Gratitude Post #96

1-I am grateful for what I saw at my house today...a line up of trucks!! Seriously, I have never seen so many people working on it at once! 2 trucks were the finish work guys, 1 truck was the electrician, 3 trucks were cement guys and 1 car was for the shutter guy! It was overwhelming to see so much work being done at once! I've got some awesome trim on my walls, lights in my basketball court, front steps and a great bid for shutters! It was an amazing feeling!!

2-I am grateful for good customer service. Chris and I have both been amazed at the different levels of customer service we have received. The shutter guy: amazing. The rock wall guys: sub-par. The other shutter companies I got bids from: awful. The finish work guys: fabulous. The cement guy: fantastic. People that won't even call you back: confusing. (Just to name a few!)

3-I am grateful for melatonin. Sophey is in such a bad sleep pattern right now. It is literally making me crazy. I felt extremely crazy today. I slipped a melatonin into her pudding tonight (after she woke up from a 3 hour afternoon nap). :/ After 3 nights in a row of her not sleeping, I am hoping for a better night tonight!

Gratitude Post #95

1-I am grateful for my builder. If you ever build a house you should use Majestic Homes. They have been so great to work with. There have been many frustrations along the way, but they have always worked hard to make things better. The painter wanted to charge $150 per color change ON TOP of the thousands of dollars we are already paying to have 3-tone paint. It was too late to get bids from other painters at that point, so my builder is donating $200 from his commission and his realtor is donating $200 from her commission so I can have my girls' rooms painted (because they felt bad about the whole situation). I am having them leave the bathrooms white so I can paint them myself, and with the "3-tone paint credit" from those spaces I'm having my laundry room painted. I figure everything else can be gray until I get around to changing it. I am so happy! The thought of having my whole house gray was a little depressing. :)

2-I am grateful for the ability to shop around. Whether it is looking online for the best price on appliances, comparing prices at Home Depot and Lowe's or being able to get multiple bids from contractors in order to make a decision...I love having options. Remember when I said how grateful I was for Chantel at Hansen Lighting? Well, I lied. She assured me several times that I was "staying within my budget" when picking out lights. Apparently she thought that meant spending DOUBLE what I was budgeted for. I about died when I got her bid that was well over $3,000! Yeah, my budget is $1800...so not even close! I am still ordering most of my lighting from her, but we had to shop around at Lowe's and HD for fans and vanity lights because they were SO expensive. I am even taking floor model chandeliers at a huge discount and I'm still way over my budget, but at least I'm closer. However, I must say I would still work with her again because she has been super awesome to work with and wasn't the least bit snotty when I said I wanted to get some of my lights at Lowe's because they were cheaper there. AND, I could not find chandeliers I liked anywhere, even online. So, she did help me tremendously...so I shouldn't say I lied about being grateful for her. :) Also ,we are going to get some amazing appliances thanks to a friend with connections and I'm hoping to get some shutters for a good deal too. My yard sale mentality has made it hard to pay full price for anything!

3-I am grateful for McDonald's and Maverik. I probably owe 10 pounds to each of them...but for as often as I'm in my car these days, and for as often as I forget to eat breakfast and/or have days that must be fueled by caffeine, they make me happy. I have got to wean myself off of caffeine and gas station donuts soon, but for now they keep me going. :)

Gratitude Post #94

1-I am grateful for Stacie. She is the realtor that works for our builder...sort of our "go-to-gal" for everything. She doesn't always have answers for me and my least favorite thing to hear is, "Let me ask Dave." (Which means I may never hear the answer...) However, she is great at calming me down when I feel super overwhelmed! I thought I was going to have a full on anxiety attack tonight and she talked me off a ledge. :)

2-I am grateful for Amazon! Where else can you find practically anything AND get free shipping (and generally for a good price)? My Amazon packages are trickling in and it makes me so happy! Happy to see them come, happy to know I'm done shopping and happy to know that Christmas is only 29 days away!!

3-I am grateful for paint! I love picking paint colors, even if I do get a little carried away! I am grateful that I get to paint some of the rooms in my house crazy colors...even if I can't paint ALL of the rooms I want to paint. I'll take what I can get at this point! :)

Gratitude Post #93

1- I am grateful that Chris taught our Primary lesson today. He is a great teacher and kids love him! I love when he teaches and I just sit back and relax. :)

2-I am grateful that I got a nap today! I hardly ever take naps. Today I was tired, freezing and feeling pretty blah. I was just going to lay down for a minute, but 2 hours later I woke up to Soph in bed and asleep next to me and Chris making dinner! It was so great! He also offered to drive Ry to school in the morning (even though I usually drive on Mondays) because with Sophey's late nap he knows she won't be sleeping great tonight. What a guy. :)

