Merry Christmas!

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Giving Thanks

So November is here. I'm not quite sure how that happened, but it did. I have noticed a lot of my friends on Facebook posting each day what they are grateful for throughout this month of thanksgiving. I thought that instead of posting my gratitude on a social media site along with everyone else, I would write about the things I am grateful for here, on my blog. Where it can be preserved and maybe even read by my children. (They happen to love this blog and think that the things I write about are sooo funny. Silly kids.) 

My goal is to come up with 30 things, one for each day this month. But hopefully I can list many more than that. Because I have been blessed beyond measure by my kind, loving Heavenly Father. 

1. I am grateful for the atonement. Without it, my life would be vastly different than it is today. 

2. I am grateful for my family. The one I was born into: 

The one I married into: 

And the one I am raising with my sweet husband:

3. David. He is such a source of strength to me. He provides much needed balance in my life. He is my best friend. He is an amazing father. He loves his children, and they know he loves them. He sacrifices so much to provide for us so that we can have not only the things we need, but many of our wants as well.

4. I am so grateful to be a mother. For as long as I can remember, all I ever wanted was to have a family and to be a mother. I don't know of very many people who can say that they have everything they ever wanted. But I can. My life is exactly how I always dreamed it would be. 

5. Emma. She is such a sweet girl and always so willing to help with her whatever I ask. Her testimony is already so strong and she is a great example to me. She has a tender heart and a great love for her family, including her ancestors. 

6. Jase. My favorite son. He is such a sweet boy. He loves learning new things and has a great memory. I love each day after school when he comes home and begins a string of "Mom, did you know...?" I hope he never loses his passion for learning. 

7. Hanna. This girl always makes me laugh. She has such a sweet heart and attitude. She loves to share and be helpful. If there is a job I need done, I can always count on her help. I am so grateful for the love she has for her family.

8. Olivia. Our sweet baby. She has been such a delightful baby and pretty easy going, for the most part. I love to watch her grow and discover new things each day. She still isn't talking a whole lot, but she is a very effective communicator. I love watching her begin to understand the things we say and her silly reactions. 

Is it cheating that I listed each of my kids individually? I'm going to say no, because each of them are a blessing to me in different ways. 

9. I am thankful for my warm, comfortable home. 

10. I am thankful for the priesthood. I have never been without the priesthood in my home and I am so grateful for the blessings it brings me in my life. 

11. I am thankful for the scriptures. We have been reading to Book of Mormon as a family each night before family prayer. Although our progress is slow, I am grateful for the opportunity it provides David and I to bear testimony to our children on a regular basis of gospel principles we know to be true. 

12. I am thankful for the newspaper and the steady income it has provided our family over the last 3 years...

13. That being said, I am also very grateful for David's new job with Verizon and the many new opportunities that are in store for us. 

14. I am thankful for my bed. I hope to be able to spend more time in it tonight than I did last night. Olivia hasn't been sleeping well which means David and I haven't been sleeping well. 

15. I grateful for a vehicle that runs reliably so we don't have to walk everywhere we go. Especially as winter approaches... :)

16. I am thankful for the law of tithing. It teaches me obedience, sacrifice, and faith. I have been abundantly blessed for paying a full, honest tithing. 

17. I am grateful for this community that we live in. Rexburg is one of the last places I ever thought I would end up, but it is a great place to raise my children. And I am happy here. 

18. Pedicures from my sweet sister in law. 

19. I am thankful for the power of prayer. 

20. I am grateful for the pioneers, their sacrifice and their great example of devotion to the gospel. 

21. I am thankful for modern medicine and that I am able to help my children feel better quickly. And also that because of modern medicine, I am able to protect them from disease. 

22. I am thankful for good weather. We were able to travel to Billings for Thanksgiving with beautiful, clear roads. 

23. I am grateful that I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my family this year. Everyone was there, except for Kole and Kylar. We missed them, but enjoyed being able to spend time with everyone else. 

24. I am thankful for the healing and comforting power of the priesthood. 

25. I am thankful for a husband who honors his priesthood and who has always been worthy to use his priesthood to bless those around him. 

