Creating Content, not as easy as it seems!

 Dear readers,

For this adventure I am working on my mind. My body is healed, I have been in remission for two years, and now I am working on becoming a digital marketing person for a company. It requires a lot of research, learning how to create content, learning how to create lots of graphics, and more! Just this week I will create an infographic for another class. This class I already created an infographic and I am really proud of how I did it! 

    I created an infographic on how to ride a saddle. I have also had to create a commercial. Let me tell you how scary that week was for me! But as each week comes, I am learning that I can do hard things, I can learn new things, and I can grow and become more. I want to be a great employee and someone that my boss can count on. I want to be able to create interesting stories and have the customers want to know more and convert that curiosity into purchases and sales! As I continue on this journey, I hope to have more moments where I am proud of myself and the work that I am creating. I hope that I can look back and see how I grew and got better and better at creating things on Canva as well!

ONE YEAR of Dallas Sunshine!

An entire year has gone by since we made it to Texas!  I cannot believe we have been here for 365 days! (Ok there were quite a few days spent back in California this year lol, but most of the time we were here!)

Looking back over the past year, I am so grateful that life just plugged along.  There were many busy days full of fun and laughter.  We even had one broken bone and one major surgery (what would a 365 day journey of Sunshine be without that? LOL) But mostly every day was learning something new, going somewhere new, meeting someone new.  A whole lot of newness came to pass!

We are now experts at which restaurants serve the best Queso and Guacamole in town.  We are now patrons of a restaurant every tuesday for Taco Tuesday with the neighbors.  We now own a 15 foot trampoline and have kids over ALL the time jumping on it!  Our animals love exploring our neighborhood with walks and escaping.

Some of my happiest times are walking around our local pond/lake and letting Ginger swim to try and catch the birds or trying our hand at fishing.

I made a promise to myself to NOT be a hermit like I was when I first moved to South Orange County.  I threw myself into organizations like MOPS, became a room mom for Joel's class, volunteered for local charities, became part of a preschool co-op for Connor's school, got Connor enrolled in a local preschool in town, went to every church meeting I possibly could to make new friends, got involved in a book club, joined a "Ladies who Lunch" group, joined a dinner for couple's night group, became a scout leader for our local cub scouts, and got involved in Joel's PTA as much as possible.  It all worked!  I probably did a bit TOO much at times, but I made friends that I cherish.  I have some of the most deep and meaningful friendships I have had in a long time.  It took me 3 years to find really good friends in my old town, and I cherish my friendship with them, but I am so thankful it took only a few weeks to meet new people here that I have had SO many adventures with already!  The people of Texas are so GOOD.  We feel blessed each and every day to know such amazing, warm, FUN people!

I am so thankful for all of the movie nights we have already had in our movie theater room with friends.  I cannot wait for many more!  I am so grateful for all of the people here that love to eat the most amazing food!  We have truly had some of the best home cooked meals of our lives with some of the best conversations about our kids and life!

Life has been super busy this past year.  Most of it involved us doing something with or something FOR our children.  That is the part of our life's journey we are currently on.  It will end all too quickly I know, but I am so glad I got to document just a little bit of it.

As always, our family's mantra will continue to be "Find the Joy" That is what this blog is ALL about.  There is so much sunshine and happy moments yet to be had.  Maybe from time to time I will hop on here and let them out.  I mostly try to treasure them up in my heart and treasure each moment.  I have learned NOT to take a lot of pictures when I am with my kids or watching them...I try to soak it all up with my eyes and let my children know I SEE them and love watching them in THAT moment.  I don't have any particular words of wisdom to write THIS time around.  I feel like we have learned so much and I hope we continue to make new friends, keep the old, and carry on with our days of sunshine!

April and May and a little bit of June!

Can I just say how happy I have been that I have not had the time to blog as I did for my last Sunshine blog?   I know that sounds funny, because this is a blog, and I am supposed to like posting our activities on here, but the fact that I am running around like crazy, having fun with my kids, DOING things at both of their schools, and not lying in bed for an entire year...well...it is just awesome!

