Laughter

This was our first "official" Friday night without babysitting group. We decided that a game night was the way to go! We played Apples to Apples Disney, which was a blast. We all had a fun time and thoroughly enjoyed the chance to sit down together and play ... and laugh.

The biggest crack up, of course, was Cougar. That boy has been saying the funniest things lately and he rarely stops talking. While we were playing he decided that he wanted to play Pirates (remember he was a pirate for Halloween? It's now an obsession and he carries his sword and eye patch just about everywhere). We have a Pirates of the Caribbean DVD game that is WAY too advanced for him but he went and got the box and started playing with the pieces. He went on and on about the treasure map and pirate ships included. We continued to play when out of nowhere Cougar says "Ahoy, ladies!" We all started laughing SO HARD - for a long time!! Once he realized we were all laughing at him (and not understanding why it was so funny to us) he started repeating "Ahoy, ladies!" We couldn't stop laughing ... and then he switched up his expression. Next came "Ahoy, ladies & gentlemen!!" We lost it, laughed some more, and I took a quick snapshot in my mind of this precious time where the world was nothing but our family in the dining room, playing, and laughing ... PERFECT!!

I am so grateful for laughter and the joy it brings. I'm grateful to know that when times are tough that laughter can ease burdens. I love that laughter can bond people in ways that other things can't. Some of my most treasured memories include being with people I love and laughing so hard that we end up crying! Laughter really can be the very best medicine :D

Freedom

*photo by the lovely Laurie Pecotte

With today being Veteran's Day I felt it only appropriate to express my gratitude for the many freedoms that I enjoy. To live in a country where my rights and freedoms are protected, where I can have my voice heard, cast my vote, practice my religion, hold my head high, wear what I want, and feel safe and protected. I am grateful to those who have, do, and will continue to fight to preserve those rights for all of us.

Not only that, but I am grateful for my freedom to make choices. Sometimes I wish there weren't so many choices to be made, that one choice wouldn't affect so many others, or that someone else could make decisions for me. I am, however, in the end, extremely grateful for my right to choose and the opportunity I have to learn and grow from my choices and experiences.

Whippy Cake

I know it may seem funny to be grateful for something like this, but I am grateful for Whippy Cake. If you aren't familiar, your really MUST pop over for a peek!! Gorgeous hair accessories in a HUGE variety of shapes, sizes, and colors ... Mmmmm ... love them all! I feel underdressed when I don't have one in my hair now!

But I love Whippy Cake for more than just the sassy feel the appliques give me {yes, they make me feel hip and cute ... even when I'm not} - I have learned that the girl behind the name is an incredibly generous and thoughtful person in addition to being an extremely talented crafter and business owner. Becki (who I found out - after placing my first order - is actually the sister of a girl that I go to church with ... can you say small world?) has shared several stories on her blog about her giving heart and the good that she has done for others. The best part is how humble she is and how grateful she is for these opportunities. I believe she is one of those rare "pay it forward" kind of people. The world would be a MUCH better place if more people looked for opportunities to serve others the way that Becki does. A few of her posts that were especially inspiring to me are HERE, HERE, and HERE - I would love to do the same thing on my 40th birthday next year!!

Every time I wear one of my headbands it makes my heart happy which I am sure is what Becki has done for so many with her fabulous products and generous spirit!! I also happen to get compliments on my headbands EVERY time I wear them. How could I not be grateful for that?!?

Cyberfriends

*photo taken in August 2010 on the Chicago River Cruise during Spraguefest. Thanks, Joanie, for a fab pic of me and my girlies!!

This world wide web is amazing. It connects us to unlimited amounts of information and people ... many of which we never would have had a chance to meet or learn about without the ever growing cyberworld. I could never express enough gratitude for my cyberfriends. Don't get me wrong - I'm grateful for ALL of my friends!! I wouldn't be who I am without them! I'm simply grateful today for those amazing relationships and TRUE friendships that I have been able to develop over the past few years with people I never would have had the chance to meet without the internet.

The photo above is just a few of my fabulous {and some of my favorite} cyberfriends. I've had amazing opportunities to meet many of them in "real life" now and the fun thing about it is that it has never felt awkward when we've met ... the connections that we've made online have translated to real life every time! I've been surprised by people being taller than expected, voices sounding different than imagined, hair looking different than in pictures, but in the end, the relationship is the same.

I have several that I consider dear friends that I haven't had the chance to meet yet and I can't WAIT for the day that we get to connect in the real world!!! These lovelies have followed my blog {even when I was a super slacker}, left so many fun comments on Facebook, remembered my birthday, sent me e-mails, shared their talents with me, and cheered me on in so many ways.

To all my cyberfriends {and "real" friends} ... know that I love you and appreciate you sharing yourself with me!!! I am truly grateful for these special relationships!

Bootcamp

Seems crazy to think that I would be expressing gratitude for something that drags me from my sleep at 4:45 AM three times a week and makes me feel like I could throw up half of the time, but I really am grateful for my bootcamp experience.

