6/30 Thirty Thankful Days

6/30 Thirty Thankful Days!


November 6



Today while cleaning and making breakfast I turned Christmas music on and it just made me happy inside. I also love that Lydia loves dancing to Christmas music. She shakes her hips from side to side and kind of hops around. I guess it's cheerful music and easy to dance to. Her dancing, and this music - two of my favorite things.

Today I am thankful for Christmas music...now.. before any of you start to make fun of me or say "ohh here we go..another Christmas music addict," hear me out, Grinches ;). Growing up in Alaska I had as many white Christmases as you can imagine. Once the first snowfall hit the ground (usually in October), my brain already prepared itself for Christmas. I immediately played Christmas music in the car wherever I went. But I didn't always used to be like that. I used to not care.

It wasn't until I was in Treble Choir (all girls) my sophomore year of high school when we were to sing at Alaska Land (aka Pioneer Park) in Fairbanks with the Sweet Adelines that I really cared. While I was sitting in the back seat of a friend's car who had picked me up, I listened to the Christmas music on the radio warm my body while I watched the cold swirl around me outside. I felt different that year than other years. I wanted to help other people and share the love of Christ with people. Since then, I have adored all kinds of Christmas music and enjoy playing it for (2-3) months. It creates a happy feeling. A feeling of joy and faith that things can be good in our lives.

What better way to ring in the wonderful holidays than to listen to uplifting happy music. 

It always brightens my mood.

Also.. I don't understand why people have a big deal about listening to music early, saying it has nothing to do with Thanksgiving. You are so wrong! (It's not like there are special Thanksgiving songs to listen to anyway :P)We celebrate Christmas to celebrate Christ's birth and his life and ministry..for all that he did for us. We thank him for his wonderful life and for many other things that he has done and continues to do for us.. and more often than not, we also thank Him during Thanksgiving. So the two go kind of hand in hand... at least this is what I think anyway.

In my opinion, these are the best two holidays we could celebrate and should celebrate BIG! Most of the other holidays are focused around us or the people we love, whereas these focus directly on that Being who gave us life.

He does deserve all the thanks and adoration we can give him...all year 'round. 

What better way to praise Him than through song.

To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven. - President Monson

5/30 Thirty Thankful Days

Today is day 5 of Thirty Thankful Days. It usually takes me all day to think of something specific I want to write about that I'm thankful for..and then I realize I don't get many pageviews or many people actually reading these. But oh well.. it's hard for me to blog during the day because I'm busy with Lydia or Jonathan.. as it should be! :)

But today I am really thankful for Jonathan. He has encouraged me to go back to school and is excited I'm taking the same major he is. After I picked him up from work we headed to the Hinckley building and we went in to see what classes I should take next semester. I was glad he was by my side. Afterward we went on a little dinner date to the Chinese Mandarin restaurant. It was pretty yummy. Then we went home and I gave the family home evening lesson on goals. I love making worthwhile goals with my hubby.

We just got done watching the latest episode of the Walking Dead. It was super intense..and me being all emotional ended up crying (boohoo.. make fun of me if you will! Heheh) during the end. But watching this tv show is one thing we always do together. We laugh and we yell at the characters and call them stupid together, but it's all fun. And today when I was crying Jonathan turned and looked at me and while laughing through my stupid tears I told him not to tell anyone! (How ironic that I'm telling you all now ;) ) And he just laughed. But it was still pretty funny because I was crying at a stinkin' tv show! Good thing he loves me even though I'm silly.

Anyway, after that we went through all the pictures that we have on our phone, which mostly consists of Lydia. He kept looking at her two front teeth, zoomed in, and would say "goof troop, WOO OOH" after each picture that showed her teeth which made us both laugh. We have such a funny daughter..and it was fun to go through the pictures and see her growth and development and see how she's changed over the past year. We love the pictures she takes herself or the ones where she looks downright goofy!

Goof troop, WOO OOH!

Jonathan's seen pictures of me and my siblings when we were young looking ghetto, so when he saw this we busted out laughing and he said, "This is just like your mom! Some of the outfits you were in should have been illegal!!"
Too funny!!

Loves playing with the phone camera

It was just a fun time together and I loved laughing, smiling, and cuddling up to him while looking at our little creation..wondering if all our posterity would be as beautiful. :)

He really is a good person and tries to do right for the family. I'm thankful I'm in a wonderful marriage and that I have Jonathan Hernandez by my side for time and all eternity. Love you hun!


To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven. - President Monson

4/30 Thirty Thankful Days And I Believe

Welcome to Thirty Thankful Days and my I Believe series (both heeped into one). I missed posting my testimony for "I Believe" in October because of General Conference and the mix-up of when fast and testimony/first Sunday of the month actually is (or.. at least that's just my excuse for being lazy last month.) Anyway.

