Thanksgiving Musings

This Thanksgiving I have much to be grateful for.  I love my marriage.  Brent makes me laugh every single day, almost.  He loves me for who I am and even sees me for the potential that I have.  I am grateful for his counsel and his simple love.  I love being a mother.  I'm not going to lie, some days are complete hell.  But in the quiet of the night when I go to bed and find a note written to me by a remorseful daughter that expresses apologies and love, I am grateful I kept my cool.  I'm grateful that I heeded every prompting I was given to have all my children.  Most of all I am grateful for my testimony of Christ.  Over the past year it has grown immensely.  It has changed me.  It gives me strength and direction.  The more time I spend in the scriptures, the more I feel of the love that He and God has for me.  That feeling of love brings me peace. 
There are things that I still struggle with.  Some struggles are new, as my children get older and become more independent and vocal about their opinions.  And some struggles are old, and I feel like they will never leave me.  None the less I am grateful for my struggles too.  They keep me humble, and on my knees pleading for help. 
There are a great many people that I am grateful for.  My Mom, she's an amazing person who keeps going and going like the energizer bunny.  My Dad, he has an incredible creative talent.  My sister, her generosity and loving compliments give me joy.  Snefalie, I am grateful she always remembers to call me. All my in-laws, we have such a great relationship and I am blessed to be apart of their family.  Friends, who accept me and all my short comings.  I have but a few friends. I choose to surround myself with Amazing women.  They inspire me to be better, they make me think, and they encourage me to be the best I can.
No matter what, Life is Good.  Life is what you Make. So make the best of it! 

Halloween, Super Low Key

This year my kids costumes were super low key. Everyone made home made "silk screen" t-shirts with Grandma Penny. They had a lot of fun coming up with their own designs and making them all their own.  The only ones to have a "real" costume were Grace and Jaren.  Grace cuz I had everything for it and she's still need to experience halloween like everyone else has.  And jaren cuz he came up with his all on his own.  Of course I did eye-make up.  I didn't have the right tools to apply to make-up, but it was fun to experiment.  My girls really didn't let me go all crazy either.  Or else I would have. 

Hannah's "iron man" Eye

Isabel's "costume" Eye

Annika's "Super Girl" Eye

Isabel just wanted a shirt that said costume on it. 

This is the saddest Super Girl I've ever seen.

Annika had a super rough morning.  Mostly because of her cranky fussy fuss face Mother.

HULK SMASH!!

Cruella De-Ville

The whole gang came over later on that evening for trick or treating.  I made sugar cookies, hot chocolate and butter beer in celebration.  It was good times.  We love getting together with family when ever possible. 

Cruella has caught her dalmation!!

How cute is that?

When Grace would tell people what she was going to be, she wouldn't just say it, she's sing it!

Beckham wasn't digging the Hulk costume anymore. He slapped together a hunch back.

My attempt at a "fun" Halloween decoration.

Glowing water balloons.  

I didn't get to see what they looked like in the dead of night.   Just as we were starting to go around the neighborhood to trick or treat, I starting having some kind of an attack.  I could barely make it back to the house.  I took some meds and had to lay super still in bed.  My mom sat with me for a minute which I am grateful for.  After everyone else got back Brent and his brother and Dad gave me a blessing.  After about 15 minutes I could get up off the bed and gather downstairs.  Kelli took care of the drinks.  I was so bummed that I missed out on so much.  I didn't think I cared about Halloween, but when you put so much work into it, and miss it because of illness, it is disappointing.  I think I had another kidney stone or something.  So stupid.  I'm much better now.  Nothing that green smoothies and salads and veggies can't cure. 

Slenderman

Whatever that is?

Grandma Clown

My Mom was in town this year.  She's usually in VA visiting my sister.

PumpkinLand

Some new wonderful friends of ours, Danniey and her boys Calvin and Linus invited us to go with their pre-school group to PumpkinLand. I was excited for the invitation.  I use to take my kids all over the place when they were younger.  Grace doesn't seem to have the same luxury, stuck at home while Mom is busy with other duties and responsibilities.   I was glad for the opportunity to take Grace on a pre-school outing.   At first it was just going to be the 5 of us, and the morning of Danniey informed me that her husband and bro-in-law would be joining us.  The more the merrier.  We all crammed into the ghetto green van.  It was cold in the morning but lucky for us it warmed up. 

Grace playing around with the squash.

 There were some very impressive pumpkins!

Danniey and Linus

Calvin and Grace

At first the excursion was a tad disappointing.  Tons and tons of other pre-schools and schools were swarming the playground and pumpkin patches.  I was quickly reminded of why my children and I were the first ones on scene and the first ones to leave.  We finally found the "wonder"land.  Places for the kids to crawl, and jump, climb and discover animals that bite.  After a little while we found the corn maze.  We were the only ones there and it was awesome.  Grace discovered that if you followed the headless monster, you could find your way out. 

We all packed lunches and by the time it was lunch all the other school had excited and we had the place almost to ourselves.  Grace and Calvin were able to play freely on the playground and we adult had fun chatting and eating our juvenile lunch of pb & j.  

Payson Temple October 29th, 2012

October was freakishly warm! I think we had rain maybe 2 or 3 days the entire month.  I remember as a kid it always rained on Halloween.  Not this year.   We might have set a record for the warmest Halloween in Utah history hitting a whopping 75 degrees.  No jackets necessary this year. 
October was a fast month.  We had family pictures taken on Brent's side of the family.  We enjoyed the mountains and the changing colors.  The colors always seem to come and go so quickly!  They never last long enough for me.  Costco opened up, which is huge!  It's going to be so nice having that in my own little town instead of having to drive 30 minutes north! I just hope I can practice some restraint and not spend more money then is necessary.  I actually stopped by there to pick up some milk, and that's all I purchased.  The lady helping in line even asked me, "Is this all you have, milk?"  I shook my head and said, "yes, just milk." We'll see how often that happens. And of course there was Halloween.  A holiday that is probably the least favorite of mine, but a favorite of the kids.  I hate coming up with costumes, spending money on candy,  and the sick tummy's as a result of sugar overload. 

It's hard timing the sunset and getting a good photo.  

The kids still had some make-up on from visiting Grandpa Weiss' Halloween Work Party. 

Is there much difference from last month?  

This month the kids insisted on waiting for Brent so he could join us.  It was an even faster trip then last month.  We didn't talk about the Temple.  Which I regret.  I wanted to, but just didn't speak up about it.  It was a mad rush getting out of the 'burb and another rush getting in.  As I looked at the Temple for a few seconds I wondered if there was even any change, has it gotten taller?  Well, I had to go back and compare photos, and indeed it has changed.  It's going to be so fun to compare all the photos when the Temple is finally completed.  

There are some things that are going to change as we continue this activity.  I am going to insist on talking about some aspect of the Temple while driving to and from the Temple site.  When I go to take the picture with my kids I am going to have them stand from Oldest to Youngest so we can make not of any height changes.  

Again, I want the Temple to be as important to my children as it is to me.