Grateful for the Gospel

1. The Book of Mormon

2. That I was born into the gospel and have known it all my life.

3. The visiting teaching program.

4. That families are sealed together

5. Prayer

6. Prophets that live and guide us today

7. The simplicity of the ordinances

8. The temple and the blessings it provides for us and our posterity

9. The ability to be forgiven through Jesus Christ

10. The knowledge that this life is not the end.  We have the promise of living again and having all eternity to be with those we love.

Food I'm grateful for

1. My Deep Dark Chocolate Cake Recipe given to me by my friend Heidi.

2. Charlie's Chinese Food

3. Chips and Salsa or other dips

4. Watermelon, bananas and strawberries

5. Water

6. Breads of any kind especially for sandwiches

7. Beef Stroganoff

8. Side dishes like sweet potato casserole, potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, stuff like that.  Sometimes I will skip the main entree and just eat the side dishes.

9. Pizza

10. Avocados, corn, green beans and peas

10 Modern Inventions

1. TOILETS!!  Could you imagine life without indoor plumbing?  That would be the worst.  There is a reason why I live now and not a hundred years ago.  

2. Paved Roads.  I'm also grateful that it is something the government just takes care of.  I don't mind my taxes going towards road work.

3. Computers and the internet that make it possible to blog all this grateful stuff.  The internet is awesome.  Who ever thought we could do crazy things like skype over the internet (or over your ipad or phone??)  It's just amazing what stuff you can do now.  It's a little Fahrenheit 451ish but it is still pretty cool. 

4. Central Heating and Air.  

5. Cell phones...I love them!  I can't wait to get a smart phone but luckily Marissa has a smart phone for now :)

6. Cars.

7. Any cleaning/cooking appliance like dishwasher, washer and dryer, ovens, stove tops.  They all make my job a lot nicer.

8. Modern day medicine.  I would be dead if I still had to push a baby.  My body is great at getting pregnant and being pregnant but it is not built to push babies out (although you would think otherwise by my hip size).  I have to have c-sections so thank goodness they do that and that they have drugs so I don't feel it.  I'm kind of a wimp when it comes to pain.

9. Hot running water for a nice warm shower.  This would also include hot tubs.

10.  The Printing Press.  That changed the world as much as the internet did.

10 Places

This was a different thing to think about but also fun.  I just didn't know if it was a geography type thing of locations of businesses like Disneyland or something.

1. My home.

2. The temple-I need to go more.

3. My parent's house and pretty much all that comes with visiting home.  I've told my kids how when I was little and we'd drive home from Chico at night we would come over the hill and below would be all the lights from Oroville and it meant we were almost home.  Now when we drive to Oroville the girls are always on the lookout for that same scene.  Daisy asks all the time if we can go see the lights.

4. Memphis, where it felt like home as soon as I got there.

5.  Fort Bragg.

6. England-I really want to visit there someday.  Heidi wants to go there as well, especially London.  She said if she goes on a mission she could go to England because she already knows the language (and that is really funny if you've been fortunate enough to hear her British accent).

7. Parks to play with my kids at; ones that are nearby and ones that are awesome like Disneyland.

8. Hawaii and the Junkyard

9. BYU-Idaho

10. My grandma's house.  It was the only real tradition thing we did as a family.  And even though they only lived 30 mins away we only saw them at holidays or important events so it was always a special time to go to grandma's house.  I would even throw in Aunt Diane's house too.  She would have my sister and I over during Christmas break and it was the most exciting thing because she would let us stay up late and pick our own cereal.  Oooh! Uncle Ed's house!  Whenever there was stake conference my family would skip church (such good church members) and go to Uncle Ed's who had a farm, plenty of places to play Beckons Wanted, Horse shoe pits and all the soda you could drink.