3-I am grateful that none of my kids are too old and/or busy to hang out with me! We went to a movie on Friday, to the BYU basketball game on Saturday and tonight we all curled up together to watch a couple of Christmas movies. I am totally feeling the Christmas love! Yay for ABC Family and the Christmas movies they play every night AND for dvr! We only brought one Christmas movie to my parents' house (Elf, of course...since we watch it year round) and I was feeling like I should go buy new movies...but we have been taping them and watching them for free on tv. Even better. :) I am also grateful that my parents' fireplace works! The fireplace in our last house stunk and didn't have a blower, so we hardly used it. Today I even tried to find my Mom's Christmas tree to put it up so I wouldn't feel so "blah", but alas...I couldn't find it. She comes home from St. George on Tuesday, so hopefully we can put it up then.

Gratitude Post #92

1-I am grateful for sleep! I got a lot of it last night and it was wonderful! I missed my chance to go grocery shopping (which I need to do pretty badly) and it made the rest of my day crazy, but getting out of bed at 10 a.m. was worth it!

2-I am grateful for nice, normal children. We took our kids to the BYU basketball game tonight and they were SO good. It was so much fun and SO nice to just have the kids sit and behave. Now, the family in front of us, on the other hand made me want to karate chop them each in the neck. They had older kids too, not little kids that you would expect to be annoying. It took a while to realize the one in the middle was the mother and not a teenager. That made it even more irritating. They took turns kissing each other on the cheek, strangling each other, biting each other, holding hands and screaming in each others faces. It was the most bizarre, bipolar family I've ever seen. Then they were squishing each other and trying to push each other off the bench. All while we were trying to watch the game. AND they had to stand up every 5 minutes to jump around, dance or cheer. Chris and I just kept looking at each other like, "Is this for real?" I guess that level of annoying made my kids be on their best behavior, so I shouldn't complain.

3-I am grateful for a handy husband. I said I wanted board and batten walls in my girls' rooms and that's exactly what I got. Chris also got a late start today so we were scrambling to get it finished in time, but we made it! They look awesome and the painter is scheduled for next week! I can hardly wait to see how it all turns out! :)

Gratitude Post #91

1-I am grateful for Black Friday! I have not been to a crazy Black Friday sale in 10 years. Last time I went Katey was a baby and I swore I'd never do it again! The last couple of years I had planned on going, but changed my mind at the last minute. This year I was debating but decided to go at the last minute. I think Walmart starting their sale at 8 p.m. made all the difference in the world to me. It's so hard to want to go in the middle of the night! I had butterflies in my tummy on the way there and kept thinking I should just go home...but I'm glad I stayed. I nearly got trampled, but I got the xbox games and blu ray movies I was after! Then I thought I'd try Target's 9 p.m. sale. It was hardly worth it. The line was a mile long just to get in and then even longer to check out. Although I did get an awesome king size blanket for $10, a blu ray player and some video games...but that was enough for me. I was home and in bed by 11 p.m. Today I dragged Chris to Costco and Sports Authority with me. He was such a good sport and we had a great time! I am happy to report that I am DONE shopping!! Now I get to wrap...

2-I am grateful for this fun, long, family-filled weekend! This afternoon we took the kids to Wreck It Ralph, came home and had dinner and then baked some cupcakes and rented Santa Paws (Katey's persistent request). I love when we just hang out and everyone enjoys each other. :) Half way through the movie Ryan leaned over and said, "Will you make me a cake when we get home? This movie is making me hungry." So, being the awesome mom that I am, I made cupcakes right after dinner. I am grateful to be the best mom ever. *)

3-I am grateful for the new Our Best Bites cookbook! It has 2 whole pages of frosting recipes. In general I am grateful for good recipes! I am super grateful for Jamiecooksitup also! Between the 2 of them I can find any recipe I need and/or inspiration to make something. I get so many compliments when I use their recipes and it's always easy and satisfying. Nothing is worse than slaving over something in the kitchen to have it be gross. That doesn't happen with OBB and Jamie! They are my idols. :)

Gratitude Post #90

1-I am grateful that it's Thanksgiving!! I'm grateful that this is my 90th post!! Can't believe I made it this far!! That is 270 things I'm thankful for so far! Didn't know I had it in me! I love Thanksgiving Day! Sitting in my Jammie's with my kiddos, watching the Macy's day parade, looking at Black Friday ads, baking yummy treats for after dinner...it doesn't get much better than that!

2-I am grateful that I am almost ready for Christmas! I wondered if I would have buyer's remorse when I saw the Black Friday ads, but I haven't found a better price on anything so far! I love Christmas! My kids are so much fun to shop for!

