Daily Thanksgiving-freedom

I am thankful for my freedom even though it is not free. I am thankful for the rights I have in my life and the abilities that I have every single day that I take for granted to often.
I do know that our freedom can be taken away from us, I don't anticipate it being taken away however, I know it can be stifled by good being seen as evil, and evil being seen as good. And recently, especially tonight, I feel as if some of our freedoms are being taken away by debt, evil, disasters, not standing up for what is right and many more things.
But for tonight I will be thankful for the majority of amazing freedoms I do have.

Daily Thanksgiving-desire

That kind of made me giggle when I typed in the heading, but it is a desire to try and do my best. I don't always do my best, but I do have a deep in desire to be a good mom, a good daughter, a good sister, a good friend, a good neighbor, a good employee and a good citizen. I also am thankful for the desire to be healthy although I still have some much needed improvement I always have the desire to learn more, improve and get stronger. 

Daily Thanksgiving -the boys

 Cooper

 Cooper

 Bauer

 Bauer

 Alivia and Kessler

 Cooper and Bauer

The boys are what makes life a little more exciting around here. For this post I wanted to ask them a few questions and see how they respond.

What is your favorite treat/snack? C-brownies B-Fruit snacks K-Graham crackers
What is your favorite video game?c-star wars B-transformers K-Lego Batman
What do you like to do for fun?C-trick or treat B-play with friends K-Play outside
Do you like sports, which ones?C-baseball B-football K-Bowling
Do you have a favorite animal?C- Lion B-Tiger K-monkey
Do you like to sing, what songs?C-don't have one B-we will rock you K-somebody call 911
Where would you go for your dream vacation? C- Hawaii B-New York K-Las Vegas
What job would you never do and why?C-Police B-? K-not doing chores
What is the bravest thing you have ever done?C-never be scared B-Jumping high on the tramp K-doing monkey bars
What is your favorite T.V. show?C-sponge bob B-Amazing spider man K-Super Why and Ninjago
Do you have a nickname? What is it?C- Coop B-bee K-Messy Kessy
What subject do you like best in school? C-Math B-Journals K-playing with toys
Who is the smartest person you know?C-Zach W. B-Gentry K-Mattew?
What food will you never eat? C-Poison B-salad K-alligators
What do you worry about?C-stuff a lot B-my dog K-i don't know
If you were in a band, what instrument would you play?C-guitar B-drums K-whistle
Are you afraid of heights? C-yes B-Yes K- yeah and sharks
Are you ticklish?C- yes laughing B-Yessss K-no
What should you never forget?C-our home B-our family K-show and tell
Are you a cat person or a dog person?C-cats B-dogs K-dogs and cats
Describe your best friend. C-Dallin B-Gentry K-Samuel
If you could turn invisible, where would you go and what would you do?C- hide from bad guys B-kill bad guys K-stay away from lights?
Have you ever pretended to speak another language?C- no B- yes Spanish K-yeah, really quiet and no one can hear me
What is the best thing about being in your grade?C- having a nice teacher B-getting new friends K-listening to my teacher
What was your favorite vacation?C-Orlando B-Las Vegas K-fishing

Daily Thanksgiving-the girl

 2004

 2005

 2006

 2007

 2008

 2009

 2010

2011

                                              2012

We are very lucky to have this not so little girl in our family. 

She loves to play with friends and tease her brothers.

She loves art class in school.

Her favorite color is light green and turquoise.

Her favorite meal is Lasagna.

She can be really grouchy if she doesn't get enough sleep.

She loves animals and instead of doing "girly" things she would be out there with her brothers trying to catch lizards and toads.
LOVE HER!!

Daily Thanksgiving-Ben

Ben is a mysterious guy to those who don't know him and I think he might like it that way:)

I have tried to debunk the Ben-myth in previous posts over the years and sometimes I don't think words can explain what a great guy he is.

First he is a great dad, he doesn't mind if I he has to stay home and parent the kids while I am out and about, whether at work, with my friends on a walk or a girls trip to California. 

I usually come home to a clean house, and re-organized pantry, his side of the closet organized and the kids out and about playing at times of the day I don't usually let them play:)

He is a great boss, now I don't really know this other than what {most} of his employee's have said to me and how hard I see him work when I go visit (which is often).

