Giving Thanks

President Monson - Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude

“Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love."

“Do we remember to give thanks for the blessings we receive?"

“Regardless of our circumstances, each of us has much for which to be grateful, if we but pause and contemplate our blessings.”

“May we ever reflect our gratitude for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He taught us how to pray. He taught us how to live. He taught us how to die. His life is a legacy of love. Let us follow Him. Let us emulate His example. Let us obey His words. By so doing, we give to Him the divine gift of gratitude.”

Happy Halloween

We have already completed our Halloween festivities. I like Halloween but am glad to move on to the rest of the holiday season. I know that it will go by fast but I love it! Mom, what do you say to a sychronized White Christmas viewing tomorrow?? :)

long time gone

Typing out a whole bloggy message thingy and then having it dissappear before my eyes is not a very nice welcome back after being away for so long! Annoying.... But anyway! I've been completely absent from my online world for quite a while now - Missing out on what's going on with many of my friends/family out there in the world with growing families and ever changing lives. It's great, but sad that there are so many things that I want to do and only so much that I can or actually go the extra mile to accomplish. For a while I was not blogging because I was writing in my journal fairly regularly, but eventually I got totally off track. So what I have been doing in my absence is trying to figure out how to be a cub scout leader, cutting open my foot and getting stitches, sewing and hot gluing to get ready for a craft show, trying to save money w/coupons, playing with the cutest little boys in the world, coddling poor David through a rough start to the BYU football season, NOT cleaning my house, watching too much TV and loving most of it, having a fabulous Monday each week with my Houston sisters, and finally enjoying some nice weather after a Houston summer.

So what now? Probably do another craft show... I still have things to sell and I better at least break even! I've signed up for another 1/2 on Nov 20th, so lots of running. Keep trying to figure out this Scouting stuff! Clean my house (it has to happen eventually!). Hopefully stay better connected. And get ready for the HOLIDAYS. Yes! So excited. My first step was putting up these awesome letters I made with Carin and Danelle. I love them. It says give thanks in case you can't tell. I have plenty to be thankful for!



My blankie boys.

Spencer Monkey

Trevor Bear

goodbye to may

Blogging has become less about keeping a record of activities for me and more about just dumping pictures for whoever might want to see. I've been trying to be more diligent about writing in my journal, which leaves me feeling less motivated to blog.


These pictures are mostly just of the boys at various points in the month where not much was happening, but the camera came out. The beach was so much fun! I glanced back at the past few weeks in my journal and realized that almost every weekend we get to hang out with the Straws or the HaeHaes and we have so much fun! Plus, each week the boys and I get together with Carin and Danelle and the kids. I'm glad Trevor gets to know his cousins and loves them so much.

I had to write about a few of the pictures... Lately Trevor has been exercising his ever-developing sense independence, attitude, self-expression or whatever you might want to call it. I just think it's naughtiness. And one of the hardest parts, is he is so silly that he's laughing through most of the drama that, to me, is SO frustrating and maddening and his laughter just gets me more worked up. But, in a culmination of a week or so of timeouts and frustration and eventual yelling (I wish I could say that the yelling was only from him...), we had a battle one night over bedtime. So after a long night of trying to get him to sleep I went in to check on him and finally found this...


Thank goodness for a good night's sleep and a new day, every day, to develop that ever-elusive virtue I wish I could hurry up and perfect already - PATIENCE. Luckily for Trevor, and me, he seems to have declared a truce lately and seems back to his happy self. He looks so sweet in this picture and I love kissing his forehead at night and then waking up to a contagiously happy little guy every morning.

Here are the boys in the toys. They're usually good at playing next to each other. As Spencer gets more active and opinionated I'm sure it will not be as peaceful, but it was a good mom moment to come in and see them playing like this.
I don't really like this picture, but it demonstrates a phenomenon that occurs quite frequently throughout the day.... I have two little bodies sitting and climbing all over me! We don't have a large house by any means, but surely we don't have to all be on the same couch cushion to be happy? The death grip on my arm says it all.... We have some serious mama's boys in this house! And I'd be lying if I said I wanted it any other way.

i heart travelocity

And my husband who loves me enough to let me take our boys to visit family for almost a month! We're headed to Grand Junction, then Utah, then Boise.

brothers

This is what Trevor does after dinner each night when he's finished and Spencer is still in his chair. He gets Spencer laughing pretty hard every time.

These pictures are just a few things we've been up to lately...

Just Beachy

The beginning of April we took a drive out to Galveston Island. We were not sure what to expect as far as the sand and beach goes... The water is brownish, not as beautiful as the beaches of the Pacific that we've been to but the water was so warm in comparison! We could not believe that we waited this long to have a day at the beach and hopefully will make another trip soon. There's just something about sand, surf, and sun. Trevor found the waves a little intimidating at first, but we got his little feet in a few times and he loved chasing the waves and throwing the ball out and watching it surf back in. He loved being buried in the sand - I was so surprised! Spencer was just happy to be along for the ride and to play with the ball. He also had a little snooze, of course.

The wind drowned out the sound on the video but just insert lots of laughing from Trevor and that will cover it.

March Madness

I love it! Until my bracket bombs, then not so much.