3- I am grateful that I figured out I can blog from Chris' iPad! When I blog on my computer it doesn't have spell check! I am grateful that Desiree inspired me to do these posts! I have loved blogging about how grateful I am! In case you missed the last 89 posts, I'll do a recap: I am grateful for my faith, my family, our health, the opportunity to build my dream house, a husband that has made every one of my dreams come true, 6 great kids who make me so happy, parents who were willing to take us in for way longer than any of us planned, extended family who make our lives so fun, and all of the opportunities and blessings that I'm sure I don't deserve! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!,

Gratitude Post #89

1- I am grateful for good news on the building front! It feels like there hasn't been a lot of good/exciting news lately...but today I got some! First, our builder told us that we can have the appliances we REALLY want. Second, the cabinet guy told me I can make my island any color I want. Third, Chris is going to let me paint my island duck egg blue! It is my favorite color and I am seriously so excited I can hardly stand it! I cannot wait to see my kitchen! (Sadly, the cabinet guy shattered the last ounce of hope I had to be in by Christmas...since that's about when the cabinets will be ready...)

2-I am grateful for basketball season. I do so love baseball season, but the nice thing about basketball season is that it's short, it's all indoors and the kids can play with anyone they want. (As in no tryouts, drafts, etc.) All 4 of my boys are playing basketball this year! Ry is doing a high school prep league (more competitive) and the 3 other  boys are playing Jr. Jazz with lots of friends. They are all super excited and it's going to be a fun few months! Ry started practice tonight and the other boys will start soon. Once games start in a couple of weeks we are going to be BUSY!! It will be a nice distraction from building though.

3-I am grateful that Chris is such a great Dad. He is coaching Ryan's team and has already put a lot of time into organizing and planning the team...and the season hasn't even started yet. He is seriously the best. I love how involved he is with the boys sports (and how supportive he is of the girls dance...and everything else). He goes to everything with me (parent teacher conferences, recitals, games, programs, etc.) and tries hard to be so involved with whatever the kids are doing. They are so lucky. He is making our new house so fun for the kids and putting a lot of thought and effort into it for us and for them. Have I mentioned before that I think he's the best? He doesn't even read this blog so I'm not just trying to impress him...just being honest. :)

Gratitude Post #87 & #88

1-I am grateful for online banking. Even though I just spent an hour trying to figure out where all of my money went (*clears throat*...yard sales, Christmas shopping...), I am so grateful I don't have to wait for a paper statement to come in the mail to figure it all out. (Or an insufficient funds letter in the mail...been there, done that...)

2-I am grateful for Christmas music on the radio 24/7, even though it isn't even Thanksgiving yet. And even though I listened to it with the a/c blasting in the car while eating ice cream (at least it was a "holiday mint" mcflurry), something about it makes me happy and totally in the mood for Christmas. Sorry Thanksgiving, I promise not to overlook you completely.

3-I am grateful for a patient, understanding husband. Seriously, I don't know why I got so lucky. He is so good to me. He could tell I was on the verge of a mental breakdown today so he took me to lunch. Panda Express never tasted so good.

4-I am grateful for Chantel at Hansen Lighting! I know I've written something similar to this before, but I met with her today and she helped me SO much! I seriously would have had a for-real meltdown without her help! She is amazing. She helped me pick out lighting that I LOVE AND stay within my budget! I honestly didn't think it could be done!

5-I am grateful to be to the fun part of building, even if it is the most stressful part. :) We are meeting with the cabinet guy tomorrow and I'm so excited to see what my kitchen is going to look like! Right now it's just sheetrock and it's hard to imagine that it will be pretty some day.

6-I am grateful for patience and coping skills. I have had to dig deep to find them lately but I'm so glad I have them deep down in there somewhere. With 4 of my kids being off track, Ry and Soph still in jr. high and preschool, the crazy building drama, trying to do my Christmas shopping, etc. I feel like I could lose it at any given moment. Today was a close call, but I managed to power through.

Gratitude Post #84 & #85 & #86

1-I am grateful that I am finally getting back on the computer. I am so completely addicted to my phone and can do almost everything on it that I used to do on the computer. I used to spend HOURS in front of my computer every day. Now I just check things on my phone from time to time. The only thing I can't do on my phone is update my blog. Sometimes by the time I get everyone to bed and finish all of my chores (a regular Cinderella story, right?) I am just too tired to turn on the computer and figure out what to write. So, there goes my hope for having 100 gratitude posts by Thanksgiving, but oh well. Sleep is important too. :)

2-I am grateful for my friends Desiree and Aimee. They are also doing gratitude posts on their blogs. I love to read their blogs every night! Sometimes I get inspiration for what to write about and they always give me the motivation to keep at it.

