So Very Thankful For....

Thanksgiving has come quickly this year, and while I wasn't very vocal about all the wonderful many blessings I have been given, I did want to share "a few" of the many things for which I am very thankful. I tried to think of something for every day of the month, and the girls helped me as well. We wrote them down on cute paper leaves, then hung them on a line above the television. Nothing fancy or super special, but it was a good reminder throughout the month of all that we have been blessed with.

 

I am thankful for loving parents who have always been supportive and encouraging.

I am thankful for good schools, great teacher, and the opportunity to receive an education.

I am thankful for SNUGGLES and HUGS and KISSES.

I am thankful for the craziness and chaos that often fills our home...it keeps us on our toes.

I am thankful for Nature. (Aiden)

I am thankful for our home (small as it may be) and for the shelter and warmth is provides.

We are thankful for Teen Beach Movie. (Reilly and Aiden)

We are thankful for gymnastics and Coach Tracy! (Aiden and Reilly)

I am thankful for Cars. (Mac)

I am thankful for exercise and for the physical ability to do it.

I am thankful for dogs. (Aiden)

I am thankful for music and for girls who love to sing and dance to it.

I am thankful for hobbies and interests and for the chance to constantly try new things.

I am thankful for Heavenly Father. (Reilly)

I am thankful for my pennies. (Aiden)

I am thankful for good, supportive friends who put up with me and all my awkwardness and imperfections.

We are thankful for the beach and the ocean, and to live where we live.

I am thankful for family, the one I was born into as well as the one I chose to be married into, and I am thankful for the love and acceptance that surrounds me, Doug, and our children.

I am thankful for Yo Gabba Gabba and Mickey Mouse. (Mac)

I am thankful to live in the beautiful are of Newport Heights and for our wonderful neighbors.

I am thankful for daddy's job. (Reilly)

I am thankful for smiley, Reilly Roo and for her cheerful, happy-go-lucky nature.

I am thankful for cheese! (Mac)

I am thankful for a washer, and dryer, and dishwasher.

I am thankful for Doug and for his hard work, and for his dedication to our family, his job, jiu jitsu, and all his endeavors.

We are thankful for all of the beautiful sunsets we are given.

We are thankful for flannel sheets and for warm, snuggly blankets.

I am thankful for books, for scriptures, for good literature, and for the ability to read.

We are thankful for cookies, cupcakes, and ALL sweet and tasty treats. (Aiden and Reilly)

I am thankful for creativity and craftiness (and for friends who inspire me to make fun things).

 

 

I am thankful for my friends. (Reilly)

I am thankful for trials, struggles, and hardships that keep us humble and help us to grow.

I am thankful for turtles. (Reilly)

I am thankful for MacKenzie and for the pure, uninhibited happiness she brings into our family.

I am thankful for the Atonement and for an ever-growing testimony of Jesus Christ, Heavenly Father, and the gospel

I am thankful for temples, for the priesthood, and for the blessings of an eternal marriage and family.

I am thankful for forgiveness, and for the chance to apologize and try to make things better.

I am thankful for TV. (Aiden)

I am thankful for volleyball. (Aiden)

I am thankful for binkies. (Mac)

We are thankful for the moon and stars and the beautiful nighttime sky.

I am thankful for Aiden Kaylin and for her sweet, sensitive, loving, sassy spirit.

I am thankful for good, healthy food...and for the not-so-healthy, but oh-so-delicious stuff as well (especially PIE, today I am especially thankful for PIE).

 

We hope your Thanksgiving was happy and wonderful and full of remembrances of the many, many things with which you have been blessed.

Someone Turned 33...

Happy birthday Doug!! Here is how we celebrated YOUR special day...dinner at Crab Cooker, followed by a bundtlet+ice cream cake and presents. I wish we could have done more to celebrate such a hard-working guy, but with your birthday falling on a Tuesday...well, it just wasn't in the cards. Just think about it this way, the girls and I have a whole 364 days to plan something totally awesome for next year!

First Day of Second Grade...

 Well, it's that time of year again...time for the girls to go back to school. Summer was great. It really was amazing. But I think all of us are ready to get back to somewhat of a schedule...back to a regular routine. Aiden and Reilly were both very excited for today. They were excited to meet their new teacher (they will be in the same class again this year). They couldn't wait to see their old friends. They couldn't WAIT to be big-time second graders. Can you see the excitement in their faces? It took all the patience they had to oblige their mother with a few before-school photos...

 

Aiden (left) and Reilly (right)

 

 

 

Poor little Mac is going to miss her big sisters while they are at school. She sure loves hanging out with them and following them around. Hopefully, I will be able to keep her as entertained as they do during the day...and hopefully she will have fun with her old mom. 

 

It's not much, but the girls wanted to do a little something for their teacher on the first day of school. We made some fresh blueberry muffins for breakfast, so we packaged some up with a little tag and called it good. Hopefully, this tasty snack will help start the year off right on the right track.

 

At the school, Mac was delighted to run into her dear friend L. (L's sister is in the same grade as Aiden and Reilly). These two girls are about a month apart in age and already have so much fun together. I foresee a lot of fun playdates with these two silly gals in the future.

