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.