29 Years!!

Yesterday was my 29th birthday, and it really was a great one!  Emry didn't have school so it was nice to be able to spend the morning with my three favourite little people!  After lunch the kids and I headed over to my mom's!  It was nice to just relax without having to feel guilty about what needed to be done at home!  Mom had invited Arren and her family over to have supper with us.  Mom made a yummy Sicilian Meat roll, my favourite meat loaf recipe!  And when Jared got there we had a wonderful supper talking and laughing!  Arren had made a cake, it was the perfect first day of spring birthday cake, even if the weather outside said otherwise!

On friday Emry asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her that she could tell daddy that I love Dairy Queen ice cream cakes!  I wasn't sure what she thought of that as a present idea so I hadn't expected her to say anything to him, but I was wrong!  When Jared got to my mom's house he presented me with a cute ice cream cake!  We had Arren's cake and "ice cream" too!  I think Gilbert was happy I had a "party", when it was his dad's birthday earlier this month he told his dad to promise not to start his party without him (Gilbert said this as he was headed out to the bus for school!!).  Gil also wanted to know who Buck was inviting to his party!  Buck had to burst his innocent little bubble and told him he wasn't inviting anyone over because he wasn't having a party!  Last night I thanked Gilbert for coming to my party, and that it was the best one I have ever had!!  I think he was pleased!

My party guests!!

It was a really nice and laid back day!  When we came home the kids went to bed exceptionally well so Jared and I stayed up a little later and watched a movie together!  With Armin propped up between us!


With each birthday I find I reflect on what the past year brought and look forward with excitement to what the future will bring!  There are many things I am thankful for...

1. Jared, my very best friend, I am so thankful for him!  He is so patient with me and such a wonderful father to our three beautiful children.  Whenever the front door opens, they always light up in hopes that it is daddy!
2. Emry, Calum and Armin...even if at times they exasperate me I truly love each of their very unique personalities.  They all have such beautiful spirits...Emry is so helpful and always concerned about our feelings, Calum is so polite and always says, "Tank you Mama" without being prompted!  And Armin is so pleasant, as soon as I look at him his face lights up with the most adorable toothless smile!

3. Family!  All my family!  I am so thankful I live so close to both my mom's, and my sister!  I have had to call on each one of them to help me out with the kids while I went to appointments and for that I am forever indebted to them!

4. The Gospel!  I am so thankful I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!  It has been such a wonderful blessing in my life.  And even though there have been ups and downs over the years, the gospel has always remained constant in my life!  There are many areas I need to improve on but without this wonderful gospel in my life change would be a lot harder!
5. Friends who have done so much for me, and who have offered help in many ways.  Friends who I know I can call on if ever I am in need!
6. Jared's brother and sisters!  I feel like each one is my own.  It has been so neat to see Dave and Jared work together on the farm, getting things ready with the cows and talking about different strategies!

7. My health!  Yes I had a scare earlier this year with a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in my lung!), but I am thankful for the care I received while I was in the Vulcan hospital, and for the care my kids received from their grandma's!
8. I am thankful Armin is completely okay after falling.  Even though he does have a fracture on the right side of his skull, his brain was not damaged!
9. Emry has the opportunity to go to school and learn things that I would not be able to teach her without a lot of tears due to my lack of patience!

10. Living on the farm!  These past three years of living with David and Myrna have been truly wonderful.  I couldn't ask for better in-laws, never have I felt like this wasn't home!

11. Our new house!  Soon our house will be finished and I am so excited!  Jared has done such a magnificent job!  I am so proud of him, he has built with his own hands, from scratch, the place we will forever call home.  It will be the home our children will grow up in, the home they will bring their children to and the home Jared and I will grow old together in!  It hasn't been easy or cheap, but it has been worth it on so many levels!

Our beautiful kitchen cabinets!

The amazing paint job Jared and Myrna have done!

Jared in the early stages of building!

12. For all the help Jared has gotten on building the house!  Dave has always been willing to help Jared when he needed it...standing walls in place, putting in the windows and doors, and putting up drywall!  Myrna has helped with watching the kids if Jared needed my help, and she has helped Jared with all the painting!  I am also thankful for the Young Men, they have helped Jared with lots of nit picky projects related to the house!

