A Great Friend

I got a text from my broker just after 8 this morning asking if I could go door knocking at 10. I knew we were talking about going, but we hadn't decided on a time, so this through me off and I needed a last-minute babysitter!! So, I took #1 to school and stopped at a friend's house to see if she could take my girls for me. She said yes, because she's awesome!

So, today, I'm grateful for her. She's my best friend (other than Aaron) and she is amazing!

She even told me I could depend on her at the last minute if (when!) I need her in the future! I hope she meant it...

Today I am Thankful For...

It has been a really long time since I did a "thankful" post. After yesterday's grumpiness, I think I need it.

Today, I am thankful for...

...my sweet kids! Even though, I was exhausted from little sleep, they were great. They (mostly) behaved themselves and didn't expect too much from me. They even found muffins from breakfast to eat for lunch. (though, I shouldn't admit that) They played and were so understanding that I was just not in a good mood, nor did I have the energy to do very much.

...my sweet husband! When he got home, he took the kids to his parents' house and let me sleep for a little while. He even brought home dinner so that I didn't have to make anything! He has been so amazing through my hormonal craziness, sleepiness and all of the rest. I love him so much! He is such an amazing husband and father!

...being pregnant! We have been wanting another child for a while and after miscarriages and all of the inconveniences of being pregnant, I am really excited for this baby girl! I am willing to wait, at this point, and at least I know that this time next week, if not sooner, I'll be holding her.

...my extended family! My MIL came out in the middle of the night to sleep with the kids. She is wonderful. She even did my dishes. I was embarrassed that she even saw them, but she figured we wouldn't want to come home to a sink of dishes. It was really nice to not have to do them! She is on call for when we go in for real, to the hospital! My mom is coming in about three weeks, too. It will be nice to have her here to help and play with the kids! It's been a while, so I am excited to see her, too!

...being able to look out the window and see the mountains. I love the view! We need to remove a few overgrown shrubs so the view is better. Not having grown up with mountains, I love to see them! They are so beautiful!

I hope you are able to see the good and beauty around you, today!

Trying to make this work...

I finally got this linked button thing to work! Wow! It was really easy! I just used instructions I found on Michelle's blog Scribbit!

So, today I am thankful for the kindness of those who are willing to share the things they know with those of us a little less technologically inclined!


I wish I could be thankful for spellchecker, but it is STILL broken!! GRRR!!!

Today I am Thankful For...

--Snow Days. We have a snow day from church, today, and though I am not thankful to be missing church, I am thankful for the nice day at home with my family. We are having a relaxing day eating cookies & cream fudge, the crockpot is making yummy bean soup (thanks to Aaron) and we are just generally having a nice family day at home. I love it! If only a cleaning fairy would come clean up after the weekend together. On the bright side, I guess that makes me the cleaning fairy!

--Feeling good. Since I got over my three-day migraine, I have been feeling mostly good. I am not as tired as I have been in the first trimester and the nausea is wearing off. Yea for the second trimester of pregnancy!

--Parental advice. I called my dad when I was having the above-mentioned migraine. He has suffered from them for years. Although I can't take the medicine he swears by and going to a quiet and dark room to sleep it off is only possible when Aaron is home, I got some good advice. My dad said that the best thing to do is to not let a migraine get to it's full-blown state. If I start to feel it coming on, I should take some medicine and stop it. If it gets too strong, there is little that can be done about it. So far, that has helped a lot! I tend to let a headache get bad, waiting for it to go away on it's own before I take something. Not anymore!

I haven't done a thankful post in a while, so I thought I'd post about a few of my favorite things!

--Several months ago, we bought a Kitchen Kettle Multi-Cooker. It is wonderful! You can stew, roast, steam, cook rice and deep fry in it! We love it and use it all the time! It is dishwashable, except of course for the plug, so that makes it all the more wonderful in my book! It is so nice when I am making a soup (mmmm...soup) that needs a little more space.

--I have already mentioned how nice my Palm Pilot is for getting me to exercise. I also just learned, yesterday that I can make my own category for menu planning!! It is so nice, after I put all the meals in, I just have to click to choose one. I love it!!

--I love purses and totes! I usually go back and forth between what is the perfect bag for me! At the moment, I am using a large tote with pictures of the kids on it and an Eagle Creek purse inside it for my keys, etc. Eagle Creek bags are designed for travel, but I love that they are also not so "girly". Sometimes I like to have a purse that is more rugged looking. Mine is kind of like this one. I don't think they sell it anymore. It is so nice, though. It has little pockets to hide whatever I need all over it and yet it is still really small! Sometimes I like to carry the kitchen sink, but sometimes I want almost nothing with me!

--My blessings! I am so blessed to have the home and family that I do! Our home isn't fancy, but it is warm, dry and comfortable! We live near a lot of outdoor activities and stores, so we don't have to drive very far to enjoy the things we like. We also have a very loving and supportive family. I am also blessed to have the Truth! It is really comforting to know of God's unending love for me! This world can be a rough place, and to know that God is there to love and comfort me is an amazing thing!

--Good weather! For a couple of days we had really stormy weather and it was yucky! I think the gloomy weather makes me feel like doing nothing! It is just crummy! I guess though, since we pretty much live in a desert, we really need the moisture.

--Summer!! Aaron is a public school teacher, so summer starts in just a few days! It will be so nice to have him home and be able to play for the summer! He has a lot to do and so we'll be busy as well, but it'll be nice to have the time to do some of the things that never happen during the school year.

--My crochet skills! It is really nice to have something that I can work on while the kids play and that I can quickly and easily put away when they need me. I also applied for a job as a crochet instructor! I think that will be a lot of fun, if I get the job.

