Day 131

Good evening!

Today was a bit of a lazy day for me.  David and Joel went to Stake Conference while I stayed home with Connor.  Taking a 4 year old to a 2 hour church meeting is not something I have enough energy for...now, or when I am not flaring...pretty much ever lol.

David and Joel had a good time and finally got to meet our Stake President.  I snuggled on the couch with Connor and we watched TV together.

When all the boys were home, I made pumpkin muffins and eggs for a brunch.  We had a nice time sitting at the table talking about the speakers at Stake Conference and different things we are up to.  It is always nice to sit at our table and eat together!

Joel and Connor played really well together this afternoon and this evening and had so much fun running around.  Joel would run away from Connor and Connor would run after Joel and try to kiss him.  They ran all over the house playing hide and seek and would scream with delight when they found one another.  It made my heart so happy to hear them getting on so well!  They are super excited for this week to come...pumpkin carving and Halloween!  Should be fun!

We got to Skype with my parents tonight.  The boys had a fun time talking and then it was off to bed for them.  I did my weekly routine of printing off coupons for grocery shopping.  I have been getting a bit lazy about making the boy's lunches for the whole week in advance....still a bit tired in the evening, but if I go to bed early tonight and wake up early, I should be fine and have enough time to prepare their lunches.  Well, that is all I know for now!  It was a good day today...no naps, but lots of family time.  I am so thankful for my little family and the fun talks we had around our dinner table tonight as well.  Happy Sunday!

Tuesday thru Saturday...better late than never!

So sad I haven't been on here to blog!  The past couple of weeks have been insane, and having your kid have surgery and recover is a lot more work than just me lying around recovering lol.  I have been SO beyond tired as well, but taking it one day at a time to have happy moments...so here is a mish mosh of all of the happy moments of the week, and I promise to try to be better, and  more grateful, AND more awake, next week!

• Having some alone time this week meant that I could catch up on some sleep.  I don't know if it is because I am really flaring badly lately, but sleep is one of my top favorite happy moments of this week!  I tried not to sleep when the kids were home, but sometimes it couldn't be helped!  So I am grateful for catching MANY Zs this week and hopefully will be more productive in the coming week!
• Connor and I did Taco Tuesday while David and Joel had a father/son night.  It was a lot of fun with Connor and we even stopped for hot chocolates at Starbucks for dessert.  I am grateful for the fun times I had with Connor this week.  He recited really cute pumpkin poems, the Pledge of Allegiance, and just said some of the funniest things YET!  I am lucky to get to hang around him and be his mom and listen to all of the funny things he says!
• Joel and I had several really nice walks to school this week because David was home getting ready for work so Connor snuggled and watched TV while Joel and I walked together.  Sometimes Joel is the most talkative in the morning on our walks and it was nice to catch up with him, hear what some of his most recent favorite things are, what he hopes to do at school that day, and other funny things.  He seemed to be feeling much better by the end of the week and I am so grateful that he is on the mend and getting stronger every day!
• This week was a weekend of birthdays!  David's birthday was on Friday and my Dad's was on Saturday.  After both boys got home from school on Friday, we went to our neighbor's home to play and had a great time running around for an hour.  After that, our babysitter came over and David and I went out to celebrate his 33rd year.  It was so nice!  We went to an AMAZING sushi restaurant and had some truly gourmet food!  After our bellies were full and happy, we headed to an imax 3D screening of Gravity.  WOW that movie was good!  It was a really nice birthday day and the boys can't wait to eat some pumpkin pie birthday pie at the end of the weekend!
• Saturday was a day for sleeping in and getting things done around the house.  The boys are both getting so much better at helping us clean up and pick up toys!  I am so thankful both of them are getting good at putting things away and helping out more.  After our house work, we went to Connor's school Fall Fair and it was great fun!  The boys had the best time petting a tiny pink pig in the petting zoo.  They are currently obsessed with the show Peppa Pig and so it was such a treat to get to pet a real pig!  After the fun fair, Joel had his soccer game so we rushed over to that.  Joel did such a great job playing this evening.  The siren went off to let us know that lightening was getting too close so the game ended early....all around happy moments at the game tonight lol.
• We came home and enjoyed a thunder and lightening show for the better part of 3 hours tonight!  I was so nice to snuggle down and watch the house light up and listen to the thunder while we all huddled together.  The boys were so sweet, they even went to sleep together tonight to keep each other safe.  So precious!