April and May were fantastic months filled with laughter and sunshine.  It FINALLY started warming up enough in April that I was able to plant some flowers in the front yard and create a little garden...or so I thought lol.  The next day a freeze came in and promptly killed all of the flowers I had planted...all except one!  A gardenia bush I am slowly nursing back to health. I am happy to say there are green leaves on the stems now and I am hoping for some blossoms soon!  The other plants that froze over the winter...well, they ALL came back and surprised me and now I do have a lovely garden of green plants with tiny buds that should all be blooming soon!

Also in April we had visitors from all over the country for a month!  Our friends from California had their Spring Break and decided to drive route 66 and check out Dallas and the surrounding areas.  One day we called our realtor and she took them to look at homes out in the country.  Well, they fell in love with one, put an offer in and are moving here in July!!  We are so happy for them and can't wait to go out to their home in the country and have some adventures!  Visits with friends is always fun!  Our next set of visitors came from Oregon.  They are our former neighbors and good friends who have 2 Golden Retrievers that were Daisy dog's best friends.  They also have a little girl that was only 6 months old when they left California for Oregon.  It was so great to spend an evening talking and catching up and looking at pictures of their daughter and fuzzy girls.  We are so grateful that we live in a busy city that many companies consider a great place to have their conventions!  Here is hoping for many more visits for years to come!

In May we were OH SO busy but in a really good way!  Last year it was just me and the boys and our neighbor and her son for Mother's Day.  This year I got a brunch, a corsage, and my family back together again!  It was really nice!  The following week, David and I celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary by going to downtown Dallas to stay at a fancy hotel overnight....away from the children...for the first time in a year!  It was fantastic!!  We ate at a super fancy restaurant, had hours of conversations, hot meals, long walks, and all without any interruptions.  It is nice to have 24 hours away from the kiddos but we were also happy to get back to them.  The week after that was Joel's birthday and we flew out to California!  Joel turned 8 years old which in our religion we believe is the "age of accountability" where a child CAN be tempted from Satan whereas before they were perfect.  So off we flew to California to be with ALL of our family and close friends back there.  We were so happy so many people were able to share in our special day.   We did the baptism, then had a party down at my dad's work, then we went out to dinner at the kid's favorite tepanyaki grill!  It was a funfilled day but a SUPER long Saturday as well!  Sunday morning we woke up early and headed down to the PCH Grill at Disneyland area for breakfast with Mickey and our friend Tim.  It was a great time!  Then we headed back to church so Joel could go for the first time as a member!  After that, my family, parents included, all came home and took 3 hour long naps! The next day we were off again to Texas...PHEW!  It was a busy weekend!  But one filled with love, laughter, family, and the spirit of the Lord.

One amazing thing that happened in May that I for sure don't want to go without talking about is my Essential Oil called doTerra that I began to buy...and now sell.  This whole school year had been a difficult one for Joel and we prayed to try to find the best solution for him.  Whether it was a child psychologist, more Occupational Therapy, whatever it would take, we were willing to do.  Someone told me about these oils and I decided to try them.  I didn't tell the teacher and for 3 weeks we experimented with them.  Well, at the end of 3 weeks, the teacher thought we had put him on medication because he was doing SO well and had improved in focus and emotional stability SO much!  Oh what JOY!! It was one of the greatest HAPPY MOMENTS of my year hearing that something was working for Joel so well!  He truly has been changed by essential oils!  He uses a combination called Serenity, Balance, and In Tune.  And here is my website that you can go to to check out all of the other essential oils that I personally believe have helped my family SO much!  My little kitty Aladdin can now breathe better without his prescription cat meds for kitty asthma thanks to an oil blend called "Breathe"

 http://mydoterra.com/doterrawithmely

So there is the website my readers.  I hope you look around and find oils that help you relieve stress, increase YOUR joy (there is one called Elation that is pretty awesome lol) and get a bit healthier!

