TO GIVE OR NOT TO GIVE...thanks that is

Ok, so of course the answer is "to give thanks". I was just trying to think up something "clever" to put in the title.

Thanksgiving was typical this year with one change- Mike was sick. We went to Cedar and had lunch/dinner/breakfast for the next ten years at Mark and Stacy's house (Mike's Uncle and Aunt) with the majority of the Bradshaw family. It was rather laid back. A little football, no board games, just friendly conversation and food. Well, there were those tormenting Krista about politics. I did not join in on the tormenting and I felt bad that she was being picked on. I think she was happy to leave when it was time to go home. I would feel the same way. Anyway, like I had mentioned, Mike was sick. Whenever he gets a cold it turns into a sinus infection and this time it was like he had a constant bloody nose for 2 days (sorry to those who are getting queasy). He was in a lot of pain. We didn't stay in Cedar too long because of that. We came home and got some Christmas decor out, uprooted our home, and created a jolly wonderland for our kids. We even put lights on the outside of our house! That's a first for us! We were so excited until tonight when the neighbors put a Wal-Mart display complete with a million lights, blow-up Santa's, those creepy deer that look like skeletons but move their heads (you know what I'm talking about) and all the glittery flashy outside decorations you can think of. Compared to them, we look like the energizer bunny with no batteries. JUST WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR! IT WILL BE WAR!

On another note, we found an AWESOME new kid restaurant right by our house. It's called Pirates Island and the inside looks like a cave. It has a talking bird and skull at the entrance that are very Disney-esque and a little gift shop. There are lights, sounds, an arcade that is NOT part of the eating area, and the kitchen is a pirate ship. There's even a little area for tiny kids to play. The best part is that it's a real restaurant with waiters. It's not one of those places where you have to get your own food while trying to avoid the kids running around. It's an upgraded Chucky Cheeses. Needless to say, the kids loved it, and we didn't mind it either. It was nice having a place to play while we waited to be seated.

So, I have gone off on a few tangents when my real purpose for this post was to "give thanks", remember? SO, how 'bout I do that really quick, hum?

I am thankful for: -my family (I must mention my wonderful husband who keeps me laughing and whom I truly love) -my parents -Mike's parents (his Dad has helped us SO much this year with Anna's school and this weekend helped us so much with groceries and food storage) -
baby hugs -the Gospel -I never thought I'd say this, but GAMEBOY! It has saved my sanity at times when it comes to my son -modern technology -my families health -cars -blow dryers -sleep....and about a billion other things that keep me going everyday. It's amazing how much good is in my life when I sit down and list things. How easily I forget at times.......

Our New Addition to the Family

So Mike is the strong, manly leader of our household who would do anything for our family........EXCEPT get another cat.He says it is due to: new house, new baby, cleaning up poop, new furniture, cat hair everywhere - and a host of other worthless excuses for making our family suffer without the loving affection of a kitty. So last Saturday, the manly man gave in and now we are the proud owner of Sophie. She is a three month old tabby kitten who looks a lot like our Toby but with long hair. The kids can't keep their hands off her and love chasing her around the house. Check out the pics below!

Annas 4th Birthday

Anna celebrated her 4th birthday on the 22nd. She has recently been obsessed with Tinkerbell (thanks Sue..) so she had a tinkerbell birthday. Thanks to all the family and friends for the gifts - they are much appreciated. A big thinks to Grandpa Winslow for the flowers and balloons - Anna loved it. We celebrated it with Anna's best friend Addie. She came over for some dinner, the Tinkerbell Movie (yes, she has her own movie) and then we all went to see Beauty and the Beast at Snow Canyon high school. She says she had a great day. You can see some of the pictures below!

Above Anna is enjoying her new crayons and is excited about her new Tinkerbell Barbie Doll (yes tinkerbell is a barbie doll too.)

Below she is attempting to blow out her 4 candles!

Below Anna and Addie are anxiously awaiting the start of the show. They were very excited when Belle wore the pretty dress at the end. Anna was especially excited to meet Belle at the end of the show - what a great birthday - Tinkerbell and princesses - we don't spoil our little girl at all!

You know who you are....

This is a public service announcement for those people who have one hand on the phone ready to tell me that I'm being a slacker because I haven't posted Anna's dance photo's or her b-day yet. I'm taking care of my family and will get to it when I can. Thank you and come again.

Another Post?

It feels weird just writing anything this week. Mike and I have been so numb and the days have kind of meshed together. I thought I'd post something that has nothing to do with my actual feelings or thoughts as I just get sad, so I'm going to do the tag from Marti's blog.


Here are the rules: you need to type 7 things about yourself that you don’t think anyone knows and then choose 7 people to tag at the end and leave their link.

Okay, so 7 things about myself that others may not know.……
1-I actually started cleaning my grout the other day. Who does that? Well, I mean other than people who hire it done. I don't know, maybe everyone does it and I'm just really white trash by only STARTING to do it now.....
2- I destroy things that I create that I find imperfect. I mean DESTROY. I have torn pencil drawings to shreds and shattered clay figures (including my wedding cake topper after a friend said it was hideous).
3- I am not a spender. I have a hard time even spending money on groceries, but then I guess we must eat...
4 -I hate the idea of reading but when I do read I love it.
5- I PLAY THE TRUMPET (that's a St. George music geek inside joke for those who are wondering)
6- I want to live in Santa Clara when we retire.
7-I can flip people off with my middle toes (some of you already know that I guess :)

Here are the lucky 7 that I choose: Robyn, Bethany, Mandi, Stephanie, Jeff/Debbie, Janet, Marolyn (or Kevin)

Heavy Hearts

We are sad today, very sad. Bad things happened at Mike's school last night and the school musical was canceled. A boy died and the school is in mourning. Please pray for the kids, the families, and the teachers.

