Much to Be Thankful For.....

In these times of economic hardships and the feelings of no job security- I thought I would take this time to express my thankfulness to our loving Heavenly Father. I am so thankful that we have a roof over our heads, that we have food on the table, that we have loving family and friends and that we have the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. Recently when meeting with a member of our Bishopric, I was truly amazed at this brothers attitude. You see, he had just been laid off at his law firm- as did 9 other lawyers. A lawyer! Something I never thought could happen, and yet here he was testifying to us at how he has faith that things will be fine! I was so impressed and thought- wow! Could I be so sure?
"Yea, and how is it that ye have forgotten that the Lord is able to do all things according to his will, for the children of men, if it so be that they exercise faith in him? Wherefore, let us be faithful to him." D&C 7:12
So remember to give thanks for all that you are privileged to enjoy. I wish you all the Happiest of Thanksgivings and the best of times with your families.

Parkers Big Day!

Our family tradition is to have a pancake breakfast in the shape of the age the birthday child has turned. We really had to move fast since we were also trying to get ready for 9 a.m church. This is something our kids really look forward to. Our records got read in at church and when they called Parkers name he stood up and waved like he was a politician running for office. The ward got a laugh out of that! He was also recognized in Primary which Makenzie said he really liked. His Larson cousins sang to him which he said "sweet" to and he was excited when grandma Pam finally got a hold of him but he was to busy watching Wall-e that he really wouldn't talk. ( he had called to thank her for his present and had gotten her voicemail AFTER he had gotten the vm of Aunt Emily and Aunt Marci so by the time he got grandmas he was really mad!) Later on we went to Julies and wow! She had decorated her dining room table with ballons, m&ms, bubbles, lil cars, gummy worms, jelly bellies, umbrellas for the drinks, crazy straws and of course party hats for all. He really thought that was cool. Everyone was a good sport and wore the hats, even Julies grandpa! We all ate a tasty hamburger dinner, with all the sides and fixins, and FINALLY it was time for cake and ice cream! Thanks Julie for doing so much for our sweet lil boy- he loves you and your family! All in all he had a good birthday and of course we wish everyone could have been here!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Nine years ago, on November 23rd I gave birth to this sweet, wonderful little boy. Life was so good because we had him- a son. We didn't care that he had Downs Syndrome. We only cared how other people would treat him. To us he was perfect, and we wanted to give him the best life possible. Since that time, he has really shown our family what the meaning of life really is. He always wakes up with a smile, he knows how to make us laugh, and we couldn't imagine our family with-out his radiance! Check out his favorite music of the moment. He loves "Hairspray" since his sisters tormented him by watching it a lot on our trip down here. I have never heard "I'm Yours" but he really liked it when we were on my sister in laws blog. I had to play it over and over while he played air guitar. That explains his fascination with "We will Rock You", it has a great guitar solo.
I hope you are all well, and life is good for you!

Not For the Sensitive

If you have NOT seen the "Twilight" movie but plan to- do not read the following because I'm about to give my personal opinion.
The night started off pretty good- a girl from my ward organized a small group of women to go to dinner and then to the movie. My sweet husband, not wanting to forfeit our Friday night date decided to join us. So off to the Red Robin we went. It seemed that everyone in the restaurant was heading over to the movie after dinner (okay- so they were a BUNCH of teeny boppers but...) After our nice dinner and conversations we headed over to the theatre to stand in line for over and hour. Simple enough, we were all having a good time talking and laughing AND we were pretty much in the front of the line. So, now it's time to head into the theatre and two girls from our group LITERALLY RUN and SCREAM- which was funny until all the people behind us started to do the SAME THING! (kinda reminded me of Black Friday)
I am laughing so hard that I can't walk- Adams face in the midst of all this was-- priceless! So- we find our group just in time for me to witness one of the girls hurdle over a chair to quickly sit in the row she wanted us to sit in. She actually took a 12 year old girl with her, which made us laugh even more. You could feel the excitement in the air UNTIL about 5 minutes into the movie! Yeah- you read it right. Not only would I NOT pay 10 bucks to see this movie again, I am gonna recommend that if you LOVED the book- DON'T go see the movie. There were certain times through out the movie that we all felt like we were at a comedy club. I am certain that we, the audience should not have been laughing. The acting was terrible, the cinematography was horrible and the music reminded me of a really bad 70's late night movie! There I said it, but YOU be the judge.

NO TRICKS ALL TREATS!

We had a great Halloween, and it all went too fast! Adam and I hosted a fun party for Parkers class, and then rushed home to have Julie and Jay ( our local cousins- who by the way, are AWESOME!) come over, followed by pumpkin carving, and getting Makenzie into her costume and out the door for a birthday party! Then we took the two younger ones out to dinner and FINALLY they were able to "trick or treat". Taylor was soo excited and could not walk to contain her excitement. I guess door to door was WAY more exciting than car to car! That ended with a firepit/movie in the cul-de-sac. We couldn't stay long because Adam had to rush to get his family from the MARTA. Yes- I said "the family"! It was the BIGGEST treat we could have gotten, and it was so amazing and unbelievable. They had gone to Mexico and while in Mexico City some computer problem forced the plane to leave late, causing them to miss their connecting flight here in ATL! It was fine with us! So we were able to spend some time with them, even if 6 of those hours were spent sleeping. Of course saying good-bye again was just as hard for us the second time, especially Makenzie. She cried her eyes out for a long while, and it was very sad. It really makes me reflect back in sadness, and really regret all the times I took them for granted. You know that saying- "you never really know what you had, until its gone"? Well, its true! I urge you to really appreciate your loved ones if you are lucky enough to be near them! Spend some time with them and make sure they know that you love and care for them. Living so far from the ones we love really is hard- harder than I ever thought. I am grateful to our loving Heavenly Father who has placed us in an area where we feel a big part of our neighborhood, and where we are surrounded by great,caring and loving people.

Much love and hugs- hope you all are well.