I am Thankful for:

1. My family-immediate and distant. We are so blessed to have so much loving family around us. When times are tough we can always turn to our families, and it's so comforting to know we are never alone.
2. My husband. He is such a hard-working, kind, encouraging, supportive & creative man. He can make me laugh when I don't even want to smile. He is always encouraging me to do the things he knows I can and want to do. He's supportive of everything I do and want to do. And he works so hard for our family. We wouldn't be where we are today if it weren't for Kody.
3. Our Amazing son. Landon is such a happy, healthy, funny & strong little boy. He inspires me to be a better person every day. He has taught both Kody and I so much about Life and Love. He learns so fast, and his little smile can brighten just about anyone's day.
4. My job. There are so many people that cannot get work right now, and I am so thankful that Kody and I are both able to work full time to provide for our family.
5. The roof over my head. I am so thankful to be able to have a safe place to call "Home" It's warm, cozy and full of Love.
6. America. I wouldn't want to build a life anywhere else. Living in a free country is such a blessing, and I am so thankful for the troops that risk their lives everyday for this beautiful place.
7. The material things I have, like my computer, cell phone, t.v. and a new car. I use these things daily and would quite honestly be lost without most of them.
8. Good Friends, which I have few of, but the friends I do have are great. They are always there to lend an ear or a shoulder when I need it. They are encouraging, and understanding. And can always make me laugh!
9. Modern Medicine. What would probably be sleepless nights are cured with Children's Cough & Cold this past week while Landon has been sick. And not to mention Tylenol Sinus relief for Kody and I this past week as well.
10. The health of me and my family. I could probably manage to eat a little better, and exercise more, but overall my health is good. And for that I give thanks.
11. A strong marriage. Kody and I have had our ups and downs, who hasn't? And I'm sure there are more to come. And yes we were married quite young, but we have such a strong relationship. We can tell each other anything without fear of being judged. We can make each other feel better with just a touch of a hand. We know each others pasts, and want the same future. We are trust worthy, and have integrity. And we would do anything for each other and our family.
12. Chocolate. This miracle worker has gotten me through some pretty stressful times. Talk about modern medicine!
13. Music. I love music! It's such a stress relief, when you can crank up a little Leona Lewis (or Lady Antebellum, ya know me! Whatever the mood) on your way home from work! It's such a great way to express feelings and emotion.
14. Vacations & Mini Get Aways. We don't travel often, but when we do it's incredible! We do sneak in a few mini get aways when we can though. When I say mini get-aways I mean...like away for the day. Like earlier this week we got out of the Valley for a while and did some shopping down south. And tonight Kody and I are gonna hit a Jazz game. That for us is a mini get-away. And a much needed one at that! So I am thankful for the ability to collect some sanity.

It'S aLrEaDy StArTiNg!!!

Some how this silly little ad made it into our house this week. Landon has not put it down, and is thinking Santa is bringing him EVERY toy listed in this ad. EXCEPT for the girl stuff he said. He points to every little thing and says "I think Santa will bring me that" if it's pink or looks girly he says "but not that, that's for girls" So this is where it starts. I remember those days. When all the commercials and toy ads came out and every time I saw something I liked I shouted "I WANT THAT!" Then it comes time to sit on Santa's lap and I have to narrow it down to the one thing I want most. Then it's Christmas morning and that one thing I wanted most is magically sitting in front of the fireplace! I hope we can explain to Landon that Santa does NOT bring everything he wants from the Wal-Mart Christmas Toy Guide. He gets to pick the ONE thing he wants most. Wish us luck! Aww...the joys of the holidays!

Landon's 3 yr check-up

I LOVED this doctors appointment. No painful shots, no screaming or crying. This appointment was fun! Landon got to play a couple of games with his doctor and he thought it was so fun! They played a game where Landon had to name all his colors, and he did great! He named all his shapes. Recited the alphabet, and counted to 20! His doctor said he is ahead of his age group mentally. And physically he's right on track! Weighing in at 33 lbs and he is 3 ft 2 inches tall! Scary to think he only has 2 more feet to grow before he's as tall as me! His doctor said now it would be good for Landon to start cutting, coloring inside lines, learning to draw shapes, and recognizing opposites. I can't believe how big Landon is! He's so smart, and funny! His doctor asked him the question: "If mom's a girl, what is dad?" and Landon said "My dad's a man...but I'm just a boy" Dr. Clarke got a kick out of that! That was another thing he said Landon was ahead of is realizing opposites. He got that one right, and a couple other ones. Dr. Clarke said most kids his age don't know what opposites are. It's something he can work on, but it's not anything that we need to push right now. I am so grateful to have such a smart, healthy, happy little boy! There is no greater blessing than that! We love you Landon!!!!

