Today I am Thankful for: My Job

I am so honored to be a teacher at Ladybug preschool. I work with a group of unbelievably talented ladies who are incredible mentors and wonderful friends. They make me laugh, lift me up and brighten my day. I love being able to go to work every day not only doing what I love- but with people I love.
I am blessed with 2 classes full of wonderful kids who have all captured a piece of my heart and have brought incredible families into my life. I am honored that they trust their precious child to me and that i get to be the start of a journey of learning. That I can be able to help lay that foundation!!!
I am also grateful that I have a job that gives me time off with the kids. I am able to take them to school and be home when they are done. I am able to have the same breaks as they do. I know this is something that not all are able to do. I get the best of both worlds... I have a job to help support our family but also I have time to be home wioth them.

Today I am Thankful for: Our Soldiers

I feel so honored to live in a free country and I know that so many pay the price and sacrifice for it to be that way. I am Honored to be an American. Thank you to those who have lost their lives, those who have come back safe and all those still fighting along with the families of these brave men and women. My family is eternally grateful. I am so proud of all my family members who are among those we honer. Grandfathers, Uncles, My father, My brother, Cousins, second cousins, many friends and in- laws. We will always hold you up and remember what you did.
I remember when my brother was int the Golf war and although I was way to young to fully understand ... I remember always being so proud and was so happy the day he was back home safe. Thank you ALL so much!!!!!!

Today I am Thankful for: Yoga

Besides running, one of my new favorite things is Yoga. I love the feel of my body stretching and working. I am so lucky that our church offers classes on Wednesday nights.. a time I can go and at a price I can afford. I have always wanted to go to a class.. but we don't belong to a gym and don't have the money to go to a studio. Holy Yoga has turned out perfect. It is relaxing and rejuvenating to mind, body and spirit!!!

Today I am Thankful for: This time of year

The windows are open, there is a chill in the air and the smell of Cinnamon and pumpkin loom through the air... FALL IS HERE!!!! I love it. I love making hot chocolate or cider for the kids, cooking those heartier meals.... I love burning new candles and decorating.. it renews my spirit and puts a smile in my heart!!!!

Today I am Thankful for: Forginess

I am grateful that God sent his son and that are sins can be forgiven. I am working hard on myself and learning from my sins, my past and trying to make each new day better. I want to show Agape Love and embrace the world. I am humbled by those who continue to show me how to have an open, loving forgiving, un-judgemental life and want to live the same way. I want to be a blessing to others as so many are to me. Thank you for those who have forgiven me when I have let you down, or hurt you. I have learned from my mistakes and promise to be true to myself and others!

Today I am Thankful for: Support

Today I am thankful for my unbelievable husband and are 4 incredible kids. They were my inspiration today.From start to finish they cheered me on. I had a goal to complete the Women's Half Marathon in 2 hours... and I beat it. I know it takes a lot of time and dedication from a runner to train. But it also takes support from others. If it wasn't for Kasey's help at nights and on Saturdays I could never be able to do this. And having him and the kids at the starting line to wish me luck.. and then cheering me on at mile 5, 10 and at the finish line.. still brings tears to my eyes! Thank you guys for supporting me. I hope that I will be an inspiration to you to be healthy and live an active life, as you guys are my inspiration to do it. I love you!!!!

Today I am Thankful for: watching the boys play sports

One of my favorite things to do on Saturdays is to go watch Dylan and Blake play football. I am so excited we have kids in a sport again. I grew up in a family thta loved sprots adn always played sports. Most nights were either at a game or at practice. I am competitive and hard working. I put passion into playing and I want the kids to do the same. It has been incredible to watch that starting to come out in them... especially Dylan. There is sucha great self esteem that comes out of putting your heart into things and not giving up. I hope this is the begining and there is much more to look forward to. I want them to always know I am one of there biggest supporters!!!!

Today I am thankful for: My Sister

My sister is an incredible woman. She has one of the most giving hearts I have ever encountered! She is fun and her laugh is contagious. She is a doer and is always busy! She works hard and puts her heart into everything she does and everyone she knows. She is someone I strive to be more like.. someone I honer and respect. She is my best friend and I am so grateful that I have her in my life!

Today I am Thankful for: Our 4 crazy kids

I have been extremely blessed with 4 wonderful crazy kids!!! They are the laughter in are home. I look forward to spending time with each of them and love dinner time when we can all sit together and share. Even in the times of complete chaos .. when they are driving me up the wall with attitudes, crying and tattling.. I can look at them and be proud. Then are GOOD kids!!! They have so much thoughtfulness and love in their hearts. They have laughter, joy and silliness! They care about their families and love to spend time with them. They are growing up to be awesome people who I can't wait to be friends with. They are my heart!!!

