Thanksgiving Dinner

My Thanksgiving party. Mom was hurrying to sit down.

We extended from the counter all the way out to the middle of the family room.

This is my centerpeice. I can keep it on my table all year since it is in the colors of my kitchen/dining room/living room.

The pre-party look. I was sooo happy with this table. It looked sooo good. I love it.

This year I am thankful for my family, my kids that teach me more and more each day about how to be a better person. I am thankful for my husband who puts up with me even tho I know I am difficult to live with some days (I know, hard to imagine haha). I am thankful that I have a beautiful home that gives us all the space we need without us being so spread out we forget that we need to come together on the important stuff. I am thankful for my job. It is crazy sometimes and sometimes I feel burnt out, but really, most days I don't mind going to work. I like the people I work with and hope that they know I do appreciate their efforts. I am thankful for the church and for Jesus. Without Him none of this matters and without Him none of us will return to live with our Heavenly Father.

Another baby, thank heavens it isn't mine.

I am so excited. My sister is going to have a baby. The baby is due July 6th (we might get a 4th of July baby!!). The crazy thing is that I have been panicked thinking that I was prego. I couldn't get the thoughts out of my head that I was going to have a baby and I couldnt figure out how to break the news to my husband. I just knew that he was going to be upset--we don't want to have another baby. I even took a pregnancy test. Turns out it is Candice, not me. No wonder I was thinking it. She and I so close that we should be in snyc with that sort of stuff. I hope that she has a girl. She needs to have a girl. Kaitlyn needs a sister.

The amazing power of Thank You

My Olivia is one amazing kid. When she was a newborn we had her blessed (like a Christening for those who aren't LDS). Ken was the one to bless her which is another amazing story in itself. One line from that blessing that stands out in my mind is she was promised by her Heavenly Father that she was here to touch the lives around her. She would be enriched in her life by others and that she would enrich the lives of others. All of this promised to one amazing little spirit who choose to come to earth and live with our family.

Now the reason for all this background is that I have seen this promised fulfilled over and over in her life. the most recent time is when we went to parent teacher conferences. Olivia's teacher Mrs. Martineau said that Olivia was a very sweet, kind, loving little girl (which we already knew about her). She said she had a story about Olivia she wanted to share with us. She said that every time she would give Olivia a peice of paper, or a sticker for her homework, or read a story to the class Olivia would say Thank You. every single time, with amazing consistency for a 6 1/2 year old kid. Well, this started having an effect on the other little ones sitting next to her. They would start to say thanks for Mrs. Martineau reading, or handing out homework, etc. Then this started to spread. Now the class says thank you to her all day long. They are working on Rachel's Challenge (you have to google this if you need more info...I don't have room here to talk about it) and working on making little changes and creating a chain of events that create more goodness in the world. Mrs. Matineau said that Olivia has created the chain of event that has led to happiness and harmony in their class. She told us that she has never had a class that did this. She had never recieved so much gratitude from a single child before. Mrs. Martineau was telling the class how much she appreciated their outstanding manners and two little boys raised their hands and said..."Olivia taught us how!"

As her mother I am moved emotionally by this child. I think she is amazing. She is little and has created this big change in the lives of those around . How could you not love this kid? She was sent to our family and she is here to teach others to love and how to be loved. Kindness is a way to do that. Maybe we all need to say thank you more and more and for even the little things that we don't necessarily think we need to (who says thanks for getting another assignment to do or when we get to do another chore??) Gratitude is great!