the day. Just as I lay down I hear my sweet baby Owen starting to cry. I thought I bet he is having a bad dream (as he has done that a few times off and on in the last few months) and I will go pat his little back super quick and still get right back in bed. That is so not what happened. I head back toward his room and hear this choking sound which for most moms is an automatic link in our brains to my kid is sick. Sure enough I get the light on and he is covered in vomit and screaming now. I felt so bad for him. Thank heavens that my hubby was home we double teamed the mess. I was nice and gave him Owen to bath while I cleaned up all the yucky puke. So here is where the wipes come in. I am obviously grateful the obvious reason of diaper changing but I used wipes last night well trying to lessen the amount of puke on all the laundry I needed to throw into the washing machine. That leads right in to being so grateful I have a washing machine because it quickly got the laundry clean without me having to continue to smell it or touch it. Last I put all the nasty stuff into a walmart and Aarron took it right out and put it in the big garbage can. So thankful those things were available to help contain the mess and get rid of the smell in our house.

a rare thing

At this point in time it is a rare thing to be in a long term committed relationship let alone married. I am not saying it doesn't happen as it does, but it is thrust on us everywhere that it is okay to get married to get divorced or to avoid marriage altogether and just live with one another. I am not saying people who do that are horrible, but it does sadden me some. I love being married to my husband. I love being able to count on him coming home to me and only me. I love the example it gives to my children and what it shows them to expect from the person they choose to spend their life with. You should be able to expect unconditional love and respect. You should be able to be sure in the relationship you share that you are the one who matters and just you. I know that their our married people who cheat on their partners and it doesn't create a box of flawlessness but I do believe it gives you a better shot when those values and expectations are so clearly defined. All of that being said I am so grateful for the amazing example my parents have shown me with their marriage. They had a very rough start but instead of giving up and being done they fought through it and now have been married for 27 years and 1 day. :) How amazing is that to be shown that amount of love and commitment to one another even in the rough times? I am so glad I have been able to have such a great example in my life of a positive relationship. I hope that my kids can get so much positive from the example that Aarron and I set for what a marriage should be, and that we can keep the wonderful example going.