Gifts

As the new month begins and the Christmas season rushes in I cannot help but think about the amazing gifts that have been given to me that nobody could put a price on.
In just a few weeks it will have been 30 years ago that I was given the gift of life by a loving mother who still to this day takes care of me the best she knows how.
It has been 15 years since I found out that I had been given the gift of singing. A gift that I try to use every day, even if it is just to sing "You Are My Sunshine" to a couple of sweet little boys.
It has been 6 years since I received the gift of love. True love. That love has been tried and tested many times and it will forever be strong because of faith, patience, and compassion.
4 years ago a precious gift was placed in my arms and I have never let go of him. My sweet, loving, and extremely friendly Tanner brings such light to my life and I pray daily that that light never goes out.
1 year ago I was again blessed with a precious gift. One that I never get tired of kissing and squeezing because he is just so squishy. Gavin smiles and the world goes away. He blows kisses and everything is perfect.
And for some reason that I am positive only my Heavenly Father knows, I am again being given yet another little gift. Next week I will know if this gift will come wrapped in a pink or blue bow but that doesn't matter to me because just the knowledge that my Father in Heaven feels that I am special enough to be given all these gifts makes me feel more loved than I could ever imagine.
Many gifts will be passed out by me and probably to me in the next few weeks, but the greatest gift I have ever been given is the knowledge that I am loved.

What an example!

I saw this on the news today and it touched my heart so much. I have more to be thankful for than I can name. I have my family, my friends, my health. I have the gospel of Jesus Christ which blesses my life immensely. I have a loving Father in Heaven and an older brother who gave his life for me, but I hadn't really thought of how thankful I am for the examples of others until I watched this news clip today. What a sweet little boy. I pray that as we go through the next month and have the opportunities to do good for other people that we will put ourselves out there and give. I know that I am going to try my best to bless the life of someone else this Christmas because I want my children to learn to love and give like Brendan did.

I so want to sew!

A few weeks ago a sister in our ward presented us with the opportunity to make Christmas card holders. I had never sewn anything before (unless you count the dickie from Jr. High) and I was very excited to try something new. It took me almost 2 hours in the fabric department of my Walmart to make up my mind. This is how it turned out:



Well, this sweet sister then asked us if we wanted to make anything else. She showed us a tree skirt she had made and it was so cute. The only problem was that I bought a new tree skirt last year after months of searching that matches the decor of my house so who would I give it to?
I had to think of someone because I was excited for this new adventure. One of my sisters told me to make it for our youngest sister Heather who had gotten married earlier this year and didn't yet have a tree skirt. Perfect! I picked out the fabrics a little faster this time, making sure to get colors Heather would like. This is the final product:

Well, it had to happen sometime.....

And last night was the night.

You see, Tanner is a very mellow child compared to most 4-year-olds. He doesn't jump off things, he doesn't climb all the scary toys at the park, and he has never hurt himself bad enough for blood to show.......until last night.
For some reason Tanner is a late night guy, I wonder where he gets it from? OK, he gets it from me. He doesn't take a nap and he is still up until 10:00 every night. Well, last night I was sending one last email for church and I told Tanner to go jump in bed. I didn't think he would take me literally but a few seconds later when that big crack sound was heard through the house, I knew we were in for some fun. Michael went running in the room and screamed (he's going to love this) "Oh my gosh, there is blood everywhere!"
WHAT?!?! Tanner and blood have never gotten together in the same sentence. I went running to his room to find my sweet mellow child with a gash above his eye and more blood than I thought could ever come out his little head.
While I got dressed Michael put him in the bath tub to rinse the blood off of him and it instantly stopped bleeding. Michael thought, oh good, he is alright, we don't have to go to ER. Well, not the case. When I looked closely I could see that it was pretty bad, and to have that much blood just wasn't normal.
I decided to take him to a small hospital and was very lucky to be the only one in the ER. All Tanner could say the entire way there was, "mommy, I don't want a shot!" I felt bad because I wasn't sure if they were going to have to do stitches or glue. Lucky for him they used the lovely purple glue. I think he was just as scared of the purple glue as he was the shot he never had to have. I am so thankful that he had a fantastic doctor and his head looks wonderful! You can see in the picture all the lovely iodine that stained his head and the nice purple glue. I still wonder how that much blood could come from a cut that size.
By the time we left the ER (at around midnight) Tanner was back to his normal self. He said goodbye to Greenshoes (that is what he lovingly named the blue hippo in the room. The bed was a hipppo) and said, "goodnight friend" to all the ER staff.
Enjoy the pics!

Time is running out

I know that I have more than 9 people that look at our blog and I really want to make it private so I need email addresses. I will be making our blog private on Tuesday the 18th. If you want to be able to view our blog PLEASE leave me your email address. I am sure that there are people who view our blog that I don't know are viewing it...if I know you and you leave me your address, I have no problem adding you.
So, you have 4 more days to leave me your email address....the clock is ticking...
tick
tock
tick
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OH, and I can't leave without saying....

GO BYU!!!

Privacy Please......

OK, so I have decided to join the rest of my family and go private also. I had added a thing to my blog so that I could see who had been to visit and within 2 days there were about 30 people I didn't even know...a little scary. If you will please leave me your email address in the comments I will be more than happy to add you in, of course, I have to know who you are :)

PARTY!

We had Gavin's birthday party on Friday night and had so much fun. There were about 30 people there to help us celebrate. We enjoyed dinner and then we had the yummiest cake. Here are the pictures of Gavin indulging himself in cake and also pictures of the fun toys he got from his friends.

May I have your tree?

I can't tell you how many times in the last week people have asked me if they could have the tree in my front yard. What?!? I would never give up this tree. It is the prettiest tree on our whole street. Here is the proof...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GAVIN!!

Our sweet baby is turning 1 today! When he woke up we sang happy birthday to him and he laughed and smiled. We had his party last night and he got lots of fun toys. I will post the pictures later.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY "GAVIN WORTH HAV'N"!
We love you buddy!

Is he really turning 1??

I got Gavin's pictures back today and thought that you might like to see them. It is amazing to me that he will be 1 on Saturday! It's feels like Tanner's first year went on forever and Gavin's flew. Gavin is such a sweet boy. His little smile with all those teeth just melts my heart. His new thing to do is when I say "mama" and want him to copy me, he says "dada" and laughs really hard. We just love him so much!

Halloween Fun!