My Thanksgiving Post

I have a lot to be grateful for. Don't we all. I am grateful for a husband who is a hard worker. He worked most of Thanksgiving without a single complaint. He is out cold right now because he has gotten up for calls the last three nights in the middle of the night. He has a God given talent for what he does and has had incredible opportunities handed to him. He also loves being a dad. I love him.

I am grateful for my kids. Sometimes I run on overload. When I need a break I don't get to call for a babysitter or even my husband. But it is such a comforting thought knowing that Heavenly Father wants me to be a good mom because I'm taking care of His children. So I have some pretty good help on my side.

He also knew what He was doing when He gave me the sweetest baby on earth. She now rarely ever cries, talks and smiles whenever you talk and smile to her, and other than that, just patiently hangs out or sleeps. Thank you for being so sweet Mackayla.

I'm also thankful for my family and Ben's family. We love when they visit and the fun never stops. I'm not sure we would have gotten through vet school or this year without them. Literally. At least for me.

I'm thankful for the gospel - I recently met a good friend who does not take her religion for granted. She had a hard life growing up and is now very religious and thankful for it. So although I am always grateful for the gospel, it made me more aware of how I need to acknowledge that gratitude in my daily life. It's a comfort to have something so unchanging and constant in a changing chaotic world. I am SO thankful for prayer.

My parents and Lynette and Jon are in town this week. Pictures to come!

I've been meaning to post this for 2 years. One of Cody's first favorite movies at 2 1/2 years was Cars. It was one of the most entertaining things I did watching him watch this movie because he didn't just watch it, he experienced it. He was still talking in small phrases. Starting from the beginning of the movie to when he stopped watching he was talking. One of those times I wrote down everything he said for two minutes. Every single word written is said with great enthusiasm and emphasis:

uh oh!

fast!

cars!

tractors!

Mater!

fast!

beep beep

owie!

away!

daddy!

hurt!

here!

Mater!, Mater!

broke, boom (sound), crash!

Asay

wow!

boke! (broke)

Of course, two years later, he still has the same enthusiasm for things and I still enjoy watching him watch things because he gets so into and laughs so hard. He is so fun to do things with!

I Can Follow Jesus

Cody did such a good job on his part in the primary program. He marched right up to the microphone, announced to Sister Smith he could do it all by himself and said "I Can follow Jesus by saying my prayers."

I was so proud. I was always the one that got scared and didn't say my part at that age, so I was curious to see what would happen with my children! Macey has been saying his part all day today and I'm excited for her to do it next year!

**I read this blog post and really appreciated the advice (and sympathy:)). Mothers of young children should read it!**

Gratitude vs. Complaining

I have done my fair share of complaining about where we live, in "felony flats" no less. Ironically, as we drove here I told Ben I could do anything as long as we had a dishwasher. Little did I know, we did have a dishwasher...sitting in the car...ME:)! I have been meaning to do a virtual tour of how beautiful Edmond is with all the beautiful neighborhoods. Then, you turn right off Waterloo onto Coltrane...and step into another world full of trailer parks; there's even bars on the gas station at the corner;). When we moved here we had never seen the place we were going to live in. More than anything I think it's kind of funny, I know it's only temporary, and I find it strangely, wonderfully humbling. However, I realize instead of doing the complaining I have done I should be enjoying the journey our family is on. We are going to have good memories thinking back on this! If nothing else, the damage my children do while they're little can't make this place any worse!

After talking to another girl in our ward, I think I have also realized that you can always find something to complain about. There are a lot of successful women in our ward - nurses, lawyers, and this girl was an interior designer. Not just a regular interior designer, she designs the homes of millionaires. She had crazy stories of clients, but the one that caught my attention was a client that called her in hysterics on Thanksgiving night for her to come rushing over. She left her family, rushed to the house to see what the emergency was, to find out that the matching gold plated trim (on the sinks, toilets, towel racks, etc.) was not all exactly matching throughout her house. She was furious.

Apparently, you can always find something to complain about. I think if I can learn not to complain now, I'll be good later. Although I don't foresee ever wanting to have perfectly matching gold trim throughout everything in my house.

"HAPPINESS DOESN'T COME AS A RESULT OF GETTING SOMETHING WE DON'T HAVE BUT RATHER OF RECOGNIZING AND APPRECIATING WHAT WE DO HAVE."

Friends

Every time Cody goes to school, Macey constantly asks if we can go get him. They are so sweet. They also constantly fight, but they are still best friends. We went to the zoo today. Perfect weather, no jackets. Ahhh, the weather I waited all summer for was today. The zoo was fun. These guys ran all over the place and sweet Mackayla snoozed patiently in the stroller.