13. I am thankful for my calling at church!  I am the Second Councillor in the Relief Society Presidency!  I am able to plan and organize any monthly activities we have in our ward.  It has been a lot of fun, and I am learning so much!  I am also thankful I get to teach once every three months!  I learn so much when I get to prepare these lessons!
14. I couldn't ask for a better country to live in.  I often wonder how Heavenly Father determines where each of us will be born and into what kind of circumstances.  The freedom, the equality and the opportunity I have been blessed with is truly remarkable.
15. I am thankful for my dad and for his phone calls throughout the week.  They always seem to come at the right time, usually when I am in desperate need to hear a complete sentence that I don't have to pretend I understood!

16. I am thankful I get to be at home with my kids!  Even if at times I feel completely useless, and even lazy when it appears that not a lot has gotten done in a day!
17. Music!  Jared has always been a lover of music, all types!  And I am thankful he has influenced me to be the same!  This past summer we were able to see one of our favourite musicians, Jack White, with his most recent band, The Dead Weather!  We went all the way to Billings Montana to see them.  The concert was at a very old theatre, a very small venue, but it was spectacular!  The best concert I have been to!

The Dead Weather

18. Technology!  I never caught on to texting until recently and Jared and I will text each other throughout the day, and just those little messages can bring a smile to my face!
19. Snow!  Even though this has been a very long winter with a lot more than usual amounts of snow, it has been beautiful!  I find that the snow gives the earth a very clean and pure look!  I always feel so much more at peace in the winter, life seems slower and a lot quieter!  I love it when I am outside and I can hear the train whistle 5 miles away, though it sounds much closer!
20. The stars!  I love looking up on a clear night and seeing millions and millions of little sparkling lights!  When each one twinkles it makes me feel like we are each like a star, special and unique, and sparkling in our own way!
21. I am thankful for Emry's imagination!  I love being in the car with her and when she looks out the window and can spot different shapes in the clouds.  I love it when she asks me what I see, and together we look harder for more!
22. My new mini van!  Jared and I had talked about getting a mini van before Armin was born but we quickly realized it was not in the financial plan!  When Jared surprised me with one on Christmas Day I was totally blown away!  Yes we could have made do with our little Jetta, but a van would be so much more convenient, and safer for Armin, since we could put Calum in a totally different row than his little brother!  And so far Armin has been able to keep all his fingers in tact!  Little did I know that Jared was able to find a steal of a deal on a used van if he fixed it first!

23. A two year old's level of comprehension!  I love it when I ask Calum to do something with multiple instructions and he fully understands!  The other day he was carrying a bucket of lego out of his room and really struggling!  I was nursing Armin so I told him to put the bucket down and push it down the hall!  I was sure he wouldn't be able to grasp what I was telling him, because he kept saying "push it" as though it were a question!  Sure enough though he figured out what I had said and he pushed the bucket.  He was so proud of himself when he got to his final destination!
24. The opportunity I have to be the Time for Rhymes facilitator in Champion!  Even though there are very few kids who come anymore it really is a great time to bond with my own kids and teach them little songs and rhymes!  I especially love it when we do a favourite one and "again, again" is constantly repeated!  It usually ends up being the car ride one, and by the time we do it three times my legs are killing me from bouncing a 35 pounder up and down!  But the look of pure glee on their little faces is so worth it!
25. Blogging!  I have always liked keeping a journal but I have found that I don't always make time to write in it like I used to!  I am thankful for my blog because in a way it is my journal!  I love being able to add pictures when I want to, and I love being able to write about many things including all the trivial things of life!  I still love my journal because in it I can include the more personal parts of my life!
26. The last nine years I have been married to Jared!  It has been a journey, with lots and lots of character building experiences!  I have enjoyed the journey so far and I so look forward to what the future will bring.
27. Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear!!  Without these magnificent movies and toys, I think Calum would have been the death of me!  But at least I can accomplish a few tasks throughout the day when he decides he wants to watch one of them!  I love how he constantly gives me the play by play, by the tone of his voice I usually know what part of the movie he is at!

28. I am thankful for the little girl I have!  I love that she loves to wear dresses and "high heels", but that she still loves going out to help her daddy feed cows and work on the house in her little over-alls!  The best of both world's!  I am also thankful for two little boys who will be best of friends, and will probably get into a ton of trouble together!  But I am thankful they are so close in age that they will have lots in common!

29. Finally, I am thankful to be me!  I am thankful I have a family who loves and supports me in all I do, and I am thankful I have the opportunity to grow and better myself each and everyday!

Well, that was a lot harder than I expected it to be!  But I am thankful I did it!  The last 29 years have been exceptional, I look forward to what the next year will bring!