Today

1. I'm grateful I ran 6 miles this morning even though I had to do it at 5:30.

2. I'm grateful for the peanut butter M&Ms I get to eat since I ran 6 miles this morning.

3. I'm grateful for Kaylee coloring pictures and feeling special because of it.

4. I'm grateful for Ben being home.

5. I'm grateful for Blake and getting the chance to go out with just him to the store.

6. I'm grateful for tithing settlement tonight and being able to say I did it faithfully for the year.

7. I'm grateful for my grandma and wish I could go to her house and completely clean it for her.

8. I'm grateful for the fun of the cousin christmas exchange.  They are so excited to give.

9. I'm grateful the kids have friends over. 

10. I'm grateful for my book, The Fountainhead, that I started again.  I love that book.

Nature

1. Fall-It is my very favorite season.  I love the leaves as they change, wearing long sleeved shirts and jeans, and crunching on leaves as I walk.  

2. The smell of rain.

3. Gardening.  My family has never really done it but I've always wanted to and can't wait until we have our own place where I can plant some trees and tend to a garden.

4. The Ocean.  While I hate the sand I love the water.  I just love watching it, hearing it, and-when on the warm Hawaiian beaches-playing in it.  It has also been a fun thing to watch your kids experience.

 5. While winter is my least favorite season and I could live without snow the rest of my life I do like the fun it provides for kids.  Well wait, I love watching snow fall at night.  I don't like brushing it off my car but I love watching it silently fall.

6. Spring!!  Whenever spring time comes I always think it is better than the fall but that is because it is so beautiful after months of dreary winter!  I love the blooming, blossoms, grass turning green and just the excitement you feel when you know we can go to the park again, run without freezing, and just enjoy going on a walk with the kids. 

7. Along with spring come the storms and the storms in Memphis were the BEST!!  Now we were lucky in that we never had anything traumatic happen due to the storms.  We never even lost power so for us the storms were just exciting to watch, listen to and even get scared from.  They came quick, were intense and then moved on.  For me it was a testimony that my life is in the Lord's hand.  He could easily wipe us all off from the planet in the blink of an eye.  Those storms were crazy and I would pray for safety and feel a sense of awe at the power that God has.  We will miss those.

8. I love how playful and interesting things in nature can be.  The kids are playing with branches that broke off from the storm in the water that is draining in the gutter.  They loved it!  I remember playing in the field all day long growing up.  It was just fun to be out there exploring.

9. The beautiful scenery. The earth is so pretty and I love to see it.  We have moved to another beautiful spot.  We are surrounded by green mountains.  At times they are covered with snow, clouds or even completely gone when the fog rolls in.  (That is another thing I love is fog!)  I really appreciate how pretty this earth is.

10.  I forgot about summer!  I'm not a huge fan of how hot it gets but I like that summer means swimming, baaeball games, playing outside, BBQs, picnics, my birthday, blue skies, green grass, sunshine in the morning, fireflies at night, the cicadas (I will miss those), camping, staying up later, sunsets, tan babies, sun kissed hair and running outside.  Summer is just a fun time.

I am always amazed at how well thought out the whole creation was.  Each season has it's purpose and each season testifies of God's divinity and love for us.  I feel like he gave us each season to look forward to, specific things to enjoy during that time, and lessons to be learned as we study nature.

10 people who have passed on

This subject of deceased people is a little different mainly because I have not had many people I know die.  I've only been to three funerals in my whole life and one of them I only went to get out of school.  So I've been incredibly blessed where death has not touched my life much.  However as I've aged and read about people that have passed on I have started a mental list of people that I would have loved to know.

1. Agnes Carolina Erickson Watts

My great-grandma on my mother's side.  She died in 1977.  As I've been learning about her I've seen what a cool person she was and I feel a closeness with her.  I can't wait to meet her and thank her for being a good church member.  I believe it was through her faithfulness that her posterity was blessed with the gospel.

2. Blanche Leona Watts Struthers Swope

 My grandma on my mother's side.  I want to sit down with her one day because I want to ask about her life and how it came to the point it did.  It was a sad story but I keep wondering what caused her life to go in that direction.  I also want to let her know that even though her decision caused such heartache things have still turned out.  A lot of her posterity is ok and made it through this life despite the hardships they faced.