Well, and that gets us to Saturday night!  I feel so badly that I didn't get to blog each day this week, but I have just been so tired.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I had this evening to look back at my week and smile at all that has transpired.  It was a really great week and I had lots of fun with my boys!  I am looking forward to more Fall weather and pumpkin dishes for breakfast and dinner tomorrow!  Until then, thanks for sticking around to read this!  Night all!

Days 124 &125

Happy Monday!  Sundays and Mondays tend to blur into one big day for me sometimes.

• Sunday was the boy's primary program at church and they both did a great job singing!  I was also the start of my new calling as nursery leader and although I feel overwhelmed a bit right now, I am so excited to be working with itty bitty kiddos once more!  They are all so cute and I hope I can give them joy and fun while they are away from their parents for two hours
• I got to take a nap yesterday...one of my all time favorite Sunday happy moments
• We skyped with my parents and texted with David's parents.  The boys had a fun time dancing around and even mooned their grandparents at one point LOL such BOYS!  My parents were laughing their heads off!
• It has been pretty cold lately so I ended my evening with a piping hot cup of chamomile almond tea...that cures any cold feet and makes me smile!

Monday- 

I couldn't find my workout shoes to go to the gym this morning, and I had gotten dressed and was all set to go!  So, today at Target I bought a NEW pair (I was in need of a new pair anyways) and I look forward to going on Wednesday to try out the new pair!

• I went grocery shopping at Target...nuff said
• Connor and Joel were so happy to see one another after school today and they spent a lot of time playing and laughing this evening.  They have gotten really interested at building things with their legos and they are just so cute as they have little airplane battles and pirate wars...all boys!
• We went on a walk to our local water area tonight for Family Home Evening.  We talked about who made the earth and all living things in it.  Joel asked some REALLY great gospel centered questions tonight as well!  We brought Ginger with us and she ran all over in the water and mud!  She was SO happy to be playing and running and finding the joy!  So I did get a workout in after all this evening and now my boys are out cold after nice warm baths and showers!
• There are more TV shows recording on my DVR right now and I can't wait to watch some of them tomorrow!

I am so grateful for being able to find the joy and have such a loving family.  We are so blessed every day and I can't believe it has been a whole week since we brought Joel home from the hospital!  What a crazy week it was last week, but this week is looking a lot more joyful.  I am so thankful for my two little boys and the love that they have for each other.  Time to head to sleep and wake up to a new day tomorrow!  

Day 123

Today was another fun day for our family!  We drove out and spent another day at the pumpkin patch in Celina.   Joel really wanted to go and it was so much fun for the whole family!  The pumpkins were even pretty inexpensive and it was fun to have the kids run around, play in the hay maze, ride the tractor, eat hot dogs, and take more fun pictures!  David really enjoyed it as well and I am so glad we all got to have a fun adventure!

This afternoon was time for us to pick up the house a bit.  It was a true happy moment for me to see box after box of stuff be removed from the play room and into the trash!  That room is looking so much better now!

This evening we went and got sandwiches and met up with other ward members at a park for a party.  We have had more ward activities in the past 4 months in our new ward than we did the entire 5 years we lived in our last area!  The people are so wonderful here and the kids played non-stop with their primary friends.  It was great to talk with other people and get to know more things.  David even got his calling at the party this evening!  He is looking forward to making it official tomorrow and I am looking forward to starting my calling tomorrow as well!  Well, that is all for tonight.  I am just SO grateful that it has been one week since Joel went to the hospital.  Tonight we will get to bed by about 10 and not be up until 3 in the morning...how nice it will be to see my two sons in their own beds, happy, healthy, and sleeping.  I feel very blessed that this week went by quickly and that Joel is healing and that we were helped so much by so many this week!  Have a great rest of your Saturday all!

Days 120 121 122

LONG days these past three days have been.  I had a migraine for most of the days, but there were happy moments each day and I don't want to fail and not blog them...having this blog reminds me that there is joy to be found in each day, each week, no matter how difficult the days or weeks may be!

Wednesday was Joel's first day back to school!  I am so proud of him and being able to go.  Connor had a great time at preschool and I got to sit quietly in the dark for most of the day trying to get rid of my raging migraine.  BUT, it was quiet and a nice cold day out, so it was made for snuggling on the couch!

