Family Photoshoot

My wonderful sister-in-law Jackie took some family photos of us yesterday. I'm so glad that they turned out well. Here are a few of my favorites:

Good News, Bad News

Good News: I made homemade pies for Thanksgiving: lemon meringue, pumpkin and chocolate cheesecake.

Bad news: Our diaper bag and the meringue had a little collision in the car. Good news: All the pies tasted great anyway.

Bad news: Somehow in turning my head to look at the pie mishap, I totally strained my neck.

Good news: I don't have chronic pain, it just hurt like a bowling ball slammed the base of my neck for a day or two. After that, all better!

Bad news: I didn't sleep well at all with my injury and being away from my own bed. Jason and Brad didn't sleep well either.

Good news: I have a wonderful husband who got up in the night to change Jason's poopy diaper so that I wouldn't have to.

Bad news: Brad and the kids had to come for family photos. Brad hates posing for photos.

Good news: We got some great photos! Thanks Jackie!

Bad news: (to be disclosed later)

Good news: We had two fantastic Thanksgiving dinners! We got to spend time with both sides of the family!

Bad news: Parker got the stomach flu last night, which means that last bad news was that either one of our family members unknowingly contaminated everyone at the dinners or we did. Either way, bad news.

Good news: It was short lived. We were up several times between 12-4 a.m. with him, but then he slept in until 10! He woke up feeling much better. Hopefully no one else will get it.

Bad news: I had to spend my day washing and disinfecting everything.

Good news: I have a very clean house!

Despite our "bad news" moments, we have had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We hope that you did too!

So Grateful!

I can't let this Thanksgiving holiday pass without taking the opportunity to give thanks for a few of the very many things that I am grateful for.

First and foremost I am so grateful to know that I am a daughter of a Heavenly Father who loves me dearly. I know that He wants what is best for me and for all of His children. I love my Savior, Jesus Christ and am so thankful for His example, His love and most of all His atonement. Through it He has provided a way for us to be redeemed. I can't imagine how it would be to lose your loved ones and believe that you will never see them again. I know that isn't true. I will have the chance to see my grandfathers and others who have passed away. For that I am truly thankful. I am also so grateful for the restoration of the gospel. Through it I was able to gain an understanding and testimony of all of these things.

I can't begin to tell you how much I adore my handsome sweetheart and eternal companion, Bradley. He works so hard for us and is such a good example to me. I just love him so much! I am so lucky to have our two adorable boys. They bring me so much joy! I also have the most wonderful parents, siblings and extended family. I feel fortunate to live within an hour drive from so many of them. I couldn't possibly have better in-laws. . . seriously, not possible.

I have been really blessed to be surrounded by so many phenomenal people in my life! I have some amazing friends that support me and inspire me to be better. Thank you!

I am so grateful for my freedom. I am so lucky to live in a place where I am free to make my own choices. Thank you to all of you who have sacrificed to preserve that freedom!

I feel so lucky to have my health! I can run around and so can most of my family. I sure am blessed! It is just a miracle that how it can heal itself after injuries. Having a child grow inside you is incredible. Our bodies are just amazing! We also live in a day when medical technology is able to help so many. Are we lucky or what?

I am thankful for my education. So many people around the world aren't given the opportunity. Besides formal education, we also have libraries, museums and the Internet which provide endless supplies of knowledge. I also had the wonderful opportunity to teach school for five years and now I get to teach my own children. It's a great responsibility, but very rewarding!

A church on Sunday one of the speakers made the remark that we are so lucky to live in this time. We live a finer life than many kings and queens ever did. That is true indeed! We have refrigerators, airplanes, phones, carpet, cars, computers, insulation, medicines, microwaves, central air, and so many other conveniences! I could go on and on, but I won't.

I hope you feel as lucky as I do! We are truly blessed!
In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

Misplaced Masterpieces and Changing Seasons

So today when I was straightening the living room I thought I heard someing in the kitchen. I did. Here is Parker's lovely rainbow art. I genuinely like the colors, but I don't like his location. You've got to love kids, even when they are as good at making messes as Parker is.

