#9

Is it really November 9th already?

I'm thankful for my HEALTH.

I often take for granted my good health as I really only get sick a couple times a year. But when I do, I really go for it with passion. I thought I've just had allergies the last few days, but I don't think I've ever had scratchy swollen glands the size of golf balls in my throat from allergies. Ahh, the misery. Hopefully I'll bounce back quick--it's no fun being sick!

#8

I'm thankful for MY HARDWORKING HUSBAND!

So, no one wants to hear me get all twitter-paited about my man...(well, let's face it, I'm not the twitter-paited type)...but I do want to share how grateful I am that he found me...and never gave up.

He works hard all day at his office job and comes home and works just as hard at his new dad job, leaving me some MUCH needed relief.

Love you babe--and now everybody knows it!

#7

I'm thankful for RECIPES!

I like to think of myself as a pretty decent cook. Let me clarify. I am VERY good at following a recipe. Without such instructions, my repertoire would consist of bean & cheese burritos or grilled cheese sandwiches. I'm just now learning the art of throwing a few ingredients together and being confident it'll turn out. I've had a couple epic failures--like this morning's eggs with some leftover tri-tip. I thought, steak and eggs, why not? It was weird. Not my best idea.

Anyway, this rainy day made me so in the mood for some warm spicy Indian food...of which I have a single recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala.

Super delicious. I would never have thought to marinate chicken in yogurt, ginger and cayenne pepper to put into a tomato based sauce with serrano peppers and cilantro? So thank you recipe wizards for my wonderfully scrumptious meal.

ps...my two new favorite recipes sites:

Mel's Kitchen Cafe & Our Best Bites

#6

#6 I'm thankful for the TEMPLE.



We had a momentous occasion in our family today. Brian's Grandma received her endowments in the temple! We are all so proud that she made this decision on her own. It was extra special as Brian went through for his Great-Great Grandpa and his brother for their Great-Grandpa. Pretty neat. A little sad I haven't got Avery on a bottle yet because I wish I could have joined them. I love the temple. This past year I've gone more frequently than ever before with my Mom and Grandma and what a sweet experience to perform ordinances that bring families together forever with my own family. We even had four generations a few times with Avery in my belly. :) I could go on for hours about how it blesses my life but I'll leave it at LOVE.

LOVE LOVE.

First Five

So I checked out the leaves on my thankful tree for these first five thankful days and here's the re-cap.

#5 I'm thankful for FAMILY!

Tonight we spent time with some family on my Dad's side including an Uncle I'd never met before and some family I rarely see in the area. My Grandpa has also recently moved to the area and at 90 years old is still kickin'. I've got a friend with a lofty goal of being alive to see 100 of his posterity and I roughly counted my Grandpa's and he EASILY has that many. He started out with 11 children--most of them had a small army themselves and he's got more great-great grandchildren on the way everyday. Pretty amazing. Not only am I thankful for extended family, but for my immediate family and in-laws. We have more fun together than really should be legal. I think I chose wisely when I picked them in heaven.

#4 I'm thankful for my WASHER & DRYER

I'm in love. The sound of those high capacity steel drums turning are music to my ears. After having Avery, I went from 3 loads of laundry a week which I easily washed and folded Saturday mornings to at LEAST a load every other day...added to the 3 on Saturdays. Before they were merely part of the scenery called in for duty once a week. NOW I jam-pack those puppies nightly with clothes covered in cheese curds from both ends of the baby girl. Delicious I know. But guess what?!? In 40 minutes, with a little oxy-clean, they magically appear as good as new! I can't help but think of living two generations ago where each piece of clothing had to be washed by hand and hung to dry. I can't even keep up with the folding! It seems the laundry goes from the clean basket back into the dirty hamper before I've had a chance to put it away where it belongs. Yes those are dirty clothes on the floor in the laundry room but I won't complain. I've got it pretty good.

#3 I'm thankful for AFTERNOON NAPS

Oh precious dreamland. I know I've been away, I'd love to visit you more often. I did manage to sneak in an accidental nap after feeding Avery. It was pure bliss. I felt so fabulous afterward I could hardly sit still. One problem though. I couldn't get to sleep that night until 12:30 and every night since has been the same story.

#2 I'm thankful for the SUNSHINE

If you recall my last post, I did gush a little bit about fall weather. Well, this first week of November has been anything but! I have nothing bad to say about it. It has been GORGEOUS! 80 degrees as a high is pretty nice. So nice that I picked Brian up from work and we got some sandwiches to enjoy at a park near his office. I love the feeling of the sun's rays on the back of my neck when there's a slight breeze. It was a perfect day, complete with my new addiction: Mr. Pickles. A friend introduced me to their sandwiches a couple weeks ago and I can't get enough. And I don't even LIKE pickles. Well, I should clarify--sandwich--as I've only had the House Combo....4 times. Try it, you'll like it. I'll come!

