Thanksgiving 2013

I was so excited when Thanksgiving week finally arrived because it meant I would have my husband all to myself! I'm so grateful he gets 3 weeks off a year and this year one of those weeks landed during Thanksgiving week.  The kids had school Monday and Tuesday and after that we headed to Idaho.  We hadn't spent a Thanksgiving with Scott's family since before Scott started medical school.  Scott's older brother CJ and his family were also there, we hadn't spent a holiday with them in a long, long time.  Their kids are all so big and it is nice to spend time with them.  We don't see them often and our kids had a fun time playing with their cousins.  

Clay and Karen took us to lunch to a restaurant by the Greenbelt and we had to take a picture in front of the temple where Scott and I were married, almost 10 years ago!!! We will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary this coming June.  

It was nice to show our kids and walk around for a bit.

Thanksgiving day finally arrived and we ate the yummiest food.  

Karen is a superb cook and hostess.  

I know how much work it takes to put together a Thanksgiving meal and Karen makes it look like a breeze!:)  So grateful for all your hard work Karen! 

Thanks for all the delicious food and hosting all of us in your home.  

We were in a food coma after our Thanksgiving feast! 

Brooke loves playing with Lanie's phone any time we go to Idaho or they come here.  She has the best games.  Brooke was concentrating very hard when I took this picture.  

The older kids were loving grandpa's ipad.  

It was so good to see and spend time with Great-grandma Jensen.  

Thanks for letting us crash at your house grandma, it sure was nice spending time with you.  

There was a lot of love giving from Brooke to CJ and Lenell's newest baby. 

She's a cutie! It was nice to finally meet her.   

...and poor Emi had to endure all of the grandkids' persistent 'love giving'! too! :) 

Lanie let us play with her wii.  It was so fun! 

Last time we came to Idaho, we went to ijump but Scott stayed in Salt Lake.  It was such a fun place to go, I'm glad we went again while we were there.  The kids had a blast and we did too.  

We had a fun holiday. 

The time to say goodbye came all too quickly but it was nice to spend some good moments together. 

We were thankful for good food, family and fun activities.  

I'm thankful that we were able to make memories together. 

Let Him Be a Little Boy

These are the 3-month old shoes of a little boy who lives in my house. 

Yes, you read correctly, 3-month old shoes. 

How does one wear out a pair of shoes to the point where they have holes in them?

This is not the first pair of shoes with holes and worn out soles.   

I often remind Braden to take it easy on his shoes, when I see him jumping in water puddles or rubbing them against the asphalt when he rides his bike or his scooter.  As I was scolding him one time, Scott heard me and gently said, "Denisse, he's just a little boy.  Let him play however he wants."  

My budget driven mind had taken over.  I do the math in my head $20-$25 every three months, I could be spending up to $100 a year on shoes for this little boy! 

As I was cleaning the shoe organizer one night, I saw this pair of shoes.  

I started to examine them and this brought me to reflection.   

I realized that these worn pair of shoes with holes reveal that a healthy boy wears them.  

He can run.  He can ride a bike.  He can ride a scooter.  He can walk to school.  He can play.  

This little 6 year old boy is healthy, able and capable of putting holes in shoes! 

At that moment, as I looked at those shoes I felt grateful that 

they had holes in them and the soles were worn out.    

I love my Braden and I'm forever grateful that he is a healthy child.  

I think I can live with paying $100 a year for shoes...

Potty Trained.

In the midst of my lack of perspective last month, when Scott pulled a 36 hours shift and was working 15 hour days on average and we never saw him, during the 'woe is me' scenario I presented to you in my last post...Little Miss Brookie decided she was done with diapers!  I had presented the idea a few weeks prior and she said she was scared of the potty.  So, I didn't push it at all.  I honestly had no interest in going through the potty training process.  She basically did this on her own and I had very little to do with it.  

I see this, now that I have re-gained a good perspective of my life, as a tender mercy.  

The Lord is in the details of my life, even when it comes to potty training. 

No more diapers for Brooke! 

This little girl really needs to stop growing.  

Perspective.

Last week, I hit a new low since residency started.  

I had the most pathetic pity party with me, myself, and I. 

I kept thinking, "I can't do this any more!"

"This is not a life I wish upon anyone", I thought! 

It seems like an awful life, when I don't see my husband for days and days and days.  

We hardly have dinner as a family.  

Everything has to be planned without him...

Our conversations go something like this: 

Me: How was your day?

Scott: Busy. How was yours? 

Me: Busy. Raising kids. I'm exhausted. 

 Scott: Me too.  