3-I am grateful for music. My parents ward has an AMAZING ward choir. Seriously, they are like nothing else. The choir director is VERY passionate about leading the music. He acts like he's leading the Boston Pops or something. It is actually hilarious to watch, but they sound SO good. It's hard to not bawl like a baby every time they sing. I don't even know what they sang today, but the choir director played his violin like nobody's business and it was FANTASTIC! I will miss the ward choir (who seems to perform more than most ward choirs) when we move!

4-I am grateful for the primary in my parents ward. They are some seriously nice ladies and they do such a great job. I don't know if I've mentioned our new calling as Mason's primary teachers (which is so bizarre since we'll hopefully be moving soon) but we've been doing it for 3 weeks now. Mase says he hates it and he's counting down until we won't be his teachers anymore...but I think he secretly likes it. Except when we're mean, which is a lot because he can't hold still. Anywho...teaching primary gets old really fast. However, being in sharing time...more specifically singing time...is my favorite thing ever. The primary presidency probably thinks I'm odd because they don't know me, I sit RIGHT in front of them (facing them even) and I cry every time those darn kids sing. I can't help it. I am getting emotional just thinking about how much I loved the music in sacrament and in primary today. Geez.

5-I am grateful for food. I am grateful to have more than we need of it. I can't imagine not being able to feed my family. We eat pretty well around here (too much in some cases...*clears throat* me...) and we bond as a family at meals and while eating treats. My kids are super spoiled. They have no idea what it would be like to be hungry. I'm ok with that kind of spoiled. I hope they never know what it's like to truly be hungry (even though they always think they're starving)!

6-I am grateful that my friend's family is ok. Last Sunday my friend's son turned in his mission papers and then headed out to go deer hunting with some family members. Her husband was in a truck with his dad and a family friend and her son was in the car behind them with some uncles and cousins. The truck hit a patch of ice and rolled twice down into a ravine, all while the people in the car behind them watched. Her son watched his dad roll down the hill. I'm sure he thought the worst, I know I would. The uncles and cousins (and her son) ran to help. They sent her son back to the car to call 911. He slipped on the ice and broke his leg pretty badly. Miraculously, her husband only had a few bruised ribs, a bruise on his face and a slight concussion. The grandpa was doing ok last I heard, but the family friend was not. I haven't asked her in a few days, but it didn't look good for him. Oddly enough, her son's injuries were the second worst out of anyone involved and he had to have major surgery the other day. It is going to delay his mission, but I know they are all just so thankful that they are going to be ok. (The family friend was in his 80's and had multiple internal injuries, so I don't know how well he's going to recover.) I am just so thankful that her family was spared and that things didn't turn out worse. I can't even imagine...

7-I am grateful for shingles! Not the horrible, painful disease...the ones that are on my roof!! We keep making progress and I keep getting my hopes up to be in by Christmas! (Which might not end well...) The painter is scheduled for next Monday! I am meeting the lighting lady tomorrow and the finish work guy AND cabinet guy on Tuesday. We are getting to the really exciting parts, but also the crazy, busy, stressful parts. Good timing with the holidays and all eh?

8-I am grateful for this holiday season. Everyone is so kind, thoughtful, giving, thankful, etc. It sure makes it nice when everyone is sharing what they're thankful for. Feel free to jump on the gratitude bandwagon if you haven't yet. :)

9-I am grateful that Soph is feeling better. She had such a bad cough and fever last week. She missed preschool on Tuesday and dance on Wednesday. She had a hard time sleeping and so of course I did too...for several nights. Which made me not feel so hot the last few days. I am finally feeling better, probably from getting sleep finally.

Gratitude Post #83

1-I am grateful for Home Depot...and the fact that there's one close by. When we built our first house we had to drive to the HD in Draper and it always took forever. We seem to spend a lot of time at HD these days, and tonight was fun. We had a 10% off coupon with 24 months no interest and a bunch of gift cards. We got amazing deals! I love that Chris has turned into a bargain shopper too! He has scored some gift cards from people selling them for cheap. It makes no sense to me, but I guess people would rather sell their gift card for less than what it's worth to just have cash instead.

2-I am grateful for being able to run errands alone today. I had told people I'd be out to pick up yard sale things from them when I was out that way for dance, but Soph stayed home sick. So, I went anyways and got to go all by myself! :) I even went and did some Christmas shopping alone. A little slice of heaven right there...

3-I am grateful that my kids are getting ipod touches for Christmas! They drain my phone battery every day! I can't wait to have it all to myself again. :)

Gratitude Post # 82

1-I am grateful that post #81 just a few minutes ago helped me change my attitude.

