In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for this year. I could type forever and would probably still leave something out. I am grateful for my life. I am grateful for my husband and children. I am grateful for my family and friends. I am grateful for my faith in Jesus Christ. I am grateful for this blessed country in which we live. I am grateful for all the Lord sees fit to bless me with, but the before mentioned are the most important to me. What are you thankful for this year? Click the link below for a Thanksgiving video.

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

WebCam Wednesday - Incredible Ironies

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook today. I think it is interesting that this is from a talk given in 1978, and look where we are right now, today.

"...We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!"
-Abraham Lincoln

Monday Morning Musings - THERE WILL BE NO LAUGHING AT MY BREAKFAST TABLE!

It has been one year since we moved into our new house. In some ways, it feels like we have always been here, but in other ways it is hard for me to believe that a whole year has passed us by and we have been able make the house payment every month. I told Steve for our one year house anniversary we should take all the construction covers off the smoke alarms to celebrate. Oh, and then there's that thing about them actually being able to detect smoke....

Just in case you are curious, I am feeling completely at home in my brunette shoes. I might just stay this way. I was looking through old posts yesterday to find some for my 600th post (Thank you Kristy for being the only one to notice my milestone) and I saw some really blonde pictures of myself and thought "What the heck was I thinking?"

Steve and I went to see 2012 on Friday. We originally set out to see New Moon (what a nice honey, it was even his idea), but couldn't get tickets to that or whatever that one with Sandra Bullock is. So we settled for 2012. And when I say settled (sigh) boy do I mean settled. I really had no idea what it was about when we first entered the theater. It didn't take me long to figure out that, well, it was about absolutely nothing. After the first speed through the caving streets and make the car jump out of a toppling building scene, I turned to Steve and he turned to me and I said, "Oh. This is one of those movies". Awesome though to know that when the whole entire earth is destroyed, we can still get cell phone calls!

This morning my kids were really on one. They could not be serious for two seconds. It was all laughing and playing and joking around. They wouldn't stop and they wouldn't get ready for school. At one point I found myself yelling, "THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME HAVE TO YELL LIKE THIS BEFORE EIGHT O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!!!!" I was really, really, REALLY getting frustrated with them. And then my neighbor came to pick them up for school and I am trying to get them out the door, and they were still goofing off. At one point I said, "AUBREY! Stop doing a comedy routine about your socks and just put them on your feet! Lori is sitting out front waiting and you are doing a bit about your socks!!!!" While I was trying to get Aubrey's socks on her feet, I looked out the door to see Zac getting into the car with short sleeves and no coat. There is snow outside. So I gave Aubrey a jacket to take out to him. Then I am trying to shove Emily out the door, and the next thing I know, Zac is back in the house bringing me the jacket. At that point I didn't really care what neighbors heard me. I screamed, "GET IN THE CAR! YOU ARE MAKING EVERYONE LATE FOR SCHOOL!!!!!!" Then I didn't want to send them off to school with my screaming in their head so I also added an "I Love you. Have a good day." as they were walking to the car.

I don't want to be that nasty screaming mother who won't let anyone make a peep at the table while they are eating, but this morning was ridiculous. Usually they are fighting at the table, so it was hard for me to try and squish their good mood they were in this morning when they were getting along and laughing with each other. But they can't shirk their responsibilities. I don't know what to do. But I do know this one thing for certain. When they get home from school today, there will be no funny business. I have been saving up a LOT of work for them all day long.

The Big 6-0-0

600. That is a big number. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the number of this post you are reading. Yep. You heard me. 600 posts. Who knew I had so much to talk about? Who knew you had so much time to waste reading 600 posts? But here we are. Here's a little look back at some of my favorite posts. Click on them to read 'em.

Walgreen's

D*** Business

Trash Eating

Potty Pics

Mouse in the House

Rubber Bands

Summer Vacay

Flashback Friday - Just Grand

These are some of my favorite pictures. The above is a picture of me with both of my grandpas and below with both of my grandmas.

This is a picture of me with my mom's dad.

How To Swim In November

Last week, Addy found her swimsuit, put it on, then demanded that I fill up the wading pool that is in the garage. I tried to explain to her that it is freezing outside and that the water in the pool would be freezing too. Well, you can't explain anything to this girl. She just wanted to swim. She went out in the garage and found all the swim toys too. She brought them to me and then demanded again that I fill up the pool for her. How can you not want to give in to such persistence? So I filled up my bathtub instead. She had a delightful time swimming. And the whole of my bathroom was soaked when she was through.

