Thanksgiving Letters

I started this post a while ago and just got back to add the pictures. For some reason it is not letting me move them around, so you'll have to guess which one goes to which letter. I didn't even come close to finishing the alphabet during November but decided that I would keep going until I got to the end even if it takes me a few months, after all I should be thankful all year and not just during November right??? Anyway here it is -




J
Justin and Jeans
With the letter J comes our son Justin. Justin recently turned 13 and it seems he is rather pleased with being a teenager. He is obviously a good-looking kid and a darn fine wrestler too. He has curls that most girls would pay top dollar for, a sweet smile, and a good personality to boot. Justin is fun to be around and can always make me laugh, he reminds me of his father! I am truly grateful that he has become my son. I am also glad to live in a day when it is acceptable for a woman to where something besides a dress. Now don't get me wrong I enjoy wearing a dress from time to time and it is mighty nice to get all dolled up now and again and feel like a lady, but by far and wide I love wearing a good old pair of jeans. Of course I am quite content to let Barry wear the pants in the family!

Our weekend in Utah

Cassidy and I had a great time this weekend. It started out on Friday with us traveling to Idaho Falls and picking up my very good friend April and then we continued on to Utah. April and I have been friends for a long time and my children all love her dearly. She is getting married in Atlanta, Georgia over thanksgiving weekend but received her endowments this Saturday. I was privileged to be her escort and totally enjoyed the experience. It was my first time at the SLC temple and experiencing a live session and I found it awesome. I am not sure I have ever met anybody as excited to go to the temple and partake of the blessings there as much as April. She has waited a long time for this day, I think she has longed for it ever since her

baptism. I am not sure if Cory knows how blessed he is to be getting April for a wife. She truly is a wonderful person. Along with the photos from this I am going to post a few from April's bridal shower just because the are funny.

Some of you may be wondering why I dragged Cassidy along for this trip but it was twofold in purpose. Cassidy also had an appointment with Dr. Rebekah Meyers at Primary Children's Hospital on Monday. Cassidy was born with a fairly common birth defect. It is called Pectus Excavatum (not sure on the spelling) this simply means that she has a sunken chest or that her sternum sinks instead of being straight. Along with this she as a more rare from of the same defect called Pectus Karunatum (really not sure on the spelling). When children to get this defect it usually affects boys and it is rare for a girl to have it, even more rare for a girl to the combination of the problem that she has. The good news is that for the most part it is simply cosmetic and can be covered if you are careful about the collars on the shirts you buy. This was our third visit with Dr. Meyers and this time she confirmed that Cass will indeed require surgery to repair the defect. Remember how I said usually it is simply cosmetic? Well the combination that Cassidy has can cause pressure on the heart and also extreme pain with exertion and exercise. Dr. Meyers said that the best time to do this surgery is about the time a child hits the growth spurt at the beginning of puberty. She wants to see Cassidy again when she is 13 and will then set the surgery date. This is a fairly large surgery, basically open heart surgery without touching the heart. It involves separating the cartilage from the sternum, clipping a small piece off along each rib, pushing the sternum either up or down as needed, and then reconnecting each rib (or at least the cartilage) with wire. Yeah, it is a big deal! They said she would spend at least a week in at Primary's in recovery. We took a few pics of Cass in the doctors office it was a really cute room but does little to show what a great hospital primary's really is. If she has to have this surgery I am glad that it will be a such a wonderful place. I am so glad we have two years before we have to worry about it too much. All in all it was a great weekend. We had a great time at Brian and Romina's as usual. They are always so kind to let us stay with them. What a great little family they are.

Thankful...

G -

Granparents and Gifts - First of all I am very thankful for Grandparents, my children are so very blessed to have amazing grandparents. Each and everyone is a great example of how to live not only the gospel but good lives in general. Our children always have someone to turn to. Each of them is still married to the person they married in the Temple years ago, in this world that is quite and accomplishment. Our family is shown love and support by each set of grandparents in their own way. At this time in my own life I am a grandparent orphan and I am glad that my children still have 3 sets of grandparents plus some great-grandparents as well. This picture from Ammon's baptism is the only one I could find with all three sets of grandparents in it. The next thing I am grateful for is gifts and I am not putting a plug in for Christmas. I am thinking more on the spiritual side. My spouse, children, and family of course are incredible gifts that my Father in Heaven has given to me, but I am also blessed in so many other ways. The gift of knowledge in school, the gift of friends, the gift of the gospel, I could go on and on but you see where I am going. Sometimes in my life I forget to look at all the gifts I have been given and focus instead on what I don't have, I am glad for this reminder because I am truly, truly blessed.