2-I am grateful for my brothers. Some of them are quite nice to me. 2 of them helped me with my painter dilemma over the phone and 1 of them told me he loves me on facebook. It was so nice!!

3-I am grateful for Thanksgiving and looking forward to it. I actually don't even like turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy or pie (they are some of my least favorite foods individually and collectively) so I don't look forward to the food at all (except for the non-pie desserts that I take every year and sweet potatoes)! I just like the thought of getting together to be thankful with people you love. I am hoping to be close to 100 posts by Thanksgiving. I might have to do 2 a day...we'll see how close I can get.

Gratitude Post #81

1-I am grateful that this has become such a habit that I do it even when I don't feel grateful. Right now I'd like to list 3 things I'm NOT grateful for. A crying sick baby in my lap, the fact that our builder told us we won't be in our new house by Christmas, a painter that wants to charge a fortune for changing paint colors in different rooms, etc...but I will try and think of 3 things I'm really grateful for...because I know those are small things compared to everything that I do have to be grateful for.

2-I am grateful that we were forced to stay in jammies and do nothing productive at all today. It was a nice break. I'm not grateful that it was because poor little Soph is sick, but whatdya do? Sometimes we have to get sick to force us to slow down!

3-I am grateful for my parents being excited to have us spend Christmas here. I know the kids will love it too. I am also grateful that we can close at the end of Dec./first of Jan. and delay our mortgage payment that much longer and get Chris' bonus first. It is just frustrating to keep getting pushed back. We honestly thought we'd be in our house before Halloween. Then we had high hopes for Thanksgiving. And we thought absolutely for certain that we'd at least be in by Christmas. Now New Year's is even looking doubtful. Maybe by our anniversary or Chris' b-day at the end of January? Perhaps by Valentine's? We have had our hopes up to spend the last several holidays in our own house, maybe we should just hope for Easter at this point...but I am grateful that things are going smoothly at this point and that we'll eventually have our own house again.

Gratitude Post #80

1-I am grateful for Hansen Lighting! They have this cute little shop on 126th and the nicest girl works there! I found a coupon in The South Valley Journal and thought, "they are probably super expensive, but it would be good to get some ideas." We have been to Home Depot and Lowe's multiple times and can't find any light fixtures we like AND we have been super disappointed with the prices of things we sort of like. It is so overwhelming when your builder says, "Here is your budget for lighting...now go count how many fixtures you need and pick them out." AAAHHH!!! It was seriously stressing me out!! So, we stopped by Hansen Lighting with pretty low expectations...and we were pleasantly surprised! For Home Depot prices we get someone with a design background who will walk thru our house with us (for free) and help us count fixtures, decide what to put where, and pick things that will work perfectly for us. She made notes of the things that we liked, I sent her a copy of our floor plan and we're going to do a little walk-thru to get started. I feel so relieved that we can stay within our budget AND get fixtures that we love!

2-I am grateful that my house is completely sheet rocked! I was about to text our builder today to ask when sheet rock was going up. I went out this afternoon and it is completely done, with a crew of about 8 guys taping and mudding like crazy! That means we passed our 4-way inspection, our furnace is running (so no more freezing our butts off out there!) and all of our exterior doors and windows are in! That also means from this point on it's going to be crazy! (In a good way!) Once sheet rock is up things happen so fast and exciting things start happening. It's easier to be super excited about paint and cabinets and flooring...more so than being super excited about rough-in plumbing and framing. :) We also had 2 guys doing our front porch cement. I'm not super excited about the color we picked, but I hope it will look ok when our rock and stucco go up!

3-I am grateful for Ryan. He has been SO happy lately. He has been SO kind to his siblings AND to his parents. :) There is a lot to be said about being happy. His stomach problems (that were most likely stress related) have been resolved and his grumpiness is no longer a major problem. It was nice having him ride the bus to South Hills, but I totally don't mind driving him to and from school just because of how happy he is! P.S. I am also super grateful that Chris does a good chunk of the driving! I think I have only gotten up early once to take him. I was supposed to this morning but Sophey was up sick all night so Chris did it for me...and he said he'll do it tomorrow morning too, just in case she has a rough night again. ;)

Gratitude Post #79

1-I am grateful for nail clippers. Can you even imagine life without them? I can't. But, I also cut 60 fingernails every week PLUS 60 toenails every other week...PLUS my own 20 nails when I get around to it. Enough said...?

2-I am grateful for appliances that make my life easy. Like a washer and dryer. For the amount of laundry I do, I'd be doing it all day and all night by hand if I didn't have a washer and dryer.

