My Favorite Holiday

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love that it involves all of my favorite things (family, food, fun) without the expectation of gifts. It is a day to be thankful for what we have, not what we will get. So, in keeping with the theme of the holiday, here is a short list that just touches on the many, many things that I am so very thankful for:

~My Lord and Saviour. I am thankful that I have a personal relationship with God. That I can talk to Him any time, anywhere. That I can come to Him confidently, knowing that He is there listening, loving me. That He is never too busy for me. That what I have to say is never too trivial for such a big God.

~My MAN! I am so blessed to have Scott as my husband. He is amazing. He is selfless, giving, loving, my protector, my provider, and my best friend. There is never a day that we don't laugh together. I have loved spending the past 13 years married to this man!

~My children. Growing up, all I wanted to do was get married and have babies. God has blessed me with the desires of my heart. I love my children. They are so completely different, yet so much the same. Makenzie has a heart of gold. She is so full of love and mercy for others. All she wants to do is take care of everyone. She loves the Lord, which thrills my heart. I can't wait to see how God will use her in her life. Then there is Caleb. The little boy our family thought would never be. Out of 9 grandchildren (both sides of the family combined) he is the only boy. For this reason, he has no problem playing with a barbie, or carrying his stuffed animals around in a purse. Given the choice, he would pick pink before any other color. But trust me...this kid is ALL boy! He loves superheros. Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Ironman, Hulk, and of course all the Star Wars characters. He has every light saber known to man and loves to fight and wrestle with his dad. He is stubborn, strong-willed, and loves to drive his mama crazy. But he is also sweet, sensitive, and loving. He loves to sit and snuggle on my lap. I love both of these kids so much!

~I am so blessed to live close to my parents and Scott's parents. After having moved away and not being able to visit them whenever we felt like it, this mean so much to me. Family means everything to me. I am blessed with godly parents who taught me right from wrong. Siblings that I love and have so much fun with. In-laws that I love dearly and love to spend time with.

~My home. It may be small, but I love it! It is clean, warm, and cozy. I have food to cook, coffee to drink :O), a warm bed to sleep in, hot water to shower in. My kids have rooms that they love, my pets have a warm place to sleep and people that love them and take care of them.

There is so much I could list. I have an amazing church, the best of friends, reliable vehicles, Scott has a great job, I could go on and on. But for now I just want to say:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The Big 1-0

Today this girl is 10. I cannot believe I just said that. 10!! I remember 12 years ago praying, crying, begging for a baby. 2 years later I was holding this precious gift in my arms. She is the most amazing kid. She is sensitive, kind-hearted, loving, gentle, a peacemaker, motherly, funny, strong, bold, daring, brave, talented, creative, encouraging, sweet, spunky, and so much more. I can't put into words how full my heart is with love for this girl. We are more blessed than I could have ever imagined. So, on this day, I want to wish my daughter the most happiest of birthdays.

I LOVE YOU MAKENZIE DENAE!!!

Hooked on Phonics

This morning after cleaning the bathroom I noticed my son doing the "gotta go potty" dance. I was doing my make-up while he was going and this is the conversation we had:

C: Mom, can I clean the toilet?

M: Sorry Buddy, I already cleaned it.

C: I knew it. I can see the blue.

Silence...peeing...then:

C: It's not clean anymore. It's N-S-O-D "DIRTY"!

Pretty dirty if he felt the need to "spell" dirty. He is too cute!

So Fun

Makenzie and I have birthdays this month that are about 3 weeks apart. Back in September I got the idea to take her on a mommy/daughter birthday trip. It was a complete surprise to her. I didn't tell her until the day we left. She was SO surprised that she had tears in her eyes. It was priceless!

WEDNESDAY: We flew to Portland where we were picked up by our friend, Sara. We went to dinner and had a great time laughing and eating. From there we headed back to Sara's house where we stayed up late visiting and catching up.

THURSDAY: After sleeping in and enjoying a lazy morning that included watching The Price is Right, we headed out to meet some friends for lunch. After lunch we went to Target and bought out the store. (Including matching pajamas for everyone.)We then headed back to Sara's where we spent the rest of the evening in our new jammies eating and watching movies. We stayed up WAY too late, but had the best time.

FRIDAY: This was our busy day. We started by having tea at the cutest tea house in Philomath. Makenzie loves to go to tea. She was so cute acting all lady-like with her tea. After tea Makenzie and I had an appointment to get facials together. It was the first time for both of us and we are hooked! Kenz said she actually fell asleep it was so relaxing. I'm so glad we were able to do it together. Great memories. After facials we went to Borders and had coffee and looked around for a while. From there we stopped at Fred Meyer because I was trying to find a specific "surprise" I told Caleb I would bring back for him. We headed back to the house where we spent the evening making homemade pizzas and watching another movie. Once again stayed up way too late but it was totally worth it.

SATURDAY: This was another lazy morning spent laughing with Kerry about pictures on the internet. After getting all packed and ready to go, we headed to Red Robin to meet Darrell and Lynn for lunch. Enjoyed the yummy food and laughed ALOT. Then it was off to the airport to wait for our flight home.

This was a great trip with many memories made with my little girl...who isn't so little anymore. I can't believe she is going to be TEN! I love her so much and am thrilled that we were able to spend this time together. And thanks to Kerry and Sara for letting us stay with them and for being our chauffeur. :O) You guys are the best!

Hi Ho, Hi Ho

It's off to play I go! I leave for Oregon today. Got LOTS of exciting things on the agenda. I will post all about them when I get back.

Don't Forget To...

Pics

Here are some photos from the past week:






Went to a friend's house to tie-dye Halloween shirts. We had the best time and the kids loved decorating the pumpkins on their shirts.


Saturday Scott took Makenzie on a motorcycle ride to Horseshoe Bend and back (about 70-80 miles round trip). They stopped and had breakfast and Makenzie can't wait for the next trip.


My Rock Star


Anakin (This mask creeps me out!)






This one includes my cute little niece, Tristyn.

And Scott, being Scott.

Sunday was my birthday so Scott and the kids took me to breakfast.

Over the weekend I was also able to spend time with lots of different friends. Had a craft night at Candace's. Made a cute time capsule and had fun visiting with her, Tabitha, and Andrea. Thanks Candace for the great evening!

Sunday night, after an INCREDIBLE prayer service at church, our home team had a girl's night out. I had a blast eating and laughing with all of them.

An amazing weekend that went by way too fast. I am looking forward to this next one though. Stay tuned for the details.