Afterwards Parker went out to enjoy the white wonderland. He was having a ball eating the hopefully clean snow.

I LOVE Christmas time, bit I don't like the cold. I keep hoping that we can go back to the weather we were enjoying two weeks ago.

I love when the boys play well together. They had a ball sliding together down the slide. Here are my handsome little munchkins ready for church a few weeks ago. I love these boys!

Hooray for Girls' Day Out!

This afternoon I met with some of my awesome cousins and we had a little girls' afternoon out making lunch and going to New Moon. We had a fantastic time being together!

I read the first Twilight book a few years ago and liked it, but I haven't gotten around to reading the rest of the series. The movie was pretty good. So, you know how everyone is choosing sides, team Jacob or Edward? Well, I wonder why they would both be head-over-heals for Bella? She is kind of a downer. She's so easily depressed and moody. Life as a vampire or werewolf would be tough enough and they'd want to come home to someone joyful. I don't think she'd be that fun to be around, but whatever. . . Anyway, we had a great time at the movie!

Treehouse Museum with Grandma

We really lucked out to have my mom come up and go to the Treehouse Museum with us! The kids had a fantastic time and I have picture overload of all the fun!

Here are my little Air Force pilot and Navy captain. Check out the sweet astronaut too- I love the giant helmet! Who wouldn't want to attend an unbirthday party with a card of diamonds and the white rabbit? Dr. Parker is doing his rounds. King Jason Parker and I are doing a puppet show of the Three Billy Goats Gruff. We had to improvise with the donkey. My little cowboys!

Parker liked building this birdhouse in the wood shop.

Practicing to be a dairy farmer.

Jason enjoyed ringing the bells.

This cool layered puzzle was a lot of fun for Parker.

Casting their fishing nets.

Jason loved playing the drums. He banged on every single one of them . . . and on every chair. . . and even on the President's desk.

Thanks Grandma for coming to the museum with us!

Parker's Best Buds

I just found this picture that Parker drew about a month ago of some of his best buds. I love it! I asked Parker to tell me about his picture:
"This is Daddy, Parker and the little one is Jason. Daddy has pokey hair and Jason and I are bald. Why are we bald?"
"You tell me," I said.
"It's because me and Jason just got a a haircut and they cut all of the hair off. That's why."

Here's a random picture of Parker with some of his other good buddies, Braxton and Isaiah.

Beta Reunion

I was a sorority girl-well sort of. When I was attending the U of U both prior and post mission, I was in an LDS Lambda Delta Sigma sorority. I met some of my best friends in Beta and still keep in touch with many of them. We had so much fun together in college. I have more pictures, but they're hidden away in my "To Be Sorted" tupperware of old photos. Anyway, today we had a reunion of sorts. A bunch of us met for lunch, including one of our advisors. I loved seeing so many old friends! It was so great to catch up with all of the girls who were able to make it! We missed everyone who couldn't be there, but we'll definitely have to do it again soon!

Gratitude to Veterans

I just want to give a big shout out to all of the Veterans and their families. It is a huge sacrifice to give of your time, your energy, your talents and sometimes even your lives to preserve our freedom. Thank you for your willingness to leave your loved ones in our behalf. All of Brad's and my grandfathers1 served in the armed forces. The photo above is of my dad's dad while he was serving as a doctor in the Coast Guard. I wish that I had pictures of all of our grandfathers in their uniforms, but unfortunately I don't. I also wigh that I knew more about their experiences. I am so grateful for their service.

My other grandpa served in the navy during WWII. He turned 18 right when Pearl Harbor was bombed. Both of Brad's grandpas served during the Korean War.My cousin Chris returned a while ago from year-long deployment in Kuwait. My cousin's husband recently returned from a year in Iraq.

There are so many friends who have and are serving that I can't pay special tribute to them individually, but I hope that they all recognize how much we appreciate their service! Hopefully we can all be better about always honoring them.