 

After Mac and I said our final farewells to the girls, we decided to go for a celebratory Bonzai Bowl for a late breakfast/mid-morning snack. It was delicious...and a great way to end our first morning back at school!

Getting Back to Blogging...

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A while back, I was talking with a friend about my neglect of this blog. I mentioned I was kinda sad about it, but that with life as a working/schooling/mom of 3/blah-blah-blah, I just couldn't seem to find the time to catch up. Immediately, my sweet friend said "Well Becky, you just have to do it." Here next words of advice were "Don't worry about catching up, just start with today and go from there." Admittedly, I chuckled and thought to myself "okay, okay...that's never going to happen," but her simple words have been in the back of my mind every time I have thought about blogging in the past year.

As evident by the date of my last post, I didn't heed my friend's advice as I should have (I'm sorry Karly)...but some things have happened to other friends of mine over the past few months, which have caused me to re-realize just how important this blog is to me and my family. I love that I have a record of seemingly small moments in our seemingly ordinary lives. While I do not consider us or our adventures abnormally exciting, they are OUR adventures, our happenings, our memories...and I want the record of these moments to be around long after I am gone or able to remember them.

That being said, I am going to recommit myself to get back to blogging. Life is too precious and valuable to not leave a record or a memory. I want to be able to remember our struggles, our challenges, our happy times, our silly times...everything about our lives and our family through its various stages. It doesn't matter if I'm the only one reading this. What is important is that I take the time to record the things I want to remember now, so that I won't have to worry about what I have forgotten later. I want a record about our good times and our more-challenging times. I want to remember the joys and frustrations of our everyday happenings.

Blogging makes me happy. Reading about our past and seeing how we've grown makes me happy. Seeing and sharing pictures of my beautiful family makes me happy. Thinking about what I may have missed or forgotten already doesn't make me too happy, but realizing that I can change and start anew does make me happy. So, here's to blogging and doing something that makes me happy!

Happy 2 to You...

It's hard to believe that 2 years has gone by since little MacKenzie joined our family. To say the time has flown by way too quickly is an understatement. It seems like it was just yesterday that Doug and I went to the hospital to welcome baby girl #3.

There have been some scares (our 6 day hospital stay at birth (that felt like 6 years), repeated breath holding spells and ER visits, allergic reactions), but through it all Mac has consistently been the sweetest, happiest, most smiley little girl around.

 

 

 

To hear her laugh, to see her love and adoration for her "sisties," to see her beautiful smile every single day...these are the little things that help me to recognize the incomparable blessings of being a mother. I thank Heavenly Father every day for allowing MacKenzie to join our family, to bless us with her example, and to allow us to watch her grow. Happy birthday little one...we all love you SO very much!

 

 

 

 

 Here's the rundown on how MacKenzie spent her birthday. After dropping Aiden and Reilly off at school, Mac and I went and got some special birthday donuts. She had some fun playtime at the park with her friend Gavin. After her nap we picked Reilly and Aiden up from school. Mac then had her favorite afternoon snack (popcorn, or pop-pop as she calls it) while watching some Yo Gabba Gabba (another favorite). Mac's birthday dinner was chosen by her sisters (Old Spaghetti Factory, a family favorite), but she didn't seem to mind in the least. When bedtime came, Mac got to snuggle her new fuzzy YGG friends Muno, Brobee, and Foofa.

       

 

           

 

 

All in all, I would say our little two year old had a pretty fun birthday!!

Fun Times, Family Times...

The past week has been an especially fun one for our little family. My youngest sister Emily graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) and my nephew Finely turned 8, which means he was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. All of this meant that we got to take a little road trip up to Utah to see my family - Yay!!

The start of our roadtrip was a little rocky - Aiden got carsick, Reilly got stung by a bee, then Doug got carsick, and so forth, and so forth. The drive took a little longer than expected, causing us to miss Emily's graduation ceremony, but we finally made it safe and sound. (Here's a pic of the happy, beautiful, intelligent graduate...)

The baptism was so special, and afterward there was the bonus of getting NEW family pictures (apparently, I close my eyes a lot when I'm in front of the camera...oh well).

 

 

 

 

 

Doug and I decided to use this trip as an excuse to treat the girls to a night in Vegas. We got a great rate at the Excalibur (the pretty Castle, as the girls refer to it), partook of a buffet dinner, and enjoyed a looong walk on the strip, taking in the lights. The next morning we spent as much time as possible in the pool before we had to hop back in the car to get home.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before we headed home, we decided to cruise the strip so the girls could see the big hotels during daylight. Doug wanted to hit up another buffet, so we stopped at a cool little casino/hotel south of the city and were totally surprised when we walked in and saw this cool aquarium. The girls LOVED it. The buffet ended up being super crowded, and we didn't want to wait the hour to get in, so we decided to get burgers and milkshakes at Johnny Rocket's instead...it was a win-win for all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While it may have been a short little vacay, we sure had a great time!! Can't wait to do it again (hopefully sooner rather than later!!)