Thankful

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."

We had a good Thanksgiving this year full of food, family, games, and fun. We hope you had a good one too! Here are some things I am grateful for.

1. I am thankful for family.

2. The gospel. I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have and for my eternal family.

3. The blessing of being a mom. I love my job. There are crazy, stressful days but I wouldn't trade it.

4. Trials. This is a hard one, but I am grateful for trials and the things I learn through them.

5. Laughter. What would I do without it? It really is the best medicine!

6. Life in general. We've had a bit of a rough year to say the least, but I am grateful for the good moments we have had. We really are very blessed!

7. Friends. The ones that I can laugh with, cry with, and everything in between. I have the best friends. Seriously.

There are so many more things, these are just some of the many things I am grateful for. My goal is to try to be better about seeing the positive things in life, and holding onto them rather than the negatives!

Those Moments

I love those moments that melt your heart and make all the craziness of having a toddler worth it.

Yesterday Sydney woke up from her nap and was crying and calling my name, so I went upstairs to her room and she said she wanted mommy to lay down with her, so I laid next to her and we snuggled. She feel back asleep in my arms. This is such a rare occurance in our house, in fact this is the first time anything like that has ever happened. It was so sweet, and it made the chaos and craziness all worth it.

Today I laid her down for a nap and she is currently upstairs singing "animal crackers in my soup...." over and over. I love that girl. I am so grateful to be her mom. She makes me smile!

I know how the saying goes...

"Everything happens for a reason" and "Things will happen when they are supposed to"


but is it "when it's supposed to" yet??


Because I'm really kind of getting impatient....

Rexburg Pictures

Here are some pictures from our fun trip!

Roadtrip, Babies, and Bears!

Last week Sydney and I packed our "Soupcases" (as Sydney calls them) and headed out for a roadtrip with my parents to go visit my brother, his wife, and their sweet new baby Caden!

We packed the car Thursday late afternoon, grabbed Sydney a happy meal and were on the road! We drove half way Thursday and stopped in Boise where we got to stay with my aunt and uncle and their family! It was great so nice of them to let us crash at their house, and it was great to see their family!

Friday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, and headed out again to drive the rest of the way to Rexburg. We made it about 5 minutes out of Boise before we started hearing strange noises coming from the car. We pulled over, only to discover we had one of these:

Bummer! So we (and when I say we I mean my dad =) ) unpacked the entire car, put on the spare tire, turned the car around and went back to Boise to find a tire shop. We got brand new tires and were on our way. Again. We pulled into Idaho Falls later that afternoon, where we stopped at Winger's where my brother is the manager and had some yummy food! Sydney did AWESOME on the way there. She only complained once or twice that her bum hurt and asked me to fix it for her =) other than that she did fabulous!

Once in Rexburg we spent Friday evening hanging out at my brother's house, catching up, and snuggling baby Caden! Here is his adorable little self:

He is SO stinking cute and so cuddly! He is seriously the quietest and happiest little baby! I had NO idea babies could be that quiet and calm! I hope my next one is as good as he is! I could have snuggled and held him the entire time we were there! It was so good to cuddle a new baby again! Its been way too long!

Saturday we got up and headed to Bear World! Oh Bear World! Sydney LOVED it there. She would have been happy spending all day, every day there. We first drove through the are where you drive around and look at the animals, we saw lots of deer, a moose, buffalo, elk, albino elk (I had no idea these even existed!) and lots of bears! It was so cool! After we drove through once, we went into the gift shop and it was heaven for Sydney! You walk in, and there are stuffed animals EVERYWHERE. Seriously. Her dream! We ended up walking out with only one new one, a cute white, super soft bear. It is her current favorite! (I would post a pic, but of course it is currently napping with her)

Other activities at Bear world included feeding the ducks:

Petting the animals in the petting zoo area:

Watching these super cute bear cubs wrestle and play:

And one of her favorite things, riding the rides! She would have gone on the rides over and over all day long!

Later that night we got some way yummy mexican food from the infamous Taco Bus in Rexburg. Sunday was the baby blessing and it was beautiful! After leaving church we all got to take much needed naps, and eat some seriously amazing homemade pizza. Later that night we went and saw some pretty waterfalls, but it was too dark to get a great picture. We had so much fun meeting baby Caden and hanging out with family! We stayed up late and woke up early amd didnt nap a whole lot so we were a bit worn out when we got home, but it was worth it! The drive home was uneventful and went better than I ever could have imagined, Sydney did so good! We hope to visit again sometime!

Prayers

Please keep my neice Olivia and her family in your prayers, she has been diagnosed with Stage 5 retinoblastoma, which is Stage 5 eye cancer. She has a long road ahead of her and needs all the prayers she can get. You can read more about Olivia and her condition here: http://13pavements.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to pass this blog on, it would very much be appreciated.

Two!

Our sweet little Sydney has gone from this

To this!

Sydney Jade turned 2 today! She is so full of energy and so much fun! We just love her! Here are some 2 year stats for record purposes!

• Height: Shorty (exact measurements will be taken at her 2 year checkup in a couple weeks)


• Weight: Not very much =) (again, we will have official measurements later)


• Favorite Color: Blue and pink


• LOVES stuffed animals and anything soft


• Talks, and talks, and talks. And never stops.


• Loves rap songs. No really. She does.


• Is now sleeping in a "big girl bed" and LOVES it


• Loves elmo still


• Is a mommy's girl most of the time


• Is not a fan of hugs, kisses, or any type of affection really


• Is very spunky, and very opinionated


• Amazes us with how smart she is and all the things she can remember


• Knows and sings her ABC's on a regular basis


• Makes us laugh. A lot.


• Is seriously adorable. But my opinion is slightly biased =)