Thursday-Connor went to preschool at his co op for a make up day and all of the kids had so much fun!  I got to meet with my friend Lori for lunch and we had the most delicious hamburgers at a cafe and had a fun time talking.  She brought her one year old daughter and she is SO cute!  It was so nice to get to hang out with a friend and I feel blessed to be making many many friends here!
Connor went to play at a friend's house after preschool and I walked down to pick Joel up.  We found two really cute doggies roaming the streets so we put them in the back yard to keep safe and called the owners on the tags.  While we were doing that, Connor came home and my poor friend couldn't find me! It made for a funny moment.  Her kids came in the house and came and played some more!  The boys absolutely love having friends over!  It made for such a fun afternoon to have friends playing here and I was just so happy to see my kiddos so happy!

Friday-today I dropped Joel off at school and Connor and I went on a fieldtrip with his class to a Pumpkin patch in Celina Texas.  What an amazing place!!  It is so far out in the country and the drive there was so beautiful!  There were so many fun things to see and do there and I had happy moment after happy moment listening to Connor giggle and run all over with delight!  We fed goats, pet Longhorn cows, took a tractor drive, went through a hay maze, and took lots of pictures all over!  They had those really big things of rolled hay and when we first moved here, Connor starting calling them "cow sushi."  Well the name stuck and he was SO excited to get to touch them today!  We have only ever seen them from afar before.
David worked late tonight so the boys and I did Chick-fil-A for dinner.  They love that place and it was fun to get to sit and talk with the boys about their favorite parts of the day.  Joel said he had so much fun at recess playing with different friends.  That makes me happy that he is meeting new people and hanging out!  The boys and I had THE best time tonight running all over our big house in the dark playing hide and go seek.  They would scream if I found them and scream when they found me!  It was a lot of laughter and I am so thankful for the fun playtime with my boys.  Oh, and before that we took a walk around our local lake and there were swarms of mosquitoes and nats and we had fun screaming and yelling from them (I think you had to be there to see that one lol).  So Connor went to bed and Joel snuggled downstairs with me for a bit.

It has been a fun few days and I am so thankful my headache is going away finally!  Here is to it being Friday and to a fun (hopefully productive) weekend of play time and cleaning time!  Have a good night all!

Day 119

Hello hello!  Time for some bullet blogging then bed today!

• I for sure got some serious quality time with all of my boys today.  I got to snuggle with Connor, help Joel out, and take care of David...because they were ALL home with me all day long!
• I did get a nap in today...it was much needed and Joel and Connor spent some time watching TV together and hanging out.  They were nice to one another all day and I am thankful they had some loving brother time
• My friend Alixa brought us dinner this evening.  It was delicious and much needed!  I am so thankful we are having dinners brought in this week...it has been a crazy one!  We feel loved.
• Tonight I let Ginger to go out and potty before bed.  Our male cat is always trying to sneak out of the house.  It is COLD and RAINING tonight and this cat hates water with a special kind of passion.  So as he stepped out tonight to try and escape, he walked on water and it was raining on him.  David and I laughed So hard as we watched him walking and shaking his paws.  Then he jumped up on a window sill to try and escape the water a bit...it was a bit breezy so that didn't work too well either!  He kept shaking his head and his paws and finally gave up and went into the house voluntarily!  That is rare that I don't have to pick him up and bring him back in.  We had a good laugh and smile about his little adventure tonight!
• Well, we are done for the evening and David and I got to watch a couple of TV shows together after we put the boys to bed.  Both of them went down with no problems or trying to stay up a few more minutes tonight so that was a happy moment as well!

Connor goes to school tomorrow, Joel says he is ready to go back to school, and David is feeling better and is going to work tomorrow...happy moment that I get to go to MOPS and be alone after that!  Enjoy your night!

Day 118

Good evening!  Well, today was another LONG day but my little guy is HOME and that is the biggest happy moment of our day!

Today the kids had the day off and I had a fun day planned of going to the mall and looking at a big Disney store and having lunch with my kiddos....well, Connor went on a couple of playdates so I could spend the day at the hospital with Joel and eventually bring him home.

It was a nice day with Joel.  We watched TV together, had lunch together, played some video games together, and I made him laugh.  I am so happy he is doing better!  The doctor came in today and said his white blood cell count is back to normal.  A HUGE happy moment for this momma!

