One Great Day

It has been one great day. I began the day thinking... I will blog tonight about how many emails I'd received, how many phone calls, how many visits, etc.. But, there were too many to count. I spent the day answering the door and the phone, as well as reading new comments and emails and listening to voicemails. It was great! :) I feel so loved. My gifts from my family and from my friends were so perfect for me. It means so much how well people know me and it makes me feel so special that they know me so well. I got to go out to lunch and out to dinner. I even got to play Rockband with one of my friends in the middle of the day. I tell you...I didn't do one productive thing the entire day....just relished in how loved I feel. Even the check-in thing at the gym sang "Happy Birthday" instead of just beeping.

To all of you that made this day so perfect: Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you. Thank-you for thinking of me and loving me.

I spent my afternoon prayer time on my knees in tears...of joy and gratitude...Heavenly Father must love me, for he sent me all these angels! :)

Why am I one of the Lucky Ones?

So, tomorrow I turn 32. This past year has been rough, really rough. Actually rougher than I ever could imagine in my wildest dreams about roughness. Yet, I sit here tonight so grateful for the multitude of blessings I enjoy. How can I complain when I am one of the Lucky Ones?

A few of my precious blessings:

• A wonderful, intact, loving, and healthy family (DH, me, and our three kiddos).
• Friends. I can't say enough about my friends. I have been blessed to have so many friends. I truly believe that I have been blessed with some of the greatest women that have ever lived as my friends. They are my angels. I seriously can't say enough. Thank-you.
• My Savior. This year of struggles has been such a blessing in that I have never felt the Savior's presence as close as I have this year. I know He loves me. I know He guides me. I know He weeps when I weep. I am so grateful for all He has done for me.
• The Gospel of Jesus Christ. What great peace the Gospel brings. It puts this earth-life into perspective. And, what a blessing to have a living Prophet to lead the way.
• The Clinic. We have owned our own clinic for 3 1/2 years now. How lucky we are. We were so blessed with the Lord's help with everything from location to timing to enough patients to more than sustain us. While we have been there many times, I am so grateful that, at this time, I don't have to worry about whether there will be enough money this month to pay the bills and eat.

How lucky I am! And, here's to a better year at 32 than at 31! :)

Weekend Away

This weekend was an early birthday present from DH: A weekend away without kids!

A HUGE, GIGANTIC THANKS TO MY SISTER for taking them! Six kids for a weekend is a lot and they were so thoughtful, even bringing C down for his basketball game, even though they live 1/2 hour away!

Since we didn't have a lot of time, we ended up staying in a nice, 4-star hotel in a nearby city. We actually didn't do a ton. We did, however,

• workout together without worrying about kids.
• went to the local Museum of Art and actually took our time without rushing with the kids.
• ate out and actually got to talk to each other (doesn't usually happen with three kids demanding our time).
• relaxed without worrying or feeling guilty (Hey! We were away!) about clinic-stuff, house-stuff, kid-stuff, yard-stuff, church-stuff, etc. That was so nice.
• talked and talked.

It was one of the best weekends ever! I am certain that if my sister is up to it, we will be doing this again! :)

~Thanks, DH, love ya!~

42-12

That was the score at C's last game. We have a budding NBA star on our hands! Well, perhaps not, but he sure thinks he is. And, he is tearing up the floor on his basketball team. He scored 20 points of his team's 42. If we were keeping assist records, he probably had 8-12 assists. In fact, he would sometimes overlook an open shot just to share the ball with his teammates. It has been so fun to watch him this year and he really is an awesome point guard. He just loves this game and it shows. :) I just wish we lived in an area that they had two basketball seasons like they do baseball and soccer. Bummer.