{Gratitude Day 22}

I am grateful for Thanksgiving Day!  I am grateful that I made it 22 days of being grateful!  I am grateful for so many blessings in my life!!

My favorite part of Thanksgiving is the food......I love turkey and all the side dishes that come with Thanksgiving dinner!  And tonight I enjoyed a DELICIOUS piece of apple pie!!  Mmmmm......I think I might need another piece before I go to bed!!  :)

Lastly, I am grateful that my hubby is out doing Black Friday shopping for the family!!  I love the idea of black friday shopping, but in reality, I think I would die if I had to fight off crowds or stand in mile long lines!!  So I sent him off (cuz someone had to stay home with the kids....oh darn, it's me) with a list of what we needed and off he went while I am toasty warm in front of the fire place!!  :)

Happy Turkey Day!!!  :)

{Gratitude Day 21}

I am grateful that I married someone that is completely different than me!  Isn't the old saying "opposites attract" so true!?!?!  I think so!!  There are so many ways that Jeremiah and I are similar and then there are SO MANY ways that we are SO DIFFERENT!!!  A lot of times this is super frustrating......like when he takes his clothes off at the end of the day and just leaves them on the floor at his feet.....or when he gets out of the shower and leaves his wet towel laying on the bed to dry....or when he drives 10 mph BELOW the speed limit on the freeway because his personality is just so darn laid back.....or when he doesn't want to make any plans because he isn't a planner and just flys by the seat of his pants most often!!!  Argh....it's things like that that just drive the super organized, neat freak, high strung, planner in me CRAZY!!

Anyway.....I was supposed to be writing about why this is a good thing!!  ;-)  I really am grateful for the fact that our personalities are really so different!  We are such a great balance for each other.  The areas that I am super lacking in, Jeremiah makes up for!!  And sometimes the crazy planner in me needs to have a laid back person around to encourage me to be more spontaneous.  And the worry wart in me needs to have someone that is carefree and laid back to tell me, "it's ok....everything is gonna be alright"!  And the "play everything safe" girl that I am needs someone that likes adventure and wants to do crazy things sometimes!

I especially love our different personalities when it comes to parenting and raising our kids.  When I freak out cuz the kids are getting dirty or making a mess, he tells me "they're just kids....let them be"!!  And when I would be fine letting the kids ride bikes with training wheels on them until they were in 1st grade, he is teaching the kids at 3 years old to ride without training wheels!   And when I am too chicken to jump in the lake at Big Bear because a fish might bite my toes, he is the one encouraging our kids to swim from the boat to the shore with him.....and they have no fear (thanks to him) and they love it!!!! And when I am a baby and want to stay warm and sit by the fireplace with a blankie and hot chocolate, he is the one that is on the slopes teaching our kids to ski and snowboard...and again, they love it!!  

Today, Jeremiah took Ayden out to snowboard all morning!  I love that he gave up his own time to go up and down the mountain and patiently spent it with Ayden, encouraging him all the way down!  Here is a video that Jeremiah took of Ayden.  I was so impressed when I saw it.....he is such a little stud muffin on a snowboard!  I love it!!  And I am thankful that my kids have a daddy that will do things like this with the kids.....cuz this is one area that I lack in!!  Glad he is there to pick up the slack for me!!  :)

{Gratitude Day 20}

{Zoey is a lucky girl to have a Mommy AND a birth mom}

I, of course, cannot get through 30 days of gratitude without expressing my gratitude for adoption.  I feel like I  ramble enough on this blog about adoption and how grateful I am.  So I don't want to do that all over again....cuz anyone that knows me knows how grateful I am for adoption.

Today I want to focus on the gratitude that my kids feel towards adoption.  Like I have said before, from day 1, we have always talked openly about the kids being adopted.....we have talked about their birth parents.....we have talked about how Mommy and Daddy wanted them so badly....we have talked about how loved they are by everyone!!  Needless to say, they think they are pretty darn special kids!  Just recently, I was telling the kids about a friend of mine that has 2 kids.....one is adopted, one is not.  When I told them that the boy was adopted, but the girl wasn't, Zoey gasped!  I asked her what was the matter and she told me in the sweetest saddest voice, "But that is so SAD that she isn't adopted like her brother"!!  That made me smile so big on the inside!!  I love that they think that way.....I love that they aren't embarrassed and don't feel weird or sad that they are adopted!

