November Thankful #16

I am grateful for kids and their enthusiasm for life and for sharing it with me! You can't help but get excited when your child is so happy to be doing something and to be able to share it with you is the best thing ever, according to them. This is how my son was yesterday at his 1st Grad Thanksgiving Program.

But first I gotta show you some Emma shots......Emmalee and her good friend that lives 2 doors down from us!

I like this picture just because it really shows off her crimped hair, which she insisted that I do today. She got it out and plugged it in for me and everything!

She was confident all day that because her hair was crimped she now looked just like Taylor Swift! She is gonna be a handful!

So on to Joe's program. There are, according to one of the teachers, 140 1st graders at our elementary school! They are the biggest class in the school(thank goodness!). We have 6, 1st grade classes....that's crazy! But they are all just so cute and enthusiastic about everything!
Here is Joe saying his first little part about the Pilgrims....too bad his pilgrim hat is covering most of his cute pilgrim face!
He's singing about a sad turkey here I think......
This was them telling us something to go with every letter in Thanksgiving.....
He's flashing me the "I Love You" sign! Man I love this kid!
And this is my favorite.....my kids' new thing is to show a heart to one another and he made sure he showed it to me! He is so sweet and so passionate about life......some days I just want to strangle him....but most days I could hug and love on him all day!
And here is a little bit of Joe's program for you to enjoy!

November Thankful #15

I am thankful for a sunshiny Monday! It makes it so much easier to be happy about it being Monday and the piles of dishes and laundry that are waiting for me to do!

I'm also grateful for my baby sister! She was born this day many, many years ago! She is such a wonderful person and I love her to pieces!

Doesn't this picture just make you want to hug the sun and kiss it and tell it Thank You?!

November Thankful #14

I am so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful ward! One that is full of amazing youth that I have the priveledge to be involved with! They are such a wonderful example to me and to my husband. A couple of the girls helped me get my husband to church yesterday and I was able to drag him to Sunday school too....even if he was sort of my hostage and blocked in by his father and myself.....I'll take what I can get! There were a couple of the teens really excited to see him there. He really made a good impression on them at the Trek and just think he's the greatest! (Which he is!) So I just wanted to tell them Thank You for being such amazing people and for getting into my husband's heart and being a great friend and example for him!

November Thankful #13

For my Saturday Thankful, I am so grateful for friends and family that I can call and drag out of bed to run to my aide and help me! I am so lucky to have such supportive people in my life!

This booth was very last minute and it took all I had to put it together....with some help! I found out at 8 am Friday morning that I had a spot. So I had to run to I.F., grab a couple of things, hand in my registration and money for the booth spot and run home to start baking!
My nephew Noah sure enjoyed my peanut butter cookies!

I baked all day and night! I crawled into bed at 1 am and the alarm went off at 4:30 am! It was a lot of work, but it turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined! I was able to make Peanut Butter cookies, Peanut Butter Kiss cookies, 3-in-1 cookies, Cheesecake Brownies, S'more Brownies, Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies, Hot Fudge Bars, Pink Lemonade Pie, Pumpkin Crisp, Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls and a Cheesecake with Triple Berry topping!

Thanks to Jenn, my mom, my sister Amanda and my husband Gary for being there to help me through the day! I don't think that I could have done it without you guys!

After this one, I am very excited to do the one in Rexburg on Black Friday! But I have more prep time.....a lot more! It was such a great experience and I met so many great people! Thank you to my support team! You are the best!

November Thankful #12

Today I'm am grateful for opportunities.....and the ability to see an opportunity in front of my and do everything in my power to go for it! I know that my "intuition" is really a push from the Holy Ghost.....he's next to me in all that I do, trying to guide me along this craziness. I'm grateful that I can be open to those promptings that should guide me to the next place that I need to be in my life, whether is spiritually, physically, financially......I am Thankful!

November Thankful #11

Today I am beyond grateful for all of the wonderful people in the military! All of those who serve to protect us and our freedom every minute of every day....and all of their loved ones at home waiting and supporting them!

For the Marines......
And for the Air Force......

And for the Army......
And for the Navy......
And for the National Guard......
And for the Coast Guard.....
And for those lost and missing in action.......
My family and I are eternally Grateful for your sacrifices........For those who have served throughout the years.....from the beginning of the Revolution through today......THANK YOU!
We will never forget.......
Thank you to all of those who have come home safely to their families......
And to those who just come home......

We are forever in your debt! God Bless America!

November Thankful #10

Today I am thankful for our awesome dog Lily! She is such a good dog! She is so good with the kids....especially Joe! (By the way, I just love this picture of Joe....Joe in action, as always...but with Lily close by.....as always!) She is so patient with Joe....when he wants to love her a little too much, or wrestle her down to the ground. She's good about letting him know nicely when she's had enough. But she sure loves her boy! She usually puts him to sleep every night by climbing into bed with him. He cuddles with her and usually tucks her in under his blankets with him and she stays until after she knows he's asleep and then moves to another room.....usually the big girl's room, and sleeps there the rest of the night. I really need to get some pics of them sleeping together......
Lily loves to roll around and scratch. The poor dog has allergies so she usually itches and you'll hear her sneezing every once in awhile. It's kinda funny!

Lily LOVES to go to the farm and run around and play. She loves to chase the 4-wheelers....but those short legs can only go so far so fast.....so she LOVES to ride on the 4-wheeler!
She is such a great dog.....I'm so glad to have her in our family. She's really healed our hearts from our old dog, Bear, passing away 3 years ago. We'd had Bear, a small black lab, for about 8 years when she died. I told Gary that I was not getting another dog for awhile.....it was the first part of October....I told him maybe in the spring/summer we'd look for another one. Well, on the night of the ward Trunk-Or-Treat I ran to the grocery store and there were these adorable, black lab/basset hound puppies! I held her and fell in love and promptly brought her home with me! My husband just laughed and shook his head.....and teased me a little. But I am so glad I did bring her home!