30 Days of Giving Thanks!

You know with Nov. starting tomorrow and knowing this is the season for gratitude I want to try something a little different. I have felt from the time Molly was born that I needed to instill in my children the trait of gratitude. I have done family home evening on this and I have started a gratitude family journal that we would write in on Mon. nights, but we haven't been really good at that lately. So I thought that during the month of November I would post something I was grateful for, Some days might be really long post (you don't have to read the long ones, You don't have to read any if you don't want) and some days might just be a sentence, but I will give the my gratitude posts their own post, and will try and keep up with the family life blog as well. I know that will be hard, but I really think that this is important for me to do for my family. It could be a trial, or experience that I am grateful for, an item, a lesson, an idea anything at all.I want to start off with a quote that President Monson used in this Octobers general conference...

"Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend...when we chose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present- love, health, family, friends, work the joys of nature, and personal pursuits that bring us [happiness]-the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience heaven on earth."

-Sarah Ban Breathnach

Making a List...

I was on my way home from my mom's one day and had taken her fisher price mailer. When I looked in my rearview mieror this is what I saw. I waited for a red light to take the picture but I just got such a kick out of it. We talked about how to make a list for Santa. She just makes me smile!

New Ideas!

K funny Molly is always finding new things to do. I went down stairs to change the laundry and this is what I found...

That's right Molly has discovered that playing in the soap is so much fun. Try opening the top with out letting the soap fall in on the clean clothes. I had to sweep it off before I opened it, which is just what I wanted to do at 11:30 p.m. She is always finding creative things to do and get into.

Halloween.

K so Wednesday we had the ward or "neighborhood" Halloween party. I have never dressed up as an adult and thought I would give it a try this year. Kris has been sick and so he stayed home, I should have left a child home with him, but not wanting my kids to get what he has I took them both with me. This was quite a challenge, and my amazing friend Margaret helped me out so much. It's really hard to get dinner for a child while trying to keep track of her hold your baby and plate and try to put food on it. Moms need at least 4 hands. We didn't stay long. Molly didn't really get all of the games this year and I think in another year she will totally be into it. Did I mention I was trying to work around my costume and the balloons really got in the way. Anyway it was fun while we were there, I don't think that I will be going next year if Kris is sick for the 3rd year in a row. It didn't do me any good taking both kids, because they both woke up today sick so we will be spending Halloween at home tonight! Kris talked me into taking Molly to a few houses and so we talked him into coming with us, we also got Kerry to go with us. Fun night and Molly got a ton of candy!

Here is Kerry, Molly the Monkey and Stella the Banana! Happy trick or treating!

Me the tourist that found a monkey and trying to lure her with a banana!

Have You Ever?

Copy and paste the words. Bold the things you have done...

I saw this on Erin Millers blog and it was so fun to read things I didn't know about her.

So I decided to join in on the fun!

1. Started your own blog 2. Slept under the stars 3. Played in a band 4. Visited Hawaii

Hawaii September of 2007

5. Watched a meteor shower 6. Given more than you can afford to charity 7. Been to Disneyland 8. Climbed a mountain 9. Held a praying mantis 10. Sang a solo 11. Bungee jumped 12. Visited Paris 13. Watched a lightning storm at sea 14. Taught yourself an art from scratch 15. Adopted a child 16. Had food poisoning 17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty 18. Grown your own vegetables 19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France 20. Slept on an overnight train 21. Had a pillow fight 22. Hitch hiked 23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill 24. Built a snow fort 25. Walked on the equator 26. Gone skinny dipping 27. Run a Marathon 28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice 29. Seen a total eclipse 30. Watched a sunrise or sunset 31. Hit a home run 32. Been on a cruise

Caribbean cruise January 2007

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person 34. Solved a Rubiks Cube without cheating 35. Seen an Amish community

Ohio Fall of 2003

36. Taught yourself a new language 37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied 38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person 39. Gone rock climbing 40. Seen Michelangelo’s David 41. Sung karaoke 42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt 43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant 44. Visited Africa 45. Walked on a beach by moonlight 46. Been transported in an ambulance 47. Had your portrait painted 48. Gone deep sea fishing 49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person 50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris 51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling 52. Kissed in the rain 53. Played in the mud 54. Gone to a drive-in theater 55. Been in a movie 56. Visited the Great Wall of China 57. Started a business 58. Taken a martial arts class 59. Visited Russia 60. Served at a soup kitchen 61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies 62. Gone whale watching 63. Got flowers for no reason 64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma 65. Gone sky diving

