Wahoo! I made it!

...to 36!

Happy Birthday to Me!  :)


So, as many of you know..I LOVE numbers.  It is such a simple pleasure in life for me.  I love it when the clock reads 12:34 or 11:55, etc.  I love dates, odometers, and so forth.  So, 36 is a much cooler number to me than 35 since it is a square number.  So cool.

I have been pondering how I want to post today.  I have WAY more than 36 blessings, so that will not work well.  I have decided to focus on that 6 X 6 thing and post 6 things in each of 6 categories.

First:

SIX PEOPLE THAT BRING ME GREAT HAPPINESS
..Okay...Impossible to narrow down. I mean I.M.P.O.S.S.I.B.L.E... but there are six particularly important people in my life:

1) CK.  He is the best husband imaginable.  He loves me so unconditionally.  I love the way he makes me laugh.  I love the way he would do anything for me.  I love the way he supports me in my goals.  He is amazing.

2) K.  She is my first-born and I love her to pieces.  I cannot believe all the joy she has brought me in her 13.5 years of life.  She is so fun to laugh with, play games with and cook with.  I am proud to call her my daughter.

3) C.  He is my oldest son and such a great joy to me.  He has so many talents.  He can literally do anything he puts his mind to.  He has a lot of faith and a strong sensitivity to the Spirit.  He works hard and plays hard and I want to be like him.

4) A.  She has only been my daughter for a couple of years, but I am so blessed to be one of her Mamas.  She accepted me as Mom right away and I love her just as much as I do the children I have birthed.  What a great kid!

5) J.  He is my Kindergartener.  He makes me feel like a celebrity through and through.  I am never as loved as when I show up each week to eat lunch with him at school.  They should have a red carpet...that is the way he makes me feel.  I am so blessed.

6) V.  My baby girl.  How grateful I am that I get to be her Mom.  I love her smiles.  I love the way she looks for me whenever she hears my voice.  It is fun (and a tad annoying) that she screams when others hold her, but calms down when she is in the safety of my arms (or CK's).

SIX SIMPLE PLEASURES THAT MAKE ME SMILE

1)  Taking a walk with my family when it is perfect weather.
2)  A tidy house
3)  Tulips coming up from the bulbs I planted last fall
4)  Laughing
5)  Cuddles
6)  Quiet moments to nurse my baby

SIX HOBBIES I HAVE (OR WILL HAVE SOMEDAY)

1)  Quilting
2)  Photography
3)  Gardening
4)  Building/ Creating with wood
5)  Food Storage/Preparedness
6)  Reading...but I do find it difficult to find books that are clean and interesting.

SIX DREAMS I HAVE
1)  Serve a mission with my hubby
2)  Visit all the temples in the United States with CK
3)  Be an amazing Mom and Grandma.
4)  Have food storage to last us a year
5)  Print and display all these pictures that are just digital
6)  Smile every day.  Be true to who I am and love the life I have...not stress over the "things" that need to be done.

SIX GIFTS I AM STRIVING TO MAGNIFY:
1)  Loving all people.  Showing them that love by the way I treat them
2)  Being trustworthy
3)  Connecting with family and friends
4)  Making my home a place where the Spirit can dwell
5)  Choosing happiness
6)  Using my education and furthering it.

And-
SIX THINGS THAT HAVE SHAPED ME AND MADE ME WHO I AM:
1)  My parents.  They love me.  They taught me.  They support me.
2)  The gospel of Jesus Christ.  Every day, I am trying to be His disciple in word and in deed.
3)  My divorce.  It wasn't in my plans, but I am stronger for it.  I am definitely a different person than I was.
4)  Being a mom.  I wouldn't have it any other way.  I have five wonderful children, for whom I would give my life.
5)  My own agency and choices.  Some good.  Some bad.  All mine.
6)  The people that surround me.  My siblings.  My friends.  When I went to school.  In every ward I have been in.  When I taught school. 

There you have it 6 X 6 things about me.  It was fun to think about.  The hardest part was the people.  I love people.  I love my sister.  I love my parents and brothers.  I love my in-laws (both sets)  I love my friends.  I love people.  After filling up the six people with my family members, I considered another people category, but I really love people and it would absolutely break my heart if I left anyone out.  I have been blessed with amazing friends.  I love you all, each of you has a unique roll that you fill in my life that no one else can.  You are important to me.