So here we are in June...I will write on the 365th day of our journey here, but as it comes to a close, I am so grateful, as ever, that we moved to such a wonderful place.  There are so many good, positive friends that we have met here that have truly changed our lives.  We have a wonderful backyard with a great trampoline we just got this past week thanks to my mom and her joyful memories of ME having one.  We consider ourselves SO fortunate to live where we do, to be able to have the friends that we have.  There is sunshine all around us and we find more and more each day!  I hope you take the time to find the joy as well!  

Month 9!

So it has been 9 months since we have lived here! Holy cow! We have been super busy this past month with church stuff, kid stuff, house stuff, Spring Break, animal stuff, and just hanging out when we finally get the chance!

So we have been here for 9 months and in 2 wards during that time! They recently rezoned our area and we are now in a different ward then when we moved here. We made so many wonderful friends and I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to meet some incredible people that I will be friends with for a long time! Now we are in a different ward and we have the opportunity to meet even more people! I was recently called into cub scouts as a leader. Looking forward to working with the boys and getting crafty!

Spring Break came and went by far to quickly. My parents came out to visit and we had a blast playing Texas tourists! We got the chance to take the train in Grapevine down to Fort Worth and eat lunch and take pictures of the boys riding long horn cattle! Joel brought his Flat Stanley with us wherever we went and I think everyone had fun taking pictures of him! We ate at some yummy restaurants with my parents. My dad and I took the boys fishing one day and both of them had the chance to catch a fish! Happy moments galore right there! My parents even got to be here for a mighty thunderstorm and got to see lightening and thunder up close. After the storm, there was a TRIPLE rainbow in our backyard...it was fantastic! But the time with them went by too quickly and they had to head back to California.

I have been enjoying a book club that I recently joined. It is so nice to hang out with friends at night time and talk about all kinds of books! I have some friends that have lent me some books and I am finding the joy reading again. It has been a long time since I read as much as I have been, but I am really enjoying going to other worlds, visiting other people's lives, and doing it all in my jetted tub!

With each month that passes, we meet more and more friends. We met new friends at Joel's open house at school, I have been going and eating lunch with a friend from church. Each Tuesday we go to Taco Tuesday with our neighbors and friends and meet more people there. We have a new ward and have met some wonderful people already. We have truly made this place our home and I am so happy with how abundantly blessed we have been.

Some of the greatest happy moments from the past month are small, but fun. I love watching Connor run to hug Joel when we gets out of school each day. Joel and Connor race back to me every time....it never gets old! I love when Connor has a bad dream, I find him sleeping in Joel's bed, cuddled up next to him and snuggling Joel like a teddy bear. I have loved going to the movies with my boys and listening to them laugh! I love taking my sweet puppy dog on walks and watch her sniff everything and find joy in chasing the birds through our pond. I LOVE when, for the brief minute of my life, the laundry is done for the week! I love that there have been many days of sunshine this month! Spring is arriving and we have planted a flower garden this year. I can't wait to see the flowers bloom! I love that my grass is coming back to life and turning greener every day! I love family dinners with my husband and kiddos and getting to talk about our favorite parts of our day.

Life is busy right now, but that is how it is supposed to be when a person has young children. I am so thankful I get to be as involved as I am in Joel's school and get to participate in their lives. I am so blessed dear readers! Hoping all of you are finding the joy in the busy times. They can be stressful, but they are also worth it! Until month 10! Have a joyful month!

Month 8

Hey all!

 So writing a bit early but who knows, maybe I will have so many happy moments I want to share that I do a few February blog posts!  This month is starting off so well and I feel so blessed each day!

This week has been an amazing week filled with fun and friends and I feel like it would be a shame to not blog some of these amazing happy moments!  I went to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants with some great ladies from church on Thursday.  It is always nice to sit and chat and get to know people better.  The best thing that happened on Thursday, however, is that it finally snowed here!  Not only did it snow, but it snowed SNOW flakes!  And I don't mean the occasional snow flake, I mean thousands, hundreds of thousands of them, if not more!  It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life and I got some amazing photos of them all!
So I took some pictures and videos of the snowflakes falling down.  Every single drop of snow was in the form of a snowflake or in a snow cluster of snowflakes!  It was simply one of the most stunning things I have ever seen before in my life!  I tried to stay out for as long as I could to enjoy the incredible happy moment I was having, but it was pretty darn cold!  I am just so happy for the pictures I have to remember that day!