26. I am thankful for silly things like coke, French fries, Taco Bell, and Snoasis (even though Snoasis won't be open for another 6 months). 

27. I am grateful for our kind neighbor who plows our driveway for us several times throughout the winter. 

28. I am thankful for my sweet friend, Marlayna. We have been friends for over 20 years. She knows me better than just about anyone and I know I can trust her completely. She is a great example to me of faith, love, endurance and hope. Knowing her makes my life better. 

29. I am thankful for goodly parents who taught me the gospel. They taught me to love unconditionally and what a loving marriage looks like. They say the greatest thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother. I have never doubted or questioned the love, respect and devotion that my parents have for one another. What a blessing it is in my life to know that my parents love each other. I hope someday my children will say the same thing about their parents. 

30. I am thankful for the birth of my Savior. As we head into the Christmas season I look forward to celebrating the birth and life of Jesus Christ with my family. 

Halloween

Halloween is not my favorite holiday. In fact, I kind of hate it. Does that make me a terrible mom for just admitting that?! It just feels like a whole lot of work so that my kids can acquire copious amounts if candy that they shouldn't be eating anyway. And I am then forced to ration out their hoard of candy for the next six months and listen to "Can I have a piece of my candy?" each and every day of said six months. It's enough to make a mamma crazy! That said, I try to be a good mom each year and focus on the fact that my kids are having fun instead of the dreading the whole costume, dress up, scary, candy overload parts of Halloween. 

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for this holiday, my kids totally got into the whole trick-or-treating thing this year. In fact, they were so into it we had to go FOUR different places! Actually, it was six if you count our ward Halloween party and the elementary school carnival held a few weeks before the actual holiday. No wonder I feel like we have been celebrating all month long! 

Getting ready to go the ward Halloween party with our friends, the Batts. We love Emmitt and Bailey! (Olivia had absolutely no desire to have anything to do with Halloween...my kind of girl!) 😄

Emma and Miss Bailey

Hanna the bumble bee

Jase the ninja

The costume parade around our neighborhood. 

Emma and her cute little friend, Maddie. 

A butterfly, a ninja, a bumble bee and a fairy. Well, sort of...the most we could get out of Olivia was her wearing a pair of wings, which I am pretty sure she had no idea she was actually warring. 

Ready to head out. 

The haul. Three 1 gallon bags full. 

And of course we can't forget the pumpkins!! Again, Olivia had no interest in this part of Halloween either. 

Hanna Turns Five

Our sweet Hanna turned five this October. Man, how time files! Hanna was by far my most challenging baby. She was definitely beautiful and sweet and all those things that newborns are but, she was also a crier. Oh, how she cried! David and I would spend hours walking the floors of our home trying to hold and bounce her just right so that she would stop crying. And in those rare moments when she did actually stop crying (I don't actually remember those but they must have happened, right?!) we didn't dare stop walking and bouncing for fear she would wake up and start the whole thing over again. We were exhausted, stressed out and on edge nearly all the time. We were also completely, head over heels, in love with our sweet (and sad) baby girl. Hanna taught me patience, compassion, and the ability to recognize that I could not control everything. And just because my baby cried and was unhappy a fair amount of the time, that didn't mean that I wasn't doing a good job or being a good mom. 

Now, fast forward five years and that screaming, crying, unhappy, uncomfortable little baby is no where to be found. In fact, you would hardly even guess that she is the same little girl. Hanna is funny, outgoing, loving, generous, smart, social, spunky, and the sweetest little girl. We love her so much and I am beyond grateful for the privilege it is to have her spirit in my home and to be her mother. Happy birthday, Hanna! You are loved more than you will ever know! 

Hanna's birthday wish this year was to get her ears pierced. She was so brave! Other than a little whimpering, she didn't cry at all. 

A little treat to distract her from the pain.😉

We also celebrated a few days later with her cousin Jack, who has a birthday right near hers. They decided they wanted to go swimming at Green Canyon for their birthday party. 

Singing "Happy Birthday" and waiting to blow out their candles. 

The birthday kids. I promise Jack is actually having fun. This what you get from him when you say "Smile!"  Haha! 

Modeling her new birthday outfit from Grandma and Grandpa (with Calvin).