thankful 29 & 30

Last night as I was lying on the hard floor I realized I had forgotten to post for the day. I didn't get up because it hurt too much! As I was hanging up a towel at Trudy's on Sunday I felt a little "twinge" in my lower back. I knew what that would develop into!! Ugh. And I wasn't smart enough to get subs for my classes yesterday so last night I was walking funny and leaning to one side. I knew the only way to get better was to sleep on the floor with my feet propped up on the couch and do some gentle stretches...not the deep stretches I was doing previously...they made me sore in another way! ha. I also got a blessing which sure helped. So this morning I am feeling better and walking straight again. I have done the laundry and put away our clothes from the weekend! The house is starting to take shape which makes me feel so much better. After I post this I am going to lay back on the floor and stretch...and read(which really means I will take a nap;)) But I wanted to write my last post for this month. I can't believe it is December. I also can't believe SOphia is 11. I don't know why this birthday is hard for me to digest. I think it is because she is really moving into a new stage in life and she really isn't my baby anymore! At least Nate is only 9....he will be my baby for a couple more years.

Ok...enough of that! Yesterday and today I am thankful for the great weekend we had at Trudy's!

There was hiking and movie watching and dancing and eating and more eating....

and camping in the garage(we had mattresses out there thankfully) and eating

and cooking and cleaning and cleaning and cooking and eating....

it was a great time. i love my family!

thankful #28

i like to add photos to my posts...and this is what came up when I searched "schedule" in google images....weird.

I am grateful I can schedule my posts! It is midnight on Tuesday the 23rd and i was able to create posts and schedule them to be posted on a certain date! So you will think I am adding something everyday....BUT....i just wrote a bunch. ha ha ha. i guess i should have kept that a secret:)

thankful #27

i am thankful we have a comfortable car to travel in and great roads to travel on!

thankful #26

i am thankful for counsins. I am thankful that Trudy and I have made an extra effort that our children know their cousins. We didn't grow up playing with ours....didn't really know them at all and we wanted more for our childern. We love getting together and watching them build those relationships!

thankful #25

today i am thankful to be with my family and eating great food!

thankful #24

I am thankful for my computer...and for computers in general!

thankful #23

I am thankful that I have kept up with my goal of posting something everyday. good night

thankful #22

today i am thankful for my sister Trudy.

On the radio this morning I heard about a study of siblings....how 2 people can share the same parents but be totally opposite. I thought about Trudy when I heard this. We look nothing alike. She is double jointed and I am not. I have bushy hair and she has straight thin hair. We have some similiar interests but are passionate about different things. She is very creative and makes beautiful cards. I am somewhat creative and love to take her beautiful cards.

The study said siblings will have different feelings about their childhood which is largely based on the time when they came into the family. This is also true for us. We have different feelings about our parents and our upbringing. We have connected over the past couple of days over some family issues and I am seeing just how differently we were treated. I just marvel at who Trudy has become and what she has overcome. She is amazingly awesome in everything.

One of the best parts of our relationship is honesty. We can tell each other our true feelings without fear of judgement. I wish I could adequately express how I feel towards her but I have never been known for my writing!! ha. I am so excited about visiting her this week for Thanksgiving and eating the turkey she bought for $5.88 last year. Hey...we hate turkey so it won't matter what it tastes like, right?

thankful #21

Today I am thankful that we had a successful birthday party for Sophia! I mentioned before that we were doing a repeat from last year so this party was a "no brainer". The girls got off the bus and did their own thing! We ate hot dogs, pizza, carrots/apples(not many of those were taken!) and they played and ran around like little girls do!

The split into groups and created a commercial around a product.....this group was promoting Febreeze.

And this group...gatorade!

The cake was a big hit....3 cake mixes and lots of fondant!! My friend Chelsey was so nice to let Sophia help with the fondant!

What did Nate do this whole time??? he didn't know there were 9 girls running around him....he was engrossed in Sophia's new DS game "Avatar: the last Airbender". I think the house could have been on fire and he wouldn't have noticed!!

thankful #20

Today I am thankful that Sophia participated in the Candlelight Run in Warm Springs last night. She registered for the 1 mile race at 9:30pm and I for the 5k at 10pm. She wanted me to run with her and I figured it would be a good warm-up for my race(sound funny to say I was in a race...i was racing only myself! ). As we lined up at the starting line they announced there would be a trophy for the top girl and boy 12 years old and under. Once the kids heard that they all were determined to be first!

So when "go" was announced they all took off running!

pre-race photos with Anna

I was hoping she wouldn't take off too fast and get winded towards the end! The course was set up as a "down and back" so when she started back i just joined in with her. Good thing because she was getting pretty tired and wanted to walk.

I had noticed that she was going to be in 2nd place but then saw the 1st place girl stopping and holding her side....I felt bad for her but was also happy that Sophia now had a shot at 1st. Felt bad about that! Numerous times Sophia wanted to stop and walk or slow down but I kept pushing her and nudging her along....

And she did it! 8:53 was her time! Her last mile race time was over 10 minutes!!! Way to go Sophia!