3-I am grateful for my girls. I mean, I LOVE being a Mom to boys...but I am grateful that I have girls too! I am grateful that I got two of them AND that they are 7 years apart. They simply don't have anything to fight over and for that I am extra grateful. Sophey is my sweet little snuggler...partly because she's 3, but partly because that is just how sweet her little personality is. Katey, on the other hand, is a little sassier than Soph. And she hates me 99% of the time. She was going to run away on Friday, but today she didn't hate me. She even asked me to do a bunch of tiny braids in her hair (which is funny that she actually wanted me to/let me do her hair AND that she didn't cry or get mad ONCE during the entire braiding episode...which took FOREVER!!). My back hurts, her neck hurts and she'll probably want me to undo an hours worth of braiding in the morning...but it was a nice bonding experience and I hope she remembers it the next time she says, "You don't even care about me." We'll see about that. But, I love her and I'm grateful to be her (super mean) Mom. :)

Gratitude Post #78

1-I am grateful that I was able to round up enough snow gear for my kiddos! I mostly used the yard sale and facebook, but I was able to get 2 pairs of snow boots, 4 pairs of snow pants, 2 coats and a couple of pairs of gloves for free or pretty cheap! We have all of those things in storage, but with the giant snow storm this weekend, we couldn't wait until we move in and get them out of storage! I am so grateful for friends who are willing to loan me stuff and/or sell me their old stuff for super cheap! My 3 little kids met me in the garage when I got home from picking it all up because they were dying to play in the snow! I did have to pay a ridiculous amount for boots for Mason, but he needed them more than anyone so it was worth it.

2-I am grateful for perspective in general. So many people are so distraught over the whole election outcome. I had friends who went into hiding and were mourning what could have been. I really wanted Mitt to win, but I got over it in about 5 minutes. Someone shared an intersting article and I can't remember who shared it or who wrote it...so I'll do my best to explain it. It was from a religious writer of some sort and he said that it's better that Mitt didn't win. In order for him to get the country back on track he would have had to make drastic cuts to programs like Medicare. He would have become an enemy to so many and would have gotten a bad reputation for being too drastic in his measures. The writer said that the important thing is that millions of people invited a Mormon (Mitt Romney) into their homes repeatedly, through the television and other media, and learned so much about our religion that they would have otherwise never been open to. Add that to the change in the missionary age and the flood of missionary applications at church headquarters and the way has been paved for missionary work beyond belief. He went on to say that our country will not and cannot fail, although we will go through hard times, but the important thing in an eternal perspective is missionary work. Saving souls, giving hope, helping families across the world...seems a little more important that taxes...

3-I am grateful that Chris and I were able to go to dinner tonight. Our lives are super crazy right now. It is so nice that we can make time for each other once in a while! He is my best friend and I hate feeling disconnected from him when our lives get out of control. It is certainly not going to get any better over the next 6-8 weeks, but we will continue to try to keep things normal! Our kids went off track on Friday and will be off for 3 weeks. It seems shocking that when they go back in 3 weeks it will be DECEMBER!!!! Then they go on track for 3 weeks and it's CHRISTMAS BREAK!!!! The next 6 weeks are going to be crazy-busy and exciting and will go by SO fast. Hopefully we will be moving into our house sometime in those 6 weeks also! Thanksgiving is also right in the middle of their track break, so that whole 3 week break will fly by! Then, once they go back we'll be in crazy Christmas mode and crazy house drama mode and probably completely crazy-losing-my-mind mode! Then it will be the new year out of nowhere and we'll be moving the elementary kids to a new school and starting everything all over again! AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Stop the insanity!!

P.S. I am grateful for coping skills. May I never lose them...

Gratitude Post #77

1-I am grateful for this blog. It forces me to think EVERY NIGHT about what I'm grateful for. I'm grateful that on nights (like tonight) when I'm super tired that I can still come up with 3 things I'm grateful for. Some nights (like tonight) it's a bit of a stretch. I didn't do anything particularly exciting today that I care to write about...I didn't have any earth shattering moments where I realized how grateful I am for something in particular...I honestly can't think of 3 things I haven't already written about...so I am just grateful for feeling grateful, even if it's about nothing...