He takes immense pride in being a great person to work for and with and I am so glad that he continues to provide so well for our family. He was in the right place at the right time and was blessed to have got his job when he did. He has continuously climbed the ladder at Target and has been happy at every stage is what I love most about him.

He is a fun guy, believe it or not. He is happy, loves to take his kids on vacation when some parents would rather go on a couples date or vacation he loves being with the kids. He dances when the music is loud, likes to watch the kids have fun and try new things.
Picture above Ben and Alivia 2004

Daily Thanksgiving-Sacrafice

I debated doing this again, I went back and read my first post from last year and was kind of surprised from my post thinking another year has gone by and still confused by enjoying the journey and the middle moments in life and that is where day number one takes me.

I went to TOFW with some of my friends and this is one of the many stories that left a mark on my heart.

A mother was telling a story about her diabetic son that would soon be leaving on a mission. The night before his mission she heard him up in the kitchen in the middle of the night. She went into the kitchen and sat with him while he was eating a snack because his sugar was low. As she sat there and enjoyed a few moments with her son, she commented on how she had an overwhelming feeling of sadness of who was going to take care of her son out there in the mission field, who would sit with him on these "kind of nights". As she went to bed she said she cried and prayed to her Father in Heaven to help her understand this huge sacrifice of separating herself from her son for a period of time and to watch over and protect him by blessing him with those who would help him.
As she drove him to the MTC the next day she dropped him off and as she drove away she said she knew what is was like to "with hold nothing from the Lord".

That really impressed me with many emotions, I am not quite to the mission stage yet and to be honest I don't know how often I with hold nothing from the Lord, but made me think I need to find those moments, time or experiences to remember the sacrifice the Lord has made for me and maybe some small way of showing my thanks in all that He has given me.

happy haunting

I L-O-V-E FALL!! 

An update on my little Cooper, he has had lots of testing done and it has come back good and "bad" if you will, he has been working with the school psychologist being observed in class and being pulled out of class, good thing is he is  very sweet, sensitive, nice and well behaved his struggles are math and  reading comprehension. He did IQ tests and a whole gambit of other tests. He has been recommended to do some resource learning for 30 minutes a day in a different class room, you might be thinking the same thing I thought will be 30 min be enough? not sure yet. I have spoke with the school psychologist intern many times on the phone and she wanted to set up a meeting to talk about his time out of the classroom. So I head to the meeting and go into a conf. room and Cooper's teacher was there the school psychologist and the school psychologist intern, and the Principal, I couldn't help feel like I was in trouble:) at times it was hard to choke back the tears looking at the scores of the tests, you only want your kids to be the best they can be and it is hard to hear when they are struggling and knowing there are going to be some hard times ahead for them in school.

Ummm, yeah I early voted, all I can say is I REALLY HOPE we can pull this off, I REALLY do believe that Mitt Romney can fix the US economy or get it going in the right direction, I will be honest I get a little scared wondering what will happen the next four years if it keeps going the way it has been......#imightbecomeadoomsdayprepper......

Jennifer moved into my mom's basement and I had the opportunity to go with her to my old elementary, would have taken WAY more photos but I felt really weird taken photos in the school, didn't want to freak anyone out. It was so fun, it smelled the same and the lunch room brought the most memories back as well as the girls restroom? (maybe the fact that I would get toilet paper wet and throw it on the ceiling with one of my besties JEN C.) ha ha seriously what a trouble maker, if my kids did that they would be DEAD!!

Kessler is doing so good, he is getting bigger, taller, funnier, and a little bit more emotional he had a MAJOR meltdown the other day when Ben didn't make his burger like he wanted and was on the floor crying. He loves his preschool and his teacher, she has helped him get better at writing with his left hand. He is one tall kid, he recently went to the doctor with his brothers and he was measured 100%+ in his percentile for height and low in weight (hmmm where does he get that from?) Cooper and Bauer were both  50 and 75% for height and the same low in weight (especially Cooper)

TIdBITS~

SUPER SATURDAY is DONE!!

TRUNK or TREAT was FUN

BEN is getting ORGANIZED at his new STORE.

SNOW today.

Made FIRST pot of  Chili...YUM

CROSSfit is KILLING my BACK and SHINS

HAD to TAKE my big WINTER coat to WORK last night.

CHANGE of THANKSGIVING plans this YEAR, turkey FREE.