Gratitude....

**Warning** This is more of a "journal" post for myself. And is very long!

God has been good to me! As I sit here listening to my cute little boy Sawyer playing in the play room and making cute noises, I think about this past year.

I didnt want to move to Kansas. I LOVED Washington. I grew up in Snohomish, about 1/2 hr north of where we lived. I remember driving by/through Issaquah growing up and telling myself "this is where I want to live" when I am grown and have kids of my own. And thats where we were. And I loved it. I have so many good friends there. I loved the schools. My kids had good friends. We were in the "Celestial" ward that was seriously the best ward ever! Dont believe me? Go to it for a few months and you will say the same thing.

A year ago I was not happy. We lived in this place called Kansas. I felt alone. I didnt have my friends. I didnt go to the wonderful ward that I had gone to for the past 6 years. I was missing the Relief Society Progressive dinner with all my friends. I ALREADY missed the wonderful Super Saturday where we always got to make fun things for our homes. I was thinking about the AWESOME Relief Society Retreat that I looked so forward to every June at an awesome home full of FUN and WONDERFUL friends, eating yummy food, listening to great speakers like Emily Watts and our Stake Presidency, laughing at each other while doing Dance Dance Revolution, Karaoke, roasting marshmellows outside at the fire sitting by the waterfall....and all this while in our pajamas and till midnight! I was thinking about the strength I gained from being a part of this ward, as a ward we had gone through many trials together! We were truly one big family.

And, we left our Grandma Sue. UGH is all I have to say about that. How much fun it was for the kids to have a Grandma close by. They went to her house every Friday night, even spent the night in their room they had at her house sometimes. And she was so fun to be around.

I love Washington and my friends there. I have wonderful memories and I seriously ACHED to move back. WE left a wonderful place.

I was sad, depressed, lonely a year ago. But I am so grateful too as I think about how Heavenly Father has helped me to find JOY here. To see the good. I have been blessed to have 4 amazing wonderful kids. And the most amazing husband ever! How I love him! I am grateful I no longer ACHE to go back. Do I miss it? Yes! Do I miss my friends? Yes! But....

I am grateful that I can sit here today and remember those sad feelings I have had in the past and know that they are no longer with me. I have made friends here. My kids love it here. The school is the most amazing school EVER.

I am grateful for the hard year I have had and how I can look back and see how I have grown, been strengthened and tested.

I am blessed. And this I am grateful for...to look back at when I have those hard days and see how my Heavenly Father loves each of us!

Finally.....Laurens Birthday!

Lauren turned 9 way back on November 13 and yes it is taking me this long to post about it. Maybe because I am in denial that she is 9. That means she has lived half of the time that she will live with us at home now. And that time has gone by way too fast! I didnt believe people when she was born that said the time will go by so fast. But here I am thinking the same thing. Seriously. Can I just stop time for a while?

My Dear Lauren that I love so much is such a joy to have in our home. She is simply amazing! So helpful! So Sweet! Such a great big sister who loves her siblings (most of the time). She is an amazing reader and writer. She is into writing mysteries right now and has already written 2 mystery books. She wants to be an author when she grows up.

Words do not describe the joy I have being her mother and how grateful I am that she is apart of our family.

Happy Late Late Late Birthday my sweet Lauren!





For her birthday she had a choice to have a party of invite a couple of friends and go out to dinner to Cinzettis (such a delicious restaurant). She chose the restaurant. Then we came back and opened presents with her friends.

Need a new post....

I so need a new post....but I am not in the mood...for a while now....

I went to New Moon tonight and absolutely LOVED it!

I need to post about how my oldest turned 9 last week! And how that makes me feel old....but, I am holding a sleeping and sick little baby and typing this with one hand so I will do it later....and I should be in bed...but we wont talk about that.

for now here are some pics of me and the ladies enjoying a much needed Girl's Night Out....