2-Since this is #77 and I was born in '77 I am going to say that I'm grateful I was born. I actually do say in my prayers that I'm thankful for my life. Is that lame? Well, I am. I am grateful that I was born, that I didn't have a terribly traumatic childhood, that I have a good family, that I married an awesome guy, that I made some good choices along the way to make marrying him in the temple possible, that we decided to start our family right away, that we made some good decisions about school, careers, etc. (and some not-so-good-decisions that we learned from), and that we're just plain in a good place right now. I don't think I deserve any credit. This is certainly not about how great I think I am...some days I'd much rather be someone else...but I am grateful to be me for the most part. A few years ago I could have never written a post like this actually. But, I am grateful for where I'm at in my life as of right now. Even if I live with my parents. :)

3-I am grateful for hair appointments! It always makes me happy to see a hair appointment on my calendar. I got my hair done today and I LOVE the way it makes me feel. It is worth every penny! I love the new girl I'm going to! I miss going to Chris' cousin who just had a baby and I was sad to have to find someone new, but I loved my first appointment with my friend Holly!

Gratitude Post #76

1-I am grateful for the snow! (Never thought I'd say that in November!!) I have been listening to Christmas music with the a/c blasting all week long and wondering if it was ever going to feel like the holidays. I don't know why I feel like forcing myself to feel festive so early in November. I guess it's hard to do Christmas shopping when it's 70+ degrees outside or something. I really want to enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. Maybe because I feel stressed about so many things right now. Maybe because these gratitude posts are making me weird. Who knows.

2-I am grateful for 4 wheel drive. I almost needed it on the unplowed new roads this morning. It was a little crazy! I could have taken Chris' little car with front wheel drive that was all nice and toasty (and dry) in the garage...but I got the broom and brushed the mountain of snow off of my Yukon because it seemed like a better idea to drive that today. I'm glad I did. I would have been scared in the little car! I'm grateful for the good weather we've had this fall and now that I'm driving Ryan to school instead of just watching him get on the bus I hope we have decent winter weather too!

3-I am grateful for Fridays! I love late start jr. high on Fridays! I get to sleep in til 8! I also love that my kids have early day on Friday and they are home before dinner time! Our elementary starts at 9 and ends at 4...and they don't get off the bus until 4:30! It's nice to have them home early one day a week!

Gratitude Post #75

1-I am grateful that my children are likeable in general. I have had so many people comment (kids and parents) about how happy they are that Ryan is back at FHMS. I am glad that even though he is a quiet child, everyone loves him! It was a good experience for him to go to a new school for one quarter, but I'm glad it's over. I swear, people are crawling out of the woodwork to tell me how much they and/or their children missed him.

2-After 4 parent teacher conferences tonight I am grateful that my kids are good kids. They are generally pretty smart and likeable. Every one of their teachers said that they are sad we're moving and they'll miss my kids (and I believed them too). :) They all had good report cards and are doing well in a new school. I am so grateful that they adapt easily and in just a few short months have proved how great they really are! I love PTC's because my kids make them easy!

3-I am grateful for the amazing yard sale deals I've found for Christmas. I wasn't joking about the ghetto fabulous Christmas. I have not bought a single "new" item. I have saved a ton of money and have found some pretty awesome things! I will have to buy a few new things, but for the most part we're going "gently used" this year! I have turned into a crazy person. This is so out of character for me, it's bizarre! My husband is all of a sudden ok with me yard-sale-ing again! :)

P.S. Can you believe this is #75!?!?! I can't!

P.P.S. Everyone needs to get over the election drama. Obama won. I don't believe he was the best choice. I also don't believe one man can fix that big of a mess in 4 years. However, I think a business man would be better in The White House than a politician. That being said, I will continue to get out of bed every day to take care of my children and roll with it. So boo hoo. Get over it. Life will go on. In four years we can do this all over again. Blah. I am so looking forward to it. Not.

Gratitude Post #74

1-I am grateful that today is election day! I am not much of a voter, but I am grateful for my right to vote...and my right not to vote if I don't want to. I honestly can't wait for it to be over. No more ads on tv, no more facebook drama with obnoxious people who are obsessed with voting, no more listening to people talk about politics in general (well, on such a large scale anyways). I hope Mitt wins, and I didn't feel the need to vote because he's obviously won in Utah...but I think he would do a great job. Although, let's face it...the problems in our country are too much for one person to handle and make a difference with in 4 years...so it probably doesn't really matter at all...

2-I am grateful for the ghetto fabulous yard sale Christmas I'm planning! I never thought those words would ever come out of my mouth! I have found some amazing things and instead of my kids JUST getting one big thing, I have been able to find all of the things they want used or on sale for the price of just one thing. Ipod touches are ridiculously expensive! I don't personally see a need for them, especially for anyone under 12, but that is all they want...well, almost all they want. I was even able to score something for Katey for free from the yard sale today. Howd'ya like them apples??