The Amazing Art of Aimee!

My sister has taken on a new hobby, and for just starting I have to say she has some wicked talent! She took our family pictures for us this year and I have not one complaint! They all turned out adorable! I'm having a hard time choosing which ones go on our walls! I could just sit and look at them all day!

Happy Halloween!

We had THE CUTEST little lion roaming around our house on Halloween.

Landon The Lion!

I took this little lion around with me all day long! And having him with me was sure good luck! He got me some awesome discounts at some of the places we stopped. We went to a Trick-Or-Treat at the mall where he got me a 10% discount just for being a Lion! Then at Old Navy, he got me a 15% discount! He was my lucky little lion!

"Landon The Lion" trick-or-treating at the mall

After the mall Landon was so excited to see his cousins! He couldn't wait to see them in their costumes!

Landon with his cousins Ayden-Shark, and Keegan-Monkey
(looking at this picture makes me a little sad, these boys are all so big!)

Landon was crashed by the time we got to Shcreibers to get a treat from dad. We had such a fun Halloween, and Landon made a haul with all the treats he got! I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween!

Pumpkin Painting

Thursday Landon had lots of fun painting pumpkins at Grandma Sue's house with his uncle Kaden. He was so proud of his pumpkin on Halloween when we went to Grandma's house and she had it out on display on her porch! He did a great job!

Landon and Kaden...

Landon...carefully detailing his pumpkin

The basically finished product. Landon has figured out how to draw smiley faces (for the most part) so that's what you can kind of see

Pumpkin Walk

Last week Chelsey and I had a fun time taking the boys to the Pumpkin Walk. Landon and Stetson both had lots of fun seeing all the different pumpkin displays!

Here's Landon & Stetson in a giant Jack-O-Lantern

This was Landon's Favorite...
(Mickey Mouse)

This was my favorite...
(Yoda..I think?)

Another one of Landon's favorites...
(Bob The Builder)

And one that I'll be saving for future reference...ya know, black mail, embarrassing high school photos, etc....

The boys had lots of fun putting their heads in the spaces and pretending to be these different characters. I didn't take many pictures of the actual Pumpkin displays, but a lot of them were really neat!

Pure Sadness...

Blogging helps me get a lot off my mind. Especially at 4:00 in the morning. Especially on nights like tonight. Today was Sonya's last day at RR Donnelley. For those who don't know Sonya...she was my partner in crime at work. We've worked side-by-side for 2 and 1/2 years. Sonya and I are VERY close! Even though she's probably old enough to be my mom, she has been one of my very greatest friends. And age made no difference. I tried to hold back my tears tonight as we both walked the very LONG hallway to the turnstile. And I had to try even harder as she handed her badge back through to our P.C., but it came to the point where I couldn't even try to hold back my tears and as soon as we hit the sidewalk they came pouring out. I think I was able to spit out the words "Have fun! See ya 'round" before I basically ran to my car and had a complete breakdown in the parking lot. I cried the whole way home. Just thinking of all the good, bad, troubled, and plain fun times we've had. I thought of the first time I met Sonya. Our conversation went something like this: Sonya: "They tried to call you to tell you not to come in, we don't have any more work" (this was after I had been at work for about 4 hours) Me: "Ok...so should I leave?" Sonya: "Well yeah, there's not really anything for you to do" Me: "Ok, should I give you my number so they can call me tomorrow if there's nothing to do?" Sonya: "Sure" I wrote down my number and gave it to her. As I walked out that night I thought to myself "What a brat, I hope I don't have to work with her much" Two weeks passed and I was offered to move to the weekend shift. I took it. When my PC told me Sonya would be my trainer, I was far less than thrilled. Today...I feel exactly opposite of that! Sonya has become like family to me. When I wasn't home with my own family, I was working side-by-side with her. Sometimes the people you work with, become like your family away from family. You love them, are angry with them, despise them, and tolerate them...just like family. When you work side-by-side with someone for 12 hours a day, 3 days a week. You tend to become close. Share your secrets, your dreams, your plans, and accomplishments. Working with Sonya every weekend was always fun...that doesn't mean work was always fun...just working with Sonya was fun. There were nights one of us would start laughing...about 3:00 in the morning, and then the other would start and we couldn't stop. It was like those sleep-overs ya have when you're teenagers and you stay up all night talking and laughing. There were times we got on each others nerves, and we knew it...but minutes later we'd be chatting away. Sonya got me through so many hardships at work. I remember when I first got hired on full time. There were some issues with one certain person who had applied for the same position I did, and obviously didn't get it. She called me a snob to my face, she told people the only reason I got the job is because I knew whose butt to kiss. She was just plain ignorant. But Sonya could always make me laugh about it. To this day, we've called our weekend shift the "mean and snobby" shift. People think Sonya's mean, and they think I'm snobby (which could be no further from the truth for both of us, but oh well) I have so many great memories of working with Sonya. I am so happy for her, that she gets to be home now. But I will truly miss her. It's going to be quite a change for me. Not only will I not be working with her anymore, I won't be working with any of "my people" anymore. It's going to be an adventure I'm sure.

