A few of my favorite things

Yesterday I had this song stuck in my head, even though it has probably been 15 years since I have watched the Sound of Music. I think it came to mind because I was doing one of those "dog bites, bee stings" stinky things I don't like to do... cleaning the playroom while the kids are playing. And I have been a little down, so more and more things seem like "when I'm feeling sad" so to get me out of my rut I am going to take the of the song advice and "simply remember my favorite things." Lets start with the youngest and work our way up:

Conner-

1. He gives the best hugs ever!!! I love it when he gives me hugs, it just makes my heart soar!

2. The cute way he says things like please..pppp, and thank you... dank ooo, and uh oh, and off, and just so many things.

3. When he dances it is the cutest funniest thing you will ever see in your life. Now that I have said it, I will have to add a video of it later.

4. How he folds his arms before we eat to remind us to say our prayers, and then how he sneaks food while we pray, it is really funny.

5. How he imitates things, this week his favorite thing to imitate is sneezing, it is hilarious!

6. How he actually looks like me, I love his brown eyes!

Leigha-

1. How she reminds me of how good life is and can be when we are together.

2. How she loves to have dates with mommy and just be with me.

3. How she sings all the time, and how she sings I Am a Child of God in public restrooms, I think everyone needs to be reminded of who they are and she is a good reminder of Whose I am all the time.

4. How she says the cutest things! She is sometimes dyslexic and says things like scratch backer and frame picture, and how some things she just can't say at all like ambulance (amblance) and hospital (hostible).

5. Her jokes, they are so random and funny... "What did the snowman eat for breakfast?" EYEBROWS...eewww!

6. How she wants to help all the time, and be a good big sister.

Don-

1. How I have been able to trust him with my whole heart, not just for now, but for eternity!

2. How we can be best friends and silly with each other but still love each other so deeply.

3. How we can talk until all hours of the night and just enjoy each others company.

4. His eyes..they are the MOST AMAZING thing you will ever see in this life!

5. He has it hard by choosing me, but how he never seems to recognize that he did, he is just grateful we are together and so am I.

6. He is the best dad, I was looking for pictures of him the other day and the only ones I could find he is holding one of our kids, or the picture was taken by one of our kids (Conners are the most interesting).

7. How he plans and looks forward to our future together, no matter what it takes.

8. How he drives so carefully with us in the car, and never seems to get road rage even when other drivers are dumb.

9. How he has such a deep desire to be the best husband and dad he can be.

10. How he tries to keep all the promises he has made to me, even the silly ones. i.e. Sarah: "Please promise me you will never get LOST on an island with polar bears" Don: "I promise I will not get LOST on an island with polar bears." So far so good!

He deserved just a bit more... Oh I love that man!

Me-

1. My family, I truly truly love them all with all my heart, and not just my immediate family but my whole large family! I have the best parents, sisters, brothers, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins and especially grandparents you could ever have!

2. My mom, she is my very best friend and deserves a half dozen of her own "favorite things" I love about her.

3. Being a mom, and being able to look to moms around me. It is amazing that we all go through these down times, but seeing the strength of women around me really helps.

4. My friends, I have been blessed to find such wonderful friends whom I love so much..

5. How I can dream about things, and try my hardest to make them come true for as little money as possible.. I love finding a great deal, and making a cute thing.

6. I really want to do what is right, and be good.

In General-

1. The Gospel...I am so grateful for my testimony and for the Gospel in my life. I am grateful to know who I am, and that when I lose sight of Whose I am, my Savior does not. He knows me, and He loves me, and I love Him and my loving Father more than I love they air They give me!

2. Being pregnant, I know this one sounds weird but other than being a mom it is the time that I feel the strongest the divinity of being a woman and the blessing of working with the Lord with His precious child that He is entrusting to me, and a time that I am allowed to have faith and trust and learn and understand more the beauty and blessings of creation.

3. Beautiful things, they are everywhere and I love finding beautiful things all the time.

4. Snow sparkles, I told Leigha they are left over Pixie Dust that Tinkerbell gave just to us to make the earth beautiful, now every time I see them I smile and am grateful for Heavenly Father who gave them to me to make the earth beautiful.

5. Chocolate fudgecicles and a hot bath... I don't think there is a better combination.

6. Being able to share my life with you.

and now I don't feel so bad.

Finally

So the time has finally come for me to update the blog...let's see where to start, how's about why I have been remiss in being a constant blogger it is not that I don't want to, or that I have not kept up on my friends (because I have and you all very cute!) but it has been kinda of crazy insane year and I did not know how to share it in an open space like this, or how to show the respect and love and pain and happiness (you know opposition in all things) that some of this year has brought. So sufficeth to say I think I have waited long enough, that I don't need to go into any of that and we will just work on the here and now.

As for the here, we have moved! We moved back to Nauvoo in October, and yes we miss Logan like MAD but this is a very special place with some really cool people that we are excited to get to know. I am excited for the spring to come so I can get out and really experience Nauvoo again, but with my kids. Since we have moved out here we have been working a lot on the new house, and I will have some fun before and after pictures on here soon hopefully (that means that hopefully soon I will have projects done enough to think of them as done!!!) I will also add photos later of the family and kids and such.

Leigha is making friends here, and has a lot of kids in her primary class which is great. We are still adjusting and hopefully soon we will be back on a regular schedule (I think that will help the both of us a lot). She has gotten so big and beautiful, and she is so stinkin smart too. She is excited about having a schedule so we can get back to doing hooked on phonics, she started at the first grade level and seems to do pretty well with it, we will add in math too which is exciting because it is about money and it has play money that we can learn with.

Conner has changed so much too, he now walks and runs and spins and dances and plays and does everything he should, and only a few things he should not (like throwing food and pulling hair). He is starting to say a few words like momma, dadda, thank you, please, sippy, night night, blankie, puppy, off, and cow. He also makes animal noises for elephant, puppy, fish, and cow. But the best thing is that he is still my cuddly little guy and he loves to give hugs, and I love them! I am the luckiest woman in the world to have my crazy wonderful kids!

Don is starting school tomorrow which is happy, and he is taking a pretty heavy class load this semester that will keep him very busy. He has set some pretty good goals for himself and his education and I am excited to help.

As for me, I am learning a lot of new things like punching tin, laying floors, stenciling, we have done several light fixtures and I have them down to an art now. I am now serving in the Primary as the 2nd Counselor which is a completely new experience for me, but it is a lot of fun, and the women I get to serve with are amazing and a huge help to me. I miss my Young Women, but I am starting to feel and understand more the love the Savior has for His little children as well, and that is neat to see it reflected in my own life, and in my home and family. I love knowing what Leigha is learning, and I have seen the lessons reflected in her life as she learns, more now than ever mainly because I know what she is talking about and I can help her remember the lesson as well. It is also good to see the things we need to work on through out the week do hopefully my child will learn to be more reverent. We are making some good friends here and getting to spend a lot of fun time with Don's family. It is nice having them close when I am missing my own family so much, and we are forming wonderful relationships and eternal friendships which is awesome. One really nice thing about living here is that hopefully some of you will come see me knowing you have a free place to stay in Nauvoo. I miss you all so much and would love to see or hear from you. Well that is an update in a nutshell, more to come I promise!