I'm grateful for mud.

I know that I'm playing catch-up with my posts so you'll just have to bare with me until I get everything updated. But I wanted to write about an epiphany that I had last week. To set the stage I'll have to say that my house was super clean, not spotless my house will never be spotless but it was really really clean. I had done some deep cleaning and was just trying to stay on top of everything so I sent Myka, Adri and their cousin Andy outside to play so that I could sort laundry in peace. As I was sorting I kept hearing the door open and close. Each time I would holler up to the kids and they said that they were just going to the bathroom. When I got done sorting and went upstairs I froze in my tracks. There were 3 different sets of muddy tracks going from the back door, through the kitchen, onto the carpet, down the hall to the bathroom and back. All I could do was sigh, there went my clean house but then I had my epiphany and all I could do was smile. I am so grateful that I have two beautiful, wonderful daughters and a great nephew to track mud into my house. I am also grateful that I have a house for them to track mud into. I called Lance at work to tell him how blessed we are. Then I set to work cleaning up again and when the kids came back inside I didn't even mention the mess and just hugged and loved them all. So yes, I know that it sounds funny but I am grateful for mud and the muddy footprints that reassured and reminded me that I am so blessed.

Squirting water in the house, would I do that?

About a week ago we finished watching "The Last Air Bender" animated series on Netflixs. Awesome show if you haven't watched the series yet, way better than the movie. Anyways. We have really enjoyed watching it as a family. Adri and Myka pretend to 'bend' things and not just air, water, earth, and fire. We are talking bending toys, teddy bears, each other and yes even mom and dad. Well after that final episode was over the girls were celebrating by doing the karate type moves that they use in the show. I grabbed the girls' spill-proof-big-girl-sippies, put them behind my back and told the girls and Lance that I could really bend water. They looked at me surprised and said "no you can't." Challenge accepted. I began my fancy slow karate moves then squeezed the sippies squirting them all with water! They were all soaked! We laughed so hard and I think that I shocked Lance, I impressed him with my smartness. :) When we got control of ourselves, I gave the girls their sippies and let them have a go at trying to 'water bend.' The end results were that we were all wet, the blankets, love sack and carpet were a little wet and we had a great time as a family. You have to cherish your family and let loose once in a while. Your kids are only kids for so long and we sure love ours! So a tip from me, do something fun and unexpected with your family. You'll be glad you did.

A quick recall and a special day.

The month of November was really busy but really special. We had: ward youth temple trips, Lance and I went to the temple for ourselves, a FSA (Families Supporting Adoption) pancake breakfast that we were in charge of, I had a birth-parent appreciation night to help out at, parties, lots of dentist and doctor appointments, a wonderful Thanksgiving with my (Kim's) whole family from my Grandparents on down to great grandkids, black Friday shopping with my sisters, and for the cream, my perfect little sister, Lizzy got baptised. Lizzy is my angel and I am so proud that she chose and begged and pestered everyone until she could get baptised. She has Downs so she really didn't need to get baptised but she wanted to with all of her heart. I had the opportunity to speak at her baptism and I can tell you that I have rarely felt the Spirit so strong as I did that day. I told my family that it isn't every day that you get to see an angel get baptised and it was the truth. I know that our Father in Heaven is so proud of her and that she will be blessed her whole life for the decision that she made. I am so proud of Lizzy and can only hope to be more like her in my own life. She is simply amazing. Love you Liz.

Halloween Pics.

I know, I know, Halloween was over a month ago but I just wanted to put up a few pictures of the cutest pirates I have ever seen. I took Myka, Adri, my nephew Andy and our friend Dal trick or treating this year. Getting four little ones ready was no small feat but we did it and had a blast. We even put a costume on Fritz, he was the pirate monkey from "Pirates of the Caribbean." Adri, Myka and Andy were all pirates and Dal was our Ninja Turtle. Aren't they adorable! They had so much fun going around Lance's work getting loaded up with candy and then at our trunk-or-treat. We were a hit! Kids, dog, and all. It was really fun.

These are just a few pics of our pumpkin picking and carving this year. Our girls were in style while hunting for the perfect pumpkins and definately didn't mind getting a little slimy pulling all the guts out of their pumkins.  We ended up spending all night carving four
pumpkins.Myka wanted Twilight
Sparkle (my little pony) and face. Adri wanted Pinky Pie (again my little pony) and a Frankenstein. I think Lance and I pulled it off pretty good. Don't you think? Hope you all had as much fun as we did.