10/30 Thirty Thankful Days

Day 10/30 of Thirty Thankful Days!

November 10

Today I am really thankful for our neighbors and good friends, Jared and Whitney Mackley. They are amazing people with kind hearts and sweet souls. We always love spending time with them. It is so nice to have really good friends here in Rexburg, always willing to help you out whenever you need it or if you just need to talk or watch your baby for 30 minutes (like yesterday) haha. Not to mention, they are two of Lydia's most favorite people in the whole world (besides me and Jonathan..I hope.. haha). Seriously though! Whenever Lydia hears stomping from people walking down the stairs (we live on the bottom floor), she automatically thinks it's Whitney coming to see her and she'll say, "Nin-ney! nin-ney!" over and over and hop around in a little circle with the widest smile on her face. AND don't even get me started when they leave our house. Lydia will wail and scream and cry with big crocodile tears even if they just stop by for two minutes to give us something. Lydia loves them. And so do we.


Thanks Jared and Whitney! For being awesome people. We will definitely miss you when you move away from us! But weekly visits are a must. :) Love you!


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

9/30 Thirty Thankful Days

Welcome to  day 9/30 of Thirty Thankful Days! I'd much rather think of things I could be thankful for for the whole month, instead of just 22 days. I actually really love this experiment/goal. It has opened my eyes to be more grateful throughout the day. I go around asking myself, "what am I thankful for today?" It really does help a lot. So here's what I'm thankful for on day 9.


My little sister Mari. I'm so proud of her. She's an amazing person with a really big heart. We used to not be super close growing up (especially when she'd go looking through my diary - ugh - I'd be so furious! hahahaha), but over the years we have grown so close. I talk to her about everything. I can consider her one of my best friends (not to mention, she's Lydia's favorite person to text!!). When we are actually together during Black Friday, we make it a tradition to go together at 4 in the morning, no matter how cold or tired or ugly we feel. It ends up being so fun. She is always so generous when gift giving and tries to always help people out. She gets all members of the family presents for their birthday and Christmas and she is not stingy in her gift giving, at all. I know she loves her family a lot.

I'm also really proud of her because she made the awesome decision to come to Brigham Young University-Idaho next semester. She prayed about her decision and then acted upon it, despite what others may have told her she should've done. I can't tell you how incredibly happy I am that she's coming here, not just for me, but for herself. I know she will grow into the beautiful woman I already know she is. Her testimony will bud, she will become more confident, she'll make lots of new friends (and meet guys ;) ohh la la), and learn to love being on her own and rely on the Lord. We're all so excited.

I love you MarzBarz!!!!

 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

MUAH!

Yesterday morning, when Lydia woke up and I brought her back to bed with me she laid there for a while. And then she turned toward me and grabbed each side of my face with both of her hands and pressed her lips up to mine and went..

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 *breathe*

 mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm 

*breathe*

mmmmmmmmmmm..MUAH!

Taking 2 times to breathe caught me off guard and made me start laughing during her little tender-hearted kiss. Her kisses are my absolute favorite. Jonathan and I are always competing to see who will get the most kisses from her. Gosh, I love her!! 

She is such an easy person to love. :)

8/30 Thirty Thankful Days

8/30 of Thirty Thankful Days!

Source

Today I am thankful I have a home. I'm thankful I have a bed to sleep on, with covers over me. I'm thankful for clothes to keep me warm. I'm thankful I have a dishwasher and dishes to clean. I'm thankful that we have food in the fridge and on the table. I'm thankful for my little chores that sometimes seem so mundane but in reality, when it's messy, it just means my baby is having fun and it shows we live here. I don't know how people in third world countries even do it - living in a hut or a tent or some brick little home with hardly anything. It would be so hard. I guess it's hard for me to imagine it not being hard because I've been so *spoiled* for so long. We have it so good here.  

One song in my church hymnbook that always humbles me and brings me back to reality is Count Your Blessings, especially the third verse. It's hard to not be envious of other people's belongings/possessions, especially being poor college students. It's hard not to say, "I wish we had that job" or "I wish we had that car." Whenever I start thinking about what I don't have or wished I had what others have, I don't feel positive about my situation. It's only when I start realizing what I do have.. and realize it may be a lot, to others, that I am humbled in my experiences and learn that the earthly possessions don't matter as much as your treasure in Heaven. And I'd rather be rich in Heaven, than here on earth.

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

[chorus]

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one, 
Count your many blessings, see what God hath done!

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings—money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

There's so much to be thankful for.

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

7/30 Thirty Thankful Days

7/30 of Thirty Thankful Days!

November 7

Family time is sacred time. It should be protected and respected - President Boyd K. Packer

Today I am thankful for family time. No matter what we do, as long as we're together, I'm happy, whether we're going to the park or watching The Walking Dead. Tonight after pizza and a movie, Jonathan sat down and challenged me to a game of N64 007. How could I resist? He then told me that Lydia was also playing. And that he's been waiting a long time to play this against her. I could only laugh. Challenge accepted.

Our first game, Lydia's character was some nasty Freddy Kruegar looking chef. His face didn't even look normal (but I guess with these graphics, Pierce Brosnan is the only one who does haha). I was some "hot chick" according to Jonathan - HA! and Jonathan was some random person. When I caught up to Lydia I busted out laughed SO HARD. I could see her on my screen and she was walking backward with her face toward the ceiling. I couldn't shoot her. Jonathan caught up and we just laughed together. I then knew it was the right choice to play this game at midnight, despite my goals of going to bed early.. oops. But we had lots of fun. I even killed Jonathan multiple times in a row, even though my aiming is something to be desired. He killed me 6 times and I killed him 5. Pretty good in my book!