But I'm losing track of time - things just happen so fast. For the new year, I made a resolution to plan something fun for our family to do each month. Well, we were in AZ for Christmas and so we counted that. I know, a cop out on the first month! Then, February I failed! But... I'm not giving up. I'm all about moving in the right direction. So this month, I think we've made up for my rough start in leaps and bounds.

We went to the San Jacinto monument and Battleship Texas, I did the Seabrook 1/2 Marathon and Julie came for a visit! OK well, I can't really take any credit for that. But it is not to be forgotten as part of our marvelous month of March. We've also been taking advantage of our spring weather and picnicing in the yard for lunch, going to playgroup, and going outside to the park.


We also had a visit from Flat Madilyn! Maddie, if you're reading this.... We'll send your friend Flat Madilyn back in a day or two. We took her out for a fun day. She was very well behaved during her visit, and she liked Texas a lot! :)
Playing on the computer during our lunch picnic. It's a popular item. Can I blame Trevor for being a little annoyed? He does this to me all the time. Plus, it's hard to explain to him that all these toys that were once HIS are now Spencer's too mostly.
Yes, I saw this coming as soon as he reached for the computer....
Lauren buried Trevor in stuffed animals!
Playing catch.
Before the computer scuffle...
Trevor likes to get in the pack - play in the morning whenever Spencer sleeps there. They do love each other!
Yes they do!
I can't keep a straight face when he does this. It only makes things worse!
Brandon's birthday - with auntie Julie!!

Seabrook Lucky Trail 1/2 Marathon

Another one of my resolutions this year was to run a 1/2 marathon. After watching Carin run the half last year and Danelle and David do the relay I really wanted to do it this year. I'm so glad I did it. Exercising makes me (at least in my opinion) a happier mom and wife, so the training was great. (I guess if you want the real-life truth about that you can ask David!) Plus, I got to know a few girls in my ward better because they were running, too, and we got together in the evenings to run. Plus a couple of them ended up doing the relay. It was so motivating to see them out on the trail running and doing an awesome job. So, my last 1/2 was before Trevor was born and my time was near 2:50. This time I got 2:23. I really enjoyed the whole race - I was tired and sore during/afterwards, but I had a great time. David and the boys were there waiting for me at the finish line and Trevor helped me finish the last 10 feet or so. He was awesome! :) He mostly just wanted to get some water from the water table just beyond the finish line. As soon as we crossed the line - Mo-o-om (has to be 3 syllables) we need some water!

My next challenge? I'm not sure. Probably not a marathon - I'm not crazy! Maybe try to improve my time in the 1/2. I do want to try a TRI sometime, I just don't have a bike. But maybe I'll have to work on that....

San Jacinto

Carin invited us out to the San Jacinto museum/monument for a dose of some Texas history y'all! There was a bumper sticker in the gift shop that said, "I wasn't born in Texas, but I got here as fast as I could." Was it written by a native Texan, I think so!? It was a really impressive monument and listening to the story of the battle, I couldn't help think that the timing was truly inspired. Casualties in the battle were 700 Mexicans to only 9 Texans. Trevor's favorite part of the monument was an elevator to ride up to the top of the monument and view the surrounding landscape. Spencer just chilled in the carrier with his mama. He mostly just gets dragged around at this stage in his life. But I'm not complaining about that! I'm treasuring these last few months of his sweet, uncomplicated life. I'm sure it will get crazy now that he's moving around more.

We also went over to check out the Battleship Texas, which was used in WWI and II. It's amazing how every nook and cranny of that ship was designed and used for something. I can't imagine what life would be like living on there! Trevor, much like every boy his age, can't resist the urge to run wherever he goes. It was a rainy day... which actually made the whole atmosphere a little more authentic in my mind. On a battleship, a dreary day .... I don't know why. But anyway, the deck was pretty slippery and I was yelling at him to walk pretty much every time he moved. You can't blame him - it's just his boyness!

It was a lot of fun!

ABC Train

March is bringing some beautiful weather and I'm loving that. Although, deep down I'm a little scared for what's to come! But I'll just enjoy it and treasure it!!

Spencer is an army crawler - let the battles begin! Spencer loves Trev's stuff almost as much as he loves him, so wherever Trevor goes, Spence will follow. So far, Trev's not a fan, but is rolling with it. They like to wrestle with each other, Trevor just rolls around and takes Spencer with him.

They have found a common ground - they love the ABC Train. Spencer squeals every time it loops around. He is babbling and talking a lot more these days. Pretty much every other word I say to David is - "Isn't he so cute? Look how cute he is! Spencer is so cute." He just is so cute all day that I bottle up my cuteness observations and I have to spill it all out when he gets home. I know I'm silly.



Trevor LOVES a little Snack Pack!

Track Meet
Carin and KK
Spence and David and Kevin


Ev and Trev

Spencer's hair is getting so long! He's so cute! (See, I told you... I can't stop saying it.)

hello again

It's been a long time... But here are a few pictures. The one of the boys together is the most recent. It was on the day of Trev's 3 yr check up and Spence's 6 mo. Both are big, healthy, and handsome boys!

Spencer is eating his cereal and veggies now and loves it. I think he's having a growth spurt, as he's eating more, more often. He's a happy guy who loves his big brother.

Trevor turned 3 and this birthday will be known as the year of the Skittles, as that is all that Trevor wanted. That picture with the nasty teeth was him enjoying them, thoroughly. He also enjoyed the birthday phone calls from all his family.