What I've Done...

I saw this on Juliann's blog and thought it was fun. I tag anyone who wants to do it.

Bold or highlight (I've highlighted in red) the things that you have done. I'm not going to tag anyone, but I'd LOVE to see your answers!!
1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon - does chasing my 4 children around qualify as a marathon?
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling- Hated it!
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
.79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Jesus and Santa

So this was too funny to pass up writing about. So, we set up our Christmas stuff this weekend including our Fisher Price Nativity set. It's great because it is a nativity set that the kids can fully play with. So I happened to overhear McKell and Ashlee playing with it and here is how it went...
McKell (holding a random Santa figure): Hi baby Jesus, it's me, Santa.
Ashlee (holding baby Jesus): Hello
McKell: Baby Jesus, what do you want for Christmas this year?
Ashlee: I dont' know
McKell (now being herself and VERY exasperated): (sigh) Ashlee, long ago when Jesus was a baby, Santa asked him what he wanted for his Christmas present and of course he told Santa that he wanted scriptures. So on Christmas night, after Jesus went to sleep, Santa brought baby Jesus a set of scriptures and when he woke up on Christmas morning, he was SO excited."
Ashlee: Uh...okay.

So, there you have it folks. The Christmas story according to McKell. I guess it's better than Baby Jesus asking for Star Wars toys or a new bike....

I am Thankful...part 2....

As another Thanksgiving day comes to a close, I feel the need to finish my thoughts of gratitude. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parents' home with way too much yummy food, games, visiting, etc. It was a great day. Here are a few more things I am thankful for today.

1. My Parents - Where would I be without these two amazing people? Well, of course I wouldn't be here at all. My parents are rocks and are a true example to me. I am so grateful that they raised 9 children and that they do all that they can to keep us close and connected. I am grateful for the countless lessons they have taught me in my life. I am thankful for my dad's continual fount of wisdom and experience, to know that he is ALWAYS there when I need him, that he can give me a "Hey Sis" and everything seems more manageable, and that he is truly one of my best friends. I am grateful that I am close to my mom and that we have a great relationships. That we go thrift store shopping together, talk almost every day, and that she is always a listening ear and understands what I am going through as a mother. I don't know why I was blessed to be their daughter, but I am so grateful that I am.

2. Family - I already wrote about my own family, but I want to express gratitude for my family that I grew up in and their families. I am the 8th of 9 children - the baby girl. With any large family, we have a true mix of personalities, joys, struggles, and love. I am so grateful that for the most part, our family gets along and loves each other. We have fun together and know that in the end, we have each others' backs. I am also grateful for Rob's family and what I have learned from them. I am grateful that they helped mold and raise such a wonderful man.

3. Friends - I am grateful for friends in my life. I have been blessed to live in many places and the friends that I have made in all of those places are great treasures in my life. True friends are those that you can be away from for years, but as soon as you see them, you pick right back up where you left off. My best girlfriend is Juliann. We have been through it all in our 10 year friendship. Thank goodness our husbands are brothers and they love each other. I talk to Juliann pretty much every day and it seems strange when we don't talk. We understand each other better than any other girlfriend I have ever had. I really do see it as a true blessing to have such a wonderful friend that I can laugh with, cry with, commiserate with, and just talk to. I am confidant that God laid things out for us to be sisters and best friends.

4. The Gospel - I am truly grateful for my testimony of the Gospel and the joy that it brings me. I am so grateful to have these values and beliefs that I can hold to during the hardest times in my life. I am grateful to be able to have a clear path to raise my children on. I am eternally grateful for the atonement of Jesus Christ and that no matter what, He knows exactly how I am feeling in any situation and that He has made it possible for me to be with my Heavenly Father again with my family. I love serving in the church and am grateful to be the primary president of our ward. What a blessing to work with these amazing strong spirits!

5. My country - I don't think we can fully appreciate what we have because most of us know no different. I am so grateful to live in a country where I am free to worship as I choose, raise my children how I choose, live where I choose, etc. And how grateful I am for those willing to serve our country and protect us and also for their families.

6. "The necessities of life"... - I remember growing up that my dad would often say this when he was praying. That we were grateful for "our food, clothing, and necessities of life". I now understand what he meant. As a parent, it is so crucial and important to provide for our children and take care of them. I often remind our children how blessed we are to have a warm home, clothes, food, a car to drive, a school to go to, toys, etc....those "necessities of life" that I take for granted way too often. I truly am grateful for the small and simple things in my life.

There of course could be so many other things that I could write, but for now, I will close this up and make a goal to be grateful for the many blessings of my life as another Thanksgiving comes to an end.

My trip to the neurosurgeon....

