Belated Thankfulness

My heart has been full of gratitude this past week for many reasons. It all started on Sat the 22nd we had a stake temple day focusing on a day of gratitude and we were to go to the temple grounds as much as possible. We started the day with Preston taking the youth of the ward to do baptisms for the dead. Then I met up with him to do a session. That afternoon we took the kids to the visitors center to see the displays. While there we decided to see the Joseph SMith movie. It was my first time seeing the movie and it helped me to remind myself of the sacrifices that were made to have the restored gospel on the earth. I am so grateful to live in a time when the gospel is on the earth in its fulness and that I can have the temple blessings to allow our family to be eternal. I am so grateful for a husband that is always respectful and helpful. Preston is a very busy man but he does what he can to spend time with me and the kids. I am also grateful for all 3 of my kids. They have very unique personalities that make life fun and interesting. I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving. We have been with family in Eagar AZ. We drove up Thanksgiving morning and got a rare treat of a White Thanksgiving. It rained on us the whole trip until just outside of Show Low and then the snow came and it snowed until just outside of Eagar. It was very pretty.

Love/Hate Situation

Lately I have been feeling under the weather. I have had a case of the flu and a lot of things on my plate with work, family life and church responsibilities. When things get like this around here I hate it because I can't keep up with it all.

On the other hand Taylor loves it. She can get away with a lot more when I don't have the time or energy to deal with it. The picture demonstrates that quite well. She has completely destroyed her room and our family room I just didn't take a picture of that. Also she dressed herself, which whe does everyday but yesterday was different. If you can't tell, she has her underwear on the outside of her shorts, her shirt is on backwards and she is wearing her brown church shoes with no socks and on the wrong feet. Oh well she is safe, has been fed and has had a fun day with her toys. I guess that is all that matters right.

We are the Ward Halftime Show

I feel bad for the members of our ward who attend church to learn from the speakers. If they sit around me and my kids they are destined to be distracted. Last Sunday was no different. We are sitting in the middle of the chapel (literally I usually sit in the middle of the midde pew) I look down at Nathan and he is looking really droopy, he informs me that he is really tired. NOw if you have a weak stomach stop reading this post now. Then about 10 minutes later I look down and he looks like he is about to cry. I ask if he is feeling sick. He says "Yes, I feel like I am going to throw up." I say "Okay HURRY lets go, start walking I will come with you." We start to rush out , we are almost at the aisle and then Nathan stops walking. I say keep going and the man we were standing in front of says "It's okay just keep going buddy." I then realize that Nathan has thrown up a little, he looks at me with panic and embarrasment on his face. We rush out into the hall and RUN down the hallway to the bathroom. We made it. Then I grab some wet papertowels from the bathroom. Nathan does not want to go back into the chapel but I need to because Taylor and Natalie are still in there. So he stays in the foyer. I go in sit down in front of the area where he threw up and clean it up. The sister sitting there had already started to clean it up with a box of kleenexs that she had put in her bag on the way out the door to church. Bless her heart. So we finish cleaning it up and putting the kleenexs and towels in the empty box and she takes it to the garbage for me. I then gather our stuff from where we were sitting. During the rest hymn I retrieve Taylor from the family that was taking care of her 1 row behind us and then get Natalie from the family 2 rows behind us that was taking care of her. We leave to get Nathan in the foyer. Taylor asks where we are going and states she wants to stay. I then summon Preston off of the stand he comes out and gets Taylor and then she sits the remainder of the meeting on PRestons lap on the stand. I take Nathan and Natalie home. I probably should send an apology note to the speakers for being so disruptive. It was kind of appropriate that there topic was about trials we have but that Heavenly Father is aware of us and that there are people to help us. I am very grateful for all the help from the ward members that our family receives.
A couple of side notes. Nathan did not throw up or really act sick after that, although he did stay home from school yesterday. I had a dream Sat night that Nathan threw up somewhere and somebody said Welcome to Flu season. So far I am the only one that is sick besides Nathan and mine isn't very bad. That same day our pet goldfish died, but it had lasted 3 weeks and we were pretty surprised it lasted that long.

Our GREAT Grandpa Great

Today is my Grandpa 90th Birthday so I thought I would take the time to post a tribute to this great man. My kids call him Grandpa Great or Taylor it sounds more like bompa rate. She will say I love Bompa Rate. My Grandpa is probably one of the greatest men on the whole earth. He is always so loving and caring. He took care of my Grandma selflessly for many years. When I was a kid we visited almost every Sunday evening and would have rootbeer floats. It was a tradition I cherished then and now. My grandparents house was always filled with love and reverence. Grandpa's eyes are dark brown and full of love. He is thought of as a lovable teddy bear. His nickname for me was dopey. I am not sure as to why but he has called me that ever since I can remember. Up until I was quite old I would perch on the arm of his recliner everytime I would go to visit. I just wanted to be close to him. I hope that I can be even half the person my grandparents are. I am sorry to all of you who have not had the privillege to meet him he is a wonderful man.
I would like to list some of the Grandpa isms
1. "Mighty Tasty"- No meal is complete without him saying this.
2. "Head first or feet first"- He would say this to whoever was sitting in his recliner when he came to sit down. When I was about 10 years old he picked me up off the chair after saying this. He was so proud of himself with the shock he created in me that he actually picked me up. He still gets a kick out of that today.
3. " It will cost you a quarter" He says this whenever you ask a favor of him.
4. "I am going to get a bean or two" This meant he was going to get groceries.
5. "I got my ears lowered" Meaning he just got a haircut.

There are many more but I will leave it at these.