Today we had the chance to meet with Zoey's birth mom, Lydia.  We see her once a year when we come to Utah for Thanksgiving.  The older that Zoey gets, the more and more I can see the similarities and certain features that Zoey and Lydia share!  When we meet with her, we also get to see her birth dad's family.  Since her birth dad Brandon has passed away, I love that we still get to see his family.  His parents say that Zoey is a spitting image of Brandon.  My mom pointed out to me what a great blessing that must be for his parents to still have a little piece of their son in Zoey.....and be able to see him through her!  It is such a wonderful feeling for me to bring Zoey to them.....to share her, if you will.....to see the joy in their eyes and to feel and hear of the gratitude and appreciation that they express to us for letting them see her!!  I love these meetings.....and this is one of the things I look forward to most when we come to Utah since we get to see 2  out of 3 of our birth moms this week!

I'm grateful that my kids feel grateful for adoption.  I know that as they grow and mature and start to understand it even more......that they will have even more appreciation for their birth moms that they had to make the HARDEST decision they will probably ever make.....and for the sacrifices they made to give them more than they could've given.  As soon as they understand that to the fullest, they will have more love for their birth moms than they have ever had!  :)

{Gratitude Day 19}

 I am grateful for trials.  I know that seems like a silly thing to be grateful for, but there isn't a doubt in my mind that I am a better person and I appreciate more because of the trials I have been through!  Some have been big....some not so much....some have been life changing....some have been heart breaking.....some have brought tears....some have brought frustrations.....some have tested my faith.....some have tested relationships....some have broken me down.....some brought feelings of loss.....obviously, all were hard to go through.  But with all the pain, doubt, frustration and uncertainty that I felt and endured going through each trial, I can honestly look back and feel gratitude for those unpleasant events.  Each trial that I have been through has played an important part in shaping the person that I am today.  I appreciate more because of my trials.  I love more because of my trials.

One of the biggest trials that I have endured is our struggle to have kids.  This song so wonderfully describes my feelings about the topic.  I thought I had my life all mapped out....I knew exactly what was going to happen and when it was going to happen.  There was no doubt in my mind these things would happen.  I was a planner.....if I planned it, it would happen!!  But then life decided to change my plans.  How dare that happen!!  Having faith and patience is sometimes a hard thing for me!  Throwing my hands up in the air and saying, "I give up....it is out of my control" is not an easy thing for me to do and say!  But when this trial was placed in front of us, we decided to look for a way around it!  We didn't want to just give up on our dreams and desires to have a family.....just because we couldn't have a family that shared our genetic make up.  I now feel like I am standing at the top of that mountain.....looking down and realizing that all the fear, doubt and pain that we went through was all worth it and helps us to better appreciate this view that we have now! This song is so perfect!!  I love how perfectly it lines up with my life!  And now that we are here.......I wouldn't change all those things we went through to get here.....because it wouldn't be the same and I wouldn't appreciate my kids and parenting the same way if getting pregnant and having kids was easy for us. Instead, the biggest trial that we have ever been faced with has become our very own "beautiful heartbreak"!!  And how could I not be grateful for being blessed with 3 of my very own miracles?!?!?

{Gratitude Day 18}

I'm grateful for vacation.....we are in Park City, Utah this week!!  YAY for vacation!!  I am grateful that we made record time (well, record time since we had kids) yesterday and that it was the most enjoyable drive we have had!  We left at noon after Ayden's 11 am basketball game and we arrived in Park City 10 1/2 hours later......and that inludes only 1 stop in St. George for dinner and refueling.....the total stop time was almost an hour!!  The kids were absolutely WONDERFUL!!!  They slept when it was time to sleep and watched movies the rest of the time!  Maddix was an angel baby.....he hardly made a peep!  He slept good, watched movies with the big kids and just sat there pleasantly!!  We listened to Christmas music the entire drive and I decided that as long as I can listen to Christmas music, I would drive forever!!!  :)

