Lucky 7

Jaden will technically turn seven tomorow morning but we've been celebrating for a few days now. This year he wanted to have his first friend birthday party. We decided to use his horse and have a cowboy party. Here is what the invite was:
















Somehow 19 children were invited(including my own). I am not sure what I was thinking but thanks to my wonderful hubby, mom, dad and Pat, we managed to keep them busy and entertained. We divided them into 3 groups and rotated them around 3 stations. Riding Buck was one station and dad and Cory maintained some order.














I had another station and we played Balloon Stampede (kids circle up and then pop all the balloons in the circle-loud but fun), Pass the Rattlesnake and a version of duck-duck-goose.

























Mom had another station where they played horse shoes and did some relays with boots, hats, and such.













Then we opened presents

























Had cowboy cupcakes and root-tootin rootbeer floats.













Then Grandma Jane read them a cowboy story.














Then we were all tired...until today.

Today we tried out Pirate Island. Super fun and good pizza.















My kids thought it was great and Jaden even told me "thanks for my birthday mom". What a great kid. And finally tomorow he will turn seven...thank goodness!! What would I do without him though. Amazing how much I've changed in the seven years!! Thanks for being such a great kid! I love you Jaden!

Thank goodness for government holidays...

Life gets so busy and there are so many "random" government holidays that I forget to sometimes remember each ones meaning. Today though, with all the flags flying and all the sacrifices that are made by soldiers and their families, I can't help but feel grateful. Thank you to all who have, are, and will defend and protect the freedoms that I take for granted daily. It is a tribute to the good work they do that we don't always remember it and are able to go about our lives. It is also great to be able to pause and remember them.

Ok, now to another thankful. I am so grateful for Lane. He is an absolute delight. He has always been cuddly and I keep thinking it will end but just this morning he cuddled in bed with me for 30 minutes. He was awake and he was talking but he laid in my arms without wiggling out and even got upset when I moved an arm off of him to get more comfortable. He quickly put my arm back. Seriously, I love this kid...even though he wears me out trying to keep up with the messes he makes. Oh, this is his new trick.

Grumpy while blogging...

No one likes to hear or read grumpy blogs so in an attempt to lighten my grumpy mood I will post some pictures of my cute kids. Halloween was fun this year. It did feel like a lot of work with 3+ days of dressing kids up but in the end...their smiles are worth any amount of work.

Carving Pumpkins













Orange & black pancakes that the kids cut into Halloween shapes













Worms, fingers, rotton apples, and spider's blood (I love their imaginations)













My dog, fairy and vampire (Lane's costume actually barked...he loved it)














A lot of friends and family have been posting something they are thankful for each day. I love reading them and think that gratitude is so important. We've been doing a thankful jar that my friend Tanya e-mailed me and it has been fun to see the kids getting into gratitude. I've tried very hard to teach my kids to be thankful for what they have. At times I feel successful and other times I think they'll never get it. In the last few days I've realized how important it is for my children to know how grateful I am for them. I tell them I love them but I don't tell them often enough, "Thank you, for being you"

I don't know if I'm the only one who feels misunderstood and underappreciated. At times I feel I try and try and it isn't enough. I've been working on some YW projects (I know I still need to post them) and one of the things I've loved is Individual Worth. I love that my Father in Heaven love for me is so pure.

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said "“Oh, it is wonderful to know that our Heavenly Father loves us—even with all our flaws! His love is such that even should we give up on ourselves, He never will. We [might] see ourselves in terms of yesterday and today. Our Heavenly Father sees us in terms of forever. …The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of transformation. It takes us as men and women of the earth and refines us into men and women for the eternities.”

Thank goodness for eternity to work on being better. Today I'm thankful for the 3 people in my life who seem to love and appreciate ALL of me and my attempts. One is my Father in Heaven. He knows the attempts of my heart and understands that I'm not without fault but I am also trying and want so much to make my children, family and friends happy. The second is my husband, I don't give him credit as much as I should. He loves me unconditionally and really does appreciate me. The last one is my sweet grandma. She has never once doubted me and truely sees me as I want everyone else too. So now my hope is that I can add my children to this list someday...my other hope is that I can tell others more how much I appreciate them.