November 4th


Today I am grateful for my Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (or the Mormons). It is the one consistent thing in my life I look forward to on a weekly basis. When I was growing up, I didn't understand fully the importance of Church or cared if I missed going to Church an occasional Sunday or two. Now, I love going to Church and wouldn't miss it for anything, even when I'm sick hehe. I love going for the Sacrament. I love the second-hour of Sunday School, and I absolutely love our Relief Society. I love the women there. I love the teachers and our RS Presidency. I have yet to find a lesson that didn't touch me in a certain way that taught exactly what I needed to hear. Each Sunday I seem to learn something new from the sisters which create a deeper love in me for all the women in our ward. I'm thankful for such caring people and those who love and want to do good. I'm also thankful for my calling. It's not a huge calling, but it's perfect for me. I am a supervisor over 10 or so girls who do their visiting teaching each month who report to me at the end of the month if they did it and what the girls they look over need/how they are doing. I love the power of visiting teaching. We are all Shepherds in the fold when we participate in visiting teaching and look over those in our care.

Which brings me to what I testified of in Church today during fast and testimony meeting. I've had this overwhelming prompting to testify of visiting teaching. Usually each month I try and think of something *profound*.. or I guess specific to say at the pulpit come testimony meeting and the past few months nothing came to mind. However, the last few days, the thought of testifying of the power of visiting teaching came to mind, so I felt compelled to get up.

I testify that visiting your sisters will help strengthen your testimony of our Savior. I know it is a divine role and calling. We are helping the Lord help others. I testify..that your sisters need you. The last time I left visiting our girls I told my companion that my face hurts every time we leave because we have such a great time together. We are seriously laughing for 45 minutes (there is a lesson in there as well..but we have fun!) I know this program is put in place for us to take care of each other. If the person you look over doesn't learn anything from these experiences or remember every lesson, they will at least have known that you cared. It is truly inspired of God. If the Lord was on the earth today, He'd want to spend time with every person. However, He is not here, so we must do the work for Him. We are doing what Christ would do if He were here. And I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven. - President Monson

3/30 Thirty Thankful Days!

November 3rd

Today I am thankful for an easy-going baby. It makes *my* rougher days, more simple. I am thankful Lydia is so easy to manage and take care of. I'm thankful for her little giggles and laughs and sweet smile. I'm thankful when she cuddles up to me and then falls asleep... in 5 seconds (just like her dad... seriously.) I'm thankful for all the many kisses she gives me, especially our morning kiss we share each day when I pick her up from her crib - and she even instigates it. I don't even have to remind her. :) She is just so extremely precious.

Today we went to Jonathan's work "fall/thanksgiving" party and everyone was basically in love with Lydia. She smiled for everyone! Usually she acts all shy but today she beamed and let people hold her. She also giggled and laughed and waved to people. Multiple people have exclaimed before that she's such a mellow baby and it's so true (compared to some haha). I feel so blessed to have a calm baby. It makes our home more relaxed and less stressful. I know I can just feed her, change her, play with her a little bit and then let her do her own thing and she is pretty good about not getting into things she shouldn't. She has a beautiful imagination, as well. The other day she came up to me with Jonathan's guitar tuner, put it to her face near her eyes, and said "eeeee!!" like "cheese!".. which was funny because we don't use our camera often to take pictures, but she knew what to do with it. She also loves bringing us things (things we need, or like a diaper for a diaper change, or her boots) She is very helpful.

                                                I can put my boots on all by myself, Mommy!

Feeding her baby doll saying, "numynumynumynum" (luckily it was empty!)

I'm not trying to brag to other moms who have more difficult babies. I think all babies have their ups and downs (trust, me..Lydia does too) but for the most part she is a sweet soul. I think she truly enjoys being happy.. Something I definitely need to be more often. What a great reminder. I love love love this little girl!!! I am so thankful she is in my life!!

On our way to trick or treat!

Making silly faces into the camera!

*having too much fun in the back seat*

To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven. - President Monson

2/30 Thirty Thankful Days!

November 2nd


Today I am thankful for naps. They helped turn a crummy morning into a better day. Because of Lydia sleeping with us the past few nights I've gotten terrible sleep. She wiggles so much in her sleep and kicks her blankets off. We basically end up like this picture..

Upon seeing this, Jonathan blurted out, "Oh my gosh! where did you find that? That's exactly how it is. It's like someone came in and took pictures during the night." See, told you I wasn't exaggerating. :)

Box 2, 4, and 6 are the most common. Last night it was number 2.. but Lydia was angled so that her feet were in my face = lovely. This morning I woke up kinda cranky and extremely sore. I ended up sleeping on my left side all night which made me have sore hips and shoulder. And my eyes were extremely tired..and the past few days I've been moving our furniture around and helping our friends clean/pack so my knee has been hurting a lot lately. I just felt like death this morning. THEN opening our fridge I noticed the opened (but closed) pickle jar that was laying on its side on the bottom rack had leaked everywhere.. all over our produce we just bought. So I had to take a part the fridge and clean it and all the food. (I guess it was time to clean it out anyway..but still.. not my most favorite thing to do when I wake up.)