Today I am Thankful for: My Parents

I am so blessed to have parents who are the most loving people. They are generous and giving, open hearted and loving. They are such a great example of a marriage. I look to both of them for advice and consider them to be dear friends of mine. I hope that I can have the same friendship with my kids when they are adults.

Today I am Thankful for: My Dr

So for over the past 3 years I have felt terrible!!! I have been through a dozen tests, 2 operations and still no light at the end of the tunnel. It was at the point that my Dr. felt I needed to get a full hysterectomy. I continue to get cysts, I have endometriosis.. and killer cramps for most of the month. I couldn't sit long, sleep... I just was miserable!
Well in August My Dr. wanted to test my bladder to see if that was the root of the problems. He had been doing some research and the symptoms are very similar to what I have been experiencing. At first I thought he was nuts... I didn't have any pain when I had to go to the bathroom. But if this meant that I did not have to get things removed and Kasey and I WOULD be able to have a child of our own.. I was ALL for doing the test. Within minutes, it was confirmed... I have INTERSTITIAL CYSTITIS! Basically it means I don't have a lining in my bladder and the nerves are being exposed by the acid that goes through the bladder. It is something that I have to live with and have to radically change my diet for. Hopefully after about 6 months of medication 3 times a day I can control it just by my diet. Anything that will make me feel.. Alive again!
It has been 2 full months on the diet and with the medication and diet I can not believe how good I feel!!!! I try very had to stick t the foods that are allowed and have noticed that there are certain foods that defiantly trigger the pain! However I am finding there are a couple that I can add in.. occasionally! It is awesome and so worth it!

Today I am Thankful for : My Husband: Kasey

Today I am Thankful for my amazing Husband! I do not know what I would do without him. He makes me want to be a better person. He is my cheerleader, my strength, my all! I love that he is as adventurous as I am and wants to explore and experience the world I am so grateful that God led us together and that he loves my son like his own. Without him, Kaydon would not know what a Dad is ... or how a Dad takes care of you. I can't wait to journey through this life proudly by his side. I pray that he will always know my unconditional love for him!

d with me.

Happy Halloween

I love this time of year.. starting with Halloween going all the way through the New Year! I love the traditions that we have in our family and embracing the cooler weather! This year Kasey and I were invited to a Halloween Party and we had a blast!!! It was so fun to dress up and let loose. We had a great night with great friends and can't wait to do it again!!! We carved pumpkins and had chili like always. Happy Halloween!!!!!

Watch out.......

It is time for a new season... and I couldn't be more excited! I am not a fan of summers in Arizona and after 6 years... I am still not used to it. I miss cooler days and nights. The heat makes it hard to get into the Fall spirit and I find myself not able to decorate as early as I would like. With that said, I still do even though it is 100 degrees outside. By October 1 st Kadyon is busting at the seams to decorate for Halloween .. and he is very particular. It takes a while to change it up from the year before :)
I love Fall and the change it brings.. not just the weather ( eventually) but also the smells, my cooking and so many holiday traditions that begin with it. One of my favorite. and how we like to kick off the Holiday 's is to go Boo'ing!!!! The kids love it and so do Kasey and I. We plot out who we are going to get and what we are going to give.. and then eagerly await night when... DING DONG!!!! It is like a good version of ding dong ditching. I love taking are nightly walk and looking at the other houses that have now been booed!!!! I have always dreamed of living in a neighborhood where all the street had block parties and hung out. I wouldn't say that is our street.. but ever year it becomes a little more like that :)
Usually we pick 2 families in the neighborhood and a friend who lives somewhere else to get things started. This year we decided to do all 3 in the neighborhood because we have so many new families that moved in. The kids were so excited when the next day WE got BOOED and we had to go out again :)




So this was our treat that we booed with this year. Pumpkin cookies are one of My families FAVORITE!!!!! They are so yummy and so easy to make. I love the smell of pumpkin and spice that fills the air as they bake. It just brings the holiday spirit alive!

We're Man and Wife

Our Wedding Song

Now We're Man and Wife

by: Michelle Featherstone

All the things you are to me

Darling you have set me free

I'll always give you what you need

And what you deserve

All the joy and all this love

I know that it is from above

And now together there's enough

To fill this world

'Cause you are the love of my life

You are the love of my life

And now we're man and wife

All the things you will do

You know I'm standing next to you

And darling I will see you through

The rest of our lives

With you beside me

I have won

I'm glad I've waited for so long

There is no doubt

That you are the one for me

You are the love of my life

You are the love of my life

And every time

There will be things

Everything is going to be fine

Now you're in my life

So I give you heart and soul

It's yours to take wherever you go

And through the years

You'll always know

It's yours to keep

God has blessed this sacred vow

And angles high above look down

And see the two of us have found

The perfect love

You are the love of my life

You are the love of my life

You are the love of my life

Yeah

You are the love of my life

Now we're man and wife

We're man and wife

Now we're man and wife

We're man and wife

We're man and wife

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvyCATSqcvI

CELEBRATE

So I jumped in on the kick of finding ONE WORD to focus on/ live by for the year! I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was the right word for me. So many came to mind.....