3. Glenn Taylor

Ben's grandpa who I never really knew and died before Ben and I ever thought of being Ben and I.  From what I've heard he was a great guy so I'm thankful for him and hope my kids can get to know him a little more later on.  

4. President Gordon B. Hinckley

He was the prophet of my youth and I will always be grateful for him and what he did as prophet.

5. Spencer W. Kimball

He was the prophet during all of the grown ups youth (at least they were the grown ups while I was a youth).  I LOVE reading his words and especially the Miracle of Forgiveness.  It is so inspiring and really puts things into perspective.

6. Bruce R. McConkie

He was an apostle who died while I was young.  My first learning of him was at a Family Home Evening night at the Bassett's.  I watched his last conference address that he gave a week or two before he died.  Ever since then I have loved who he was and all that he contributed to the church.  I love reading his books.  He's very black and white which I relate to.

7. Nils Bassett

This is another guy like President Papa where I just admired them.  He was so nice and so good at leading his family in the church.  He was soft spoken and always ready to give a hug.  I don't hug (as many of you know all too well) but I never felt awkward when he gave me a hug.  He definitely left this world too soon but he was an example to me of living the gospel.

8. Walt Disney

I'm grateful for all the wonderful Disney stuff that has come from this guy.  I love the movies and love going to Disneyland.

9. Steve Jobs

I am grateful for all he contributed to the world and thanks to him I have this wonderful computer to blog on.  

10. Jesus Christ

I don't know if he qualifies in this section but I am so grateful for the life he lived and that because of Him every good thing in my life can be mine for eternity.  I know that He came to this earth and really did live.  He was walked with men, taught them, healed them and eventually died for them.  As I've been reading the New Testament I read about the miracles He performed and think that if this happened right now, TODAY, people would either love him or hate him.  There is no just ignoring who He was and what He did.  I mean, he died.  He was completely dead.  It was public, everyone knew it had happened.  And then the next thing they know He was walking around again.  He was talking with them.  He ate with them.  How could this be anything less than divine?  And the hope it gives us all is just as miraculous.  Thanks to the Savior I will have the chance to meet every person on my list again.  I will get to sit with them, talk with them, eat with them.  I don't really care to meet Walt Disney or Steve Jobs but I so want to be around my family that I never got the chance to really know here on Earth.  Thanks to Jesus Christ and the Plan of Salvation I will have that opportunity.  

10 living people (or a few more than 10)

1. My husband and kids.  Best part of my life.

2. My family including nieces, nephews and those who married into the family.  We got lucky with those who married into the family although they might not consider themselves as lucky :)

3. Ben's family.  I'm not as good of a daughter-in-law or sister-in-law as I could be where I call and talk all the time but I do really appreciate and like all his family.  And I hope they all know that I am always available if they ever wanted to call and chat or needed me to help with anything.  I'm always ready to help.

4. My favorite five from Memphis.  They are as close to me as family and I miss them terribly.

5. Rosie my running partner.  Without her I would fat, lazy and friendless.  So odd that we met at a yard sale.  She has been a great blessing during our time here.

6. Carrie Sims who came to the rescue with Daisy's hair.  It's weird that we never really hung out in Memphis and now we live a mile apart.  

7. Ben's coworkers.  He loves his job and he works with really nice, fun, relaxed people.

8. Mary Ann Lyman who gave me the yummiest sugar cookie recipe that I make all the time and eat all the time.  Daisy and I even had sugar cookies for breakfast.

9. Laura Hudson who is just nice and when we needed a mom who had cookies ready for us after school we knew we could call on Laura. 

10. President Papa.  He is an amazing example of living the gospel and one of my best childhood memories was canning peaches at their house.  It was a family event and I remembering wanting that for my family when I got older (because you know my parents weren't about to can any peaches).  And he is still so nice and supportive when we go home to visit.  I'm always glad when I get the chance to see him.