Farm-Tastic Fun!

A couple of weeks ago, Chelsey and I had a fun play-date planned at Farm-Tastic Fall Days at the American West Heritage Center...here are a few pictures from that trip.

Landon and Stetson right after we walked through the gates...

Stetson, right after trying to climb down off the tractor thing they were sitting on...

As you can probably tell, that play date wasn't a huge success. Luckily we had barely walked in, and had been there not 5 minutes. So they told us on our next trip, it would be free to get it! Stetson fell while he was trying to climb down off the tractor we took their picture on. He had to go to the ER where he received 11 stitches in his head! Poor boy! Landon was so sad for him. He started crying when he saw that his friend was hurt, and the whole way home he kept asking if Stetson would be ok. By the sounds of it Stetson bounced right back after his meds wore off a little!

Yesterday was a much more successful day. Both boys escaped the Heritage Center with minimal scrapes and bruises.

This was the main reason we wanted to take the boys, they both LOVE trains, and this train ride alone was worth the trip. The boys thought it was so fun!

This was a giant slide. When Chelsey and I looked at it, I'm pretty sure we were thinking the same thing..."anyone want stitches today?" Stetson, being the fearless little guy that he is, tried the slide first...and didn't go anywhere! Luckily the slide was not slippery at all. I'm thinking they usually have potato sacks or something to go down it in, but Landon and Stets had fun just pushing themselves down it, and climbing back up it!

After that we headed to McD's. The boys were covered in mud and hay. It wasn't horrible weather...just a bit windy and the ground was wet. All in all it was a fun filled day! Thanks Chelsey and Stets! Let's do it again soon!

Counting My Blessings...

I ran onto this blog just today. It is a young family from Utah who is unfortunately currently experiencing the worst thing we all fear as parents. And then I came across this blog which just proves that so much good can come through the wonderful community of blogging! A donor has pledged to give $2.oo to the Abbott family for every comment that is left on her blog stating that they will also get the word out about this young family who is right now facing the unknown. Just link both of the above links on your own blog, and you could donate by good works alone! Although I'm sure if we all even sent in our extra change lurking around, it would help as well! Good reason to clean out our couch cushions, and cars is the way I see it! If we all give what we can, what a difference we can make in a sweet little girls life!

It's things like this that make me stop, and count my blessings. Kody and I are so lucky and so blessed to have such a happy healthy family. We are so grateful for everything that we have. I for one really need to stop more often and thank our Heavenly Father for everything he has done for us. We didn't get this far alone! (And it may sound odd coming from me, because no, we are not active in the church right now. But that doesn't mean we don't believe we have a Heavenly Father watching over us and helping us through our trials and troubles.) I think we all tend to sometimes get caught up in how things aren't going our way, and we forget about all the things that are going good for us! I know I tend to focus on how to solve our issues, and take for granite all the positive things that are happening around us. I still have a poem on my fridge, I think I posted it on my blog in like January. (Even through our most recent move, that poem came off our old fridge, into a box, and right back on our new fridge! It's a little reminder I need there!) It's not just about "taking time for yourself" it's the part at the bottom that I use as a reminder when I need it: Author Anna Quindlen reminds us not to rush past the fleeting moments. She said: "The biggest mistake I made (as a parent) is the one that most of us make. ... I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of my three children sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less." (Loud and Clear - 2004)

Both the poem and the quote at the bottom remind me to just slow down! To just enjoy the every day-ness in every day, and not to take it for granite. I love to have this hanging on my fridge. It's nice to just step back, take a deep breath, and have a moment to remember all the many things that we have to be grateful for. Do I do this every time I read the poem? HA! I wish! I'm not perfect, I lose my cool, I don't find myself in a stressful situation saying "just a second, let me read a poem on my fridge first and then let ya know how I feel" Like I said, we all get caught up in focusing on how things are going wrong. But I do turn to that poem quite often, usually after the sales clerk at the store has completely ticked me off...and then I feel horribly guilty but I do turn to the poem for support. I think it's a good thing to have something somewhere to remind you to just slow down...and feel rejoice for a moment. I know if I didn't have my little reminder, I would do it a lot less often!

I guess this has kind of taken a different turn, but the point of this post was to remind everyone to count your blessings and be grateful for all that you have. And please pray for Taylie and her family! I couldn't imagine going through something like this, or having a child going through what Taylie is! Taylie and her family will be in my thoughts and prayers!