On Friday we went to see the Lego Movie together as a family.  What a funny movie that is!  It was so great to spend time together as a family and I am so happy we got to see such a great movie!  I also found the neatest song this past week from the movie Despicable Me 2 and I absolutely have to post it on here.  Every time I hear the song I think of this blog and I hope it makes any of you who read this smile as much as I do when I hear it!  Here is the Youtube link: http://youtu.be/y6Sxv-sUYtM

Saturday, today, was a great day and I got to sleep in, do things around the house, hang out with my boys, and then head out to a day and evening of fun with friends!  We went and saw Frozen "The Sing Along" with a group of friends from church and preschool.  It was one of the sweetest things I have ever heard!  Over 100 little children voices singing along to the beautiful songs of that movie.  My heart was so touched and I liked singing along with them, but mostly I just loved listening to those precious voices.  I am posting the youtube link to my favorite song.  It makes me SO happy and this snowman REALLY knows how to find the joy!  http://youtu.be/UFatVn1hP3o
ENJOY!

After the movie and getting to talk with some of my favorite people, the boys and I headed out to meet David at our friend's house for some pizza and salad and cookies!  We had so much fun talking about their recent trip to Paris.  They are just such great people and the kids had so much fun running around and playing with their friends.  We had so much fun talking about travels, video games, how to make yummy food, and other stuff.  Can't wait to get together with them again!

So I just had to post all of this because we are out here truly finding the joy in Dallas and I am so thankful for all of the people who are right there with us!  We feel so blessed to live here and so happy to be surrounded by really fun people!  I hope everyone is having a great weekend and that you are able to find the joy, go see a movie, watch some happy moments on youtube, or just relax from a long week.  Take care all!

Month 7

Hello out there readers!

 I have got to say blogging once a month on here is the way to go for this time around!  I am doing a journal at home and writing down little joys of the day.  I am going to bed at a decent hour, AND I am enjoying not feeling guilt for not blogging every day on here because I do not have the time I did the last 365 Days of Sunshine.

Month 7....can't believe we have been here already for 7 months!  This past month has been filled with fun that is for sure!  We traveled back to California for Christmas break and enjoyed our time with family and friends and fun!  We did 3 whole days of Disneyland and California Adventure.  We had SO much fun and had friends join us there for rides and shows.  I got to do a mom's night out at one of my favorite restaurants with friends.  We met up with other friends throughout our stay and had the most wonderful time catching up!  We also got to go fishing with my dad and sister and niece.  We had a blast learning how to fish and even though we didn't catch one darn fish, we still had so much fun learning!  We can't wait to try our luck catching a fish here in Texas now at one of the many watering holes around.

Christmas was very nice and it was fun to drive to California and back.  We stopped in New Mexico and spent 2 lovely days with David's family.

School started back up and life got crazy again!  I had a fun birthday week here in Texas and enjoyed lunching with friends and spending time with my kids going to eat sushi for my birthday.  The boys were SO happy I picked a sushi restaurant for my birthday dinner!  Speaking of lunch, I have really enjoyed this group of ladies who get together on a weekly basis to try different restaurants around town.  I have met so many lovely women and I am so thankful for the friendships I am making!  We also have gone to a couple of adult dinners and had a blast getting to know the husbands and other couples!  People love to talk about politics here in Texas and I am often in political heaven as we talk about guns, the NRA, and other stuff.  A gun range opened in the area recently and we can't wait to go and try it out!

As I said before, I feel beyond blessed for the friendships I am making here.  I have so many joyful friends who have been so helpful!  It is such a blessing to have friends come over and hang out, bring their dog to play with our dog, bring a paint brush and help me paint my china hutch, and hang out and enjoy fun times.