Tomorrow is 10 dead people.  I'm excited to think about that one!

Material Possessions

Ten material possessions should be a breeze to identify, right?  But it has actually been a struggle to identify which I love the most, and which I am most grateful for.  I'm thankful for everything we have but I am not sentimental about a lot of things so most stuff will cycle in and out of my house.  There is very few stuff that I will really hold on to forever.  

1. My cookbooks.  I've blogged about this before but I love these books.  I would grab these in a fire before family pictures.  They mean so much to mean and are this representation of all that I love in Memphis. Memphis was the best time of my life and the food from these books just brings me right back.  And I usually tear up when I think of them.

2. My cake making materials.  I have a Kitchen Aide, a cake stand (that both made the move from Memphis) and two new cake pans that I love to use when making a deep dark chocolate cake.  It is a labor of love and I love to use my nice things that were all gifts.

3. My books.  You can see a few in the picture below but I love books.  I love reading and I love having them out for people to see.  Among my favorite books are all my Fannie Flagg books, Tina Fey Biography, The Golden Compass set, Harry Potter and my Ayn Rand books.  Most were gifts and I truly cherish my books. 

4. My wall decor.  We brought nothing with and whatever I wanted to decorate with had to be done super cheap.  I love my picture of Christ, the Family Proclamation picture, my awesome clock, my daisy flowers, my mirror (another thing that made the Memphis cutoff) and the pictures of my kids that are up.  I like my Christ picture the best though.

5. My jogging stroller.  It's just awesome to have.  It's also a bike cart.  Plus if ever we have to walk across the plains I feel prepared.

6. This piano bench.  I know, dumb, but it just reminds me of home so I love it.  Plus it stores stuff and comes in handy for us all to sit at the table.

7. I don't have this possession yet but I know that I only have two weeks to go before I get it.  I asked my mom from some new cookware and I can't wait to get it!!  I love cooking and when we moved we bummed some free pots, pans, cookie sheets, etc from friends.  I appreciate them but they are old and I can't wait to have new ones.  One thing my mom is awesome at is getting you what you want for Christmas.  If you tell her you want it she will do whatever it takes to get it so I'm already excited to cook with my new stuff.  My mom is the best at Christmas.

8. Text Between Friends.  Best gift I've ever gotten in my entire life.  It is a 400 page story of true friendship that sits next to my passport holder which promises continued friendship.  No gift will ever top Text between friends.

9. My van.  It's a trooper.  It needs some TLC once we have a little extra money.  I love that it also has an extra seat still for when baby #5 comes.  

10. I'm going to end with my wedding ring.  I forgot that it was even a possession to begin with because it is just a part of me.  I never take it off except when kneading bread.  I'm so scared to lose it that it never comes off.  It is just perfect and it also symbolizes my favorite part of my life-being married to Ben.

***An honorary possession I don't have any longer but loved was my washer and dryer.  LOVED them but we couldn't fit them into the van when we moved.  We ended up giving them away to a friend which is also so special and fun to do.  If ever you get the chance to give someone a free appliance who could really use it then do so-it's such a good feeling and so fun.  I miss them but I'm really happy they have a good home.

Gratitude Challenge

In the Ensign for December the Home Teaching Message was about gratitude.  You would think it was a little late and should have been in the November issue, right?  But then again when do we need most need to be grateful?  During the month when everyone is facebooking what they are grateful for or in the month when every body is focused on what they want for Christmas?  I was walking behind two girls in Target and one asked the other what she was getting for her brother and her reply was a pretty loud outburst about how she could care less because he was getting blah, blah from their mom so screw him.  Really?  Is that the right Christmas spirit?  I've already had a little chat with my kids about being grateful for the gifts they receive (I'm sure you can guess who the talk was really directed to).  But, back to the Ensign, they had a gratitude challenge for the youth to list 100 things you were grateful for. To make it easier they broke it down into 10 categories where you listed 10 things you were grateful for.  The first was physical abilities you are grateful for.  I decided to do it.  We have ten days before out family does our own 'Fake Christmas' as Heidi calls it so this will be perfect to post and do with my kids each night before Christmas.