Earthquake in OK

This has been the craziest few months with the weather and the elements. Hottest summer on record while I'm pregnant, tornado warnings, drought, fires nearby, biggest wind/hail/thunderstorm I've been in (2 days before I delivered!), and now, an earthquake - 4.7 magnitude. There wasn't any damage anywhere, but at 2 in the morning I woke out of a deep sleep to our entire house shaking. I could not figure out what was going on. Everyone woke up but quickly went back to sleep. I think normally it would have been kind of cool (because nothing/no one was hurt) but Ben is out of town so I was just scared. Speaking of, Ben is at an equine surgery conference in Chicago and coming home tomorrow. And at Oakridge he is on a new rotation with one of the surgeons. Last month he was on "ambulatory" so he went on all the calls that were away from the clinic, which meant less surgeries and lameness evaluations-two things he loves- so it should be an interesting month for him.

Update: Another one just happened tonight. 5.6, largest in OK history, although still no damage. Apparently with a jump from 4 to 5 it's an exponential jump by 10. (I don't even know what that actually means. Just worse.) I honestly couldn't tell when it stopped because I was shaking so bad myself. It's kinda scary, not cool anymore. I can't wait for Ben to get home. I'm so grateful for our 72 hour kit, not that we need it now, but it sure gives me peace of mind.

And another update on Tuesday: We keep having tremors, aftershocks, whatever they're called. It still kinda unnerves me, but Ben doesn't seem rattled at all. And I have to admit, there is absolutely no damage at all (although someone's neighbor did have a huge crack in a big window) and it is kind of cool that I felt an earthquake now. Knock on wood that is the biggest one!

Macey's Top Picks

Cody is so funny with Mackayla (or Ackayla in Cody's world). He gets kind of offended if she doesn't smile at him and loves it when she does. He's kind of rough with her in a gentle way. It's really cute to watch.

Sleeping. Who can sleep like that??

Happy! She is such a good baby.

Miss Macey is very opinionated about her music. Here are some of her faves (and two videos of her and Cody singing them).

1. Wise Man

2. Stuck Like Glue, Sugarland ("stuck like goo")

3. Lover Lover, Jason Niemand ("Ubba ubba")

4. Telling the World, Taio Cruz ("Tewing the Wold")

5. Rio Music

6. select primary children's songs. varied depending on the day

The other day, driving in the car, we were listening to some Primary Children's Songs. Cody wanted a different one, but it was coming on next so I didn't change anything. When he saw I didn't change it he looked at Macey and told Macey what he wanted and she in turn repeated the instructions for the new song. That's when I realized that Macey rules the music in the car. She tells me when to change it, louder, etc.

short clip:

long one, with multiple serenades

And for other news...I officially bought a new pair of pants the other day. I'm tired of maternity pants dang it. In nine months from Mackayla's birth if those maternity pants are still fitting I'll be worried. But for me, running or sitting and eating, it will take me nine months to see my other pants. it's worth it.

2 Dragons and a Banana

What a fun year for trick or treating! The weather was PERFECT. I wore a light sweater. We went trick or treating in our friend Jen's neighborhood. (We didn't want to give the child molesters a chance to see our children in our neighborhood. ha!:)) This was our first year of real trick or treating. Macey was going to be a kitty until Cody got his costume on. Then she wanted to be a dragon, which is perfect because Cody's fit her from last year! This is from our ward party (which was pure chaos for me, I think just because I always feel like I have 15 children swarming me and 15 bags to hold):

Here's the trick or treating gang. So cute!:

At each house Macey would hold out her bag (if she meandered up in time) and say "Trick or Treating." She was so tired, but candy is a strong motivator. Then she would quietly go to the stroller and hide to try to suck some candy out of its wrapper (cause they can't quite open them yet).

Cody and Olive chatted the whole time and had so much fun. Ben was even able to join us for the last half!

This sweet banana slept in her carseat in the stroller most of the time:

Afterward we had donuts and cider.Mmmm

Here's some random pics of our latest. Hanging out at home:

At the science museum, cute Cody; and Macey is behind the sign and not quite tall enough...

This is big for Cody. He has never wanted to do this before. It's driving a plane and he loves it!

This is where Mackayla sleeps. I am a little worried about switching her to her crib since she loves sleeping in this. But it is so nice for the spitting up, which she does a lot. Considerably less since I stopped drinking milk, the staple of my diet. Every once in a while I steal a huge swig because I LOVE it.

Yesterday I told Cody and Macey I saw a frog outside while I was pulling out these

What you can't see in that picture is hundreds, seriously, of tomatoes that have been uprooted because it's going to freeze tomorrow and I don't want to pull them out in the cold. We didn't get one ripe tomato because it was too hot in the summer and the blossoms would burn on the stem. Then once it was cool enough it was just too late. sigh. One day I will have my garden.

Back to the frog. Cody went out and grabbed it!