There is so much joy to be had here in Texas.  We are never without trials, that is just a way of life for us lol, but lots of joy to be found as well.  I just feel so lucky to sit in my home and feel the peace wash over me at the end of a long day.  I am so thankful for being my boy's mom and getting to do fun things with them like taking them to the movies, going to a museum, or feeling the VERY cold air with them for the first time!  I am SO not used to living in a cold place, but I have been walking around in 20 degree weather sans gloves lately.  I think I am getting used to it...holy cow!

I have been able to attend my MOPS meetings a lot more this semester and it has been so much fun to get to know more ladies here in town!  We had a mom's night out tonight and it was so much fun getting to know ladies from different tables.  I just love getting to know other mothers and hearing their stories about their kids and what they do.  It is so fun to get the advise from other parents and see how they deal with situations that arise.  We are all doing the best we can....isn't that awesome?!

I am also so thankful for Facebook.  I have been so grateful to keep in touch with so many people from California and it has been so nice to keep tabs on a daily basis with my dear friends from there!  I am hoping for a visit from any one of them...maybe when this state thaws out a bit more?  Being cold all of the time here does have its advantages though.  My very fluffy kitty cat now loves to crawl under the blankets and snuggle down with my.  My dog meanwhile snuggles on the other side of my body...I become an animal taco!  I love it!  Soft, fluffy, fur in each direction keeps me warm all night long!

Well, those are some of the very happy moments from this month 7 in Dallas.  What a beautiful town Dallas is!  I love the shiny buildings and architecture all around.  I just booked a hotel stay for our wedding anniversary weekend at a really nice hotel downtown!  Something to look forward to!  Haven't had a night away from the kids in almost a year!  YEA!  Have a blessed night all and keep finding the joy in your own life!

Month 6 :-)

So hey there!  LONG time no blog!  But you know what?  I have been busy!  Busy having happy moments, busy making happy moments, busy being a mom...isn't that great?!  It is what I wanted the last time I blogged.  I was down and couldn't do the things most moms do for almost a year of my life, so I had the blog to keep me happy and remind me about the good stuff I DID do with my kids during the day.  Now I am out and about with friends and my children all of the time and am hardly on my computer and it is fabulous!  SO, I have decided to do a monthly blog all the way to the end of my first year in Dallas.  It doesn't feel right to just NOT blog anymore, but I will highlight some of the BEST parts of my month so that way I can remember, and if there are some truly phenomenal days I want to remember, well, I will do my best to blog on those days as well!

So here we are almost exactly 6 months to the day (tomorrow) since I moved to Texas!  The first little while was pretty intense, but the past month has been so wonderful!  I have joined a ladie's lunch group that meets once a week at various restaurants around town.  It is on Connor's day off of school and so he comes with me.  He enjoys it so much and love to "wunch with da wadies" as much as I do!

I also belong to a group that meets once a month for "Joy in the Journey" and I have truly made some friends for life there!  I am loving every minute of being in a ward that does many many activities outside of church!  The kids have primary parties, we have adult parties, the lunch group, my joy group, a park group, my preschool, and a recipe club....busy busy!!

Speaking of the recipe club, I had the pleasure of teaching people how to cook a 20+ pound turkey this past month!  I cooked a total of 3 turkeys in November because I was also asked to help cook Thanksgiving Dinner in Louisiana this year.  It was a HUGE success and we all made memories there this year that will last a lifetime!  Life is so much slower in the deep south and there are so many wonderful people that know how to cook really good food....living just 5 hours away is a huge blessing to us!

My mother in law also came out this past month and we enjoyed her visit so much!  We did our first inaugural trip to the Gaylord Texan and enjoyed walking through the carved ice sculputres, the thousands of Christmas lights, hot chocolate (courtesy of GramZ) and dressing up for the cold! (little did we know it would be practice for the future lol.  Yes my Mother in law brought many happy moments to our little family for the week she was here!  She brought so much joy and laughter and play time!  The boys wore her out with sword fights, back yard games, doing an early trip to Target for an PRE Christmas present (because grandparents are always aloud to buy as many toys for their grandkids as they wish!) and going with her favorite daughter in law to all of the fun lunch places around town!

