30 grateful- days 4 through 13

When my Grandma was fostering a baby with Down Syndrome, I remember her saying she thanked the Lord every day for the person who invented disposable diapers.

My awesome ride, but more specifically the automatic doors

Flowers just make everything beautiful

Twin Falls is dang windy all the time. The plus side? My pinwheels always spin :)

Because chocolate makes everything better

Twin Falls has a beach! It's tiny and really rocky, but hey it's a beach.

Quiet time

Kiddie pools entertain my kids for hours

 

built in family that become your closest friends

 

For someone who lives far from family, the laptop, facebook, skype, etc. is all essential and I am always grateful to live in a time when staying in touch is easy.

friends

Day 3- friends, especially right when you need them

Laughter, Costa Vida, and a great friend.  Nicole, you have no idea how much I needed that tonight.

Day 2- 30 grateful

This cute girl I am grateful for in a million ways, but today she made breakfast for everyone by herself and not just cereal, but french toast!  When I say by herself, I mean I was in my bedroom and aside from asking me where a couple things were, she did it all on her own....and it was delicious, seriously!  Cooked perfectly, lots of cinnamon just the way I like it.  I took a picture of it, but it didn't turn out, but this picture is of her at her first softball game tonight.  What a great girl!

30 grateful

When I read about the 365 grateful project on design mom, I felt moved to follow suit in an effort to combat my own struggles.  Each day for the next 30 days, I will be posting a picture and a short description of something I am grateful for, the small things that may otherwise go unnoticed.  I hope you join me!

Day One- Little girl's dance clothes and homemade play-doh

Okay, so my first post is technically two things, but I couldn't choose just one.  When I saw my girl sitting there in her little dance outfit (which she wore all day), I felt such happiness in my heart and was reminded of how precious childhood can be.  The play-doh gratitude is two fold.  #1, we made it and played it together.  #2, she continued to play with it, giving me some time to get a few things done. :)

The boy turns 9

Treygan's birthday was such a whirlwind this year happening soon after moving, I hardly had time to reflect like I usually do because I'm sappy like that.  Instead, I'll sap on the blog for just a moment.

Treygan at 11 days old.  The quality of this picture alone makes me feel old!

9 years ago (9!!) I brought my first baby into our family, I was 21.  Sometimes I'm just so grateful he survived having this young completely clueless mama. It's hard to be the guinea pig but Trey takes it all in stride, he's pretty patient with me really.  I love that he has a good mixture of qualities from me and Justin; confident, easy going, ambitious, funny (you do the parent matching, haha). My favorite right now is watching him interact with Luke. They are buddies and I hope it stays that way despite the 8 year age difference.  Since moving, they now share a room and in the beginning (when Luke wasn't used to a roommate) there were 1 or 2 reports of baby brother waking up and "yelling at me and I rub his head to get him back to sleep." It made me smile that big brother just knew what to do, he didn't come complain to me, he just took care of it.  Treygan is going to do great things, I just know it.

Onto the party!  We celebrated in Rexburg this year with cousins.  It involved a Star Wars theme and a lot of fun. Take a look...

The cupcakes (thanks Lori) They look Star Warsish right?

The Food: I don't even know what Muja's or Padwan's are, but I went with it, and yes I used Hot and Ready and not Pizza Hut, it's just how I roll, simple but still gets the point across. 

The birthday Storm Trooper

Yes, he was really that excited for a bat bag

The death star that I was told didn't really look like the death star

 

And now the absolute best part of the entire party...

Darth Vader stopped in, this is the after shot, where he just held it up for the picture,  the paper mask didn't last long in the battle...

Don't you just love that last picture? Sheer joy on the boy's face, he will never forget his very awesome dad being so willing to be attacked with pool noodle light sabers.  At the end of the day, Trey summed it up well when he said, "Best birthday ever!"

Below are a few great pictures of the party guests that I have to include because they are so great.  Thanks Lani for taking them for me!

The Move

It's already May?  We've been in Twin Falls for over a month now and I think I'm ready to talk about "the move." Well maybe not, but here it goes anyway.  Moving is hard! The few weeks before we left, I have never felt so stressed out (oh, except for when we moved the ten other times).  No seriously, I came down with a UTI, broke out in hives and was a big ball of anxiety. But through all of that, I reaped some serious blessings in the form of the most wonderful friends a gal could ask for.  Playdates were had, meals were given and more selfless service was given through house cleaning and box packing.  The day we moved looked something like this.. (okay, not matching cars, but you get the idea)

Our farewell party looked something like this... (again, you get it)

 I was so overwhelmed with how many people showed up to see us off and then to help us, I really couldn't believe we were leaving this place so full of kindness and love for a place we hardly knew at all. But, alas, the inevitable arrived and we waved goodbye with tear filled eyes and nervous hearts for what lay ahead.

Now, I could go on and on about how I am not feeling the love here and how I constantly beg (just myself in my own mind) to go back to how things were, but I won't because it won't help.  Instead, I'm deciding here and now to make the best of this situation and try to find happiness here...it's not Twin Falls, it's me.  There are plenty of good people in the world and plenty for me to do to make a difference.  Vice President of PTO- yes please! Say hello instead of waiting for someone to come to me- absolutely! Live well! It's my new motto, you can take it to mean whatever you want, but for me it means that whatever I'm doing, I'm going to try my darndest to do it well, to be happy. It doesn't mean unrealistic expectations or never allowing myself a bad moment (or day), it just means to try my darndest.   However, in the spirit of keeping it real I'll admit that in my mind I am giving this a year, then I shall reevaluate- just sayin. :)

Live Well!

"Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."  Matthew 11:28-29