And now we are here!  And when we put the kids to bed, they were giddy with excitement as I laid out all of their snow gear because tomorrow morning, they both have lessons.....Ayden will do snowboarding again and Zoey will do skiing again!!  Jeremiah and everyone else will hit the slopes too!!  And I am planning on staying in my jammies all day, sitting inside the warm condo, and hoping and praying that Maddix wants to take a SUPER long nap so I can work on my scrapbooking!!  :)  It is great to be on vacation!!  :)

I didn't take this picture, but this is where we are staying and this is the view out our window!!  Ahhh......it's a rough life this week!!!  :)

{Gratitude Day 17}

Today I am grateful for THANKS!  This month I have spent every day thinking about what I am grateful for as I go throughout my day!  I am really so blessed.  And acknowledging what I am grateful for makes me happy.  I love being able to be grateful.  I love all the wonderful and amazing people in my life.  I love how this little project has brought me moments....even if they are small moments.....each and every day to feel gratitude.  I need those moments....especially since there are moments throughout my day where I get very frustrated with kids or annoyed with something and the last thing I feel in those moments is gratitude.  So to be able to sit down at the end of my day and look back to think about all the things that went well.....that is a blessing in itself!!!  :)

{cHiCagO}

My Grandma Dee passed away after battling cancer for over 2 years.  Here she is (the cute blonde lady in white on the right) the last time we saw her which was 2 years ago when she came to California!  She is my dad's stepmom, but was married to my Grandpa before I was even born, so she has always been a "grandma" to me!  

She lived in Chicago and the funeral was going to be there.  About a week before she died, my dad had an accident with his BBQ grill blowing up and he burned his legs super bad.  Sorry for the gross picture.....close your eyes if you are grossed out!!  He got very bad 2nd degree burns.....this was at its worst!!  So crazy!!  Luckily this damage was done only to his legs and not to his face!!

Anyways, the doctors told him he could not fly, so he was going to miss the funeral.  My mom debated about going too because my dad was in such bad pain and she didn't want to leave him.  But he started feeling better and she decided she was gonna go, so I decided I would go with her since my dad couldn't!  :) I knew I would take Maddix cuz he was free to fly and then I decided to take Zoey too since it would then be a little girl's trip with me, Zoey and my mom (and Mr. Maddix too)!  And I knew that Jeremiah and Ayden would have a SUPER FUN boys weekend at home!

So we started packing.......and little Miss Zoey needed 4 pairs of shoes for the 5 days that we were going to be there!!!  HA!!  Seriously.....I wish I could dress half as cute as my daughter!!!  LOL!  She is a little fashionista already!!!

Usually last minute plane tickets for funerals are super expensive!  We checked all the airports around and the only tickets we could find were $800 - $1,000 minimum!!  Eeeek!!!  I was no longer considering going!!!  So we decided to drive to Mesa, Arizona on Thursday and fly out of there on Friday morning since the tickets were only $350!!  Yeah, we would have to drive an extra 4 hrs....but it was a girl's trip, so what is a little road trip on top of your vacation, right?!?!?  

HAHA!!!  Maddix thought differently!  He wasn't a fan of the driving part.....and his little crying episodes made me dread our drive to Utah this week!!!  I ended up in the backseat at one point....in between the 2 kids to try to make Maddix happier......didn't work!!!  :-/

We got to Arizona around dinner time and met my Auntie Grace that lives there for dinner!!  At least we had someone that we got to see to make the Arizona part of the trip worthwhile!  Then we checked into the Marriott and Zoey had to get all her jewelry and headbands and lipsticks out to show Grammy!!  Zoey was so giddy with excitement.....she kept telling us that we were gonna have a fashion show!!  :)  Right then and there, I was convinced I made the right decision to bring her along!!!!  Helllloooooo girls weekend!!!!!  :)

Then we had to play beauty parlor for a little while and put some fresh nail polish on......

And the little princess had to make sure they were dry before she could crawl into bed.....

It was a short night!  We were up at 4 am our time (5 am Arizona time) to get ready and catch our 8 am flight!  This was Maddix's 1st flight and Zoey hasn't flown since she was a baby!  I was so thankful to have my mom there for help!  Getting through the airport with all the crap you need with kids is torture!!  Glad there were 2 of us!!!

And......we're off!!!! 

Zoey was in heaven.....enjoying a little OJ up in the sky.....

Thank goodness Maddix slept almost the entire flight!!  He was laying across mine and my moms lap with his feet on Zoey.....he had the best seat in the whole plane!!  And by the end of it, my mom and I had numb bums!!!