Anyway. I'm pretty glad we played together. It was a good ending to my night. Family time doesn't always mean we have to be doing a family home evening lesson together or going to the movies (which we do as a family too, even Lydia.) As long as you're enjoying the time spent with your loved ones, that's all that matters.

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

The Future Is As Bright As Your Faith

I know most of us are probably disappointed in what happened last night. I think the hope and change we were expecting was to come from Mitt Romney.

But I'm not terribly surprised that Obama won.. nor am I as disappointed in that as I am in the moral decay of our country. I am more disappointed that 2 or 3 states actually legalized recreational use of marijuana and same sex marriage. I am disappointed that we also have a president that, instead of standing for something, appeals to so many people just to get the popular vote. Most people would say, "isn't that what you want out of a president? Someone who agrees with your views?" - Not if it's just to get re-elected again or just to be more popular. Legalizing marijuana is more frustrating to me, than Obama winning, even if he did or didn't have anything to do with it. The fact that the majority wants that legalized definitely tells you something.

 I reeeallly don't want America to turn into one big melting pothead! Oyy..

I won't deny, I was kind of frustrated with how everything went last night.. and reading everyone else's facebook statuses only fueled the flame. However, I am very thankful for the few inspired, humble people who remembered not to get so upset with the results and reminded people that "it's not the end of the world," even if it is 2012 (haha. I'm jk). They also reminded me that no matter how bad the world seems to get, the Gospel is still eternal and we can still choose to do good. Now is the time to stand together, not divided.

That really put it in perspective for me.

I don't really know what's in store for the next four years.. or what will really change and affect me personally.. but I do know that as the world inevitably decays in wickedness and unrighteousness, it has made a fire burned deep inside me to want to teach my children to be more righteous, faithful, happy, and to do good to others.

I'm going to try so much harder to live the gospel and teach it to Lydia.

We're going to be good examples of Christians, no matter our circumstances.

We're gonna become more united in our family, community, state, and the country.

I'm going to look forward with faith.

One thing that I will always love is that, even though our country isn't lead by someone called of God, our Church is. And the Lord will always take care of us, as long as we're faithful. I'm thankful someone shared this photo and brought me back to what matters most.

Things I know (about my 16mo)

Things I know about my 16 month old. You can check out what I know about my 10 month old, 1 year old, and 14 month old, as well.

I know

She now weighs 20lbs! Hooray! (well, it fluctuates..but on the scale the other day she was 20.4)

She doesn't nurse anymore. Sometimes she'll forget she's weaned (like when she's really hungry) and pull at my shirt..but a little redirection and she forgets. Plus she drinks tons of milk.

Her favorite show is Sesame Street. She gets so excited when she sees Elmo's face on the icon of SS when we're searching Netflix. She claps her hands and smiles big. She loves it. Right now, she's dancing to Elmo's songs.

She loves playing outside. And when she wears her winter boots (which are still craving some snow!!) she clops around on hard floors to hear what sound they make.

She absolutely loves books. She has me read a specific book to her 2-3 times in a row a few times throughout the day. I don't mind. I'm glad she's fond of books.

I know

She understands so much. She really is a good baby. The other day I was counting and I said, "Ooonne.." and then she surprised me and said, "ooohh" for two an it amazed me! We count a lot so I'm guessing that's why.

She cries when people leave our house or shut the doors on her. Especially our neighbors Jared and Whitney or when Daddy leaves to work. She gets totally upset when Whitney leaves our house. Wailing and everything.

Speaking of Whitney, Lydia gets SOOO excited when she hears footsteps and then someone comes to the door. The other day I heard knocking and Lydia started saying, "nin-ney! nin-ney!" over and over. She (and I both) was a little confused when we found it some random stranger asking for a lady we didn't know of. But, when Whitney does come to the door, she gets so excited she almost trips over herself. I love that she loves Whitney. :)

She knows when people are leaving and says "Byyyeee". Last night we were watching a show and someone got in their car to leave and she waved her hand and said byyyeee. Or when I open our front door to put something outside, she tells me bye.

She sleeps through the night (unless teething). Which is pretty amazing. However, if she goes to bed early at like 8 or so, she'll always end up waking up at 11 or midnight. BUT if she stays up with us until midnight or 1, she'll sleep all night until 11am. The last few days she's been so tired she falls asleep at 8 and it just ruins the whole night haha.

I know

She loves loving others. The first thing she does in the morning when I get her out of her crib is give me a kiss on the lips. ALSO.. whenever she's been crying for a while in the night (or at 11 or midnight when she wakes up and I try so desperately to let her cry herself back to sleep and can't) I go into get her, expecting her to be mad, but she immediately gives me a slimey, boogery, wet kiss on my lips. It's funny how easily she forgives. What a good example.

She loves bugs.. and tries to kill the ants in the bathroom that I just can't seem to get rid of. We kind of just make it a game now. She likes to "kick them" with her feet and try to find where they went when they're stuck to the bottom of her feet lol.

She loves her baby doll a lot. She'll grab her sippy cup and give her baby "milkies" saying "numynumynumy" while feeding her baby. She'll be a good big sister :)

I don't know why, but she loves Cookie Monster.. even though he only gets about a minute 1/2 of air time on Sesame Street. She thinks it's funny when he eats cookies and she calls him "cuck-y".

She sometimes laughs at the most random things! Like when me or Jonathan burp, or we say "ahhh!!" like we're scared for pretend. It always makes us laugh when she giggles at totally random things.



I just love her personality. And I'm so glad I can recognize and really behold and know my daughter at 16 months.