gratitude day 25

Today I am so thankful for my cousins! We all went shopping today, it was so much fun. Leah Derek's girlfriend came too, I just love her, she is the sweetest girl. It was fun to all be together, (along with about 5000 of our closest friends) everywhere was crazy busy and so crowded. We shopped and went to lunch, then shopped some more! I just love those girls, I don't have a sister but I have them, which is the closest thing to having one, and I am so grateful for that. All 3 of them in their own way are such an example to me, and they help me to be a better person. I love them all, and I don't know what I would do with out them!

gratitude day 24

It's finally here! Thanksgiving! Today I am so thankful for family time, and to have the weekend to just hang out. We took the kids to see The Muppets, they were so excited to go to a movie as a family. They had been looking forward to this for over a week. We always go to a movie on Thanksgiving morning. Usually we would go with Rob and Jennies family, but since they moved we obviously didn't go with them and my kids were sad about that. After the movie we went to the Ogdens to eat and then to my parents house for dessert. After all that all of us girls went shopping. I love my cousins! It was a great day, it was so fun to get to see our families and laugh and hang out.

gratitude day 23

I am so thankful to have the time to be able to help out in my kids' classes. Every Monday I go and help for an hour in the morning in Ryders class. I just love seeing his cute face grin when I walk in the classroom. It's fun to get to see how he is at school, he is actually calm and obedient. On Fridays I help sell snocones for Krews' fundraiser for Sea Camp, he loves having me there to help. I love that he loves me being there. Today I went on a field trip with Jades class, she was so excited I was able to come. She wanted to sit right by me on the bus and didn't care if she was with her friends or not.

I have realized at their school I have 3 names, Krews' mom, Jades' mom, or Ryders mom. It all depends on whose friend or class mate it is, I love it. I am so thankful that my kids love me to be around.

gratitude day 22

Today I am thankful for my mom and Cafe Rio! I worked from 9am -8pm today, I was crazy busy because of Thanksgiving and working a short week. I was booked solid but then ended up getting a break at 1:00 while my client processed. My sweet mom and Violet ran me over a Cafe Rio salad, I scarfed it down. Man that was just what I needed. Thanks Mom!

gratitude day 20

I love this weather! I just love these over cast skies. I am so thankful for fall. It is so fun to see all the leaves change colors. There aren't very many trees that do this in Vegas, but when you do see them they stand out. I drove by some trees with red, yellow, and orange leaves, they were so pretty. Even my kids got excited to see the cool leaves.

gratitude day 21

Today I am thankful for Violets dance class, she just loves to go and thinks she is so big. She loves all the little girls in their. Her first day she was nervous and said "mom I don't know how to dance so I don't know if I should be going here!" Then she said "will my teacher hold me if I'm sad?" Of course she loved it. She will come home and show us all her moves. The older kids just adore her so they are so in to watching her. When she put her feet in a pose and said" this is 1st position" I just about died. How cute is she?! She will also do this funny dance and move her whole body and say "that is my famous dance" while grinning ear to ear.

gratitude day 19

Today I am so thankful for soccer. As annoying as it is to have our Saturdays all tied up with games, my kids just love it! Jade is so stinkin' cute to watch out there, she is the best little forward and has been doing really good at it. She seriously lives for game day and counts down the days. Ryder is just so cute out there with his white hair, and he is a really good mid fielder, that the position he loves to play. He is in his uniform ready to go by 7 am , and he is ticked if his game is last. Krew this year has gotten sooo much better this season. We have never made him play, he always wants to but once he is out there he just could care less and isn't competitive. This year he is into it and is actually playing hard, he has even headed it a couple of times and Jared said"who's kid is that?" Violet is said she doesn't play yet, at the beginning of the season she said "Where is my unicorn at?!" she meant uniform but we loved it so we didn't correct her. Anyways it's just so fun to see my kids enjoying themselves and being in to something good for them.

gratitude day 18

Today I am thankful for my little buddy Violet. On my days off she just follows me around, she helps clean, do dishes, laundry, and she loves to go to the grocery store. She really is the sweetest girl, and she is hilarious! As we clean if we are in different rooms she will yell "MOM!!" and I say "What?" and she will say "I love you!" it is so sweet. Amber Whiting had her the other day and she yelled Amber and when she said what Violet said "I like you!".

She knew we had to go help sell snocones at the kids' school so all day she would yell "Mom is it time to go sell snocones yet?" She is too cute, our whole family just loves and adores her.

Violet is one of the funniest girls you will ever meet, she says the craziest things, here are some examples.

The other day she was driving with my mom and she said this....