It is something I have put off trying for a long time now but I finally decided the time was right back in September. After letting my exercise routine go for WAY too long {due to babysitting for almost a year, too much creative team/design work, eating like garbage so I didn't care, too many excuses to list ...} I was tired of feeling blah. I certainly wasn't as bad off weight wise or even fitness wise as I have been in the past, but I didn't like where I was at. I had gained back weight that I had worked hard to lose and I needed to stop the cycle. So, in August, shortly after the kids went back to school I decided it was time to buckle down. I started running 5 days a week and was feeling pretty good about things. I was watching what I was eating and was starting to lose some weight - YAY! Trouble is, running every day on a treadmill was getting boring and it was still too hot to run outside {still is, in my opinion}. Enter, bootcamp.

My friend Michelle has been offering bootcamps for over a year now. I would get her e-mails every month, think to myself "I should really do that," and then move onto the next thought. Toward the end of August I got another e-mail ... new participants could get 2 months for the cost of 1 month. I decided now was my time. I plunked down my cash and started dragging myself out of bed.

It's been 2 months now and I am hooked. I have never been late {which is pretty remarkable considering most nights I'm not in bed until between 11 and midnight ... sometimes later}. I've only missed one time (the day before Super Saturday - too little sleep to function). I've challenged myself and hope that I have encouraged others. We usually have about 8 people there of all different ages and fitness levels. We push each other, cheer for each other, and work our tails off - literally. I have been on the verge of throwing up more than once.

The beauty of bootcamp is this - it's different every single time. I love the variety. As much as I hate the 4:45 AM wake up call I *LOVE* being done with an intense workout by 6 AM so I can get on with my day (and actually shower and get myself presentable rather than being in my running clothes all day). I feel stronger and more confident. Most of all, I see and feel results which is ALWAYS nice.

Today we had assessments for the beginning of a new session (yup ... started another session - WOOT!). Since the beginning I have improved my half mile time by over a minute {ran my half mile in 3:39 this morning - sorry, had to write that down cuz it will likely NEVER happen again and I was super proud of myself for breaking 4 minutes}, I can do 20 more push ups in a minute than I started with {even doing 10 on my toes}, and have increased my sit ups by 7 in a minute (yes, abs still have a ways to go *wink* but I had an abdominal injury early on so I had to take it easy for a while). While I won't divulge the numbers on the scale, I will say that I was pleased with the numbers there, too ;)

Overall it's been a great experience and it feels so good to be giving this gift to myself. I am still running on my non-bootcamp days and I'm seeing improvement there, too, although I have to learn to run outside with more enjoyment ... bootcamp is helping with that because we do mix in a lot of running. I plan to run another 10K in the spring and am officially registered to be part of a Ragnar relay team with a group in my ward at the end of February. YIKES!! You're sure to be hearing more about that ....

Mormon Messages

I am so grateful for the new Mormon Messages videos that the church has been putting out. Each one of them is so uplifting!! Any time I feel the need for a "pick me up" or a reminder of who I am, where I'm going, the blessings I have, the ability to overcome trials, etc. I can find the perfect message. They now have some that are geared to the youth, too, that are inspiring examples of the good that exists in the "rising generation."

You can subscribe to the YouTube Channel so you are alerted whenever a new video is released so you never miss one! They are easy to share on blogs and Facebook, too. I posted one on Motherhood back in September ... still love that one. I can't pick a favorite because they each touch me in a different way depending on what I "need" to hear when I take the time to watch them.

These are just a few that I love and go back to again and again - ENJOY!!

Date Night

* photo taken by me on our date tonight ... dinner at BJ's *YUM* and a movie!

Oh, what would we do without date night?!? I am lucky that we have a regularly scheduled date night on our calendars ... it is often one of the few times during the week that we get to sit with each other to catch up and take a break from our rat race!!! It seems that the older our kids get, the more active/busy they become - which obviously filters down to the amount of time that Steve and I have together. I feel like most days we are running opposite directions in our responsibilities between home, kids' schedules, and church duties. He walks in the door and I walk out. I get back from running the kids to and from activities and he's on his way out to a meeting ... you get the idea.

We've been part of a babysitting group for years now - since before Cougar was born - where we swap every Friday. One couple watches all of the kids and the 3 other couples have 4 1/2 hours of *FREE* child care!! When it's our turn we have 16 kids {including our 4} at our house. When we drop off we get to do whatever our little hearts desire!! We've done lots of dinner & a movies, game nights with other couples, shopping, sporting events, cleaning, painting, DVR night, temple trips, etc.