1. FAITH
2. LIVE
3. PLAY
4. LAUGH
5. PRAY
6. HAPPINESS
7. GRATITUDE
8. BELIEVE
9. FAMILY
10. LOVE

and with all those I didn't know which one to choose. I liked them all! So as I worked on my other goals from my Mom's group it hit.........

CELEBRATE

I love it... it is perfect and exactly what I want to do. Live for today.. enjoy .. laugh.... love... play.....to be grateful for what God has given me and the people I have in my life. Things may be hard, hurtful, messy, crazy ... but there is always so much to celebrate. I am blessed in so many ways. I know that and at times I ( as do so many of us) forget to see it. It has been hard not being able to achieve our dream of having a baby together.. it gets depressing. And life gets in the way, money gets tight, I get my feelings hurt by the things people do and I start to focus on the fact that we just can't catch a beak.

But no more!!!!!!! Don't get me wrong.. I am by no means giving up on the chance of us having a baby.. it will happen in God's time ( letting go and letting God- much easier said then done ) !!!! What I want to do is enjoy the ride and laugh at the ups as well as the Downs. It is like a roller coaster.. FUN... FAST... SCARY... But so worth it!

At 30 years old I want to smile... be at peace.. enjoy .. live... Celebrate what today brings. And I want people to see the joy and Celebration in me! I want my friends and family to know how much they mean to me, I want to mend broken relationships, enjoy the kids while there kids, smell the roses and be happy!Life is short and a gift and I am going to CELEBRATE it!! I want to teach our kids o do the same!

Here's to you... Day 1

I am counting down the days to our 4th Anniversary! Amazing! Time has just flown by. I have been trying to figure out exactly what we should do to celebrate this year and was drawing a blank. Actually, I thought of so many things, unfortunately this past year has REALLY killed us because of Medical bills. Looking back we have had a lot of medical issues since we have been married.. but this past year has topped them all! Between kids breaking arms, illness, teeth, gallbladder ( to name a few) our budget is VERY tight. So what could I do different this year to make it special? I have to be creative and resourceful!!!!!!

I have a plan and am still working out all the details but my concept is to count down the next 7 days doing something special for Kasey every day! I know it sounds easy and it could be but I am using thoughtfulness and effort as my gifts! So I need to think outside the box and come up with things that will really surprise him.. with spending very little to NO MONEY!

With that said.. today I did the outside house work! That may seem simple because we usually do it together on the weekends.. but I did it with the thought that this weekend he would not have to think about ANY yard work. I pulled weeds, edged the yard, MOWED ( Yes those are 2 things I have never done before... I hope he is impressed) worked in the garden ( both flower and veggie), swept rocks and finished off with a good watering of everything. This way all he has to do this weekend is relax!

this is just half of the backyard but you get the point :)

Now to think of what to do for the rest of the week.......please throw out any ideas you may have!

Power of Moms

Okay so for 2 years I loved my Live Laugh Love club and have truly missed meeting with the girls every month this past year. So when my cousin Kymberly came to me with The Power of Moms club.. I was in!!! So we had our first meeting in March and it was wonderful. Great conversation... inspiration.. uplifting.. just great. Well we were sent home with homework.

1. Come up with 1 thing you will not do for a month

This was easy! I knew right away what I would do and not do. What would you have choose? My Not is I am not going to be Negative. Now I am not a negative person, however I have started to fall into a negative mindset. It could be about people's intentions or a "what else could go wrong mentality". I wanted to get rid of that thinking. Be positive! Not just most of the time.. but all the time. Especially when times get hard or feelings get hurt or life throws a curve ball. Because the idea that we still haven't been able to have a baby has really weighed heavy on my heart and my mind. So this simple task was to help.. just don't be negative! I started off great.. with such optimism. When Kaydon broke his arm.. I thought at least it was his left and no bones were sticking out. But I must confess I have caught my mind going to that complaining/ negative mind set. This is harder then I thought.. but overall I am doing great. I know that God is in control.. that we will have a baby and that there is always a brighter side to look at. Forgiveness is hard but freeing and life is to short to look at the downside. So keep wishing me luck .. this one is sticking out longer then a month :)