Well, I finally met the fabulous and famous Dr John Macfarlane. My sister-in-law, Juliann, introduced me to this great doctor. Poor Juliann has had numerous spinal fusions and various issues with her back, so I fully trusted her recommendation to see Dr. Macfarlane. First, I must say, he is hilarious. A doctor with great bedside manner...I thought they may be a dying breed. But he was a hoot and the poor guy had to deal with me and Juliann at the same time. Something no man should ever have to do...just ask our poor husbands. Anyway, he looked at my MRI's and I have a herniated disc in my lower neck and an annular tear as well. This is what is causing the numbness in the back of my neck, down my arm, etc. I also have a herniated disc and tear in my lower back which is why I am having such awful pain there and numbness, pain down my leg, etc. I also have a lot of joint issues apparently which are not good. So, the prognosis for now is that I continue doing physical therapy for the next few months and hope that it can fix this. If not, we can try cortizone shots. OUCH. And if all else fails, we'll look at surgery. So, that is the update for now. If nothing else, it was a blast meeting Dr Macfarlane. Now I see why Juliann loves him! I'm sure he thought we had completely lost our minds when we asked for a picture, but hey, we HAD to document this one.

NOT feeling so grateful tonight...

So as some may know, we were supposed to be having McKell and Ashlee's tonsil/adenoid/ear tube surgery done today. We bought a freezer full of popsicles, ice cream, etc. We got all of their homework from school. We rearranged their room and rented a ton of movies as well as bought lots of coloring books, etc. Mostly, we finally got both of them somewhat okay about the whole thing. So last night, we get a phone call to let us know the time of surgery. In the phone call, it came up that Ashlee had a cough last weekend. It sounded kind of croupy, but that is just Ashlee's "allergy cough". It was fine by the next day. But apparently, the word "croup" and pending surgery is not good. I told that lady registering us that it was allergies, but she wanted to verify with the anesthesiologist. Fine. So I get a call back saying that she had talked to him and he was concerned, but if I felt okay with it and thought she was okay, then we would be fine. Super! So, we plan for it. I am out until 11:00 getting the above-mentioned post-surgery treats. We are then up until 1:30 so we can feed the girls a meal before the official pre-surgery fast begins. We arrange for someone to take Cayden after school. We arrange for Sadie. Rob takes the day off. etc. We get to the hospital, check in, get vitals, the girls get completely in their gowns etc. and we are in the process of a photo op when both the surgeon and anesthesiologist come in and drop the bomb that they are not comfortable doing surgery on Ashlee and that the policy is that they have to wait 4 weeks after any type of croup. I immediately go to the "bad place". They won't budge. Apparently, if the airway is already inflamed due to croup or a cough, then putting a breathing tube in for surgery can aggravate it more and then cause breathing problems after the surgery which obviously can be very dangerous. Okay, I can understand that. What I CANNOT understand is why on earth this was not told to me last night!? Apparently a big lack of communication occurred between the lady registering us and the doctor. McKell immediately starts crying and Ashlee jumps off the exam table and starts getting dressed and telling us she is ready to eat. Typical Ashlee. We try to make it seem like a good thing and promise they will still get ice cream and get to watch movies in their room etc. So the girls and I went to brunch on the way home which also seemed to help....them, not me. I am still furious. But hey, here is the "silver lining" of it all...the doctor said he would be happy to reschedule the surgery for a week before Christmas!

Give Thanks...part 1

So yesterday I made this "Give Thanks" banner. The picture isn't great, but it was a lot of fun to do. It was a semi-copy of the one my cute friend, Dorey, gave me for Halloween. Thanks Dorey! You have created a monster!



Also yesterday, I was going through some documents on my computer and came across one that was really cool to read. It was written back in 2002 and I just took the time that day to write down the things that I was grateful for. Cayden was only 3 and the twins were only about 6 months. Here is what it said:

I have a WONDERFUL husband who is a unbelievable dad to our kids. He is Cayden's best buddy and is so sweet to our girls. They flirt with him and have him wrapped around all 20 of their fingers! He treats me like a queen and is always supporting me in my "me time" when I need it. He works so hard to provide for our family so that I can stay home with our kids. He has endless patience for me and my rantings!
Cayden is my sweet litle guy! I can't believe he will be 3 in a few weeks. He is growing up too fast! He is full of love and sweetness and loves to snuggle and give "big hugs". He's like my little teddy bear. I love to hear him sing his songs even though he doesn't know all the words. I love that he loves me even when I am not the best mom. I love that when I am having a hard day, he comes to me and asks, "What's wrong? Are you okay?" I love that he gets so excited lately when his pants have pockets to put his hands in. He is the sweetest and most wonderful little boy in the world.
My sweet Ashlee is getting more roly and poly every day. I love her adorable dimples in her cheeks. I love listening to her coo in her little deep voice. I love that she gives everyone a big smile when she sees them. I love being the one to get her out of bed because she is so happy to see me. I love that she is a snuggler and that she loves to hold my finger while I feed her. She is an angel.
And finally, my sweet little McKell. She is full of spunk and curiosity. My late Grandma always called her "the nosy one" and she was right. McKell has a natural born wonder for the world. My dad tells everyone, "She doesn't look at you, she looks through you!" It is so true. She studies everything with such great intent. She is a mommy's girl and loves to grab my face. I love her beautiful blue eyes and long eyelashes. I love feeding her and snuggling with her (when she isn't too busy looking around at the world). I love hearing her discover the noises she can make with her voice as she squawks and growls. She is also an angel.
I am blessed with so many things and am so proud and honored to be a mommy to these wonderful little gifts fom God.