"Grandma can you drive me by Michael Jacksons house I just miss him! Why did he have to take that bad medicine and die? He should have taken my dads medicine and he wouldn't have died!"Really what 3 year old says that?! My mom does live by Michael Jacksons house he had in Vegas so that is where that came from.

Amber had Violet the other day and she took her to the park, she also had her nephew with her and I guess he wouldn't quit touching her and hitting her and she said "I am warning you I hit really hard!"

Her nursery leaders name is Sister Brown and she calls her Brown Sister, we don't correct her because its so funny!

Marci was babysitting her the other day and she said "Marci I am hungry". She asked her what she wanted and she said "Pizza, ice cream, and root beer, and miiiiixxx it up". She said this while she was doin' a little dance.

gratitude day 17

Today was awesome, even though I worked for 9 1/2 hours to make up for being off, at least I was able to work. I am so thankful to be back to work and not hurting anymore and able to use my left hand fully. It is still sore but not like it used to be, man if anything really bad ever happened to one of my hands or arms(cause this was only 1 week and it stunk to not be able to work) I would be in trouble as far as not being able to work for a long period of time. So yes I am so thankful to be back in action!

gratitude day 16

Today was a no brainer I didn't even have to sit and think for 1 second what to be thankful for, I am SO thankful to have my cast off! That thing was driving me crazy! I now can shower a lot easier, do my hair and make-up better, wash dishes, drive safer, sweep, mop, work, and sleep more comfortably! I can't believe how nice it is to have 2 working hands, I still have stitches so it is wrapped up, but I am allowed to take it off to get it wet then dry it of right away. It is really sore especially when I move my wrist, but I am so glad to be free of that cast!

The purple is from the sharpie he drew on me to mark where to cut. He said the tumor was

totally stuck and grown onto my main artery, so he had to carefully cut it away from that and

then it popped right out in one big chunk, he actually said it looked like an egg, which sounds

so gross, so sorry for that. it is in a zig zag because if it was a straight line the incision would

not be able to stretch when I would bend my wrist, so this way the skin has more stretch to it.

gratitude day 15

This might be bad but I am so thankful for pain pills today. I went back to work today(which was a joke, bad idea, I ended up canceling my last 3 clients cause with the cast I just could not manuver my hand like I needed to and it hurt to try to) my wrist was killing me when I got home. I've only been taking half a pain pill at night now, it's not like I'm a addict! It just really does help to relieve the pain and I can sleep better. I sure am glad for modern medicine and to have the medical care that we have.

gratitude day 14

I am so thankful for family night. My kids love having family night, Jade and Krew fight over who gets to do the lesson, we trade off, but they each want to do it every week. It is cute listening to their lessons, we sometimes help, but they usually just get an idea out of the friend and don't want our help. Jade assigns everyone their part, like song, scripture, or prayer. She loves being in charge. Violet loves to lead the music. This week Violet raised her hand when Krew asked a question and she said "The Prophet died and is in Heaven" and Ryder said "DUH if he is a prophet of course he is in heaven". It was so funny especially since Krew's lesson was on being honest, Im not sure where Violet got that from. For the game we played rock band. I had to leave to go to this parenting class that I'm in, and when I got home at 9:30 everyone except for Violet was up and rockin' out still. I asked Jared why they were all still up, since it was a school night, and he said"We are rockin' out thats why! and rockin' roll doesn't have a curfew!" then the kids all yelled"YEA mom!" Oh sorry my bad. They are so lucky to have a fun dad. I love my family!

gratitude day 12

Today as a family we participated in the "Race 4 Rob", it was a charity run for Rob Hale who recently suffered a stroke. He is from Vegas but currently lives in Texas, all of the $ raised today is going directly to his family, he is only 30 and has 2 little kids, it is such a sad story, he is doing much better now than 2 months ago, but he still has a long road ahead. His sweet wife blogs everyday about their life, it is a very inspiring blog and she has an amazing attitude - www.helpingthehales.blogspot.com.
So today before the race they announced that they had already raised over $12,000, isn't that awesome?! There was a 5k or a 1 mile walk/run/ride, so we did the 1 mile with our kids, they rode their scooters. It was was so neat to be there with my family, my parents and my cousins were there too. Cherie's husband Stephen was working the drink and snack booth, he is good friends with the Hale family. During the race channel 8 news was there, when we ran past the camera Krew got up in it and said "YEA I'm gonna be famous, I'm gonna be on TV!" The camera guy loved it. Krew is so funny, just like his dad.

It was so fun to being there today, you really could feel the spirit. I was so thankful to be apart of this and that my kids got to experience this as well, it was just so neat to see so many people come together for a special cause. It really was amazing, and a day that I will never forget.

