There ARE reasons to smile!

It's been a hard week. With the passing of Brent's Dad, this will be the first Christmas without him and I'm having a hard time, I really miss him. Even shopping hasn't been fun and that is never the case. Well...last night at 3:00am Danielle woke me up to tell me she had wet the bed. She hasn't done that since she was 2 so this was a surprise to the both of us. Instead of her being upset, she was still happy & smiling! Her great attitude got me thinking. I laid awake for the next two hours thinking of things that make me smile. I want to share with you in no particular order:

Chocolate covered strawberries
Having Brent come home
A Sunday nap
A Rainbow
Hearing my girls sing primary songs
The first snowfall of the year
The Mountains
My Mom
My Grandpa
Cuddling with my girls
Date night with Brent
Snuggling under the blanket when it's cold
Fall
Seeing a Temple
Going to the Temple
Girls Night Out
A clean house (especially the bathrooms)
Clean Teeth
Clean sheets
A good hair day
Finding jeans that fit
My Birthday (each and every one of them)
High School Musical
Watching my kids sleep
Flying in an airplane
Tan lines
Chocolate Milk (full fat of course!)
Hearing my girls giggle
Anything 'Twilight' (except Jacob, I can't stand him!)
Peppermint Hot Chocolate
The movie Enchanted
80's music
A good tight hug!
Having the Gospel in my life
Being around people who are happy

I will stop there. I want to Thank Danielle and anyone else who has a positive attitude, you've helped me see that there is so much that I can be happy about and that so much in the world does make me smile!

"It's Laura's fault..."

As all you Mother's out there know...according to our kids, everything is "our" fault. No matter what happens they fail to take blame for anything, at least at my house. This is what happened at breakfast Saturday morning. We were having eggs and toast and my children insist on having ketchup with this meal. I put the ketchup bottle on the table. Hannah who is 8 opens the ketchup bottle and starts to squeeze. The liquid comes out onto her plate instead of the thicker ketchup and she says to me "It's Mommy's fault" (apparently, it was my job to shake it first?!) I'm in awe. I respond with "It's Mommy's fault" to the tune of one of Veggie Tales songs. She comes back with "well in this case "It's Laura's fault" to the same tune (which is the actual title of the Veggie Tales song.) Even I could not resist laughing! Here's the link to the song on the Veggie Tales website. http://bigidea.com/products/shows/shows_songs.aspx?pid=18

She is how old?

So...we really didn't understand how old Hannah is getting until well...last night. You'd have thought it would have hit us when she was baptized (in May), but so much was going on at that time. It has taken us a good 6 months to finally get our heads above water and we realize the time is going way too fast! We figured another 8 years and she will be driving & DATING! In 10 years, she will be graduating from High School. Then off to College. I dread that day of her leaving!! It brings tears to my eyes! I've been thinking of when I was 8 and it's all coming back to me so clearly now...thanks to Facebook...and I've caught up with so many of my friends whom I ran around with back then. Those were "good times." So much has changed! But then some things don't. Yes, my friends have all "grown up" now and they all have different names (at least the girls do) but deep inside they are who I remember them to be back then. It makes me happy to think they are all still out there and they can "come out and play" with me...most on Facebook...but some in my own backyard! So, Hannah, slow down! Before we know it you'll be all "grown up" and changing your name too, and that is OK as long as you "come out and play" with us...

Halloween 2008

I've become so relaxed in my parenting between child #1 and #2. This is just one example: Danielle (4) is a crossing guard 2 years in a row at her request. She liked being able to run in the street and stop the cars with her homemade stop sign and her whistle. (Granted there were no cars in the road) And with Hannah (8), There is no way I would:
1) allow her to be anything 2 years in a row and
2) let her run in the street not holding my hand.

It's about time!

For the past year and a half, friends and family have asked me if I have a blog. I didn't think I was creative enough to have one and so I resisted....until now! No, I'm still not creative but I can no longer resist! For those of you who know me well, know I don't like to be left out of anything and certainly not left in the dark. Over the past 6 months I've had my eyes opened and I have decided that I need to know how to do things...like bill pay, and how to download pictures from my camera onto the computer just to name a few. I can't rely on other people to do these things for me. I'm a smart girl, I can figure it out if I really wanted to. Well...I do know how to do bill pay and download pictures onto the computer thanks to my wonderful husband, Brent. He even tried to teach me how to run our automatic sprinklers but to my surprise and his too, probably, I already taught myself how to do that. It does take me some time to learn things as my teachers and parents have already learned from my past but sooner or later I come around. As most of my friends here in Allen know, I never wanted to read a book about Vampires but once I caved in I read all 4 Twilight books in 10 days. My poor Family! They were so neglected! Just be patient while I learn how to do this too!