H -

Hayden and Husbands

Ok so my son Hayden is a great kid. He just turned 10 years old so he gets to celebrate in double digits from now on. I have enjoyed getting to know Hayden over the past few years and have fallen in love with him. He has a sweet personality and always has a hug if you simply ask for one. If you work beside him you he will work all day long. Hayden almost always has a smile on his face and is generally happy. I am grateful for his presence in my life. I have already mentioned Barry but I can't help but pass up the letter H without thinking of my husband. This weekend for example I spent the weekend with Cassidy in SLC and Barry stayed home with 6 children under the age of 10. He had two giant homework assignments, a wrestling match, took care of the nursery, and didn't even complain about the kids. He even took them swimming at Green Canyon all by himself. How great is he?! I know it is a blessing to have him in my life. I don't pretend hes perfect but he comes fairly close in so many ways. Love you!!!

I -

In-laws and immunizations-

There are all kinds of jokes and even TV shows dedicated to making fun of in-laws. I have absouletly nothing to complain about, I am blessed with wonderful in-laws. Bryce and Sherry haved showed so much love and support for Barry and I and or decision to marry and join our families right from the beginning. They have accepted my children as their grandchildren and treat me as a daughter. I can't even begin to list the many things they have done for us to help us in the last year. With my own parents gone on a mission I am not sure what I would do without the Holmans in my life. Thanks for everything you guys. I am also grateful for the blessing of immunizations. I never had to live my life without this great blessing so I am sure I don't truly appreciate it. It is one of those things like running water, electricity, cars, the phone, things that I don't usually think about but that I am glad to have in my life.

More to be thankful for....

My thankful list continues.....

D -

Dads and Dates - I have personally been blessed with one of hte most wonderful Dads in the world. He has always been a great example to each of us kids and continues to be that way for his grandkids. I have always been able to count on him when I needed a priesthood blessing and could always trust his opinion. I am also grateful to Barry's Dad and the love and support that is constantly shown to us. Our house looks beautiful thanks to Bryce we are truly blessed. Another Dad that I am thankful for is Barry, he is a wonderful father to each of our 9 children. When we were dating this was something I noticed away, the first time we went out in fact and it is just one of the many things I love about him. The next D thing I am thankful for is dates. I loved dating Barry before we were married and I still love going out with him. We don't get out on our own too often due to our crazy life with our 9 crazy children but when we do it always helps us renew our love for each other. I love all these great men in my life.

E -

The Ensign and Events - When I was a little girl I could never understand why my parents wanted to read the Ensign. It just seemed like a bunch of boring church stuff. Now that I to am a grown-up I have discovered my own love for this wonderful magazine. The articles are truly inspiring and I especially love the conference issues. I also love and am thankful for Events both big and small. This weekend we got to attend the blessing of Brooke and Dan's sweet baby Addy and it was fun to get together with family members. We have also had the blessing of having my parents home from their mission for a few days and have enjoyed having them around. I enjoy going to school events for the kids and the primary program at church. Graduation a few weeks ago was of course a big event in my life. All of these events remind me how blessed I am to be wife, mother, sister, daughter, Aunt, cousin, neice...

F -

Family, Friends, and Faith - I had a hard time narrowing this one down so I just went with three! I have a wonderful family. This includes the one I was born into, the one I am raising, my married into family, and even the family I am no longer a part of. I have always been taught that family is the fundamental unit of society and I hold this as a precious truth. Without my family I would not be the person I am today, who knows what kind of person I would be without them. I have also been blessed with wonderful friends. A few of which came into my life at very pivotal moments in my life. I have a the priviledge of attending the temple with one of those friends this weekend and consider that a great honor. I am truly thankful for friends who push me in the right direction and encourage me to reach for things I don't feel capable of. Last but not least is faith, the hope for things not seen. I have a great faith in my Father in Heaven, I know that with His help, I can accomplish anything. This has been proven to me time and again in the last few years especially. Even when things don't seem to be going the way we want them to, we can have faith that the Lord is watching over us and has a plan, we just have to wait sometimes to see what it is.

Lots to be Thankful for...

So sometimes when I am checking out a fellow bloggers blog I am somewhat nosy and I check out the people they have linked also, in doing that this week I have noticed several people blogging about being thankful. Since this is the month in which we celebrate our thanks I thought I would copy those other bloggers and do this myself. The pattern has been to mention something for each letter of the alphabet so I will do the same. I will do this in a series of blogs throughout the month. Here goes -

A - I am thankful for Ammon (my son) and Angels - First Ammon, he is nine years old and I can hardly believe how grown up he is getting. It seems like just yesterday he was a tiny little bundle of sweetness and now he is almost too big for me to lift. I love him very much and am quite honored to be his mother. He was named after one of my favorite Book of Mormon heros and I hope he becomes as a great a man as this hero of mine. Next Angels, this has been mentioned in a couple of other posts, but I too have felt the precence of angels throughout my life and particularly in some difficult moments. I know we are watched over and cared for by those on the other side of the veil and for this I am grateful.