Tonight was bittersweet because it was actually our last night as part of the group *sigh* With Brinley about to turn 12 we are able to call on her for a few hours so we can sneak away for a date! With Steve's work/church schedule it was making our babysitting weekends (when we had everyone here) a lot tougher on our family. We would babysit 16 kids on Friday, Steve would work early (7 AM) on Saturday, I would do the running to 2 different games (and often birthday parties or other errands) by myself, Steve would be in meetings most of the day Sunday {really - starting at 7 AM}, and then he would go into work early on Monday. It was making for super long and hard weekends so we knew it was time to make some changes. We will now be opting for more "family nights" on Friday where each child will take turns picking our activity and we will get in more of our dates on Saturday night. It feels so strange to be at this "turning point" in our lives as our kids get older, but we will continue to treasure out date nights ... they are literally the glue that holds us together at times and I'm so grateful for a husband who thinks they are just as important as I do!!

Movie Night

I'm always grateful for an excuse to have a movie night with our family - we love the time to throw all caution to the wind, eat loads of candy, and pile onto the couches {or the floor} with blankets and each other to spend 2 hours together. Tonight was our first chance to watch Toy Story 3 since buying it earlier this week. We had seen it in the theater months ago but we are always counting down to the DVD releases of our fave movies that we've seen in the theater. Other recent favorites are How to Train Your Dragon (which Cougar wants to watch every day) and we're counting down to Despicable Me being released on December 14th and Ramona & Beezus coming out next week ... especially since we never got to see that one!

It's not just about DVD movies that we have seen in the theater, either. Another movie night excuse is a DCOM release. In case you don't know what that is, it's a Disney Channel Original Movie. In fact, I'm pretty sure that one of our first "official" movie nights was when High School Musical was released on Disney Channel years ago. I can't begin to tell you the number of DCOMs that we have counted down to {for weeks and sometimes months - can you say Camp Rock 2?}!!! Funny thing is that I look forward to most of these movies just as much as my girls. Yes, I just wrote that and posted it on the web ... and I'm almost 39. What a thrilling life I lead, huh?!?

Let's not forget the candy buffet ... the kids love that part of it! We usually give everyone the chance to pick a favorite treat and we put them all out and give everyone their own bowl to fill with goodies :D Our menu tonight consisted of gummy bears, sour apple rings, peach rings, plain m&ms, peanut butter m&ms, york peppermint patties, starburst, skittles, tootsie rolls, red vines, and twizzlers- as if the Halloween candy we still had in our house wasn't quite enough. All of this after we had scones for dinner {with cinnamon sugar, honey, and homemade raspberry jam}. Pretty sure that may have earned me Mother of the Year tonight!!

Disneyland

I could honestly post 1,000+ photos to show just how grateful I am for Disneyland. There is no question that it is *one* of the happiest places on earth for our family. We have been going there on a regular basis for about 6 years now. We just ordered season passes for our entire family for Christmas - WOOT!! We have a trip planned the first week of December and we will go again for Spring Break, Fall Break, and again next December before they expire. To say our family loves it there would be a huge understatement.

What do we love about it? It is magical. We have so many amazing memories from our trips there. We laugh together, we play together, we take turns riding different rides with each other, we have traditions {like buying sugar sticks, raspberry white chocolate cookies, corn dogs, and a new antennae ball ... every trip}, we all have different favorites and have learned to compromise what we might want to ride or eat for what someone else wants, we bond. Seriously. My parents spend 2 days with us almost every visit and we're hoping that one day we can talk Steve's parents into joining us, too ... it is the funnest time with grandparents! It has been just over a year since our last visit and it is probably the longest span between visits that we've had in 5 years. We are all dying to get back and have been talking about it for months now!!

Merm

That's what I've called my mom since High School. I don't really remember where it came from {HS was over 20 years ago, people}, but I'm pretty sure my friend Elissa was a part of it ... she called her mom Merm, too. It had something to do with being in a store or a crowd and EVERYONE calling out "Mom" when searching for their female parent. Merm was far more easy to recognize than Mom. And so it stuck - and even became a license plate on one of our cars for YEARS!!!

Today (and every day) I am grateful for my mom ... who is still Merm to me and is now Grammy to my kids. It is her birthday today!!! There are so many things that I love about my mom. She is patient with me, she listens no matter how long I talk on the phone, she doesn't freak out if we go 3+ weeks without talking, she has a great sense of style, she has fabulous taste in handbags and shoes, she is a great cook and makes the best Texas Sheet Cake and Caramel Corn {which she makes almost every time we are in town}, she is amazing with my kids (picture the poor woman playing Tickle Monster for hours with 4 rambunctious kiddos), she is friendly and outgoing, she has a beautiful singing voice, she is a great teacher, she has never waivered in her faith and testimony, she has sacrificed more for me than I will ever know, she waits with the strollers at Disneyland so the adults can ride the rides (and doesn't complain), she rides the rides at Disneyland with my kiddos - even when she may not really *want* to {Tower of Terror - 'nuf said}, she loves Paradise Bakery as much as I do, she is a friend to everyone ... I could go on and on. I can only hope that one day my kids think HALF as much of me as I do of my mom. I really hope she knows how much I love her. Really.

* This is one of my fave pics of my mom. It was taken almost 5 years ago right after she and Brinley {yes, that's Brinley} got DRENCHED on the Grizzly River Run at California Adventure!