This past week was a week at home and our first encounter with ice.  We had about 5 inches of ice in our backyard and we all settled down for 3 days in our home.  We were extra prepared and it was fun cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner for my 3 boys every day.  We ventured out one day to try driving on the ice (for those of you who have ever driven in heavy rain it is pretty much like hydroplaning in slow motion).  We went to a field nearby and brought out our California boogie board and went sledding with it!  We had a fun COLD time!  Ginger has been beside herself with all of the available ice to chew!

Well, that is a culmination of a lot of happy moments for the month.  I feel so much better about doing it this way.  I have many little happy moments in my day (like playing hide and seek in our home for an hour with the boys tonight lol).  But I really want to touch on the big ones on here.  I am so grateful as ever for this blog and the opportunity to post joyful moments.  I hope each reader can look back and smile on the previous month and find their favorite moments as well.   LOTS of happy moments to come this next 30 days with many more memories to be made all!

Day 139-141

Well, when RA is kicking your butt each day, it is hard to get on and type lol.  My hands haven't been working so well lately and usually after the boys go to bed I am upstairs and DONE coming down for the evening.  So tonight I made an extra special effort to get back down and hang out and blog!  Because this blog is very precious to me.  It has helped me through so many difficult times!  I can't even believe I have had a broken bone and a surgery during this next 365 days blog lol that totally cracks me up, but hopefully it gives people hope that even in the darkest of times, there are happy moments to be had around every corner!

So Mon-Wed here I go!  I am so thankful for my little family.  We have had some fun and cold days this past week!  It has been so nice to snuggle up with my family and have Family Home Evening for the first time in our upstairs family room.  It was so wonderful to share a lesson and then head over to the bedrooms!  I am SO grateful that David hooked up the TV up there as well so I don't have too far to go on the nights I don't want to go downstairs to watch television!

Tuesday-my friend Lanay asked if I would come hang out with her while she did a laundry day, so I brought over some Starbucks hot chocolates and pumpkin scones and we had a great day of laundry and laughter!  I am beyond grateful for the friendships that I am making out here!  I have barely lived here 5 months but I feel like I have known some of the people out here for years.  It is so wonderful to have friendships with people who are so strong in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and who we can share gospel experiences together! We had pizza instead of Taco Tuesday because I went to an activity at church.  It was so much fun hanging out with the ladies from church and getting to know other people better!  We have so many wonderful and funny gals in our ward!

Wed- I had the opportunity to watch my friend's daughter for most of the day while she attended classes.  We had so much fun together!  I bought her a pretty hair band with a blue flower (because I don't GET to buy pretty hair bands with flowers like....ever! lol)  We had a nice lunch together and played with toys and then went and picked up Connor and then Joel and her brother.  It was fun having kids over and having everyone play!  I made pot roast for dinner (I cannot not even explain how much I love cooking in my kitchen!) and we had buttermilk biscuits to go with it.  Tonight we headed out to Target to get some gloves and mittens for the kids.  It is supposed to be in the high 30s/low 40s in the morning and I want those kids nice and toasty warm!  Especially as Joel walks to school!

Well, there is my 3 days of thankfulness!  I am so thankful for friendships made here in Texas.  I am so grateful for my family and the love we have.  I am really thankful that I will be headed to bed early this evening because I am so tired!  I hope all of you are enjoying this month and what ever weather you are getting where you live!

Day 138

WOW....I am thankful that I have not given up on this blog (even during my most tired days it is always on the back of my mind to remember happy moments to blog when I am able).  It is amazing to me that I am nearing the 5 month mark for living here in Texas!

Today was a great day at church!  My first day as nursery leader was pretty much a success and I had a good deal of help because they called a new person to help me and my friend Mari came in for the last while as well.  Other than one kid eating play-doh and having a complete melt down when I took it away from him, no really big cries or upset kiddos today!

I had a lot of fun participating in singing time with them as well as providing fun snacks and doing the lesson.  I am really looking forward to next week!