The only shirts left were really small or really big, Krew looks so funny but he really wanted a shirt, their #s cover it up, but it says "race 4 rob". My kids pray for the Hale family every night so they were excited to be apart of this.

Jared was making fun of Carol, thats why he is posing like that.

They had this banner to sign and then they are sending it to Rob and his family, my kids couldn't wait to sign it.

halloween

We had quite the posse out trick-or-treating, it was so much fun to be with so many friends!

Jared grew out a mustache just for the occasion! He went around trick-or-treating in this riding on one of our kids' scooter. It was pretty funny to watch. When he would go up to the doors with the kids people said he looked so good he deserved some candy.

Jade was so excited to hold baby Dylan.

Jackpot! my kids got so much candy!

The weekend before Halloween was our wards trunk-or-treat, it is always fun to see everyone and to get to dress up more than once.

Ryder did his own hair, he got mad at me for trying to spike it up all crazy, he said"Skeltons don't have any hair so it has to be flat!"

My little bumble bees, Violet was so excited to be matching Jade.

My kids are the biggest posers! I'm not sure what Krew is doing in any of these?! Violet wouldn't stop rubbing her lips since she had lipstick on, and she would put her trick-or-treat bag down either, but she is still cute trying to pose like the big kids.

Krew helped pass out the candy from the truck, he was thrilled to be helping.

My cute cousin Denise came to my wards trunk-or-treat with her kids, we just love them.

The kids had so much fun carving pumpkins over at Carols house.

I helped in Ryders class with their pumpkin decorating, I think Ryders was the most creative, no one elses had eyebrows!

gratitude day 11

I am so thankful for great friends, everyone has been so good to me. I am so thankful for all the help with my kids, they have been farmed out all over the place for 2 days, which has been so nice so I can rest in peace and quiet. I also have gotten so many phone calls from everyone checking up on me, it feels so good to be so loved. We also have gotten meals brought over which is awesome, Jared could have cooked, but my sweet friends insisted on brining dinner.

Also the Dr. called this morning to check on me and said it was a tumor not a cyst, and that it was not cancerous. I wasn't really worried that it would be, but it is crazy to think I grew a tumor on my wrist! I still can't believe I had to have full blown surgery to remove this stinkin thing. Well I am so thankful to be healthy, and tumor free!

Here's a picture of the tumor, its kinda hard to tell in a picture what it really looked like, but it was pretty ugly!

gratitude day 10

I am so thankful for Jade, she is the most thoughtful little girl you will ever meet! This morning I had to have surgery on my hand, it sounds more dramatic than it is. I had a tumor/cyst on the back side of my wrist they are usually never cancerous only 1% chance, but it has doubled in size lately and if I pressed on it my hand would go numb. Since I do hair and it was on a tendon or something the Dr. said we should probably remove it. Well sweet Jade was so worried about me, just as I was leaving she handed me a few cards and a some candies for Jared to eat while he waited, she said I didn't get any cause I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything. She was so cute all morning she kept reminding me not to eat or drink. The cards were so sweet, I had to take a picture of them. She gave me a ton of hugs and kisses and asked if she could call me later to see how I was doing. I just love that little girl with all my heart.

Jared said he over heard Jade explaining to Violet what they were going to do to me, she said" They are going to cut the bump open then dig it out, not with a shovel though, and then they will stitch her up." I can only imagine what was going on in Violets head.

my favorite part is the "sincerely your daughter Jade"

how cute is she ? Have a nice day with no kids. The next word is hopefully she wrote hovale, her spelling cracks me up!

Jade helped Violet make me a card, they were both so excited to give them to me as I left.

gratitude day 9

I am so thankful for my calling, I am in scouts with Jared and we are over Krew. It's fun to have a calling with Jared, and Krew loves us being his leaders which makes it even better. Most people think scouts would be awful but I love it, the boys are so excited to be there and we have a lot of fun. It is always cool to see them in the halls at church or at school, they will say hi to me and have a big smile on their face, I have really grown to love all the boys in our group.

gratitude day 8

I am so thankful to not have been a pioneer, I would have never lasted. When I got off work I ran to my car an blasted the heat, and thought I am so thankful for this. I know its a simple thing but I really am thankful for heaters. I am such a wuss when it comes to the cold, I have such a respect for those poor pioneers. We are truly so spoiled!

gratitude day 7

I am so thankful for my parents, they are so good to me and my family. My mom is so helpful and watches Violet every Tuesday and Thursday for me, she is the best grandma. Every Tuesday they go to Pottery Barn Kids for story time, then to the Gap to shop the sales(Violet gets something from the sale rack every tuesday!), and then they go to Cafe Rio for lunch. On Thursdays they go to story time at the library, she always makes sure Violet has a fun time with her and I really appreciate it. Violet has gotten so spoiled, on the days I don't work she asks" can I go to Nanas today?"

