Sugar Mama!

Well, my news is half good. Pete hasn't found a job, but I have. We decided I am going to work him through school. He will play Mr. Mom and focus on full time school. I have very mixed emotions about the whole thing. I've started working at a salon. I really enjoy it, but have a hard time putting my heart into it when I think about being home with my babies. I know that Pete is with them, and he truly does a great job. But honestly I miss them and I feel like I never have time to see them. Now I know how dads feel. It's rough. I am also feeling the pressure of making ends meet. I am paid commission, so I never know what I'll make. That is unsettling for me. I would so much rather have a steady paycheck. But this is all trial and error. We'll see how things go. We would still appreciate prayers from all of you. Thankyou all for keeping us in your prayers already. I know things fell into place because of it. Hopefully my next update will be more upbeat! Thanks again to everyone!

Bad News

I feel kinda weird posting this, but I thought it might help. Pete lost his job this week and my Dad told me that the more people that know the better! That way we can have more ears listening for job opportunities. So I guess I'm asking for all of you to help us out. If you hear of any decent jobs please let us know. We aren't too picky. We just need something to get us by until Pete finally gets accepted into school. We've been trying for two years with no luck. Hopefully sometime soon our luck will change! All I know is that something will work out. Our Heavenly Father loves us and we are trying our best to live as we should and we will be blessed for doing so. Hopefully someone who reads this will be able to help us out in some way or another. Even if you all just pray for us. We would appreciate anything that you can do! Thankyou!

Our Crazy December!

As some of you know, December around our house gets just a little bit crazy. It usually starts off okay with the first half being pretty typical for every family preparing for Christmas. This year we had the Dallin stuff interupt our semi-normal start of the month. The second half of December at our house is pure chaos! But so fun! James Birthday is on the 18th, then of course we have Christmas. Ragan's birthday follows on the 27th and then last but not least our anniversary on the 29th! We're lucky if we've got anything left to celebrate our anniversary, both money and energy. This year the money ran out, and we had a belated family Christmas/engagement party for my little sister on our anniversary, so it was kind of a dud as far as romance is concerned!

We'll start with the first event! My sweet baby James is no baby anymore. He is FIVE years old! I can't believe it. He is so fun and so smart. When he get excited about something he is all consumed by it. He is just like his mother in that sense. His obsession lately is dinosaurs. So I finally got around to the request he made when we first moved in. He asked me to paint dinosaurs on his wall. I somehow found the time and revealed the masterpiece on his birthday. Here is the video of the reveal and some still shots!

Here's a plug for Jenna Layton. She got me started by painting Little Foot! Thanks Jenna!

We continued the dinosaur birthday theme for his party. I love birthday parties for kids. They are so fun to plan, and the kids get so darn excited. My kids love their birthdays. That makes me happy. My birthday growing up was always something I looked forward to.

Next event...Christmas. We had a meager Christmas this year, but truly it was one of our best. I think smaller is better and makes everyone appreciate things so much more. We were blessed with some items left on our doorstep from a Secret Santa. I am so grateful for the love and generosity of our friends. I love Christmas and the spirit that it brings. Thankyou to our secret Santa and to all those we love that made the Christmas season mean so much!

This is a picture of our kids on Christmas Eve in the Elf PJs. Growing up my family had a tradition of the Elves, or Impy Ganomeys as we called them, dropping a Christmas Eve gift on our doorstop. We have kept the tradition going, I love it, it's one of my favorite Christmas memories. At our house the elves always seem to leave homemade pajama pants!

Next Event...a princess parade! We have a 3 year old! And she is so proud of being big! She started primary last week and when we went to the gym she got to go to the big kid room downstairs. As she walked in the room at the gym, with a grin she looked up at the teacher and proudly stated "I'm big!" She is so excited to be growing up. I on the other hand am not so sure! I love to see my kids learn and grow but I hate the thought of them getting closer and closer to teenagers, and not thinking I'm cool. I enjoy that they adore me, and think there is no one better than mom and dad. James told me the other day that when he grows up he wants to marry me! I will miss comments like that, which will likely be replaced with something like, Mom you are so not cool! Anyway... I got sidetracked... We actually waited until January for Ragan's party, so we could spread out the chaos a little. Her party was so much fun! Like I said a princess parade. All the girls came dressed in their best princess dress. Then we made crowns and jewelery and played kiss the frog prince. We even painted all their fingernails. I was so grateful for Brandy and Aubrey for helping me everything. I would have been more than overwhelmed without them! It was definitely a success and the girls were adorable. Oh we also read a book called Fancy Nancy that Tami suggested to me. If any of you have little girls that love dressing up etc. Fancy Nancy is a must read. They will love it!