Good night. 

I cried and cried. 

I threw myself the best pity party ever! 

Then I looked at these pictures: 

From that perspective, life is simple, good and joyful.

When it all comes down to it, I realize I live a blessed life...

When life gets dark and dreary, when residency gets on my nerves and all of the demands of adulthood slam me on the face, I'm thankful to realize that I wouldn't want my life any other way.

I am abundantly blessed.   

Elder Uchtdorf"s words give me perspective:   

"So often we get caught up in the illusion that there is something just beyond our reach that would bring us happiness: a better family situation, a better financial situation, or the end of a challenging trial.  

The older we get the more we look back and realize that external circumstances don't really matter or determine our happiness. 

We do matter.  We determine our happiness. 

You and I are ultimately in charge of our own happiness.

Sometimes in life we become so focused on the finish line that we fail to find joy in the journey...

Doesn't it seem foolish to spoil sweet and joyful experiences because we are constantly anticipating the moment they will end?

We shouldn't wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available-all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect.  "This is the day which the Lord hath made...," the Psalmist wrote.  "Rejoice and be glad in it"

...no matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials, there is something in each day to embrace and cherish.  There is something in each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and appreciate it. 

Perhaps we should be looking less with our eyes and more with our hearts.  I love the quote: "One sees the small things we can be thankful for, rather than magnifying the negative in our current condition?

...Let us resolve to be happy, regardless of our circumstances."

I think those words were spoken just for me.  

Thank you Elder Uchtdorf.

Halloween Festivities 2013

For some reason, October seems to be one of the busiest months of the year.  

Last year we didn't get around to carving pumpkins, 

so this year I made sure we made time to do this activity as a family.  

One night after dinner and taking advantage that Scott was home, we got it done! 

To our surprise Brooke was so into it! she was loving getting the pumpkin's guts out! 

Neither of the older kids enjoyed doing this when they were that age.  

Brooke was so eager to be part of it all.  

It was fun to watch her.  

She was so helpful and actually did a lot of the work! 

Then, onto carving they went.  

This year, Brielle and Braden were actually old enough do a lot of the work.  

They worked hard! 

I loved using the drill.  

We actually got two little pumpkins from our garden this year.  

We were a bit disappointed since we were hoping they were going to be bigger and we were going to get more but 2 is better than none! right? 

The kids stayed up way past their bedtimes, but our hard work paid off!

I think they turned out pretty awesome!  

This year I decided to make some costumes.  

Braden really wanted to be Mario and Brielle wanted to be Princess Peach.  

I went looking for costumes and they were so expensive and 

so poorly made I decided to make them instead.  

I wanted Brooke to be a mushroom from Super Mario, 

but couldn't figure out an easy way to make her costume. 

So I borrowed that cute chicken costume from my neighbor.  

One less costume to worry about and it was soooo cute!!! 

She was in love with it and it kept her warm.   

I enjoyed making Brielle and Braden's costumes and 

I think they turned out great and they were both happy wearing them! 

The best part is that I made both of them for about $25.  I cut my spending in half!!!

I decided to be a cat, last minute.  I made that tutu and bought the ears.  

Cheap and easy.

These cute ladies also dressed up! 

We had to get a picture together! 

Our ward Halloween party was fun and we had yummy food before heading trick or treating! 

Braden went trick or treating with his friends, and I took the girls.  

He and the other boys he went with, trick or treated for over 2 hours! 

They were very eager!

I loved watching Brooke this year.  

She was very much into and it was the cutest thing to hear her say, "trick or treat"!!! 

What a cute stage!!! 

Brielle is such a good big sister and loved going with her.  

We went out for about an hour and called it a night!  

The only somewhat disappointing part of our night was that Scott was looking forward to dressing up and taking the kids trick or treating right after the ward party, but it ended up that he had a last minute admission and couldn't leave the hospital until around 8pm!!!!!!! We were all so bummed! The kids had already taken baths and were getting ready for bed when he got home.    

But Scott announced that if they all got in their costumes again, he would take them trick or treating AGAIN! They were soooo excited and dressed up and went out for a second time! 

Scott is a good man and I love him for it.  

He was exhausted after a long day but they went out and had so much fun.  

I hope our kids remember that  night.  

Residency can be so hard on our family sometimes, 

but we try to make the best of it and give each other quality time when we can.  

I hope our kids see this and the effort their father puts into being a good father and giving them time.  

I feel grateful to have Scott.  

He definitely makes our life better when he's around.  

This Halloween turned out to be one that I hope I don't forget! 

It was a great one!