--I was going to say how thankful I was for the warmth we have been getting. After 15 degrees below zero this winter, I was ready for spring. It is finally here...and it brought rain and a cold front overnight! I'll take this over spring snow in the valleys. (There is snow up in the mountains!) Don't get me wrong, I LOVE snow!! I take pictures of it and love to see the trees covered in it. I never saw snow until I was 21! But, when it gets to be March, April and then May, I want the snow to be GONE!! So, I guess what it boils down to today, is that I am thankful for spring...even if it is in the form of cold rain. :(

--The structure of the LDS church. In the visiting teaching lesson, there were comments to the effect that when we are asked to serve we are able to fulfil the covenants and promises we have made. We shouldn't think of these things as just another chore on the list, but a way for us to be of service. (Visiting teaching is a program in our church where we are asked to go to specific women in our ward (congregation), see how they are doing, get to know them and be the eyes and ears for the leaders to make sure the needs of all of the members are met.) The church helps us to help those around us. It is so easy to get caught up in daily life. I know that I need to reach outside of myself more! There are so many people just in my reach that I could help in some way. I need to make myself more available to serve and help them!

--Health! Belle and Aaron just got a weird illness and I am glad they are through it. She slept for almost an entire day. She'd wake up for a drink and go right back to sleep. It was really weird. Aaron was extremely tired and nauseated as well. Luke and I didn't catch it. (I hope!!) I am thankful that we are all relatively well, now!

--My adorable kids. They are so much fun! I am so glad that I am able to be a mom. It is a challenging job, but it is worth every minute.
They are both so cute and fun to be with! Luke spends a lot of his time playing with his storm trooper. They have lots of adventures together. His storm trooper can do anything. Luke adds to what he can do just about anytime he sees some new character. He'll tell us that his storm trooper can change into those clothes, or has that weapon, or will fight that icky man next. It is adorable! Belle is our social butterfly. She has very little fear and she loves to talk. She loves the phone, especially when she can talk (usually pretend to) to her favorite aunt. She is so content and happy most of the time. She is also a little mover. She is always running away. She keeps me on the move, too. She is honestly a joy to have in our home, as cliche as that sounds.

--The ability to work just a little. I want to stay in touch with the people I used to work for at a greenhouse and to keep my horticulture knowledge active in my mind. I have been teaching a community class in horticulture and I am going to start working some Saturdays where I did my internship. It is nice to have an identity and responsibilities outside of the home sometimes. I don't want to work full-time, at least while my kids are young and at home, but it is nice to be able to work just a little bit!

--The ability to stay home with my kids! Having said the above, I love to stay at home and take care of my children. I tend to be a homebody, so that makes it nice. Along with this, I am glad that Aaron makes enough money for me to be able to care for and teach our children at home.

--Sisterhood. I enjoy being able to meet with the sisters at church. It is fun to go to church and know that I'll have friendly women to sit with and talk to!

I didn't intend for this to be a Sunday thing. I guess I am just in a more thankful mood on Sundays. Maybe I should work on that!

--The Truth! I am so thankful to that I have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. It is so amazing to know that I am a child of God and that he loves me enough to speak to a prophet today! I am so glad to have the scriptures and all the Truth that they contain! It is wonderful to have the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in my life. I grew up in it and have remained active in the church my whole life. It is such a blessing. It is also part of my everyday life. I don't know what my life would be with out God in it.

--Clorox Disinfecting Wipes--I have recently started using these again and they are amazing. I don't know what they have in them (or at least I can't pronounce it) but it works wonders. I have cleaned the lid of our trash can that has been dirty for a long time. Nothing would work on it. These did! It is actually white under there. I cleaned the tops of surfaces in the kitchen. You know the ones that get a bit sticky or oily and then the dust just glues itself to them. They are such a pain, but a Clorox wipe just took it away easily. I have rediscovered an old product that I can't do without in my home. If you haven't tried them before, go grab some. They also have a new disinfectant spray that may do just as well...I haven't tried it, though.

--SPRING!!! I love the spring! It is my favorite season. The world turns from brown, dead and cold to green, alive and warm! We can go outside and play and enjoy the world as it was intended to be enjoyed! I also love all the flowers that start to bloom in the spring. I have some tulips that have begun to come up in the front. I am so excited for those! They are supposed to change colors as they develop...from yellow to peach to orange to red! They looked really neat on the package! I can't wait to see what they really look like!

--The little pencil at the bottom of each post that makes it so easy to edit a post when you are signed in. I just learned about it this morning from Aaron! It makes my life so easy. I usually notice something I did wrong or want differently after I have posted and I go through 3 or 4 clicks to edit the way I knew how. It is nice to have another person around to help with things like that!

During the Ultimate Blog Party, I was able to meet a lot of new people and get a lot of great ideas as well. I really like the idea of thinking about and publishing the things that I am thankful for. Since I don't really like all of the alliteration that goes on (Even though, I do a bit of it) and I don't want to be tied down to just one day of the week for my thankful posts.

First, I am thankful to Proverbs31!! She is the person responsible for my new badge for these posts!! I won a drawing at her site for the design of a badge of my choice, FREE!! I think she did a beautiful job...it suits me perfectly! Go check her out, she has lots of great ideas and other graphics for free...

So, Today, I am want to write about two things that I am thankful for. First, is the nursery class at church...which we were unable to use, today. For the last month, since Belle was about 10 months old, Aaron and I have been able to enjoy church. It is really hard to have a toddler who is younger than 18 months old and can't go to nursery. They take her and play with her and let us (and everyone else in the meeting) enjoy the lessons with out the distraction of her screaming, playing and running around. The second thing is a wonderful husband who volunteered to take Belle today since she was too tired to be remotely sane! Thanks Aaron!! He is really a wonderful husband and Daddy!! (When I found them, she was peacefully sleeping in his lap...so sweet!!)