Like I said last but not least Pete and I celebrated, well acknoweleged is probably a better word, our SEVENTH anniversary! Time definitely flies! I can truly say they have been seven wonderful years. I couldn't have picked a better man. He truly loves me unconditionally! He treats me like a queen, which sometimes I really don't deserve, but he does nonetheless. I love him more now than ever. He is a wonderful person and a good example for me, my kids and everyone around him. Happy Anniversary babe, maybe someday we'll celebrate!

I know this post is late, but this one is for Catherine!!!

The girls from work and I went to the opening day of the Twighlight movie, and yes we are wearing t-shirts that say E. Cullen! We had a ton of fun even though I felt a little silly with the shirts since there were a row of 12 year old girls in front of us with t-shirts too! But I wouldn't change a thing! Twighlight geek I am, cause I loved the movie!

Merry Christmas

I couldn't afford to do real Christmas cards this year so this will have to do. I did send them to everyone I have email addresses for so if I missed you by email, this is for you!

Yeah! All Better!

The lump!

During the torturous IVs

Pre-surgery

Post-surgery with the dreaded drain tube!

Happy that it's all over!

I am so glad that Dallin remained happy throughout this whole ordeal. The Doctors finally determined after two CT scans that the problem was an abcess in a lymphnode in his jaw. They originally put him on IV antibiotics, but after four ER visits and too many needle pokes to count,

we still couldn't keep an IV in him so they put him on oral antibiotics the abcess worsened. This meant he needed surgery. Thankfully all went well, the abcess was drained and he was back to normal within a few days! The only slight complication we had was that he pulled the tube

out that they had inserted to help continue the draining process. We knew it wouldn't last, but I thought he'd refrain for more than a couple of hours! Little stinker! Oh well what do you expect from a one year old. He is such a sweet baby! I am so thankful to have him in our
family, he makes us smile everyday!

Oh and P.S. he's officially walking FINALLY! (December 20, 2008 @ nearly 16 months)

Thankful

I am thankful for so many things this week. It's funny how humbling experiences make you count your blessings. My sweet baby Dallin has spent this week in and out of the hospital. It's been crazy but he is okay and is scheduled for a minor surgery tomorrow that should take care of the problem. He has been so sweet and happy through this whole ordeal! I am amazed at his attitude especially at such a young age. If it were me I'd be whiny and grumpy, but he instead is smiley and cheery! I love my baby boy!
I also have had an interesting experience with scripture study. I am the newly called personal progress advisor in my ward. I challenged my girls almost two weeks ago to read the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the year. The challenge is called 40 days closer to Christ and has a specific layout for reading the book in 40 days. I guess I didn't realize just how big this challenge was until I started it myself! Wow! It's a lot of time out of each day...but wow it's amazing what it can do. I have had answers to prayers and much more come from this wonderful and difficult challenge. Anyway so the last couple of weeks have made me count my blessings and I just wanted to write them down somewhere. Here on my blog seemed as good a place as any!
So here's my list of thankfuls:

1. Priesthood blessings and a wonderful worthy priesthood holder in my home!
2. The power of scripture study, fasting and prayer
3. 40 days closer to Christ
4. Beautiful healthy children
5. A job that supports the importance of family
6. New and old friendships
7. The love and bonds of family
8. good attitudes
9. My young women that I already love after such a short time
10. Callings that help me as much or more than those I serve
11. Good advice
12. A husband who listens and loves no matter what
13. Teachings of our prophets and apostles
14. humility
15. My Savior
16. The Atonement
17. A desire to be better
18. The power the atonement gives me to become the person that I desire to be
19. Good examples to follow
20. Service and love

These are a teeny tiny few of the overwhelming blessings that my Heavenly Father poors out on me each day. I could go on and on, but I think I might bore you all. I just hope you all have the opportunity to reflect on all that you have. It really is inspiring and encouraging to see just how much our Heavenly Father loves us all!