1. My body is strong.  I can do lots of activities that are hard and demanding like running a marathon.  I've always been able to give myself a physical task/goal and not only complete it but do a pretty good job at it.

 2. My heart just keeps pumping.  Sometimes when I'm laying there and can feel my heartbeat I think it is amazing that this little organ in my body just works all on it's own, non stop, and it is the only thing keeping me alive.  During those times I also pray that it will keep on going.

3. I am the perfect size.  My mom once said while talking in her sleep "You're not a big girl, you're just medium" and she was right.  I'm not too tall or too short.  I'm not too big or too small.  I'm just right.  I could always lose a few extra pounds but for the most part I'm ok with how I am.

4. I get pregnant easily and deliver healthy babies.  I'm SO, SO, SO grateful for this.  I can't even begin to imagine the heartache that comes with infertility and I'm so grateful this is something that Heavenly Father has blessed me with.  And, with the exception of one miscarriage this last august, whenever I have a baby there are never complications, never problems, and I don't even have to cut back on my normal activities.  I can still run, clean, lift things, move things, etc.  I never get sick, never have weird cravings, never have any worries while pregnant and I don't even get that big.  All I've ever wanted to be was a mom and it is the greatest blessing I've been given.

 5. I like that my body shows my heritage.  I have my dad's smile, my mom's finger nails, my grandma's wrinkles, my grandpa's forehead, my other grandma's eyes. 

6. I'm grateful for my teeth.  Grateful they are straight, that is.  Believe me, if braces hadn't been invented and my parents hadn't sacrificed for me to get them I would not be married today.  Holy cow they were bad.  But I love my teeth now.

7. I love how bodies develop.  I love seeing babies that are naked because they have these cute little proportionally correct bodies.  They have little arms that look just like mine but smaller.  Their legs are chubby (just like mine) and their tummies stick out a little over their diapers.  I love it.  I love just looking at how cute their body is even as they grow.  And thankfully all my kids have had perfect bodies that have worked right.

 8. I have 20/20 vision.  I like not needing glasses.

9. (Starting to have to really think now...) I really like that I'm not allergic to anything.  I don't have to follow special diets, I don't have to read labels, I don't have anything abnormal to worry about.  I'm just healthy.  

10. I love sleeping.  Best part of the day is snuggling in bed at night or snuggling with my kids to take a nap.  I love how it feels when you are all nice and rested and ready for the day.  And I love when my kids nap.

Tomorrow is ten material possessions I'm grateful for.  That should be fun.  Merry Christmas!

A little better

Last night I went out and bought a huge PINK bow that I think is for a bald baby girl.  This will probably be in her hair every day for the next month.  I put in fiber gum, blow dried it, curled it, hair sprayed it and put the headband in.  It looks a little girlier but that was a lot of work for a short hair cut. Plus I don't even know if it will all hold in her baby hair.  So checka needs to make me some more huge flower clips for Daisy.  The funny thing about it all is that she really has elf ears.  They are pretty pointy.  I think it's funny that she cut her hair and has her elf ears exposed right at christmas time.  She looks very elfish.

It finally happened

Having three girls I knew one day one of them would cut their hair.  We did a pretty good job and I thought we might skip that whole experience but last night Daisy cut her hair while she was supposed to be in bed.  I didn't even know until this morning when I thought her hair looked super flat on one side.  It wasn't until I saw the pile of clippings on the floor that it all registered.  She had taken a hug chunk out of the left side, above her ears.  I knew there was no way to salvage any girlie look.  It was all going to have to come off and we'd have to keep bows in her hair so she wouldn't be mistake for a boy.

She looks a little stonerish with the dark bags under her eyes even more noticeable now.  And her hair is super thin still so it doesn't look healthy and full.  If you look close you will notice the cut marks around her eye from trying to cut her hair.  It's a good thing she didn't stab her eye out!

