Gratitude #30

I know that I have a loving Heavenly Father.  I know that I lived with Him before I came it this earth and that I can live with Him after I die.  I know that He sent His Only Begotten Son to prepare the way that we may return to Him.  I know that my Savior lives and loves me.  I know He paid for my sins in the Garden of Gethsemine.  I know that He died on the cross and made it possible for us to break the bonds of death and live again.
I am grateful for the many blessings that I have had in my life.  I am grateful to know that when I do what my Heavenly Father wants me to do I will have more blessings.
I am grateful for my Father in Heaven and His Son, my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Gratitude #29

I am grateful for a Living Prophet.  I know the picture I have up is not the current living prophet but he is the prophet that has had a profound influence on my life.  I am grateful that I lived during the President Hinckley years.  I learned much from him.  I love him.  I miss him.

That isn't to say that I don't think that President Monson should be the Prophet because I do.  I love him too.  Before he became the Prophet I would listen to his talks in General Conference and just be amazed at the things he has been able to do.  He is amazing!

I love having a Living Prophet.  I love that I have access to his words in the Church magazines and General Conference.  I am grateful for our Prophet.

Gratitude #28

I decided for this gratitude I would be grateful for SNOW.  While our trip home was made more dangerous and much longer because of the snow I decided to attempt to be grateful for it.  Here is what I came up with: 

 The kids LOVE playing in it or even just watching it come down.  It makes everything white and clean if only for a moment.  The best thing about snow is that it builds up in the mountains and then melts in the spring to become our drinking water.

Thank you snow for bringing a clean look to the earth and for storing our water until the heat of summer.

Gratitude #27

I am so very grateful for my husband Les.  I do not know how I could do what I do without his support.  He made me a very happy woman the day we got married.  He has continued to make me happy each and every day.  I am so lucky.  Les doesn't seem to think so.  He often tells me that if he dies I will get my chance to find a better man to marry.  I know for a fact that Les is the best husband for me.  He puts up with all of my wierdness and loves me despite the fact that at times we both think I've gone crazy.

Look at how much younger and carefree we look.  My how things have changed.

Here are pictures of Les with each of his princesses.

I am grateful for Les.  He is my eternal companion and I love him so much.

Gratitude #26

Today my gratitude is on my oldest, Emma.  She is the one who taught me what it was like to be a mother.  To love someone so intensely and feeling their every move without ever laying my eyes on them.  I feel so blessed to be her mother.   Here she is a few days after she was born.

 Emma has kept me on my toes.  She is incredibly smart.  She picks things up before I even realize that I am teaching it to her.  My mom told me once she felt bad for whoever would be Emma's teacher.  I felt a little offended until she explained why.  She told me that Emma would be a challenge to keep motivated since she picks things up so fast.  Everyday that we get a chance Emma does "homework" with me.  She knows her colors and shapes.  She can count to 10 and recognizes most of those numbers when she sees them.  She recognizes most of the letters.  She will now look at the writing on boxes and signs and then tell me the letters that are on it.  One thing I have noticed lately is that she will tell me the letters in the wrong order.  So our next lesson will include reading letters from left to right.  She is so smart I don't know how I will keep up with her.  Enjoy the pictures.

It says "Little Miss Firecracker."

 

Emma was a teddy bear for her first Halloween.  How cute is she!

 I love the "Pebbles" look. 

Our first family Christmas picture.

 Emma on Christmas morning 2007.  It was her first Christmas.

First birthday picture.

 Summer 2008

 The night before Halloween 2008.

 November 2008 at Hogo Zoo.

 February 2009 after Les' cousin had her wedding reception.  Emma caught the flowers with a lot of help from her daddy.

 Emma as cinderella for her 2nd birthday.

Emma when she became a sister.

May 2009 she posed with this umbrella in a store.

 July 2009 at Myton Elementary School.

 2nd Halloween

 Picture for 3rd birthday.

 2010 4th of July BBQ at Uncle Ken's.

 Halloween 2010

Enjoying the fall scenery in the mountains.

Obviously I have more pictures of Emma then I put on of either of the others.  This is only because I had a bigger span of time to cover.  I am grateful for all I learn from Emma.  As she experiences new things it helps me to gain experience as a mother.  Thank you Emma!