I just feel so blessed as people watched Connor and brought us dinner and came over this evening to visit Joel.  I really felt the love in our new area and I am so grateful that even though our family could not be with us, our Ward Family was here for us and our neighbors are here for us.  We are beyond blessed and I am so happy tonight!

It was a fun happy moment to come home and see Connor and Ginger and see how happy they were to have us home as well...that was pretty great to hear, "Hey MOMMYYY!!!"  Well, the end of our very long weekend is here.  It is supposed to rain tomorrow and Connor has his co op preschool and Joel will be home with me on a rainy morning!  Hot chocolate and lots of snuggling down on the couch in front of the TV await us in the morning!  Have a great night!

Days 115, 116, 117...bit of a blur really

So, I had every intention of coming home yesterday and sharing my happy moments at the Time Out For Women conference in Arlington Texas that I attended.  I attended Friday night and the song was "Be Still My Soul" played by the most talented violinist I have ever heard.  Brad Wilcox could not be there because he was attending his mother's funeral, so they sent John Bytheway to speak to us.  It was all about tribulation and trials and how to have a good attitude knowing our day of rest from trials will come...in this life or the next.  Then something happened....

I got tired, my feet hurt, the chair was uncomfortable, so I went back to my comfy hotel to rest up for the next day's conference...so I missed one speaker that night.  On a fun note, on my way to my room, I was in the elevator with lots of players from TCU and they won their football game on Saturday...really nice guys and all taller than me!  That is what I called a "tall girl happy moment"!

So then Saturday rolls around, and for some reason, I felt very strongly that I needed to NOT go to the conference, but stay in bed, order room service, and rest...sounds weird but I will get there (God gives you tiny pieces of the puzzle and you look back and see the whole picture after the trial I have learned)  Also, as John Bytheway put it, we are like a big cross stitch...God is cross stitching our lives and all we can see is the messed up bottom of the cross stitch, but God can see the masterpiece work of art he is creating from above!  So after I had a lazy morning and felt REALLY rested, I met my family for lunch and then we went to Joel's soccer game.  Joel only played for 15 minutes but he played so well...he told us he didn't feel very well at lunch and then at the game he said he felt worse.  So we came home and he went upstairs to rest.  Last night was rough getting the kids to bed and Joel was moaning that he had a really bad tummy ache.  Something inside me remembered a book I had read a few years back called Heaven is For Real.  About a boy who had appendicitis, but his parents thought it was the flu or food poisoning and brushed it off until his appendix burst and he had emergency surgery, died, and came back to life.  So I told David last night, "If he throws up, I am taking him to the ER because I think he might have appendicitis."  My very logical husband was sure it was just food poisoning or something, but just minutes later, we heard Joel running around and found that he HAD thrown up.  So off we went to an urgent care/ER because we haven't been to a REAL ER here yet and I didn't want to wait for hours and hours if it really just WAS food poisoning.  So Joel got tested with a CT scan, blood work, and doctor visit.....and he was transferred to a hospital, and given an IV with antibiotics, and given a scheduled OR visit for the next morning.  And from about midnight to 3 AM, we sat with him, David left, and I slept in Joel's bed with him to keep him company.  So there it is...for me there is the reason WHY some unexplained voice inside me said, "Don't go to this conference, rest up, get some more sleep and relax."  If I had gone to the conference, it would have been good, but I would have been tired from sitting all day and walking to and from the conference center...remember my RA is NOT in remission and is in full swing right now so stressful moments or long days really wear me out.

Sunday-we woke up and Joel was still in a lot of pain.  We headed down to the surgery place, met with the doctor and OR nurse and anesthesiologist...that's right...I spelled it right the first time w no spell check!  I had told Joel all that would happen...after all...in my previous 365 day blog how many times did I write about my little ritual about what I did, what happens right before they put the mask on, the white goo they inject to make you feel happy before surgery...I knew it all and I tried the best I could to prepare my son for it.  It was a ROUGH morning my readers.  There were many tears shed as I waited in line to purchase my hot chocolate and pumpkin scone at Starbuck's in the local Kroger while Joel was in surgery.  There were many heartfelt talks with David.  We even joked that, "yea, I was right, Joel did have appendicitis." Worst time to be RIGHT ever!  But that my mommy senses worked and that was a good thing because Joel got his appendix out and is hopefully on the mend this evening.  Once again, we found ourselves in a hospital.  But we knew what to do, the nurses told us we were some of the best patients and patient's parents they had ever had (we didn't tell them this was not our first rodeo, but David and I just looked at one another and smiled).  We knew that being kind to the nurses and doctors, being calm and patient, it would all pay off.  Someone said on Facebook how strong and positive I am...read the previous blogs...I wasn't always...I was MADE to be that way...surgery...after surgery...after surgery...what I wouldn't have given to have it been ME on that operating table today.  But I couldn't be, so I did what I could to help my little boy not be scared.