B - I am thankful for Barry and Books - I am thankful for my wonderful sweet husband Barry. There are so many things I could say about this amazing man. So many of the songs on our blog remind me of him. Everyday and The Broken Road both by Rascal Flatts are two of them. Listen to the words to these songs if you get a chance they are perfect for how I feel about him. He makes my life a little better each and every day, my favorite place to be is in his arms. I don't know what I would do without him, Thanks for everything my love! I also have a great love of reading. I love lots of different types of books. Of course The Book of Mormon is right up there, this year I am also trying to read the Bible for the first time by myself. I have to admit I love the sappy romance stuff and some mystery. I love Harry Potter, and more recently the Twilight series. I loved the Work and the Glory and have read all of The Great and Terrible series except the last one. I can read for hours and not get tired of it, but I must admit I am not sad to be done with textbooks!

C - I am thankful for Cassidy and Children - Cassidy of course is my first born and our oldest daughter. I have always wanted to be a mother and Cassidy was the initial fulfillment of those dreams. She is almost 11 years old and can't wait to be a teenager. I hope to be her best friend and confidant. Shis is beautiful and I am proud to be her mom. I also have a great love for all children. I love my calling in the nursery and enjoy working with the children who come into the doctors office. I have always wanted a big family with lots of children and I have been blessed to have that dream come true. I love each and every one of the children in our family and feel it a priviledge and a pleasure to be considered thier mom. I love you guys!

I've Been Tagged!

The rules of being tagged -

1. Link the Person who Tagged you.

2. Mention rules on your blog.

3. Tell about 6 quirks of yours.

4. Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same.

5. Leave a comment to let them know.

So I've been tagged by my sister-in-law Brooke to tell about 6 of my quirks. I've been thinking about this for a couple of days now and I'm having a hard time coming up with something. I suppose I'll have to enlist a little help from Barry and the kids. Here goes.

Quirk #1 I started noticing this habit during my psych nursing class When I am stressed or concentrating a lot I have a habit of rubbing my index finger in a circular motion on the pad of my thumb, the medical field calls this "pill rolling" and it can be a sign of mental illness, yeah that did make me a little nervous. The only thing that makes me feel better is I remember my Grandma Brown doing this when she was old, so maybe it is genetic, wait maybe that doesn't make me feel better!

Quirk #2 This one is Barry's idea; it is slightly embarrasing but it is also true and I suppose it could be considered a quirk. I tend to have a lot of gas! Of course I try not to do it in public but my loving husband gets to experience it more often then he thinks is appropriate for a girl.

Quirk #3 This one won't be shocking for any of you since you are all aware that I talk way too much. I have tried to work on this many times (by attempting to not talk so much) but it often seems that I have diarrhea of the mouth and seems to simply be a part of who I am. I'll probably be the little old lady who no one wants to visit because she talks too long.

Quirk # 4 Some people have the quirk of being squeamish about others feet. I am not at all which seems to be a quirk of sorts. I actually tend to enjoy rubbing feet and they don't gross me out at all. I suppose this works out well for my spouse although he doesn't get to enjoy it as often as I would like him too.

Quirk #5 This quirk I have discovered fairly recently, I really enjoy giving shots. I am always nervous that I will hurt the person and I don't want to do that. But there is some sort of weird thrill that comes with giving shots. Along the same lines I like starting IV's. I only get to do it a couple times a week in my job and I am still really nervous about it but at the same time I get this jump of excitement each time I do it successfully, that little flash of blood in the chamber is just cool!

Quirk #6 I don't know if this can truly be considered a quirk or not but my spouse sure thinks it is. I love to read. I think everyone of us has a tendency to be addicts of some kind or another and this appears to be mine. I can escape into a book for hours. The problem is I tend to finish it in those hours and then it's over and I'm sad that I didn't make it last longer. I really like series books because they last longer. Recently I read the Twilight series and finished all four of them in about 10 days. This was of course while taking care of my husband, children, and house. Truly I think I am addicted to reading, sometimes I have to impose a limit on myself.

Now I have to tag, the slight problem with that is I'm not sure I have 6 different people on my blog! Anyways I tag: Krista, Carmell, Sherri (yes you have to do it yourself), Holly, Romina (it's time to post that blog my friend!), and Chantelle! Have fun girls!