We arrived just after noon and my Aunt Pam picked us up!!  She was SO EXCITED for us to be there and she spoiled us rotten!!!  She bought 2 new carseats for the kids so we didn't have to bring ours from home!! Then, when we got to her house, there was a pack n play for Maddix, a new highchair that she bought and this laundry basket filled with toys and fun things for Zoey and Maddix!!  She pretty much bought out Walmart for our visit!!!  :)  Like I said....we were spoiled rotten!!  :)

Friday afternoon, my childhood friend Becki, her little boy Tyler and her mom, Pam all came to visit us at my aunts house!  Becki and I lived across the street for 7 years before I moved to Cali when I was 7.....our moms were pregnant together!!  :)  Pretty amazing that we STILL keep in touch 35 yrs later!!!  :) 

Tyler and Zoey hit it off and had a blast playing together!!  This was the 1st of 3 four year old boys that Zoey was going to meet this weekend!!

We went outside to play in the leaves and Zoey thought she died and went to heaven!!  She had SO MUCH FUN playing in the leaves when we were there!!  I think she has never seen so many leaves in her life!!  We just don't have leaves like that in Cali....there may be a couple here and there on the ground, but never like there was there!!  She just kept throwing them up and letting them fall on her, throwing them up and letting them fall on her!!!  Oh the little things that entertain a 4 year old!!!  :)

Playing hide and go seek with Tyler.....

Then my cute Grandma Emmy came over to see us too!!  It was so fun to be in a place where we had so much family that lived so close and could just come see us!!  :)

Isn't my Grandma the cutest?!?!  I know I already blogged about her and how grateful I am that my kids know her!!  Zoey just thinks that Grandma Emmy is the sweetest thing....and I love to see that!!  :)

Ahhh.....if only Ayden was there to join them in this picture!!  Darn!!!!  :(

My grandma and her very most favorite granddaughter!!!!  :)

On Saturday morning, my cousin Chris and my Aunt Mary from North Carolina flew in for the funeral.  I was SO excited to see them!!!  Zoey taking pics of Grammy and Chris.....

He is one of my most favoritest cousins.....we are only 6 months apart and had so much fun growing up together til we both moved to opposite ends of the United States!!  :(

Chris, my Aunt Mary, me & the kids.....

Zoey had fun playing at Aunt Pam and Uncle John's house!!  Who wouldn't with all the fun things that were waiting for her upon our arrival!!!  :)

I LOVE this picture.....

Exploring some more in the back yard......

The back of Aunt Pam & Uncle John's house.....

After the funeral, we went to my Grandma's house to visit some more.  This is my great grandma's house that my grandma moved into when she passed away.  I wanted to take lots of pics while I was there so I could remember things and I am so glad I did!!  

Zoey on the front porch......

This is the inside family room.....I love how it looks like noone lives here,......everything has a place and nothing is ever out of place!!  My grandma is a neat and organized lady (I guess that is where I get it from)!!  :)

I love that there is a picture of my cute great grandma, Emma Rowley, hanging on the wall!!!  :)  I can totally see myself having a picture of my mom hanging on the wall after she passes away!!!  :)

My favorite part of the house is the basement......it is so crazy and retro and fun!!  The walls are pink and blue......the furniture is green and orange!!  There are so many little antiques and fun pieces of furniture down there!!  I love it!!  :)  Who knows how long these walls have been painted pink and blue?!?!  LOL!

Chris started looking around the house for things that he wanted to "put his name on" when my grandma died!  He liked this old school record player.....

And then I decided I would take pics of the things I want!!  There are so many old neat pieces of furniture.....things that you would find at a thrift store!!  I would love to have all these things....and my grandma said I could have them!!  The only challenge is gonna be getting them from Illinois to Cali!!!  BOO!!!  :(  I just can't see myself driving them cross country!!!

I'm in love with these 2 pieces of green furniture!! I even love the color!! HA!  Not sure where I would put them, but I think they would look great somewhere!!!!

This old antique desk is also super cute!  I know exactly where I would put this.....and I can totally picture my kids doing homework there!!  :)

This little telephone table is one of the cutest things that I remember as a kid.  My grandma used to have her telephone sitting on top and as you can see there are STILL telephone books inside!  The lamp on top of it was super cute too!!  My aunt and I were saying that those style of lamps are totally in style again!!  HA!

