Kate is SEVEN!

I decided today that I needed to post about my adorable Miss Kate.  It's been months and months since I've really posted here.  I'm hoping that I'll take more time to post here soon though.

Kate turned 7 on the 21st and we had a fun baking party for her on the 22nd.  It was a lot of fun.  Kate is such a fun girl.  She's a great big sister and she loves to play with her siblings.  Kate is also super social and has a lot of friends and loves to be with them.

Happy birthday sweet girl!  I hope you had a fun day.  Thanks for being in our family and for bringing such a fun light into our family.

Seven things I love about Kate:

1. She's thoughtful

2. She loves to be creative

3. She loves school.

4. She loves her siblings.

5. She's great at cleaning and organizing.

6. She enjoys church and learning about the gospel.

7. She tries so hard to be kind to others and keep the peace.

Thankfulness Day 17

I am so far behind ... but I will finish!! I'm grateful for the wonderful family that I married into. I have some pictures of all of us several years ago ... so these are the most recent pictures I could find from getting together!

This is the only picture I have with our brother-in-law Skyler in it.  :)  Thanks for being a great uncle, Skyler.  Our kids always have so much fun playing with you.

Our kids love being with their two Murri cousins.  They had such a fun time with these two girls (obviously ... lol!  They couldn't hold still it was too much fun).  We're grateful for Dale's parents and the ways they help us.  Our kids love spending time with them and playing.  I didn't even find a picture of my wonderful mother-in-law!! 

I'm so grateful for the wonderful sister-in-law and Aunt that Lisa is to me and the kids.  The kids have a grand time spending time with her (and love that she takes them on little outings, or even has sleepovers with them).  She's so crafty, and generous, and I'm glad that she is one of my fabulous sisters-in-law.

Sarah is so fun too.  The kids had such a good time playing at her house and with her girls.  I'm grateful that she's willing to let us hang out at her house all day for almost two weeks, even though I know it was stressful, lol.  I'm sad we don't live closer to Sarah, but I am happy that there is text messages and long conversations on the phone that are always far and few in between, but it's always fun to chat.

Thanks Murri family for welcoming me into the family 10 years ago when Dale and I got back to Nauvoo!  Love you all and I'm so grateful that I have wonderful in-laws all around.

Thankfulnes Day 16

I am grateful for my family.  I have a fabulous family. 

My parents are wonderful and the kids have a blast with them.  They like to do great things for us, and they like to travel to fun places.  It's always fun to hear their stories and what awesome things they've been up to.  :)  Thanks for being awesome mom and dad!

 

My oldest brother, Tim, and his wife Jennifer.  Along with their 5 fun kids.  They are always bringing life to the party, and having a fun time.  I'm so happy to have them in our lives.  Love when we get to spend a little time with them (which isn't nearly as often as it should be).

 

My brother Andy and his wife Jenny.  They have two awesome boys!  The fun part about their family is that they are expecting a little GIRL!  Know what else though??  Jenny is having a c-section on my birthday!  So my cute little niece (yep, I already know she's cute, look below, see, now you know too), and I get to have funnest birthday ever!!  :)  This cute family just moved FAR, FAR away.  Although we didn't get together often, it's still kind of sad knowing they aren't just an hour drive away.  We miss them.  We're grateful that we have other means to stay in touch though.

 

Having two older brothers was a challenge growing up.  I was probably picked on (as brothers are supposed to do ... or so I'm told, so technically they were doing their job? ;)).  I always knew eventually they'd marry and I'd have sisters in my life (finally!!!!).  I'm now so grateful to have older brothers.  I can't image having a sister growing up.  It would have been really different, lol.  I really am grateful for both of them though.  I'm also really grateful for the women that they married.  I'm so lucky to have them in my life as well.  I'm grateful for the friendships that I've been able to have with them over the years that they've been married to my brothers. 

Thankfulness Day 15

I'm grateful for my Simplistically Sassy blog.  It has been such a fun creative outlet for me.  Although, it can be frustrating at times to not have it be as successful as I would hope -- it's slowly becoming more than I ever imagined it.  It keeps me very busy a lot of times, but I really do love it.

Thankfulness Day 14

I'm catching up!  I'm determined to do all 30 days.  :)  Ironic that I stopped on day 13.  Day 14 is very important to me too.  This is another day I knew exactly what would be posted.  On November 14th Jack had his surgery.

 

I'm grateful for modern medicine.  I'm grateful for people willing to study hard in school and become unimaginable things like a pediatric neurosurgeon.  I'm also grateful for doctors that "follow their gut" feeling and do what they feel is best.  Because of that, my son was only in the hospital for 8 days instead of months (we were told it would have been a LONG time if they hadn't done surgery).  

 

This is the day that he finally had no tubes.  His feed tube had come out and everything.  It was just before Thanksgiving too.  The week of.  Love it.