So, in following that tradition, I thought that I would take a few moments this coming week before Thanksgiving to share the things that I am grateful for.

1. Rob - I am so very very blessed to be married to such a wonderful sweet man. He is a great husband and an incredible father. He takes the time to learn and listen to the kids. Rob has always had an amazing love of learning. He truly takes joy in learning all about new things and isn't happy until he is pretty much a pro at it. I love that he has passed this love of learning onto our kids. I can't tell you how often we have science experiments going on in the kitchen, stacks of paper where he has written down ways to illustrate something he is teaching, etc. and his enthusiasm for learning is contagious to the kids. They are always doing some kind of project or experiment. He is patient and tries so hard to be a good dad. He is also very humble when he realizes he has done something wrong. Our home wouldn't be the same without Rob's huge spirit. We love his singing, movie voices, and positive attitude.

2. Cayden - What a sweet and special boy Cayden is. I can't believe how quickly he is turning into a young man. He is so sensitive to others' feelings and truly wants everyone to be happy. I love to laugh and giggle with Cayden. He will always hold a special place in my heart because he was my first. I am so grateful for the special relationship that he and I have. Like his dad, Cayden LOVES to learn and has a contagious curiosity about things. I am grateful that he is such a good big brother amidst all of these girls! He is surely a valiant spirit that was saved for this day.

3. Ashlee - I recently came to a life altering perspective change with Ashlee. So many people have told us that Ashlee was sent to us because we were the parents that could best help her and take care of her special needs. But I think it is exactly the opposite. Ashlee wasn't sent to us so we could help her, Ashlee was sent to us so she could help us. The life lessons I have learned just by being Ashlee's mother are too many to write. I am so grateful for her humor, love, joy, and amazing outlook on things. When Ashlee was first diagnosed with autism, I was devastated to say the least. But I have been forced to learn that appearances don't matter and that we should spend less time worrying about what other people think and focus more on what we think about ourselves and what God thinks of us. I love that Ashlee makes us all laugh. I love that she is strong willed and stands her ground. I am grateful for the amazing progress that she has made in the short time we have been working with her autism. I am proud of her that she is doing SO incredibly well in school and everyone loves being her friend.

4. McKell - This sweet little angel is so special to me. McKell is so nurturing and loving. Her heart truly feels for others. If one of the other kids gets in trouble, it is ususally McKell who is the most upset. I love my special times with McKell and I love that she cherishes those moments as well. McKell is a lot like me and likes to be creative and do crafts etc. I look forward to many times when we can work together and share those moments. I am grateful for McKell's enthusiasm for life and love of music, art, and learning. I am so proud of her hard work in school. And although it is often times frustrating to me, I do appreciate that she has a firey personality and knows what she wants and stands up for it. I love that she still knows that she got her beautiful blue eyes from Grandpa and that Grandma Olive watches over her. She is a little angel and a special and sweet girl.

5. Sadie - Oh sweet Sadie! Sadie's "theme" song is "You are my Sunshine" because that is what Sadie is - a ray of sunshine in our home. I have never seen one baby bring so much harmony, love, happiness, and joy to a family. She has been such a blessing to us. I am grateful to have my special time with just her each day after the kids go to school. I love that she still pulls on my hair when I feed her her bottle. I love that she is constantly wiggling her feet and toes, especially when she is excited. I love that she has a fascination with socks and gets giddy when I put socks on her feet. I love her big smile and sweet little spirit. I love that singing "Old McDonald" can calm her down in any situation. I love my little Sadie and am so thankful for her in our family.

To be continued.....

Tag

I was tagged by Brooke...
9 TV shows I watch:
24
Greys
Survivor
Dancing with the Stars
America's Next Top Model
Desperate Housewives
American Idol
The View
Amazing Race

Favorite Restaurants:
Olive Garden
Texas Roadhouse
Chilis
Mimis
Panda
The Bluebird
Wendys
Burger King
Subway

9 Things I did Yesterday:
Went to the doctor
Finished McKell's hat
Watched TV
Fixed Dinner
Helped kids with homework
Helped kids with piano
Played with Sadie
Talked with Rob
Stayed up way too late!

9 Things I am looking forward to:
Christmas with all of its parties, traditions, etc. and decorating my house for Christmas
Going out to Olive Garden with Juliann
Sister's Retreat (even though we just had it)
Snow
Doing my bedroom
sleeping
The weekend
being completely out of debt
various house projects

9 Things I am scared of:
spiders
something happening to my kids or Rob
my parents dying
my back being permanantly screwed up
Rob losing his job
being a good mom and wife
those I love being hurt