Stats

Ok, first, ITS FRIDAY. Woo-hoo!

I have posted pics of my Squishy, but no real info, so here goes. In the past two weeks Brayden has rolled over (though he prefers just the side roll), he eats the nasty rice cereal stuff, but doesn't yet enjoy the experience, and lastly, he cut two teeth three days ago. Now when he gnaws on my finger, he's close to drawing blood. It's now time for the teething toys!

Photo Shoot

I don't by any means declare myself a photographer, but today I didn't want to do the millions of things I'm supposed to be doing, so instead I got out the camera and took some pictures of two of my beautiful kids. Their faces are so sweet and the eyelashes never end. I had to share some of the photo's.

Mike's Job

Since Mike changed jobs, it's been a bit rocky around here. Don't get me wrong, it's not like our marriage is falling apart or our children are going hungry (well, except for Ty who refuses to eat), it's just been difficult for many different reasons. Mike is a hard worker. He had set goals and standards before school started, that just aren't possible this year with his band being smaller and made up primarily of 10th grade students. He works LONG hours, sometimes 12 hour days, 5 days a week, and usually doesn't see the kids for more than a few hours a day. It's been physically draining on him, and physically draining on me as I'm a one man show for the kids. Anyway, we've decided to have an open mind and not make a decision about what will happen next year until he's gone through a whole school year at the HS.

The reason I'm saying all of this is that because today, for the first time, there was a light among the gray. The Veterans Day Parade was today and ALL of the middle and high school bands played and marched and they were judged on different areas of the performance. Mike's band does not have a color guard (flag girls for those UNEDUCATED out there) and no Drum Major (the person with the stick:) so that meant they did not qualify for the main award, the Drum Major award, or the Color Guard award, but they did qualify for the others. Well, Mike thought they would be able to get the Marching award because they were really tight and looked good, but he wasn't sure if they'd get anything else. At the ceremony, they were awarded 3 awards, one being the Overall Performance Award, the others being Marching and Musicality.

I think it helped Mike in knowing that he's making a difference. It's easy to see the difference you make at the beginning levels because they learn so quickly and change so much, but it's harder to see in the upper levels. I am SO proud of my husband and I am SO glad I was able to be there to watch him. And thank for coming with me Marolyn!

Good job to all the students too. I know this will sound really dumb to all of you non-musicians out there, but it felt so good to see all of those kids stand together at the end of the parade. There had to have been close to 1,000 students on that field. I was so proud of all of them. We are friends with all of the teachers and they all make a difference in those kids lives and MUSIC makes a difference! I believe in it and (bare with me here people) I know it is important.

Just before I end this I have to thank the Veterans today. It was so neat to see them walk down the road as everyone saluted them. They are all hero's. What they have done is more then I could ever do and they did it for our country, for our freedom, to give others those freedoms that we take for granted, and for their families. May God bless every one of them!

Loosing my Mind

O.k, so it's already altered and parts are missing, but I'm forgetting everything these days. I do things out of habit and my new calling is not habit yet and neither is my job, so consequently I can't keep track of what I need to keep track of. I'm really organized and everything has it's place in the binder or the filing box, but when it has to come out of it's place, that's when I run into problems. For instance, I forgot to get the roll after Relief Society today. I'm not used to doing it yet, so I was rushing to finish everything when I had to run and pick up Anna from Sunbeams. When I came back in to get my stuff, the next class was getting ready to start, so I just plain forgot to get the roll. Then, at Symphony the other day, I had people put their names on a list if they wanted SUPAF info. I took the list, put it in my folder, then after the concert the other night, turned the folder in, list and all. It hits me just after it's too late. I'm just going to look like a moron (because I am one) for the next few months until I can get the hang of things. Geez, what's my problem (other than the chunk of brain they removed from my temporal lobe)? Sigh. Oh well. So is life right? I just will take comfort knowing that I'm not the only moron in the world. In fact, I see plenty of them driving on the road everyday. Maybe we should start a club.

Oh Squishy

My baby playing on his tummy. He's rolling to his sides and we are trying to encourage the full rollover. You should feel how strong he is. He is very tall and almost 20 pounds. Yeah, I know, that's huge for a 5 month old. I can't believe it. My other two were 20 pounds when they hit 12 months. Let's just say he's a bit advanced for his age.

Halloween

We had a fun week. Tues, Anna wore her costume to Dance and LOVED it. Thurs was her school trunk or treat. Brayden hung out with me while the kids went around. My carpool partner was wonderful and picked the kids up for me and brought Tyson to Anna's school (thanks Kodie). I had 2 concerts for the 3rd graders in the district in the morning (during which Amy Bowler watched my kids :), and then had the SWSO Halloween concert that night. I dressed as an M&M. Mike was a freaky dark devil thing (not sure the correct title). Friday was Ty's class party. I helped with a game of "pin the nose on the Jack-o-lantern" as the kids rotated around 5 stations. Then, after school, My friends Robyn and Marolyn came over and helped me with a kids party at our house. We had 10 kids and a lot of fun. There's nothing better than watching 3-6 yr olds try to bob for apples. HA! It was a blast. We went to the Ward trunk or treat and then, with my sister and bro in law, followed my friend Kristy to this awesome mansion. The people live on acreage and decorate the whole place for Halloween. They open it to the public and hand out full size candy bars and balloons to the kids. It was fun. We went home, took some pictures, hung out with my sis, and crashed! Great fun!

Testing, Testing

I'm using Word to create my blog post and it's my first time using it, so this is just a test. We'll see if it works. If not, I must be a complete moron.

 

Little Me

I found this along with a few other photo's of me when we were at my parents for the funeral. This was me in 1984, age 3 1/2. Though I don't look tons like Anna in this picture, I sure had her personality at this age. Funny.