2. Something you are going to do for yourself

This one was a little trickier for me. My first thought was to start running again- which I already started; then it was to blog; then to read more. But nothing felt right. Those were things I wanted to do and things that I don't catch myself putting off because I feel guilty.. it is more out of bad habit. So I decided that I wanted to get back into crafting.. I LOVE IT! I feel so creative and happy when I do.. and I catch myself putting it off because I feel like there is cleaning or laundry or something else I should be doing instead of a " hobby". This is perfect.. Hobbies are good- good for your soul. So far I have been very type A and have tried to figure out where I can get things out so it isn't a project to just begin ( i need a workspace that I can leave stuff out ) I have some great ideas to start and will post as I get them done... I just need to find my space around the house.

I really am excited to do both of these things and be back in "my club" I will keep you all posted on how I am doing!

VEGAS!!!

I have to say this is one of my favorite places.. I love Vegas! I wish we could go more and go to more shows but I just love it. I love to walk the strip, shop (even if it is window shopping) sit and have a drink by the pool, gamble , enjoy dinner out... to have no schedule at all! I am so blessed that Kasey's work sends us every year. What a treat! It is typically our only get-a-way a year just the two of us. And it is always near our anniversary ( and we got married here) so we try to make it special. Every year we pick something new to do.. this year.... it was the roller coaster at New York New York. FUN! I love roller coasters!!! Thank you honey for another incredible weekend.
Another side note is that because we go with his work.. we get to hang out with some of his family, dinner with his Dad, I hung out by the pool with his Aunt, spend time with his cousins, we so some gambling together and every year his Uncle Jack gets out and dances with me. I love it!

Spring "break" literally!!!!!

March 15th ( Mitch's Birthday) and the 1st day of Spring Break... YEAH!!!! I love this time of year.. I love having time to hang with the kids and relax.. take some time off the busy schedule.We were having a great day, the weather was perfect and we had all the kids! I decided to walk the kids down to the park and Kaydon was determined to be able to do the monkey bars just like Blake. So up he went and one hand after another he got it! He was on cloud nine and continued to do it over and over.. he reached his goal :) I think he was a little too confident and the next thing I know on the 16th time across he swung is legs to help with the momentum and the next thing I know his feet are as high as his head and he is falling straight down and lands on his arm/back. ' I BROKE MY ARM" is all I could make out in the crying. I got him home and he calmed down.. I took a look and he could move his hand so I figured the best thing would be to ice and elevate it and keep an eye on it. He seemed to favor it but it didn't slow him down from running and playing. So off to bed we went. The next morning he woke me up because he couldn't use his arm to pull his pants down to go to the bathroom... I took 1 look at his arm and knew we had to go. It began to swell, it hurt to rest it down and was starting to bruise. Urgent care he we come...... ( Thank you mom for watching the kids while we went)


AS soon as we walked in the DR. said.. " yep it is broken.... lets do some x-rays to figure out what we have". Let me just take a minute to say that he didn't complain once about pain or anything... his only concern.. is that he can get a RED cast!!! He broke his Iris in his left arm and a hairline fracture in the other bone. Now to get find an orthopedic to cast it and look at it before we head to Vegas on Thursday! What a way to start Spring break..




After Many phone calls I got Kaydon in Wednesday afternoon. He said that there doesn't appear to be any damage to the tendinitis so he didn't need a full arm cast! 4 weeks in his red cast and then we will see if he needs a splint when they take it off! Luckily it is his Left arm!

This wasn't our first broken bone in the family.. Carlie broke her arm in the Fall while riding her bike. Good times..I didn't expect these two to be the first to break bones. Kids - you just never know!

Where do I begin?!!?!?!?!?!?

It is amazing how long it has been! I am such a type A person that I was having a difficult time writing when I was so far behind. I felt like I had to go back and catch up on all the things I have missed before I add to what is going on today! Well part of my new years resolution was to let go of that "anal" side. Don't get me wrong.. there are many reasons I love it and in many areas I won't let it go.. but there are others that I do!
We got a diagnosis for Kaydon and after a very long 1st quarter ( for all of us) we seem to be making a lot of progress. He has Sensory Integration disorder, ADHD, Anxiety disorder, Fine motor delay and a couple other things . With that we were able to get some help at school.WE moved to the Am tops at school so his days are shorter and he has social skills classes after school. His teacher is AMAZING and they really seem to MESH! Kasey and I are learning a lot. Some days it is so frustrating because he doesn't "get" some of the simple things that we all take for granted. I am glad that we have so much support to help us on this long journey!
As for me.. I am finding myself more and more every day! I a a lucky girl with the best husband, great kids, an awesome family and wonderful friends!