These pictures don't look as bad.  The bow helps.  I have a lot to be grateful about today.  Grateful she still has her eye.  Grateful that when Blake knocked over the girls' dresser upstairs that he wasn't under it.  He has a scratch on the side of his head where the dresser grazed him.  Grateful that I had Carrie Sims's cellphone number and that she was able to cut Daisy's hair today.  And Grateful that even though she may look sickly she is a very healthy kid.  When I had to clean the hair clippings I saved one and taped it to my journal.  I saved a lock of Heidi's hair when she was little but then decided that was a stupid thing to do.  What was I going to do with it now?  So I never saved one of Kaylee's.  Then today as I was cleaning I remembered cutting Abby Ivie's hair.  Her mom brought a video recorder, documented the whole thing, saved a clipping of hair, etc.  Then she said, "hair is a big deal at our house" because her other daughter was currently bald from the cancer treatments.  I sat there thinking I should save those little hair clippings so one day, if ever hair should have to become a big deal at our house, I would have some of her baby hair to show her.  The only problem with it all is that I don't have any of Kaylee's hair and this is just another injustice she may one day throw in my face.  I am also SO grateful that we already took family pictures.  That was a close call.

Christmas Traditions

We have one tradition that I've really come to like.  Ben takes a picture of me and the kids in front of the christmas tree.  It's a fun way to see our family growing and see the different tree decorations we have.  This is the first year we've had a real Christmas tree since our first year of marriage.  I love having a pretty tree but since we sold all our old Christmas stuff before the move I figured now was a good time to give up on the beautiful tree I like and accept the tacky, kid tree that we will have for the next ten years.  

 During my summer of yard selling I was able to get a big bag of lights for free and a large container of bulbs for $1.  Our tree now has the few blue, pink, orange and green bulbs, multi-colored lights and a few meaningful but ugly decorations from Memphis.  It doesn't look too bad except that when we went through the whole bag of lights the only ones that worked either played music or blinked (which is, in my mind, the epitome of a tacky tree).  So we have our Christmas tree and the good news is that our tree can only get better in years to come.  Ben wasn't at home to take the picture before church this morning-he had meeting-so we used the timer and ran back and forth seeing how the picture turned out.  The kids didn't even want to take the picture but once we started running back and forth they thought it was awesome.  I can't decide which one I like best.

So you all know I love having kids and Daisy made me laugh yesterday and I was grateful once again for getting to have kids.  They've been trying to blow up this bag of balloons but I refuse to blow them up after the kids have sucked all over them and I can see all that slobber.  Gross.  So Daisy walks up in her underwear with a balloon and asks me to blow it up for her.  I said no because it was all slobbery.  She says, "Oh, I know.  I'll clean it," and starts using her underwear to clean the balloon off.  NO WAY was I going to blow it up after that.  Sick.  I love that she tried though.  Kids are the best.

Thanksgiving

During the holiday rush of packing, driving, cooking, eating, shopping, hanging out and wrapping gifts my sister-in-law graciously squeezed in a quick family photo shoot.  Since the school pictures didn't turn out well I promised the girls we would have Erica take their pictures and buy some of those (I didn't buy any of the school ones even though Kaylee's is awesome but I do have the sheet they sent home so I do have it...how could I not get a copy of that one!)  Erica did an awesome job and we will actually put these up around our house!  Erica is working on the pictures and sending them to me through email.  I've probably checked my email like ten times this morning and it's only 9:30.  I can't wait to see them all!

This one was just funny because Blake wanted to walk around and started kicking Ben where it counts.  The girls couldn't stop laughing and that only encouraged Blake to kick harder.  But I LOVE Blake's face with his tongue sticking out.  He is so much fun!

 I love having nice pictures where Kaylee cooperates, Heidi showed her teeth and they are just overall cute!  I especially like the one of Heidi and Kaylee together.  They may get frustrated and annoyed at each other a lot now but when they are older they will great friends and love this little picture of them when they were younger.