So praying that Joel can come home tomorrow and that he can heal up.  Once again I find myself truly grateful for this blog.  I am able to sit down at the end of a very LONG weekend and find the joy and see the happy moments through my sleepy haze.  Hopefully my trial will help someone else.  That is always my hope that when people experience emotional difficulties, that others can learn from them, not just the person, but others around them.  I feel so amazingly blessed this evening to live where we live and have the friends that we do.  Facebook was lit up with prayers and positive thoughts tonight.  I shared each one with Joel and it was so nice to see his little face smile a bit and find the joy in the love that people shared for him.  I count my blessings tonight and I have many.  Good night all!

Day 114

Good evening!  Another day, another opportunity to share some happy moments!  I am so thankful I am able to do this blog again.  It is so fun to get to sit down at the end of the day (or at the end of two days at times) and reflect on what were some of the highlights of those days.

This morning I walked Joel to school and lots of kids were saying hi to him as we walked by...it made my heart so happy to know that he is making friends and getting to know more kiddos!

Connor and I headed to a mall today and together we ate lunch, rode the carousel, walked around a lot of fun stores, and bought ourselves the Star Wars Lego version of the advent calendar.  I am sure I will get a much more spiritual one as well, but this one looks like fun also!  I had SO much fun playing with Connor and walking through the stores with him.  We went to the play area at this mall and he got to run around and I ran after him, gave him tickles, and helped him climb.  It was SO nice to just have a fun afternoon with my little guy.  This is the last year that he won't be in school everyday and I really enjoyed our hours together!

When Joel came home from school, his friend, brother, and sister came over to play.  The sister is in Connor's preschool co op and they had so much fun playing!  All the kids headed out back to play with the swords and shields for a while.  Then they headed in the house to play in the playroom area.  Finally they settled down and got to watch a movie in our movie theater room.  It was a ton of fun and the boys can't wait to have them all over again!  I am so grateful the kids are making really good friends!  I just adore that family and their kiddos and it was such a fun time for everyone!

Tonight we had pancakes for dinner.  I have been flaring for the past few days and am so tired.  Instead of going out to eat, we stuck to our budget and ate breakfast for dinner!  It was delicious and such an easy clean up!  After that, I took Joel to his soccer practice where I got to talk to other parents and enjoy watching Joel get really good at playing!  I am so proud of him and his team and how hard they work together to get the ball in the goal!

Well, just finished watching The Big Bang Theory with David and we are off to bed.  Grateful to be getting to sleep at a decent hour tonight!  I hope everyone enjoys their Thursday evening!  SO SO SO looking forward to this weekend and a fun filled Friday and Saturday!

Day 113

What a fun filled day!!!
I began the morning by taking the kiddos to school and getting hugs and kisses from each...love my morning hugs!

After doing some yard work, I got dressed and headed to the mall to walk around.  I used to do that a lot in California but haven't done that too much here.  It was SO quiet going alone without my kiddos! It was nice to eat lunch alone and have it be quiet for a bit though AND I was able to get in and out of a few shops and get some Christmas presents for one of the kids so it was quite the productive trip!  I got to go into William Sonoma...one of my all time happy moment stores AND I bought some stuff from there today as well...so going to mall was good times!

I came home and played with Ginger for a bit and texted my friend Lanay.  After I picked the boys up from school, we grabbed a bunch of our swords and shields and headed to a local lake to meet up with Lanay and her sons.  The boys had SO much fun playing around the water, Ginger got to go swimming for a bit, and we had SO much fun walking around looking for crawdads but only found eaten ones this time.  It was a great afternoon!  We came home and I gave Ginger a bath and then she passed out for the next few hours!