Sky diving with Amy 2004

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp 67. Bounced a check 68. Flown in a helicopter 69. Saved a favorite childhood toy 70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial 71. Eaten Caviar 72. Pieced a quilt 73. Stood in Times Square 74. Toured the Everglades 75. Been fired from a job 76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London 77. Lost a loved one 78. Been on a speeding motorcycle 79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person 80. Published a book 81. Visited the Vatican 82. Bought a brand new car 83. Walked in Jerusalem 84. Had your picture in the newspaper 85. Read the entire Bible 86. Visited the White House 87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating 88. Had chickenpox 89. Saved someone’s life 90. Sat on a jury 91. Met someone famous

Dinner with the Jazz team. right to left

{C.J. Miles, Kris, Me, Andre Kirelinko, Paul Millsap, Chelsey, Mark}

May 2006, Yes I was way pregnant with Molly

92. Joined a book club 93. Broken a bone 94. Had a baby

Molly July 2006 & Stella July 2008

95. Seen the Alamo in person 96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake 97. Been involved in a law suit 98. Owned a cell phone 99. Been stung by a bee 100. Flown in a hot air balloon

So my cousin is making and selling these cute bows! The prices are awesome and if you have a girl you soooo need to check out Liz's bows!

Time! Finding Joy in The Journey.

Adjusting to two children has been a challenge for me. I love having two children and for the most part they are really good kids, but as a mom it just seems that the dishes are never done, the house is never clean, there are never enough diapers, time, hands, and did I say time? I have really been feeling that I have not only failed as a mother, but because of other things I feel that I've been a lousy wife, accountant, YW leader, friend, house manager, and the list could go on and on. I just feel defeated in every way and the stress has led to a massive headache by 11 am everyday. I have been in what a friend referred to as a "funk" lately. There have been a series of events that have left me feeling like a failure over and over and over again. Last night when I was finally able to get into bed at about 1:30 I was laying there pleading with my Heavenly Father that I could not feel this way and that I would have the energy to get up the next morning and not begin another day of failure after failure. When got up this morning I got Molly up and got her some breakfast and while she was eating I decided to jump on the computer and I happened to look at a Kari Holt's blog and this was the last post that I began to read:

Failing Miserably

"Have you ever wanted to give that as your answer when someone asks how you are doing? I've definitely been feeling a desire to use it the past several weeks. I've been in a funk lately - perhaps you have no idea of the funk I'm talking about ... lucky you! It's the one where I want to answer I'm "failing miserably" when someone asks how I am doing. The one that makes me feel that way about every single "job" I hold (wife, mother, maid, friend, church member, neighbor, PTA mom, etc.) The funk where nothing I do is good enough, done well enough, organized well enough, thoughtful enough. The one where I feel like the most selfish and self centered person around. I seriously hope that none of you know this funk (although it would be just a "little" reassuring to know I'm not the only one)!!" -Keri Holt

She went on to say that as she was cleaning the toilet that she received the answer to her prayer. She thought of the scripture in 2 Nephi 2:27 that talked about how Satan want everyone to be miserable like he is. Then she thought of the scripture just a few verses before that one that talks about how "men are that they might have joy." It's Satan that works on us like this. He wants us to feel miserable and unhappy. WOW!

As I sat and read Keri's post I couldn't stop crying and then I cried when I read it to Kris and I'm crying again as I right this, but It's just amazing to me all of the tender mercies of our Father in Heaven. That was my answer as well and the Lord shared it with me though Keri. The funny thing is that 2 Nephi 2:27 is one of my all time favorite scriptures, but I had not thought of that, also I just taught a lesson in young womens on know we are children of our Heavenly Father and I talked about how Satan uses discouragement as one of his greatest tools, yet I was still struggling in other areas. I'm so grateful that I do receive answers to my prayer how ever they come, thought friends thoughts, scriptures, etc.

Keri talked about Pres. Manson's talk on "Finding Joy In The Journey". I also thought of Pres. Uchtdorf's talk "Happiness, Your Heritage" in the relief society broadcast. I realize I will never get more time and may not always have a perfectly clean house I may not ever have enough diapers, clean close, but I do know that I always have enough hugs, kisses, and love. I know that Time is just going by too fast and I don't want to miss all of the important things that will bring me true Joy. So I know I'm not perfect, but that is also why I'm so great full for the amazing things in my life, like my amazing husband, my beautiful children, the gospel, but most of all for the Atonement. I realize over and over again that not only am I grateful that I can repent of my shortcomings, but that these feelings of inadequacy and inferiority or of failure can be wiped clean with the atonement. I know this will not be the last time I have to be reminded, but I'm grateful that Heavenly Father teaches me this over and over. I am really focusing on taking the TIME to find Joy In The Journey! With these two and their dad, how can I not find Joy!