#1 I'm thankful for a HEALTHY BABY



When I was pregnant and before I knew if I was having a boy or girl, people would ask what I wanted. I always said, a HEALTHY baby. Well, when all 10 lbs 9 oz of her popped out, (well, got sucked out) I was pleasantly surprised by how healthy she was. I was grateful for a baby without an ounce of frailty. Well, last week we thought she had an ear infection...not my favorite day. With Brian having 9 sets of tubes in his ears before turning 10 years old I thought, here we go! Turned out to be nothing and I'm sooo glad it was only a day's worth of torture. She's back to her happy and SMILING self.

I LOVE NOVEMBER!

So, November happens to not only be the month I was born, but also Thanksgiving! Sometimes the days even combine! That's always been fun. The world is then FORCED to be thankful for me. HAH! I do love the gratitude that's in the air and the beginning of the Christmas season where people begin to think of others...Not to mention comfort food and FALL WEATHER! Ahh, crisp fresh air and crunchy leaves. Not much beats it.
Well last year my mom and I took on a hefty craft project copying pottery barn's thanksgiving calendar. Each day you write something you're grateful for and put it in the pocket and on Thanksgiving you pull them out and read them all. You can try and guess who's is who's or just bask in the splendor of all the blessings we receive.

Before pulling this monster out, I had seen a great idea online for little thankful trees. I'm always thinking about good craft projects for my activity day girls and with a little help collecting sticks, we pulled it off nicely. They write on a leaf everyday what they're grateful for and then hang it on the tree. By Thanksgiving, they're trees are bursting with colored leaves!

Looks like they had a good time huh? And they turned out rather cute!

So yes, you counted correctly, I now have two items to fill with blessings. I'm sure I can come up with enough to fill both! But THEN I read my sister's blog (which by the way is fabulous if you need a good read HERE)...and she started THIS:

So I'll be sharing my blessings here as well. Really "recording" them here as I don't plan on keeping scraps of paper leaves for years to come. Grab the button and join in!


I'll be playing catch up tomorrow because honestly, when the bambino goes to bed...I do too. G'night!

Smiles & Songs

So the days keep passing by and I rarely pull out my camera. Today I was determined to catch a smile. I couldn't ever get one in a snapshot, so I decided to put it on video mode. Ignore my voice...please. Am I the only one who thinks their own voice sounds strange when it gets played back? Anyway, enjoy!



I'm totally in love with this sleeping face...



also, what am I supposed to do with all this hair??

Editing Helps

okay, on not such a humongous screen and the help of a little editing, some of Avery's pictures turned out cuter than at first glance. Here's a couple more. The first one totally makes me laugh--I think she looks like a new puppy. You know, how they scoot around and are totally clumsy. Pretty cute.

 

 

Old Hat, New Hat

So I'm feeling a bit like a Berenstain Bear.

What? You don't see the connection?

I've made it a goal to shower in the morning. I know, I shoot for the moon here, but I feel so much better when I do and Avery has started to entertain herself looking around long enough for me to get a quick shower or make some breakfast. That's the good part.

The problem comes when I get dressed after I've reached my lofty goal of showering each day. I look in my closet, see the maternity clothes and say, "too big" but my pre-baby clothes are still "too small." I try them on weekly just to see how I'm doing and my pants button, but not without some SERIOUS muffin top. We're talkin' poured way too much batter into the tin that it's joined all the adjacent muffin tops like Pangaea. Not pretty. So, the maternity clothes get put on and they are "too baggy," "too saggy."

Then I try on all the clothes I threw on the floor yesterday to see if a miracle has occurred overnight and suddenly they fit. They end up on the floor again in case you're wondering. Too fancy, too frilly, too shiny, too silly...you get the idea. I get so frustrated after a few minutes that I sigh, (it's more of an angry huff actually) pull out some pajamas and think, "just right."


p.s. I tell you this so if you stop by to see Avery, which you're welcome to do, you won't be offended when it's 2:30 and I haven't changed out of pj's for your visit. But hey, I SHOWERED!

One Month

 

So I don't have much to say except that we've survived a month! I'll give you more details when I get some time, but I just wanted to get a new picture of her up, and one with her eyes opened. I took her to a picture place to see what they'd do with her and I wasn't impressed. This is the cutest of the bunch. Poor quality because I copied it from their website and messed with it a bit, but you get the idea. Enjoy!