We came home and headed up to our movie room to watch a Sunday show.  Before long, my eyes were closing and my Sunday nap happened lol.  When I woke up, we had some chicken noodle soup and corn bread for dinner and then Skyped for the next 2 hours with David's parents and my parents!  It was a really fun time watching the kids be so excited talking with their grandparents.  AND we were able to book a flight to have my mother-in-law come out for a visit at the end of the month!  SO looking forward to all of the GramZ/Mother-in-law fun we will have!

I was able to have the energy to make the kid's lunches for the week...I think some of my energy is starting to come back after Joel's surgery!  It only took me two weeks to recover lol but I am thankful I had the energy to to what I did today!  Now off to bed to begin another week of fun with my precious kiddos.

Post 132-137

So, as you can see it has been a while since the blogging lol.  I think it is because school is in session, my RA is flaring like crazy, and all I want to do at the end of the day is go to sleep!  For those of you with chronic illness, you understand the thought process of just 15 minutes MORE of sleep instead of blogging.  BUT I do want to blog and be thankful!  Especially since November is upon us and lots of people are doing thankful blogs.  So even if I sign on here to write one thing each day that I am thankful for this month...I am going to make an effort to blog each day!

I can't believe we have been here for over 4 months now!  It seems like just yesterday we were moving in without any of our belongings to a state that we didn't know if we had a house or not lol.  Now our home is 90% unpacked, things are looking great, we have a movie theater room, a play room, and a beautiful bedroom.  My family loves playing in the backyard.  Ginger loves running in the grass chasing her ball and Joel loves playing basketball with me on our little court.  We are so blessed!

This week was filled with more sleep.  Like I said, I am flaring pretty badly right now but I am taking Humira (this week was a shot week and I did it all by myself again!) and methotrexate and hopefully my body will respond to the combo of taking those two things soon.  For now I do what I CAN when I CAN and leave the rest alone.

This week was also Joel's school book fair and it was fun to get to work at his school, eat lunch with him, bring him in from class to buy books, and buy his teacher books.  There is something so magical about reading and it is such a happy moment to me to see how much Joel and Connor both love the books we bought to this week!

All of my kiddos got to dress up this week.  Ginger got to go to Doggie Day Care as a Bumblebee and she had a blast and looked SO cute!  Connor dressed up for his school parade and Joel got to do a PJ day at school.  Halloween in Texas was great!  We ordered a pizza and ate and then got the boys dressed and headed out.  We did all of our street and another street.  It was so much fun to meet new neighbors and talk to people on our street!  There are so many wonderful people that live here!  The boys had a great time collecting candy and looking at all of the decorations.  They were so cute in their Knight and Jengo Fett costumes!  They went to bed happy and worn out!

Friday was David's day off of work so he got to take Joel and his "Stinky Cheese Man" pumpkin project to school and do breakfast with dad!  I worked at Joel's book fair one last time and then David and I did lunch at our new favorite Sushi restaurant!  It is SO good!  We left with our tummies smiling!  He needed new shoes so we went to the local outlet mall and found some good ones.  It was such a nice day hanging out with him just the two of us all afternoon!  At night we ate dinner and then headed upstairs to the movie room to watch Harry Potter.  It was SO nice snuggling on our couch and watching a movie!  We really felt like we were at the theaters!  I can see us enjoying that room for years to come and I feel so blessed to live here!

Today is Saturday and is is SO cold!  Joel had an early soccer game and we froze as we watched him play.  It was sure nice to have a piping hot cup of Postum to drink while I watched him play!  My Postum came in the mail earlier this week and I have really enjoyed trying out different ways to drink it!  Tonight for dessert I had postum with eggnog as the dairy creamer...it was DELISH!  We all snuggled on the downstairs couch and watched Beetlegeuse...I think that is how you spell it lol.  It was loads of fun and now bath then bed!  I am flying solo in the nursery tomorrow at church so really hoping it all goes well and that the kiddos enjoy their time with me!

Well, I am thankful I was able to write this blog today.  And like I said, I am going to try to do every day in November for a thankful blog as well as happy moment journal.  Hope all of you are enjoying happy moments where ever you may be!

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!