WebCam Wednesday - Another Pleasant Valley Tuesday

Yesterday was a little rough. To say the least. I wasn't feelin' so hot. Aubrey did nothing but cry. Emily couldn't figure out her homework and she freaked out if anyone tried to help her. Zac kept trying to explain to me why Emily was wrong on her homework, even though I already knew that, and he kept trying to tell her that, which made her freak out even more. And Addy, well, she was just being Addy.

Monday Morning Musings - I'm Not Your Lunch!

So, this morning I was playing with Addy. I picked up her foot and acted like I was going to bite it. I said, "I'm gonna eat your foot" to which she replied, "I'm NOT your lunch!".

We had parent/teacher conferences last week. We met with Aubrey's teacher who doesn't speak English. I was very impressed with my daughter who could listen to, understand, and reply to her teacher in Spanish. My little Espanol girl.

The other day the kids and I were driving and I can't remember what we were talking about but somehow we got on the subject of the sun not giving off light anymore (the girls and I were just kidding) and Zac had to bust out with one of his facts. He said "Well, if the sun stopped giving off light, we would all be dead in 8 minutes." Apparently it takes the sun's rays 8 minutes to reach us and when they stop, we all freeze to death. Who knew? Oh, yeah, Zac did. I'm so glad he is around to keep us on track.

I'magonna tell you somthin' right now, that you have to promise never to tell anyone else. 'Cause it's real embarrassing for me and the old man, and if people knew, well, we just can't have that. So, it's like this, we put the kids in bed on Saturday night. The girls had been in our room watching TV. When we got in bed, we turned the TV on. It was on the last channel they were watching. iCarly was on. Yeah, we didn't change the channel. Sigh. Now you know. The sad thing is this. The episode that was on, I've seen it. Like ten times. *awkward* Sorry babe. It was gonna get out sooner or later.

I guess that's the end of Monday Morning Musings. I mean, what could I possibly say after that...

Back To My Roots. Literally.

I did it. I have been contemplating it for like a year now. Maybe two. And on Thursday I just jumped in and did it. I went back to my natural hair color. A special thank you goes out to my dear friend and neighbor, Jodi. Who has to play guessing games with me to try and figure out what exactly I want her to do with my hair.

I have hair issues. I have said it before. I have never had a haircut I have liked. And it has nothing to do with the person actually cutting my hair. It has to do with how down right irritating I am. Do you know I have been planning on getting a perm for three plus years now? I will spend months going back and forth and debating it in my head, and then I will decided yes, I will get one. And then I will live with that decision for a few weeks, until I decided how stupid that would be, so I change my mind back. And then I start the whole process over again.

But, like I said, I have been thinking about going au naturale for a while now. And I was all set to do it at the beginning of the summer, but then I thought I should wait for winter. And then last week, my sister Kristy paid some mean Russian man $300 to make her hair orange and then she had to go dark and so then I thought, well, if Kristy can go dark, so can I. But I forgot that Kristy is so down right beautiful she could shave her head bald and still be gorgeous. Some of us just aren't that lucky.

I loved it on Thursday. I woke up on Friday and looked in the mirror and thought, "WHAT DID I DO?" And I hated myself all day yesterday. I haven't looked in the mirror yet today, so I am not sure how I feel. But I can tell you this one thing for sure. This color hair and those butt ugly blue glasses are not a good combo.

So I am gonna go take a shower now, and get ready, and see what type of hairy emotions today brings. And Jodi, if you are reading this, PLEASE don't take it personally. You really did a fabulous job, if you could just fix what is going on INSIDE my head, well, then we'd be all set!

Flashback Friday - A Whole Lotta Love

Stand back people. Stand back. Yes, you read the title correctly. Flashback Friday. You know how long it has been since I have done a Flashback Friday? Well, I do. 'Cause I looked it up. March 6, 2009. That is a long dang time. You know why I haven't done it in so long? Because I was feeling guilty. Remember? How I was doin' the special FF and then I moved and couldn't locate the pictures I needed? And I kept promising I would start again. And I never did. So now I hope enough time has gone by that you all forgot about it. But now I've gone and reminded you again. So now you remember. But I don't care anymore. I mean, I love you and all, but get over it, life goes on.

The above pictures were taken at BYU not long after Steve and I were married, so about 14 years ago. My sister Farrah was living in Utah going to BYU and we were visiting her. We used to have so much fun with Farrah, and later her husband Bart when they lived here. I really think they should look into moving back....

I feel like I have done these pictures before on a FF. But I looked back through all of them and I couldn't find 'em anywhere. Have you seen them before. If you can find where I have posted them before, you get a very special prize.