An asteroid hit earth

A castle was destroyed.

Devastation was everywhere.

Can't you tell

Thanksgiving week

It's my parents' "off year" for Thanksgiving so they came to our house! Nette and Jon are in St. Louis this month so they made the 8 hr drive and came too!

One of the events was a hot chocolate taste test. We had 13 different flavors and blindly tasted each kind. The winners were: Swiss Miss and Stephens...nothing fancy like Ghirardelli or gourmet blends!

The science center was on the list of things to do.

There's a small room where you can feel an earthquake. Or they could have just stayed long enough and felt a real one here:)

One day Cody tried out the rocket. You blast off and then tip back and watch on a screen in the rocket.


I had to put this picture in because Macey is actually in the picture. Usually she's not tall enough.

My dad had to try out the segway. You could buy one of these for $5,000

All the kids, minus Mackayla

On our way out

Swimming at the hotel. These two kept their grandpa busy!

On Thanksgiving day, we gave the little kids their own table(s).

Here's Nette and her cute prego belly. She's halfway!

We gave my dad a back rub t shirt for Christmas and the kids tried it out:)

Macey and Vanessa were great little friends. I wish we lived closer to our families.

Cody and Macey were spoiled by grandma and grandpa. Several of the nights they went for a sleepover to the hotel and watched cartoons and ate candy. Grandparents can do that I guess! We don't have cartoons so they absolutely loved it!

And some more random pictures...

This is Macey's phone.

It doesn't look like it, but it's actually an iPhone. You flip it open and scroll through on the screen (a touch screen) and choose a game; there are several. And then you play them, 9 or 10 times, asking when you've won (because it's kinda hard to tell!).

This is Mackayla's "Dressing Face." Every single time she gets dressed she closes her eyes, smiles and opens her mouth wide open. I love it!

I love those squishy cheeks!

I cut all my hair off in the second ugliest hair cut I've EVER had. sigh. grow quickly hair.

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."