 Kayle was really excited to have this picture taken with me.  She is such a cute girl when she wants to be.  Erica had a hard time getting her to smile all the way.  She would half smile but not give us a full-blown happy smile until we started tickling her.  Thanks to Erica for doing this.  I love family pictures.

Why I love my life

I love my life.  It's pretty awesome.  To begin with I was born into the church.  And even though my family life was not as spiritual as other church families like the Papas it was enough to provide me with a testimony that the church is true.  I recently invited a friend to take the discussions-big step for me because I'm not the best at missionary work.  She didn't totally reject me but one big beef she has is that she doesn't believe that Jesus Christ showed himself to the people of South America at the time of His resurrection.  The crowning event in the Book of Mormon is when Jesus Christ comes down and ministers to the people in the America, just as he ministered to those in Jerusalem.  As she explained that she didn't believe it I kept thinking "But why not?"  If Jesus Christ was resurrected, had power over death, and also had the ability to show himself to his disciples in Jerusalem when or wherever He wanted then why couldn't he also show himself to his disciples in the Americas?  It seems so easy to make that connection.  I am so glad that I have the gospel.  It is so simple, so complete and honestly the best part of my life.  It is thanks to the gospel that my life has gone the direction it has and all the blessings I have now are because of following the gospel.  

 The next thing I love about my life is Ben.  I love being married to Ben.  He is wonderful.  Thanks to Ben I get to be a mom.  I get to stay home everyday and just be a mom.  That is all I've ever wanted to be.  Today while running a new girl joined us.  She asked what I did, "I'm a mom."  And both running partners began to explain that they knew being a mom was a busy job and didn't mean to offend or didn't mean it in that way...to tell you the truth I didn't get what that way really even meant.  I did however tell them I wasn't offended.  I was a mom and I love it.  I could care less about any other way to define me.  I have a degree but I don't ever want to use it.  I've told Ben I never want to work again-even when the kids are out of the house.  When they are gone I want to be at home and on call.  If my kids ever need me, for a baby or whatever other reason, I want to be able to say "I'm getting in the car now.  I'll be there soon."  I don't want to have to wait until work is over.  I want to be there whenever.  And thanks to my wonderful husband I can.  I took the above pictures one day to remember how much I love my everyday nothing I do.  Each morning I run, wake up the kids, get them on the bus and then from 7:15 and on it is just Daisy and Blake.  This particular morning we made eggs and moved the piano bench out for them to watch their new movie while they ate (and while I showered).  I love this life.  We just hang out until lunch time, then it's naps, then Kaylee comes home.  Heidi makes it home 90 mins after that and then we hang out until dinner time.  I love it.  Thank you Ben for making my life exactly how I've always wanted it to be.

 After Ben my next blessing is my kids.  They truly fill my life with joy.  Being a mom has times that drive you crazy and you want to rip your hair out.  Potty training is work, whining is annoying and there is the endless cycle of feeding, cleaning, and crying that you have to put up with.  But there are so many more moments when they just make you laugh and you just love seeing them become wonderful people.  Plus I would much rather put up with annoying habits from my kids than deal with the annoying habits of coworkers.  My kids love me so much more than a coworker ever would.  Daisy sat at the table today pouring apple juice from cup to cup.  She loved it and I love seeing her grow.  Heidi had to complete the phrase 'If I was a millionaire I would...' her answer 'buy people houses.  Then I would make more money and then give it to people who want to travel and go to their families.'  Is she not the nicest kid?  Blake just brought me a bunch of bananas because he wanted one.  How cute.  And Kaylee is super excited to have a lunch party with her friends this next week.  With all her craziness she makes us laugh the most.  Having a family is the best.  Each one is wonderful and though I know I would be happy all my life the kids I have I also know that having more just means more fun as well.  I love it.

I really love my life.  There is nothing lacking that could ever make me happier than I already am.  Not only do I have a wonderful family but they are even super cute kids!  Look how cute Blake is in his winter coat and Jesse doll.  I have such a blessed life.