I have many sisters-in-law and I love them all dearly and I sure wish they each lived closer, but I only have one blood sister.  I am so blessed to have her as one of my very best friends.  We went on a spur-of-the-moment outing and she treated me to pedicures this afternoon.  So cool.  It was a great birthday present and time almost alone with her (V came too).  We have 9 kids between us so alone time is rare.  I loved it.  I am so glad that Heavenly Father sent us to the same family and, more recently, sent her and her family here to Texas.  I am so blessed.

Overall...what a great life I have.  36 years and counting!  I can't wait to see what this next year has in store for me.  The past 36 have been full of ups and downs and I assume the next 36 will also, but I will face it all with faith.  I have the love of CK, my children, my parents, other family members, and friends.  I am so blessed.

5 Months Old!

Taken 2/19/2013...not sure why the error on the date stamp

V is 5 months old today!!!  Wow!  She is getting bigger and bigger.  We are so grateful that she is gaining weight.  I usually think that she looks so much like CK, but there are moments when she looks like my baby pictures.  Since none of my other children look at all like me, it is an odd feeling to have her look like me on occasion.  

She is so much fun right now.  She loves to sit up (with a little help still...but almost alone already!), stand (definitely with help, but she is always so proud of herself when she is standing), and smile.  She is very aware of each member of our family, especially her parents and she rewards us with big open-mouthed smiles.  She is starting to laugh, usually when she is tickled.  We are so grateful that she is part of our family.

Taken 2/19/2013...not sure why the error on the date stamp

In other news....Sad but true (Ms. Bindergarten got the flu..(from one of our favorite books))...I have 8, yep-you can count them-EIGHT posts that need to be posted.  -sigh- Life is busy.  We are so blessed and it is, indeed, a good busy, but busy nonetheless.

One final note, I feel that we have been so blessed as we work on our food storage.  I have been storing some long-term storage for a while, but I have felt the need to follow local and global church leaders' counsel and store a 3-month supply of "regular" food.  We have a relatively tight budget.  We have enough, but not really extra to just go and buy more food.  I have noticed, though, that as we consistently work on adding more to our storage that our food budget goes further.  It just stretches somehow.  I KNOW it is a blessing from God.  I KNOW He is blessing us as we strive to be both obedient and prepared.  I feel so blessed.  And, being prepared just makes me happy.  It was the one thing I could focus on throughout the divorce and always feel happiness and peace.  It continues to bring me such joy.  There is nothing quite as fulfilling as a slowly-filling freezer or finding more food in the pantry.  I also love how it makes it so easy to serve others.  If anyone needs a meal, no need to make a special trip to the store, I already have the ingredients and I can make a meal and replace the ingredients next time I am at the store.  So cool.  :)

I am so blessed.  So blessed indeed!

I Love to See the Temple

Yes, I am behind once again.  -sigh-  Life just keeps happening.  All these kids!  They all have somewhere to be and something they need.  Love it.  I love being Mom.  I am so blessed, but I am quite a busy woman these days. 

I should have taken a picture last night, but I didn't think about it.  CK and I got to go to the temple. It was beautiful.  It has been 5 1/2 months since we were able to go due to V being born.  I am so glad she takes a bottle, since I have missed it so much.  In some ways, this one time going was more of a sacrifice than going 3 times a month.  It just took a lot more planning to be able to leave V.  Luckily, I have an AMAZING sister, who was willing to take care of her, AND her own four kids (hubby was at school), AND prepare to teach seminary out of her home this morning.  AMAZING.  Thank-you, S.  Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.

I am so blessed to have a temple only about an hour away.
I am so blessed to have a wonderful husband that loves the temple as much as I do.
I am so blessed to have been able to go last night- so relatively quickly after having V.
I am so blessed to have S take care of V.
I am so blessed to have K be old enough to babysit herself and her brothers while we went.

So blessed.  So blessed.  So blessed.

In other news, V lost 2/10 of an ounce last week.  That is so little it is not really "losing," but it is definitely not gaining 1/2 pound either.  I was bummed.  I thought maybe we had turned the corner.  Nope.  Not yet.  I still am so glad that she is happy and enjoys life.  It is so fun to be around her.  Now, if only she could put on the needed weight!!