Lauren

Miles

The Temple

Some more....I am on a role!

I love this picture of Miles....

Isabelle was being such a goof ball for all the pictures!

Gun Shop and Post Office

She makes me laugh!

Wagon

Blacksmith

Nauvoo

If you haven't visited Nauvoo....You NEED to! And you can even visit us on your way there! :)

We left early friday morning and drove to Nauvoo. What an amazing experience that is. I thought I appreciated the pioneers...but after leaving Nauvoo and hearing all the stories and seeing this beautiful city....my appreciation goes so much deeper. I only hope I can be more like these amazing pioneers....like the women. They took such care of their homes, their children, worked so hard and had so much faith...despite all the hardships and trials they went through.

I am in awe of the amazing temple they built...it is so beautiful, massive and they didnt have big trucks and machinery or power tools to build it. It was all done by their hands and hard work....dedication! They had such a beautiful city and were finally living in peace. They worked so hard to build their homes....made bricks one by one. And when their home was finally finished after so much work....they had to clean it, dust it and close their doors to leave because they were no longer safe there. How sad! Yet they kept the faith. They simply believed!

I pray that I can be more like them.

I have so many pictures to share!





What is below the statue......
(click on to enlarge)

Had to add this because he is just cute!

Its been a while...

I havent posted for a while....just not in the mood lately!

My mom is here...its the first time she has seen my sweet boy Sawyer. We are having fun sewing....I havent sewn for 10 years and I am learning all over again. I will post pictures of my projects later.

For now, here is a picture of my movie star on set! J/K...They were doing a video for Ladds presentations and here he is in between filming!


I am so in love!

New Neighbor....

I saw Miles and his friend laughing their heads off at some ball thing in the road today. I went out to look at what they were doing and saw they had found a turtle. They played with the turtle for a while and then the rest of the neighborhood kids were playing with him for quite a while.

I guess the "Box Turtle" is the state reptile and quite common.

Here is the little guy....

Special Shelf

I have had this shelf for about 6 years now and just NOW put it up.....I finally decided to paint it and hang it.

This shelf is very special to me.

My dad made it for me for my birthday about 4 months before he passed away. It was a pure act of love. He was SO sick, frail and fragile. Yet he went out to his shop and made this shelf for me. How sweet and special that was to me. He was so excited to give it to me. It reminds me of him so much...carpentry and furniture was so much of his life.

I remember when I was growing up, I would go out to his shop and just sit and watch him make masterpieces. I would sit there for hours on saturdays...not saying a word...just watching in amazement that he could make such things with his own hands. One time he let me use his nail gun.

I love my dad and so grateful that I have this to remind me of him and who he was everyday.

And I love that pictures of my kids are hanging on this shelf that their Grandpa made!

Getting caught up...

Sorry for all the pictures....This blog is more of a journal for our family....thus the reason for all of the pics.

We had a fun weekend a few weeks ago....We kept it all a surprise from the kids so they never knew where we were going next....

It started out going to the grand opening of a Harley Davidson factory...one of only 10 in the US. They had all kinds of bounce house stuff for the kids to play on, mini motorcycles to ride, people doing motorcycle tricks (Miles favorite part) and you could tour the factory. It was pretty cool to tour the factory and see how they build these motorcycles from scratch, starting with roles of steel(or whatever they make it with) for gas tanks. And they even build the engines from scratch and we got to see it all. No wonder these motorcycles are so expensive and popular....

And we saw enough motorcycles in the parking lot to last me a lifetime!



Then we went to this cool little park that does train rides for 50cents a ride. The kids were so excited when they saw the train when we pulled up. I think Lauren was the most excited!


We ended the day at Old Settlers Day here in Olathe. A festival that has been going on for over 100 years consistently. We rode a few rides and it made me feel old...I was so sick after riding just 2 rides with Lauren. I was seriously gagging at the end of the second ride.....



And some pics of our cute little guy!!!!