Gratitude #25

First of all I must apologize.  On Thanksgiving Day my computer slid off Les' lap and hit the floor.  The battery popped out but niether he or I realized it.  So when he passed it to me to finish my work on this post he unplugged it and it turned off.  When I got the battery back in and started it up I could no longer access the internet.  Long story short I have been unsuccessful at trying to share Les' computer.  Also his screen went out before we made it back home.  So we are sharing my old computer (he tried to get rid of it when I got my new one.  Good thing I talked him out of it.) now that we are home.  The best part is that he has school so he can't hog the computer.  Hence the reason I am on here finishing this post.  I will do the other gratitude posts but they will all have today's date on them (if I can get them all done today).

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  What a beautiful morning this is.  We are at my brother Daniel's for this holiday.  We are grateful for this family letting us invade their home.

Today my gratitude is on my youngest, Samantha.  She is a beautiful little monster.  Here is a picture that I took when she was less than one day old.

Such a new and special spirit in our home.  Those who have followed our blog now what the next picture is all about.

Mom told me that we wanted her to fight and not to be surprised when she is always a fighter.  I think I pictured something else.  She sure is a fighter.  She picks fights with her sisters all the time.

I took this picture of her a day or two after she got out of the hospital.  She went home on oxygen and by the end of May she was completely off. 

Here she is a few months later with a messy face and cute smile.

In this picture she is doing her little bob thing.  She wants to stand but for the life of me I can't get her to walk.

This is her at age one.  We had the slide out in the backyard and she wanted to have fun on it too.  She was so excited to go down.  Then she wanted to go over and over.

Here is the one year picture we had taken.  What a cutie! 

We had decided to do some spring cleaning.  I was stressed out and decided I wasn't going to have another baby anytime soon.  So I gathered the baby stuff in the garage to be packed up and put into storage.  While I was working at that Sammi spotted her old carseat.  Next thing I knew she had climbed in and made herself comfortable.

Sammi is most likely to be my tomboy.  Here she is sporting her Aggie hat.  You should see her in her Aggie gear and the hat.  So cute!

This is the first part of October.  We went to my sister's house to help her with her kids.  This is Sammi kissing her newest cousin Chrislyn.

This was right before Thanksgiving.  She is sporting her new hat and gloves.

I learn so much from Sammi.  Most of it about not giving up and pushing forward.  After Sammi ended up in the hospital we noticed that she seemed to be a little behind in her development.  The last few months she has proven that she can overcome anything.  She is no longer behind.  In fact she maybe a little ahead now.  Any words I teach Khole she picks up.  She is the driving force behind Khole getting potty trained as well.  Sammi gets a piece of candy everytime she (#1 or #2) in the potty.  As a result Khole has become interested in trying too.  Competition can be a good thing.

I love how much I mean to Sammi.  I love it when she gives me kisses and hugs.  I love her laugh.  Yes even the one that sounds a little evil.  I love you Samantha.  You are so very special.  I am grateful for you Sam.



Gratitude #24

This is the picture of today's gratitude.  Who is this baby?  As you can see that isn't me in the hospital bed in the background.  This baby is Khole Marie Mounteer.  I am grateful for Khole.  She came into this world an innocent baby.  While I can't and really don't want to disclose what she has been through I can say this girl's life has been turned upside down more than once.  She came into our home in April 2010.  At the age of 2 she could only say 6 words.  For those of you without kids or new parents that is not good.  A one year old can say more than 6 words (maybe not well).  Her previous foster mother was determined that who ever ended up with her would need to know sign language to communicate.  Six months in our home and she can say more than 50 words, make two word phrases, and is learning to say three word phrases. 

While Khole and I have had our ups and downs I can joyfully say that our relationship is growing.  As the mother figure I had a lot to overcome to gain even a little bit of her trust.  She will now let me hug her and will snuggle into my side.  She will even ask me for things.  Before she would wait until Les got home and then ask him for whatever she wanted.  I am grateful that she has been able to grow and learn in our home.  I have learned a lot about development and more importantly about myself through her.  Sometimes what I learn has not been good but it allows me to grow and change.  Thank you Khole!  I love you.

Here are pictures of Khole.

This is a picture taken at our first visit with Khole after she was taken into State custody.

 

This is a picture taken the weekend Khole came to live with us.

Here is her 2 year picture we had taken a month after she came to us.

 Here is Khole on the quad at USU in May when my brother graduated with his Master's degree.

Here is Khole from early in October taken in the mountains when we went up there to see the fall colors.

Can you believe the difference between the pictures?  She has grown so much.