3-I am grateful for bacon. Especially on donuts at the gas station. Because it doesn't take much to make me happy. Also, I am grateful for gas stations in general. Even though gas is so expensive, it's so nice to have a gas station nearby when the low fuel light comes on. And, as an added bonus...a gas station with diet dr. pepper PLUS the cherry and vanilla syrups made my day. And I am grateful. :)

Gratitude Post #73

1-I am grateful that Ryan got to go back to his school today!! He was such a good sport about going to a new jr. high for one lousy quarter. It was such a great day when he went back to FHMS today! We waited in the counseling center this morning before the bell rang to get him all registered. Several of his friends saw us through the window and came RUNNING in to hug Ry and check his schedule! He was so happy to find out that he had several friends in his classes (much better than last year)! He is so happy and so am I! He has such a great group of friends and I am glad he's back with them too! I love that my kids all have good friends who are also a good influence on them. :)

2-I am grateful for the new road, for the low speed limit and for the fact that it wasn't pitch black at 7:00 this morning! 45 mph seems a little slow for that back road, but I literally came inches away from hitting a huge deer in the dark the other night. Had I been going any faster or not paying attention I would have killed it (and damaged my car pretty badly). It was a big buck and it just came mosey-ing on out into the road. I had to brake and swerve in order to barely miss it. It was 11 p.m. on Saturday and that back road gets DARK. It made me nervous for driving Ryan out to school early in the morning on that road. Luckily it was Daylight Savings on Sunday and so it was nice and light this morning. Normally I hate Daylight Savings, but in this instance I really am grateful for it! Also, I would like to point out that I have saved several cars from getting tickets on that road. There is always a cop and a speed trap in the gully, just as you come down the hill. There is always a car riding my tail at that spot too. Honestly they could just go around me, but they like to tailgate me instead. I'm sure they are irritated with me until they see the cop and then they back off quite a bit...almost in appreciation. :) Chris was joking that I should start charging a fee for saving them from a ticket...

3-I am grateful for medicine. My poor little Hayden is sick. He came into my room wheezing and coughing at 3 a.m. I kept him  home from school and he was really fine all day long...until about 4 p.m. when it came back. He is in a "medicine bubble" bath now and he'll be getting some chest rub, cough medicine and a puff of an inhaler before bed. I wish I had my humidifier here, I may have to go buy a new one...

Gratitude Post #72

1-I am grateful for a dinner invite at the in-law's tonight. For one thing, I didn't have to cook! (YAY!) For another thing, it's so nice to see my mother-in-law doing so well after such a crazy couple of months with her health!

2-I am grateful for sleeping in today! We aren't really Stake Conference kind of people, so for us it's sort of a day off! It was heaven, even with dumb daylight savings today.

3-I am grateful for year round school! I love the little breaks during the year! It gives me something to look forward to...my kids going off track and then going back on track when they get bored. :)

Gratitude Post #71

1-I am grateful for the fact that it's November (good-bye Halloween!) and it's still super warm outside. In a strange way I'm also grateful that 106.5 is playing Christmas music all day! I mean, I hate the fact that we kind of skip over Thanksgiving in general (not me though...I've been grateful for 71 days and counting...), but I am so looking forward to Christmas! I will hopefully be moved into my new house by Christmas! Plus having 6 kids always makes Christmas super exciting. Oh, and back to the good weather portion of my gratitude...all of my winter clothes are in storage (including shoes) and I can't justify buying too much since we will be in our house mid-winter AND we are trying to save money...so wearing flip flops as long as possible is something to be extra grateful for!

2-I am grateful that Chris was willing to go to Home Goods AND Ikea with me today! Oh, the things he does for me...he also took me to lunch while we were out. And he only complained a little bit that I ordered dessert. :)

3-I am grateful that Chris took me to dinner last night in between a walk-thru inspection with our builder and looking for light fixtures at Home Depot. Oh, the romantic dates we have! I'm also grateful that my parents took us all to Chili's for dinner tonight! I have not cooked for a few days and it has been SUCH a nice break! I mean, I'm sure I've gained 5 pounds this weekend, but who cares!?

Gratitude Post #70

1-I am grateful for a great husband. I love him so much. He is so good to me. Even with all of the tension and extra hormones running rampant around here. I love a man who can say, "I'm sorry. I was stupid." (Even if it wasn't all his fault...) It makes everything better. :)

2-I am grateful for honest people. We have had such a bizarre building experience with so many crazy things out of anyone's control. It is so refreshing to have some things go our way and have people honor their word time and time again. Whether it's the central vac guy sticking to the original price, even though it was more than he thought it would be...or our builder doing things for us to make us happy (that he really didn't have to do)...or people showing up and doing what they said they would do...we are so fortunate to be having such a great experience (for the most part...) :)

3-I am grateful for my trip to New York! I can't believe what hurricane Sandy has done to my beloved city! I am so grateful I was able to go back there a few months ago!