It’s the most wonderful time of the year!!

That’s right, our annual trip to Disneyland!! For the last couple years we have gone in November, right before Thanksgiving.  We love to go at this time because the park isn’t crowded, and all the Christmas decorations are up. We usually go with our friends, the Cotterells, and this year, we took the Davis family, too. (That’s a party of 15, in case you were wondering.)

It was a lot of fun, as always! Thanks Cotterells and Davises for sharing the Disney magic.

9 kids total, (one is missing from this picture)

  Can’t wait for next year!!

You're invited to our wedding reception, 11 years later

Saturday was our anniversary.

So I wanted to relive the memories from 11 years ago.

Happy Anniversary, sweetheart! I love you!

more gratitude

Everyday, I have tried to recognize those things and people in my life that are blessings. Wow! I am amazed at how much I have!

-My house- I sometimes complain that I want a new house, or that this one is too small, but I am grateful that we have a house!! And a house payment we can afford. A lot of people right now don’t have that… I am grateful for a nice, cozy, warm home that we can afford and we aren’t worried about losing it.

-Education- I am grateful for the education that I received. And also for the education that Jeff received. I know there are some people who can’t (or don’t) get an education, and I am glad that I did (and will).

-my neighbors- I have the BEST neighbors. Not only can I borrow sugar or butter from them, but they also help out with my kids, and any other problems I may be having. I am very blessed to have such great neighbors.

-My country- I know that there were many people who sacrificed their lives so that I could enjoy the freedoms I do. I am grateful to Heavenly Father for setting this choice land apart.

-Music- Though I am not blessed with any musical talent (that’s an understatement), I have an immense appreciation for music of all kinds. I am especially grateful for those who are musically talented who share their gifts with others. I have been uplifted and inspired many times by music.

These are a few more things I am grateful for. 

An attitude of gratitude

In this month of Thanksgiving, I have decided to focus on gratitude. I was inspired by reading a talk about having more gratitude. If you want to read it, go here.

Of course I am grateful for my family, our health, the gospel, my Savior and His Atonement. These are fairly obvious to me. But I am grateful for the small things. the everyday manifestations of my Heavenly Father’s love for me. So I want to post about things that I am grateful for, that I may recognize more blessings, and draw closer to Him that gave them to me.

So day one of my ‘attitude of gratitude’ I would like to give thanks for my children. I know it’s obvious, but they really are my greatest source of joy. Not just happiness, pure JOY! I love being a mom, and I love taking care of them. I love to squeeze them,and tuck them in every night. I love to listen to their stories, and help them learn new things. I especially love to hear them tell me they love me, too. I give gratitude for the blessings (and trials) of being a mother.

Halloween

 

A black cat, a musketeer, and a skeleton.

Last night after trick or treating, Brynnlee was already planning next year’s outfit. She was kind of bummed that Lauren got to wear makeup, and she didn’t (aside from the eyeliner whiskers).

Hope you had a great Halloween!!

U2!!

I am the U and Jeff is the 2. See it?

Oh, you guys!! It was SO FREAKING AWESOME!! I wouldn’t say No Line on the Horizon is my favorite album, so I was kind of thinking this concert wouldn’t be my favorite, but luckily they didn’t play everything from the new album. They played a lot of the old stuff, too. It was so great when they started Mysterious Ways, and after 2 notes, everybody is jumping and screaming, and singing along. Oh. how I love that band!!

The band is as awesome as ever. Bono is singing the whole time, running around the stage and bantering with the crowd. He is such a great performer. I loved it!

Rumor is they will be hitting Salt Lake on the second leg of their North American tour, so maybe in June or July… You know I will be there!!

VEGAS- here we come!!

Tomorrow morning, Jeff and I, with Susy and Clark are roadtripping to Vegas to see THE BEST BAND OF ALL TIME!

Yes, we are going to see U2!!

Happy birthday to me!!

I’ll let you know how it was, but it’s a pretty safe bet that IT WAS AWESOME!!

BEST DAY EVER!!

In our neighborhood, we have this thing going around- if you get “booed” someone leaves a treat and this picture on your doorstep, anonymously. Then you put the picture up in your window, and take a treat to two other houses who haven’t been “booed” yet. Imagine my delight when last night, we open the door to find that we had been booed!! And it isn’t even halfway through the month yet!! I mean, I don’t want to brag, but I think that the fact that I was an “early boo” speaks for itself. Can you say POPULAR?? Plus, we got Oreo Cakesters! Could this day be any better??

Word of Warning

If you have all your pictures stored on your computer, and no hard copies, or not stored somewhere else, like an external hard drive, or backup discs, because you think ‘I don’t have to back my pictures up, nothing will happen to them.’  be warned. This is a picture of my hard drive. Smashed. I won’t go into details of what happened, but I am warning everyone who reads this (all 7 of you) to BACK UP YOUR PICTURES! Because I can replace my music, retype my documents, redo my genealogy, reload all my fonts and almost everything else lost on my computer except the pictures. Learn from my very sad mistake. :(

I LOVE GOURDS!!

I don't know if zucchini is technically a gourd, probably not, but I love it as much as a gourd!
So today for lunch I had yellow squash and zucchini (fried in butter, topped with mozzerella cheese-super healthy) and last night for dinner, we had butternut squash soup. I just found a recipe for pumpkin bread , and I am thinking of making butternut squash ravioli for dinner tonight! I feel so fall-ish!