However, later on in the evening, when Lydia FINALLY went down for her nap (at 6!).. we both decided to take a nap. Lydia usually sleeps for 3 hours during her nap, so that's how much I got too and it was glorious. I feel so much better. My body doesn't ache, I feel rejuvenated, and my mood definitely improved.

Yep, I am thankful for naps. I love the little things.



To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven. - President Monson

1/30 Thirty Thankful Days!

I am going to try and do my best at this!! Last year I wrote a poem on Thanksgiving.This November, I am going to try posting on my blog at least once a day saying what I am thankful for, be it little or large. 

It is always so humbling to really acknowledge what you are thankful for and how and who you got it from. Whatever it is. Ultimately, we have all our earthly possessions because of our Heavenly Father, but it is "usually through another person that He meets our needs."

So, welcome to Thirty Thankful Days!!

November 1st

Today I am so thankful for food to eat. We were in dire need of grocery shopping and our fridge was shamefully bare. This morning we awoke and went shopping as a family. I'm grateful that we had money to buy all kinds of healthy food and snacks for Lydia. I'm so happy she enjoys eating healthy food, as well. I know there are many people around the world who would think we have more than abundance of food, even if it doesn't seem like our food storage is well stocked in our eyes. I just hope and pray those people are taken care of and have food too. Today, I am thankful for food! :)

To express gratitude is gracious and honorable, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven. - President Monson

Perfect Reflections

Wake up, Anna... this is not a dream. Your baby is actually crying.

Wait, what? I thought my baby slept through the night.. (finally).

Oh.. darn teething (probably molars again). It's been making her cranky the past day or two. She has these terrible mood swings - happy one moment, a little stinker the next. Luckily, we have those teething pills or I don't know what I'd do!

I awoke this morning at 6:33am and went to her room. Upon opening the door she was practically screaming "ma!ma!ma!ma!" as if in fright. I picked her up, put her heavy blanket on and walked over to our room and popped some teething tablets in her mouth. I then sat up in bed as she laid on my shoulder and tried to fall back asleep. When I thought she was finally asleep I went to put her back in bed..but she already woke up and began to stand in her crib. I then grabbed her again and thought... well..instead of standing here for 30 minutes hoping she'll fall asleep again, I guess she could try laying in bed with us..I hope I don't have to nurse her to get her to fall back asleep, like usual. I don't even know if I have anything for her.

So I brought her all bundled back in and layed her between both of us with my left arm wrapped underneath her and covered her up with my other hand and got under the covers myself. And she closed her eyes! Oh my, it brought me back to newborn days when, after I'd finish feeding her, she'd be all content and ready to fall asleep and she'd be swaddled so warm in my arms and we'd both fall asleep together, our tummies facing each other. Only this time, I couldn't fall asleep. I was too busy watching her. Watching and thinking.

*A few weeks old*

 She didn't need to nurse anymore. .. For a while a few months ago I was kind of upset that she just wouldn't stop nursing and wished she would just like cow's milk already. I was being selfish and "wanted my body back" for myself. But, after a while I stopped caring about it so much, because I realized it was the only little link connecting me to when she was first born when she needed me so much. I kept trying to force the weaning when, she only began to wean when she was ready. It's weird how much I miss it now. Even over the weekend we ran out of milk and I had to encourage and even bring her to me to nurse just so she'd get some kind of milk.. but it seemed like she didn't want it at first. It made me kind of sad. Luckily she did and then fell asleep so I got to watch her as I cuddled her and it felt so wonderful. This morning, even though I was pretty tired (on 4 hours of sleep), this reflection I had of her cuddling with me as a newborn had helped me turn what could have been a negative moment, into a precious, special one.

 My favorite memories are the ones where I look back on the life of my daughter.

They are always so perfect.

My baby is just growing up so much. We had to wake up at 7:45 to get ready to go shopping at 8 and I just couldn't fall back to sleep before then. I was too busy watching her and making sure she was comfortable, especially since she still kicks her blankets off at night. She even woke up a few times crying..and I was glad to be there to reassure her everything was okay. It just amazes me what a year and 4 months (tomorrow) will do to a little person!

My (other) favorite part of this whole experience, was when the alarm finally went off, I tried getting her up and she was being so silly! She would have a smile on her face with her eyes closed, like, "oh mommy, I want to wake up and play..but give me 5 more minutes please!" She is definitely her father's daughter!! Every time I'd leave her to herself and start to ready myself.. she would lay lazily back down on the pillow and close her eyes and smile. Ohh it is the little things.