We had a nice dinner all together tonight and then I was off to a Zumba class that my friend teaches. On the way there, I was able to talk with my friend Sheila from grad-school.  We haven't talked in a while and it was SO nice to catch up with her!  She is one of the kindest people I have ever met and is SO SO sweet...talking with her on the phone was a great happy moment.  Speaking of joy, I wish I could post a video of my friend while she is teaching the Zumba class.  You know how our family mantra is "Find the Joy."  This girl is SO joyful teaching this class!  And I kept up with her for 50 out of the 58 minutes tonight as well so REALLY happy about that!  We had a nice chat after the class as well.  I am so grateful for wonderful friends!

I came home from the workout and Joel was waiting for me.  We snuggled on the couch and watched "The Middle." That show always makes him laugh.  It is nice spending one on one time with my kiddos.  Connor doesn't have school tomorrow so we will be on an adventure of some kind I think!  Wishing everyone a really happy, joyful, night!  I am so thankful for days like today that are filled with fun, friends, and family.  Even being able to post a bit back and forth on Facebook with some of my dear friends back in California was a joy tonight.  I feel so blessed and happy this evening...could it be we are over the moving hump?  I really hope so!  Blessings all!

Day 111 and 112

Well, blogging every day has become a difficult challenge lol.  Back when I had just a tiny little guy and a kindergartner, it was a lot easier to get them to bed and then blog.  But now with school, still trying to move into our house, and having just one computer, it is hard to get on here and type late at night!  All I want to do lately at the end of the day is go to bed.  We have all had really bad allergies so it has been rough for all of us!  But, I am here and ready to blog the past two days so...

• Monday-was a nice day, David worked late again so it was just me and the boys.  Our good friends from California were in town so they came over to see our home and visit.  Their granddaughter drove them over and brought her puppy.  Ginger was SO excited to have a friend to play with in the backyard!  They wore each other out and we are hoping to get them together again soon!
• I took Connor to school and stayed with him to do chapel time.  It was so cute to see all of the kiddos singing songs and praising God.  I had fun being there and I am glad I got to snuggle with Connor during school!

• Tuesday-it was a busy but productive day!  I was able to finish raking one side of the front yard and I spread mulch around one of our trees!  It feel so good to be getting back to gardening and having a yard to do something to!  I can't wait to plant rose bushes after winter time!  I am also looking forward to planting grass out in the front as well.  I laid down the fertilizer on one side and plan on doing the other side on Wednesday.  There is something so rewarding about seeing things grow and knowing I was a part of it!
• After gardening, I came back in and had an English muffin with some of my molasses cane sugar on it...SO yummy!
• I had a nice time chatting with two different friends before and after Connor's co op preschool.  There are some truly amazing people where we live and I am so lucky to get to call them friend!  I feel really blessed and that we are for sure where we need to be living at this time.
• In the evening, I made my family a meal and also made some more for my first evening at a recipe club with ladies from church!  We had such a great time and I was so excited to get to talk to people from my ward and other people from my preschool co op.  The food was amazing and I left with some new great recipes to try on my family as well as getting to know some fabulous people a little better!  Even bigger happy moment is they want me to teach a lesson on how to cook a turkey next month!  I am so excited to get to share my mad turkey cooking skills with others.  I started cooking turkeys for fun when I was 22 and I LOVE it!  It was a great night and I came home happy and recharged from hanging out with gals...oh that is so nice!  

I feel really grateful for where we live.  There are so many amazing people here and I have barely lived here 4 months but I feel like I have made some friends for life!  I can't wait for this week and the playdate I arranged for Joel, he is going to be so happy!  Time to check in on my sleeping kiddos and see their sweet little faces...one of my favorite happy moments of the day is kissing my little boys on their cheeks while they are dreaming.  Hope you all have a good night!

109 and 110

I could blame my incessant need to play Candy Crush on not being able to blog last night...but that would just be wrong....but really...I was super tired, I played Candy Crush with every intention of blogging and then BOOM! It is almost midnight!  That game is a time sucker!  It is super fun and I enjoy watching other people make it to various levels.  There is even a part where it asks me to give people more lives.  I have an Aunt Lisa who passed away this past summer.  She was a big fan of Candy Crush and it is always asking me to give her extra lives still....makes me smile every time and I totally DO give her more lives!  Maybe she found a way to play in Heaven!

