Picture

Josh for Christmas set up for him and I to get a new couples picture. We went a couple Fridays ago to do it. While we were there we went ahead and got head shots done for Josh for his new business cards (he’s a Realtor now if you hadn’t heard). I tried taking a picture of Josh while the lady was taking one... it turned out mostly great... 😂

Wisdom teeth removal

Ben has his wisdom teeth removed today  it was pretty quick (on my side), and Ben was pretty funny.  I was thankful that Brooklyn came with me so she could video him while I was driving.

Hopefully the videos work. Also, one should never text when they are coming out of anesthesia.

 

 My younger kids were a little disappointed that Ben’s silliness wore off so fast. Ben went to sleep about half an hour after we got home from the surgery and woke up back to normal. They were looking forward to more crazy antics.

Sunday thought

I had the thought the other day that it might be nice if I dedicate each Sunday blog to a spiritual thought.  Tonight’s thought happened a few days ago. Earlier this week (maybe even last Monday) it was crazy windy. Nothing new for Colorado Springs, but on this day I noticed that the wind had blown down almost all of our Christmas nativity in the front yard (also nothing new). As I stood there looking at the blown over wiseman, shepherd, donkey, sheep, cow, Joseph, and Mary (Mary rarely falls over) I had a thought. Baby Jesus was the only piece of our nativity that hadn’t moved. Baby Jesus was right where Josh had placed Him weeks ago. He wasn’t turned over. He wasn’t flipped sideways. He had not moved! What a true example of our Lord and Savior this simple piece of nativity was to me. Jesus did not move! He withstood the winds that took all the other pieces of the nativity down. And if we can build our lives, our trust, our faith on our Savior, we too can withstand the winds and storms that will try to knock us down.

Helaman 5:12 

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Copper

Copper at 6 weeks

Josh and I have been married for over 21 years. In those 21 years we have had three birds and a handful of fishes. We have never had a four legged pet. We have never had a dog! This last August Brooklyn told Josh that “Mom wants a dog for her birthday”. I did NOT!  But Josh didn’t immediately say no to Brooklyn, and that opened a door. A door that all the kids continued to push on (on a daily basis). And they won!  In September Josh and I secretly put money down on a puppy. We looked and adopting a rescue dog, but with Josh being allergic to dogs, we felt getting a hypoallergenic one would help Josh breath better (and it has).  So after much research and then searching we found Copper (aka Skipper - the name his breeders gave him). Copper is a shichon (a bichon frise/ shih tzu mix, also know as a teddy bear). We welcomed him to our family on September 26th (his birthday is August 1st). And the kids LOVE him. 

Toys

We watched a movie the other night. When the movie was over and the couch put back I noticed this...

I don’t know if anyone else can see the face in the cushion, but when I saw it I immediately thought of an old toy I had growing up. It was a hard plastic baby doll that had three faces. If you rotated the top pompom the face would change. The couch cushion totally reminded me of the grumpy face on the doll. 

Sweet Friends

Matteah and Cat visiting Grandma 

 My mother-in-law has been in the hospital for a couple days now. Yesterday Josh and I (along with Cat) were able to stop by and visit with her. I loved watching Cat and her sweet cousin visit with their grandma. It was sweet to watch them talk and share things with her. And the two of them didn’t want to leave. They wanted to stay and keep their grandma company.

I didn’t have the opportunity to grow up with cousins. I had lots of them, but we didn’t live near any of them. I saw some cousins more often than others. But even more often was probably only once a year. I am so thankful that my kids have the chance to see (most of) their cousins frequently. That they are friends with them. I love watching these girls “hangout”!

Welcome to 2020

Brooklyn and me (my last picture  of me in 2019)

Welcome to 2020!
I went to dinner with my amazing sister-in- law the other night. She shared that she was going to blog every day in 2020. I had already been thinking about blogging daily this year, but it was the extra push I needed to get me to commit. I struggle with blogging every day, because I know there are going to be days that suck in this coming year. And I’m sure that I will struggle on those days to blog and be positive. But the thought keeps coming to my mind of a conversation I had with my Aunt almost 20 years ago. My aunt and I were talking family history stuff. My aunt was sharing stories of my grandparents and other relatives. I asked my aunt if my grandma (who passed away when I was almost 8) had kept a journal. My aunt said my grandma had not and then she said my grandma had said something to the effect of “why would I want to keep a journal when there’s wasn’t anything good to write about?”  I know as I’ve looked back over the years that there are good days and bad. And I know if I search out for those bad days, that I can find lots of them. But looking back at my life I can also see those days that I thought sucked, and now they don’t seem as bad as I once thought they were. We all have good days and bad days. Some of those days are really good. And some of them are really bad. But I know that we can learn and grow from those days. And maybe if I write every day I can help someone who might be having a really bad day too. And maybe as I write daily, those day this next year that feel really bad won’t end up being as bad as I think they are. Happy New Year!