Love this little round end table too.....

After I showed my grandma all those things that I wanted, she said "why don't you want the sewing machine???"  Haha!!  Ok.....add that to the list!!  A sewing machine.....I have been wanting to learn to sew anyway!!!  :)

It's always fun to go back to places that you remember as a kid and have fond memories of!!  That is one of the things I love about visiting Chicago!  I can't wait til my WHOLE family can go back and I can show Jeremiah and the kids where I was born and lived for the first 7 years of my life!!  :)

We made a little trip to Starbucks one day.......

I love his perfectly round face.....

On Sunday, we went for a walk around the neighborhood!  Zoey found some GIGANTIC perfect leaves along the way!  She just couldn't get enough of all these leaves!!!!

Most of the trees had lost all of their leaves!  My aunt said if we had been there 2 weeks earlier that it was beautiful with all the colorful trees!!  But there were still some random pretty ones like this.....

Grammy was showing Zoey my baby pictures that my grandma had!!  HA!  Zoey had a blast seeing me as a baby and seeing that I loved to play with dolls just as much as she does!!!  :)

Sunday night, my 2 cousins, Sarah and Rachel came over for dinner.

Rachel, Sarah and me.....

My mom and her 2 nieces.....

Another 4 year old boy for Zoey to play with......Sarah's little boy, Evan......

Maddix enjoying a popsicle treat......

I think one of the highlights of the trip for me was visiting my Aunt Pam and Uncle John's cute little family restaurant......Johnny Pamcakes (isn't that the cutest name since they are John & Pam....ha).  They opened this restaurant I think about 4 years ago and for the past 4 years, we have been hearing all about it.....every time my parent's go back, they eat there at least once a day.....we have heard about the menu and we have been lucky enough to have my aunt and uncle make their delicious Swedish pancakes for us when they come to Cali!  We have heard about how busy they are and about all the records that they keep breaking and about how successful it has been....even in a down economy!!  We have heard all about their employees!!  We have heard about it all!! Whenever they come to Cali and we get together, you can usually find us talking about Johnny Pamcakes cuz it's just so interesting to hear about!!  So I think the anticipation of going there was making me so excited.....I just couldn't wait to see it live and in person!!!  :)  The place was hopping......we went there a total of 3 times in the 4 days we were there and each and every time we went there were lines out the door for people to get in and get a table!!!  Talk about success!!!!  :)

I was laughing at myself as we pulled up the first night there.......I felt like the paparazzi or something....I think I took 15 pics before I even stepped foot inside the restaurant!!  

I was at one end of the table and my Uncle John and Aunt Pam were at the other end!  It was so fun and interesting to watch them in action!  :) 

Uncle John was telling Zoey all the secrets of the restaurant business!!!  :)

Whether we were there for breakfast, lunch or dinner, Zoey ordered pancakes every time!!  After all, they do specialize in breakfast!!  :)

Isn't this the cutest little plate of pancakes that you ever did see?!?!?  Zoey almost didn't want to eat it cuz it was so cute!!!  HA!

I got to go back in the kitchen and get a tour of everything!  It was so fun to see all the employees and see how much they liked my aunt and uncle and how happy they were to be working there!

One of the chefs making a big batch of Swedish pancakes on the griddle....

In action.....busy night.....never a dull moment I am sure!!!  :)

It was so much fun visiting the restaurant!!  I can't wait to go back and take Jeremiah & Ayden to see this time!!  I know they will love it as much as I did!  And next time I go, I want to go back in the kitchen at a not so busy time so I can really check it all out without feeling like I am in the way!!!  :)

We had a WONDERFUL trip! I am so grateful that I was able to go!!  I am so glad that I got to go with my mom and take the kids! I am so glad that we got to see friends and so many family members....some that we haven't seen in years!!!  It really was the most perfect trip!!  But by the end of it, we were exhausted and ready to head back home!!  Especially after Maddix cut his eye open while at the airport waiting for our return flight!!  Poor boy!!!  :(

This pretty much sums up how we all felt on the way home!!  It was a busy trip.....we crammed a lot of stuff into 4 days and we were beat!!!