This weekend was General Conference for our church and it was just lovely!  Other than the fact that we have two loud kiddos and actually only got ONE whole session in and have bits and pieces of the other sessions to watch this next week, it was a good weekend!

The boys had soccer games and one was a happy moment and the other I would just like to forget ever happened lol.  Joel played so well and was so focused!  He scored a goal by kicking the ball down the middle of the field and it went ALL the way into the goal!  We were all so proud and he did a great "goal dance." It was really cute and quite the happy moment for us all!

We came home and had a family meal and watched some more conference.  AND we all got to take a nap so that was great as well!
After dinner, Joel helped me prepare our special General Conference Cinnamon Rolls and he was such a great help as these rolls take lots of time and everything kind of has to happen all at once!  So I am thankful I had his help putting in the eggs, measuring out things, helping me stir....it was great!  All the while we were posting on Facebook what we were doing.  I actually had an extra pan of rolls so I posted if someone wanted them to let me know.  My friend Mari spoke up and won the pan!

While the dough to the rolls were rising, David watched the Priesthood Session of General Conference downstairs (the first time they are broadcasting it over the television and I am SO thankful that they are doing that now!) the boys and I headed upstairs to our movie room and watched a Harry Potter movie on our big screen!  It was SO much fun eating popcorn, candy, and feeling like we were in a movie theater room!  I can see us enjoying movies in there for years to come!

Sunday- we slept in and had a marvelous sleep this morning because conference doesn't start until 11 AM here in Texas!  So we got up, I threw the rolls in the oven and began to make the icing.  When they came out, I smothered gooey icing all over my friend Mari's rolls and headed out the door!  They were delivered nice and hot to her and when I came home, David was making the eggs and our rolls were covered in icing.  It was a GREAT morning of cinnamon rolls, eggs, milk, and The Spoken Word!  The Sunday morning session was the one we actually got to watch all the way through and it was so nice!  There were many great talks given and some were really inspiring!
After the morning session, we all headed upstairs to take a nap (again, didn't get to bed until after midnight last night and the boys went to bed pretty late as well!).

The nap was good and when we woke up, we watched part of the Saturday afternoon session and got ready for dinner.  So we still have parts of a lot of other sessions to watch, but I am thankful for what we did get to watch...it is just hard with two crazy boys running around but we did our best!

We had a potato bar for dinner and it was great!  I love that we have sat down together almost every night this past week at our dinner table and enjoyed talking and laughing.  That has been so much fun and I can't wait to do it again this week!  I hope everyone else had a great weekend and I am excited for the coming week and coming happy moments!  Our good friends from California have come out for a visit to their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, and they are coming to our home tomorrow for a visit...really looking forward to seeing them all!

Wed-Fri 106-108

Argh!  So having BOTH kids in school and getting them ready for bed each night is proving to be a difficult thing.  Not in itself, but trying to get back down the stairs to blog each night is hard because I am SO tired after putting them to bed, I just want to go to sleep as well lol.  We used to have the computer upstairs, and I used to not be continuously flaring with my RA...so that is my excuse and I am sticking to it.  BUT I will not give up on this blog nor the happy moments that are going to roll along in here as well!  So a blogging I will go!

Wed-It was a pretty quiet day.  A lot happened that isn't too HAPPY I would say, but we made it through the day in one piece!  One beautifully happy thing was that in the morning time, as I was doing laundry, my friend Lanay came over and brought me a slice of cake for my "post shot" dessert.  I find myself beyond blessed having people like her in my life and I am so thankful for that yummy cake as well!  It brought so much joy as I shared it with my son who also had a REALLY rough day.  So it was the highlight of our day!  We also got some gardening done and started to dig into the front yard to prepare it for planting grass and mulching.  It was a lot of fun to do that all together.  All of us have some pretty bad allergies, so we all went to bed really early Wed night dreaming of days when our noses were not so runny lol.

Thursday- was just yesterday so

• both kids were at school because Connor was doing a make-up preschool.  So I made it to the couch after the kids went to school and I slept for 2 hours.  I felt a lot better after that!  The allergies have hit this family pretty hard so I am thankful for meds and sleep!
• I got to see my friend Lanay again because she was teaching the kiddos at her home for our preschool co -op.  It was so nice to say hello and thank her for the cake again!   Connor was so happy at preschool and had such a great time at school!
• Joel had a good day at school...happy moment!
• I made a delicious dinner of stuffed pasta shells last night!  The kids and David loved it and I even got a "oh thank you for making this delicious dinner mom!" from Connor...it was really great!

