Thankful

Even though Thanksgiving was a few days ago I wanted to make sure I expressed my gratitude. It is important to be thankful always, but especially nice that we are reminded once a year to express it a little more. I am thankful for many things:

Family

Friends

A place to live

Food

Love

The Gospel

People who care

Health (for my loved ones and myself)

The Atonement

Technology (so I can keep in touch with those I love)

The beauty all around us

Seasons

Working vehicles

Friends

(did I mention this one already? Well they are especially important to me this year as they are filling in for my family and really doing a great job of taking care of us!!!)I really can't even begin to express my gratitude for them but this is a start. There are many people, family and friends, who know who they are, that are special to me. I really don't think I would be who I am today without those people. Even the ones that I have only recently become acquainted with. I feel overwhelmed with all that the Lord has seen fit to bless me with, and at the very top of that long, long list are these people:

The LOVE of my life

The absolute best boy in the world!!!

The cutest little princess there ever was,

And the sweetest little curly haired bug there ever was!!

I thank the Lord each day for my beautiful and wonderful family, I am so blessed to be a part of it. I miss the rest of that wonderful family, but am grateful to have these gems with me always! Happy Thanksgiving!!

NANA!!!

A few weeks ago my mom was able to come out and visit us! It was sooo nice to have family come, especially when we could actually go out and have fun and not just because I had a baby!! We were only sad that the rest of the family couldn't come! (hint, hint..) While she was here we went to Luke's field trip, watched Gabby dance, went to the library and just had fun. The kids had an absolute ball the whole time she was here, and I have to admit so did I!! I love my mom and was so glad that the kids were able to have some quality time with her. It wasn't long enough, it never is, but we were able to do some fun things and above all just enjoy each others company. While she was here she got us our Christmas present, a chest freezer, and the kids decided that the box made a great fort! Nate cut windows and doors in it and it has continued to provide hours of entertainment. (Thanks again mom and dad!!) I am sad she is gone but I am grateful for the time we had. It was nice to have an extra set of hands, have someone to stay home with sleeping babies while I took or picked up Luke from school. It was nice to have someone to talk to that is above the age of 7 and nice to have someone to occupy my time when Nate is gone. Thanks mom for the fun time and for taking time off of work to visit with us!

BIG Girl!!

My baby is not a baby anymore!!! She has official given up her Binky now! It has been about 2 weeks now and she hasn't asked for it once! I just stopped offering it to her (after we cut off all the tips - thanks Darlene for the idea!!:) )And she didn't even seem to notice! Now I can't get her to be quiet and she doesn't sleep at night, but hey baby steps!! She has also decided that she wants to sit on the potty, ALL THE TIME, but not do anything on it. She did pee once, but that hasn't reoccurred. I can't believe how big she is getting, I have no little baby anymore!

Family Photos

This is my disclaimer: I know these aren't the greatest, since I took them using a timer, had a VERY uncooperative 2 year old and wind and mud to deal with and I don't have photo shop like everyone else, but these are our family photos for this year. One day I will be able to afford to get pictures taken and/or get photo shop where I can make things look really cool and also maybe by then I can learn to take better pictures. But until then this is what I have and I am not too ashamed by the results. The leaves were beautiful and I am glad that the kids worked with us at least as well as they did. We had to bribe them with candy, but hey you gotta do what ya gotta do!!

Which one is the better picture out of these 3? I would like some opinions, please :).

Lily just wouldn't smile. She didn't even want to look at the camera most of the time. I guess part of the problem was that we went to the park to take the pictures. Ya, not too smart!!

Luke was having a VERY photogenic day and I just can't decide which picture of him is the best!! I have maybe 15 that are all really good. I picked some of my favorites to share, but not necessarily the bests.

Gabby, who normally shines in front of the camera, was having an off day. This was really the only good one I got. But she is adorable anyways so it doesn't really matter.

We were able to get Lily to smile about 3 times and I caught one, but she wouldn't look at me. It is so her though!

In the past I haven't take many pictures of Nate and myself so I am making an effort to change that. I think we are a pretty good looking couple, if I do say so myself! Then there was the attempt to take a picture of all three kids together. That was a disaster. I really didn't love any of the pictures that we got, but this one isn't too bad. All in all it was a lot of fun and I love having picture of my little family! Boy am I lucky to have these guys in my life!!

TRYING to get pictures

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to take some cute pictures of my girls since Luke was at school and I had made a new dress for Gabby. (I would make more for Lily but she really doesn't like dresses.) I had seen this cute dress at Target and knew I couldn't afford it, so I attempted to make it from seeing it one time. (I do this a lot, like with Gabby's Halloween costume. I think I may start using a pattern eventually...) Anyways I liked it and she LOVES it, but one look at it and Nate asked if it was a FLDS child's dress! MEN!! I am not sure if it is just that I chose a fabric that doesn't look good in this style or if he doesn't like the style. But Gabby LOVES the style, so too bad for Nate, he will have a daughter that looks like she came from a polygamist family. Anyways we headed to the park and the kids wanted to play of course, but I thought maybe I could bribe them into pictures first. It half worked. They played for a minutes and then looked at the ducks and then I TRIED to take some pictures, but I wasn't very successful. However a few days later I did get some good family ones and I will post those soon.
Gabby is such a poser, I never have to worry about her!
They loved looking at the ducks!
This is the ONE and ONLY shot I got that was even REMOTELY good. She was being such a pill!!

This is how 90% of my pictures look. I love her to pieces even if she is a little stink sometimes!!

I had many of Gabby that were adorable, but this is HER favorite. I sure am blessed to have such great kids!!

Trunk or Treat

This is my last Halloween post... I hope!! (I said we had a whole week long celebration!) My mom was able to come for a visit and made it in time to go to the ward trunk or treat with us! We had so much fun. The kids were glad to have yet another opportunity to wear their costumes and it made it more fun to show Nana. Nate even dressed up, but I didn't get a good picture. (He dressed up as a Star Trek person, he wanted to do Captain Kirk, but we couldn't find a yellow shirt)

They had lots of fun games and the kids played all of them. Gabby loved the cake walk the best!

This is Luke and his buddy Sam.

All in all we had a really fun Halloween this year and we are glad that it is over!! (Well, at least I am :)!)

Luke's Halloween Parade

Luke's school did a Halloween program for the parents. They started with a costume parade and then finished with a song presentation. I had been sick of a few days and didn't really read the notes that the teacher sent home. I was unsure whether or not I was supposed to send Luke to school in his costume or just send it with him. He assured me that he was suppose to wear it. So I got him all ready, minus the coloring of the hair, and headed to school. We pulled up and no one else was dressed up!! I was afraid how Luke would feel, but he proudly strutted into school donning his Harry Potter cloak. No worries, no one cared and everyone addressed him as "Harry" all day long!
What a handsome little guy!!