Happy Thanksgiving

Our meal was delicious! We had our own Thanksgiving meal on Tuesday and I made it with all of the trimmings. Turkey, rice stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn and jello. We have frozen turkey in our freezer waiting to be soup or casserole leftovers. All of the leftovers have been really good.



On Thursday we spent Thanksgiving with Robert's family. Everyone tried hard not to think about my sister-in-law's cancer and upcoming surgery on Tuesday. We are all praying hard for them that it will be a cancer that can be taken care of and it won't have progressed into something worse. That night my other sister-in-law had 2 seizures and is in the hospital. They thought it was meningitis, but have now found a mass on her brain. We don't want to think the worst so we are also praying for them both and are still pretty worried. This has been a hard holiday for family and a time to be grateful for what we do have.

This week is Thanksgiving. There are so many things I have to be thankful for. Especially right now with Robert's sister's cancer returning and gearing up for another round of surgery and treatments. We are praying for her, her husband and kids and feel this is such an important time to show our gratitude and remember our blessings.

1) I am thankful for my faith first of all. For the faith I have in God, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge I have that families are eternal. The hope I have in Jesus Christ and the gratitude I have for his life, example, death and atonement and resurrection. Without all of this core testimony, I don't think I would be who I am or be able to get through the trials of this life.

2) I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for Robert who is my best friend and who is solid in his support for me. My two children, Emily and Lindsey, that I am so blessed to have in my home and be their mom. My parents who raised me right and in the gospel, my mother-in-law who has taken the place of my second mom in both love and support and my father-in-law who loves us dearly. My siblings who are my best friends, my in-law siblings who have taken me in and accepted me in their family. Nieces and nephews who I think are perfect and adorable. Grandparents on both sides who have supported and loved us.

3) I am thankful for my country. I am so happy to have the Constitution in my home and that I can teach my own children and teach them to uphold it. I am grateful for the freedom of religion I enjoy. Even during the persecution that has been frequent these days, I am grateful that the laws of the land still uphold my religious freedoms and my freedom as a parent to be the educator of my children.

4) I am thankful for all things material. The things that I need and others that I don't need. That the Lord has blessed us this year to work towards buying our own home and have this be a possibility is a wonderful thing. That Robert still has a job that is able to provide for us at this time and that we have money for those rainy days. We are thankful to have been given the lessons of thrift and responsibility with our income that have helped us get to this point and we know that the principles of living within our means and avoiding debt where ever possible have helped also and we are grateful for the results of living it.

5) I am thankful for all the little things. Snowflakes, raindrops, little kid smiles and kisses, sunsets, long walks, warm baths, jobs well done, clean rooms, something on sale, little girls playing, laughing, dress up, good books, beautiful flowers, good food, clean water, happy memories, good friends, acts of service, kind people, beautiful music.

I could go on about the many things that I am thankful for, the big and the little things. There are a lot of things that make life beautiful and if God can make this life so wonderful, I know that the next life will be just as wonderful and more so. This Thanksgiving I am thankful to God for ALL, because everything I have is from Him.

Be-Lated Halloween

I realized I never posted about Halloween! I have been too focused on house stuff, again. It was a lot of fun. We planned on having Lindsey be a kitty because she loves them, crawls on the floor saying "Meow" and licking her hand, but she wouldn't keep the makeup whiskers on or the ears at the Halloween party we went to. So when the day came, she became a little Sleeping Beauty princess. Emily borrowed her cousins Cinderella dress and was a princess for the third year in a row. Seriously, can we have some originality?! I can't wait until this phase is over and we can move onto what she wanted to be weeks ago. Everything from Lightning McQueen, to Mike Wyzowski, Wall-E and a fairy. The fairy idea morphed into "Mommy, I want to be Cinderella again!" That was what we got, two cute princesses. Lindsey refused to let me take her picture so I only got ONE in her costume. Emily was a little more receptive to the idea...what a ham. We had dinner with friends who had a punch bowl of apple juice and dry ice that went overboard, literally. The dry ice was just too much and the bowl cracked in half and the juice went everywhere! We are sorry, to them for our bad luck. The girls went trick-or-treating in Grandam's neighborhood and made out with great candy this year! I know because as soon as they were in bed, I enjoyed their spoils immensely. Mmmmm... chocolate.

Waiting, Again

We put another offer on the table. This was NOT my first choice, nor the place that I 'fell in love with and had to have'. We know this will not be our permanent house so it is okay. We don't know if it will be accepted until Tuesday or Wednesday, but chances are good. It has been on the market for a long time. It needs definite work, but we thankfully are in a position to do that. Before we move in we will have to fix it to make it live able. We hope that, if it is accepted and the inspection works out, that we can close quickly and start work on it. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms. What I am really excited about is the decorating. I love interior design and really want to get started on doing it- CHEAP! There are so many cheap or free ideas popping around in my head to make my house cute. I haven't done it here because it has been impossible in this tight space and I kept thinking we would leave anyway, plus it is hard when you don't own the space. Well, we will have to see how things work out, but the best part about this place is it is so cheap it will be MUCH less than rent for the amount of sq ft.

Oops...

I sent out author invites as well. Yeah, didn't mean to do that. Those of you who got them, disregard them. Thanks!

We Love Pres. Monson!

I wanted to post this because despite opinions on this issue, this made me feel so sad.



This is the persecution the saints are going to receive in the last days because of our doctrine. And I LOVE Pres. Monson and I just feel heart sick about this. How would it be to become the Prophet and be dealing with this? He didn't do this just to be a jerk, but was feeling inspired by the Lord or we wouldn't have done it. Not to mention, this is picking a fight specifically with us, because we were not the only ones in this initiative. And as for giving money, a lot of the work that was done was volunteer. Anyway, any of you with personal feelings on this aside, I thought it might be nice if any of you want, our family is going to do it, to write to President Monson, tell him how much we love him and support him. This is the address to write to. If you feel inclined, I would love it if it was emailed out to do the same. It would be so great to have letters of love and support sent to him at the same time he is receiving post cards from those wanting to pick a fight.

50 East North Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84150
USA

And I also want to express my appreciation to the Ruth Youth, for their love and support of us. This link shows how wonderful they have been and I am truly grateful for that. It is terrific how we can all put our differences aside and work together to keep the sacred things sacred.