Friday-

Today was a cooler day and more fun and productive than the last two!  I was able to do some laundry, pick up the house, and get READY to clean the house tomorrow!

-I got to talk to my mom for almost an hour today on the phone and while I was talking with her, I headed over to get a pedicure...SO nice!  I have mosquito bites up and down my legs and they did a sugar scrub on my legs....it was a little slice of HEAVEN people!  On my way out, I saw another friend who's kiddo is in Connor's preschool and we had such a nice time talking and getting to know one another more!  She is truly one of the sweetest people I have ever met and it was great to meet her mom who actually doesn't live too far from where we used to live in California!

-I went to the grocery store and got some lunch from the salad bar and came home and saw that my neighbor was picking up large tree branches and shoving them into her trash can.  Well, I just happened to have my work gloves really handy because of the yard work we did on Wednesday, so I threw them on and went out to help her.  She is in her 70s and is so nice.  So we got to have a really nice conversation and she asked me to pray for her friend Joan and her grandson because he was in a really bad motorcycle accident...so sending out a prayer request on my blog.  He had to have another 5 hour surgery today....would be a happy moment to know many people are praying for his recovery.  So I came in and ate lunch happy to help my neighbor out and of course thinking of my grandmother.  Probably for the rest of my life any time I see an older woman, I will think of my Grandma Jo.  How I hope she is watching over me and hangs out with me from time to time when I eat lunch.  Lunch time was OUR time for years and years while I was finishing my bachelor's degree and then getting my master's.  I miss her so much but I am so thankful for all of the many many HAPPY moments I got to have with her!

Well, the boys are in bed and now it is time for TV with the hubby while he scratches my mosquito bites....SO looking forward to that! (Hey, you would too if you have over 20!) Have a good night all!

Days 103-105

Sun, Mon, Tuesday...where does the time go???

It has been a crazy couple of days!  Sunday I was still at the conference for my continuing education in Dallas and I was SO sleepy!  I came home and went right back out to visit teach with my companion for the first time.  We had a fantastic time visiting teaching.  My companion is everything I have ever wanted in a person!  She likes to do lessons, she also does prayers at the end of our visits instead of looking at me like I have two heads when it is suggested we pray together.  Just so grateful for more happy moments on the sabbath!  David even made dinner so I could sleep until it was dinner time!  So it was a good Sunday!

Monday....well, I did get grocery shopping done. Joel came home earlier in the morning not feeling too well and then we picked up Connor from school.  I pretty much took care of my sick kiddo and Connor all day and David came home at 9 pm last night.  So my happy moment was getting the kids in bed and trying to do one thing that I needed to for my Monday.  I just hope Joel feels better soon...no fun being sick!

Today-Tuesday....Joel and Connor were both home with me today.  Joel needed looking after every few hours because I had to apply medicine to his mouth so he couldn't really be in school and Connor's co op preschool got cancelled.  So earlier I took them to see the next Cloudy w a Chance of Meatballs movie.   They really enjoyed it and then we headed to a local park to play.  After the park, we treated ourselves to chocolate milkshakes and headed home.  They really did have a good day together and I am glad we got to spend time as a happy family today.
Tonight we went out and did Taco Tuesday with the neighbors.  That was a lot of fun as well and I got some REALLY yummy tacos tonight!  We had a great time talking with our neighbors and catching up on life.  I am so grateful for those amazing people!  They are so fun to be around and it is nice to hear about their days and what they are up to.

So tonight it was home and to bed.  Hoping Joel will get to go to school tomorrow.  His mouth is looking a whole lot better tonight so hopefully all will be well!
I am so thankful for being able to blog!  David has been on the computer the past couple of nights and Sunday night I was awake just long enough to eat dinner and then back to bed!  Tomorrow my Humira arrives!  Will it be a happy moment to take it?  We shall see!  Praying it isn't as painful as I remember it was...after all, I have had a lot of surgeries since then, so hopefully it won't be too bad and the happy moment of me being in remission will come soon to this blog!  Have a great night!