Yeah, it's the start of another week.

Well today I was thinking how glad I was that it was Monday, the start of a fresh week. Last week was really rough. Shane worked really long hours, Joshua was sick all week long, Lizzy was really whiney, and I had no patients. Then I started thinking about what good came out of last week, and my blessings were plentiful. Here are a few: 1. The one day that Shane got home before 9 PM was on Thursday, I actually got to go to book club. 2. Joshua who started last week with a 102.9 degree temperature, a headache, and a tummy ache had strep throat. And even though he felt terrible from Monday until Saturday, getting up multiple times every night with a high temperature, had the optimism to say, "being sick is still better then having two broken feet". 3. Isabella still sleeping about 9 hours a night since she was 5 weeks. 4. I actually had enough energy to wake up on my own at 5 AM to work out twice last week. 5. After Shane had worked from 7AM Friday morning getting home at 8PM on Saturday night, he still had the energy to run to Home Depot to get the necessary parts and replace our water heaters that had died earlier in the day. Since it was so late, they didn't have the right size water heaters, so he had to get the next bigger size and completely rebuild the plumbing so that they would fit. He finished at 9 AM (12 hours later) so we could shower with warm water for church. 6.Sarah and Joshua enjoying piano lessons so much that they fight over who gets to play first. That is how my skeleton Halloween decoration was knocked off of the piano and shattered into many pieces. 7.Steve and Jenny are having a girl, so Isabella will have another girl cousin close to her age. 8.Sarah loving reading so much that I have a hard time having her let me read to her at night. She wants to read her Lizzy McGuire books that her cool older cousin Sydney gave to her. 9. Sarah's fish died that she has had since my brother Matt and Natalie gave them fish as a distraction after Elizabeth had her seizer while Shane and I were out of the country. It was sad, but I think it was dead for a few days before I even noticed it was dead. It actually was floating at the bottom of the bowl. I guess I don't have to change the water and feed it anymore, since she always seemed to forget. It doesn't sound like a blessing, but it is. 10. Lizzy has another favorite thing to say instead of always saying, "one more minute", now she likes to say, "absolutely". That is much better. Now that I look back, I guess last week wasn't so bad.

Bella's Blessing

We had Bella's blessing about a week ago. It was such a sweet day to have so many loved ones there to see our little Bella blessed. We definitely missed those of you who are far away and couldn't come. The blessing was beautiful. She looked tiny in Shane's big hands (and she didn't cry). The part of the blessing that really stood out to me was the part for her to remember that her Heavenly Father is always there for her and loves her so much. It was a great day.

Joshua's birthday

Joshua had a birthday with his cousin Dayton. They are both very much boys, and decided it would be fun to do something fun to boys. We hired a company called Scales and Tails to come and put on a show for the kids.





My Joshua is such a cutie. Can't wait for another year with him to see what funny things he will do. He is always the first to give me a hug every morning and tells me that I am the best mom in the world. I love him so much. Happy Birthday sweetheart.

Tracey

I have to take a few minutes to thank my little sister Tracey for helping out this last month. It started off a little shakey when she was staying out late with friends, staying up till 3 AM on facebook, texting all of the time, and inviting friends over to hang out the day after I got out of the hospital. I wasn't sure how things would go. Eventually we figured things out, and had a lot of fun. I can tell she has had her influence on my kids. Lizzy's song requests are "Big Girls are Beautiful", and "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie. Thanks for getting up at 7 to help me get the kids ready for school, and making lunches. Thank you for watching Bella so I could get a nap, and for asking me if I was taking a nap instead of telling me I should because I'm grumpy. Thanks for pushing Lizzy on the swing for endless hours. Thank you for burping Isabella when she kept throwing up on you, and helping me change the endless poop machine. Thank you for helping to drive the kids to endless lessons. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oh, and sorry about playing a joke on you. I still think it is funny that when I purchased your ticket I told them you were hearing impaired. I thought that was better then my usual Muslim meal that I order for you. I love you.

I love fall

My dad just got in town from Hawaii for a few short days, and since fall doesn't look like this in Hawaii, we decided to go into the canyons to enjoy the fall colors. Here are a few pictures we took while we were up there. It was so beautiful.


I love fall!

This picture cracked me up. Look at Lizzy's pose in the front. I'm not sure where she got that from.