And she got the biggest trophy! She was so proud...and I was too! Next year Nate and Dad said they would participate with us as well!

thankful #19

Fridays I wake up so thankful that i do not have to fix lunches for my children! It is the one day they can eat at school...why Friday? It is Pizza Pizza day!!!

thankful #18

today i am thankful that Fia doesn't mind having a recycled birthday party!

i thought this would have been a video...but it showed up as a picture instead!

thankful #17

i am always grateful for spell check!

These 3 words I am getting wrong lately....and these are the only ones I remember:

practice (i would always leave off the first 'c' - pratice )

transition (i want to spell it transistion )

opportunity ( i spell it opprotunity )

thankful #16

today i am thankful for this little girl. she turns 11 tomorrow and

just brings joy to everyone she meets.

Richard took this picture tonight on the last night she will be 10. i asked her how she felt about never being 10 again. she didn't like growing up and wish she could stay a kid. i totally agreed with her.

she is a great friend and loves to be happy.

where has the time gone!

hope you stay as happy and excited about your birthdays as you are today! we love our baby girl!

thankful#15

I am thankful that I love to exercise. I can't think of a time period when I didn't exercise...in my 20's i got caught in the diet/exercise nonsense most young adults fall into but luckily my 30's have been filled with a healthy relationship with exercise. we are best buddies. I don't see it as "i have to workout" but "i want to workout". I dropped the expectations.

I also love being an instructor. This year I became a Silver Sneakers Instructor. I love being with the 65 + crowd. I teach the MSROM(muscle strength and range of motion) class which is for all levels and then the CardioFit one which is the "Advanced" class. I have so much fun with them!

Last summer I took the training to teach Body Pump. I have always loved how strong I felt after lifting weights -and especially after taking a Pump class....so it was a perfect fit! I love helping the members(especially women) see how beneficial weight lifting can be ! And no women can't "bulk" up...so don't be afraid to go heavy!!

My first group fitness experience was with RPM (Raw Power in Motion). This was my favorite class because it got my heart-rate up and produced that adrenalin high that we all love!(wait...you don't' love it??) Like a friend told me this week "RPM is very hard but when you finish you have this great sense of accomplishment!"...and that is true.

I lam thankful that i get paid to exercise!!!

thankful #14

today i am thankful for a great church family.

i wish i had pictures of everyone but here are a few that we have taken from different activities this year. we truly are a family!

Thankful # 13

today i am thankful for laughing. this has brought some laughter in our lives today! Nate sounds just like the old man!

thankful #11

this pic is just a random one...just because posts are more fun to read when there is a picture attached! Sophia is giving Nate a hug in this picture....he is not fighting back because he is asleep! don't tell him about this or he will be mad!

i am thankful for the weekend. where we don't have bedtimes and alarm clocks! and that Richard has a job that allows him to be home every weekend!

thankful#11

Today I am thankful for evenings with no outside activities. This usually falls on Thursdays for us. Mondays have choir practice and gym classes. Tuesday's sometimes can be free but often Richard will have a meeting or we will have someone over or this week we went shopping in Auburn. Wednesdays are church for Richard and dinner with the missionaries and our Korean friends. So by Thursday we all look forward to a night to ourselves. And we take advantage of this by having a sit-down dinner(which we have most nights) followed by Family Home Evening-a night where we have a lesson on a gospel topic, sing songs, have a treat/activity and share our testimonies. Fia and Nate are at the age where they are starting to "get" the lessons. They are beginning to understand the concepts that we have tried to teach them all these years. That is cool since a lot of gospel principles are really understood as we live them. Lately our activity has been watching recordings of America's Funny Home Videos together. Good, clean, television. (i remember when this show first came out. my dad wrote the show a letter saying how distasteful it was to make fun of people getting hit in the groin...guess that was all the videos that were being sent in. my dad was always writing a letter to someone complaining about something!)

So tonight I am thankful I got to spend the evening with

"Dad"

this is what i call him too...is that weird?

the "excited" child

the "happy"child

thankful #10

I am thankful for on-line banking. It is wonderful that I can pay my bills using my computer! I just got finished looking at how much money we don't have left until payday and i am just thankful i have the opportunity to look at that whenever I want!

thankful #9

I am thankful today that I have lots of people and circumstances around me that

make me smile everyday!

This little guy is one of those people. Doesn't he just make you smile?

thankful #8

Everyday I am thankful for our little furry children.

They provide lots of smiles and laughs everyday!

Obie has learned to love snuggling with us...and boy do we love to snuggle around here! Nate learned how to keep Obie still with his signature death-grip hold:) They were both asleep when i started taking this picture. When the flash popped up it woke Obie up.

Cricket doesn't like to snuggle anymore. Her 15 year old body hurts too much. She spends most of her days sleeping on my bed(where Obie can't reach her!). Her hair is falling out, she has brown spots all over her body, cloudy eyes, and some warts....but other than that she is growing old gracefully...and our baby girl. Sophia doesn't mind sharing that nickname with Cricket.

Isn't that just precious!

and don't you love how Fia's sheets match her room color! ha