My dad Is so good to my kids he is always so excited to see them and can't go over a week without seeing them. He is such a fun grandpa in the summer he takes them to the lake, and loves to swim with them at their house. He also takes them camping in his fancy trailer, my kids love it!

My parents have been through a lot and they don't let it get them down they always stay positive and are such good examples to me. They are some of the most Christ like people I know.

I am so glad I live close to my parents and I don't know what I would do without them!

gratitude day 6

Church was so good today! I am so thankful for Relief Society, I love love love Relief Society. It is lessons like todays that make me feel so bad for primary teachers and YW leaders that they miss out. Of all thing the lesson was on gratitude, and thru having gratitude it can help us thru our trials. This lesson was exactly what I needed to hear. Jared had a ruff weekend and didn't make it to church so I took the kids myself and was pretty bummed out, but this lesson helped me to have a change of heart, and the testimonies born afterwards were awesome. After church I told my kids how great my class was and asked them if they knew what gratitude was, after explaining I asked them each to tell me some things they were grateful for, I was very impressed.

Krew said- for our house and that we are not homeless

Ryder said- for his parents and family

Jade said- that my parents aren't divorced and for shelter, food, and water

Violet said- for trees, plants,and houses

Wow! I was not expecting such great answers. I love my kids so much! Jades answer practically made me cry.

It seems like every week at church there is something I need to hear or intended just for me, and that strengthens my testimony. I am so thankful to be a member of this church and a part of Relief Society.

gratitude day 5

I just love my sweet brother Ryan. Today was his 30th birthday, for those of you that don't Ryan he struggles with some major mental problems, and lives in a group home. He was so excited to be 30, he calls me just about everyday(our conversations are very comical!) and the last 2 months he has reminded me it's his birthday and that he is going to be 30 and if I have any advice for him on entering his 30's. We really do have the same conversations almost every time, they always start off with"Hey Toni it's your baby brother RyRy!" He also asks me every phone call if I am good for a $20 gift card to Walmart like I got him last year, and I say of course. He wanted to hang out for his birthday, I told him we could but we had soccer all day. Since he doesn't do well with crowds he said he would think about it, I told him we could go out to dinner that night and he liked that idea. My parents were out of town so the took him out a couple nights ago to celebrate so I wanted to make sure he had a good day. Well this morning he calls me at 9 am and I was at work and he said can you get me now and that he might want to come to soccer so I said in between games I could get him. So he rode the bus over to our side of town and I got him from the bus stop, he was so excited to see us, and gave me huge hug as usual. He about crapped his pants over the $30 gift card(since he was turning 30 I wanted to get him a $30 instead of $20). He said "a dollar for every year, I like that!" We got to the game and walked up to the field and as soon as we got there he said he was sorry but he needed to leave and that he couldn't handle being there and that he would just wait for the bus across the street to go home and that he was sorry. I held back the tears and he hugged me and left, I just feel so bad for him, and the fact that he suffers so much mentally it is so sad, I could tell he was really struggling. He was so sweet he called me about 1o min later and thanked me for getting him and for the gift card and that he was on his way to walmart, he seriously loves that store. He called me later to say thanks again and that he got some axe body wash and a bunch of chicken wings, he was so excited to tell me about it, bless his little heart. I am so thankful for him and his sweet spirit, and for the love he shows me, I am his favorite he always tells me that. Ryan is such a great kid I just wish he had a normal life, poor guy.

gratitude day 4

Today I am so grateful for music, I love listening to music and singing along. It so fun to just belt out the words, of course I only do this alone cuz I am a horrible singer, which is too bad cuz I really do love to sing. I really love all kinds of music, I recently have been listening to church music in the mornings when I get ready and it really is such a good way to start off the day. I just downloaded 2 really good songs, one is by Hilary Weeks called "Beautiful Heartbreak" and the other is by Laura Story and it is called "Blessings". I listen to these over and over, they are both about trials and over coming them, they have such a good message and give you hope. I have listened to them so much that even Violet knows the words, it's so cute to hear her sing. It is so neat the spirit that music can bring, I just truly love it!

gratitude day 3

I love my job! Of course there are those clients that stress you out but for the most part all my clients are great. Since I need to work I am so lucky to have a job that I love to go to and don't dread. Work is also a good break from being a mom, although the days I do work are more hectic at home before and after, but while I am at work I get to talk with so many neat people(some weird), but I really do love it, and the weird ones make for really great stories, and boy do I ever have some stories! It's so fun to hear about other peoples lives and how they are doing, I have even turned into to somewhat of a therapist! I am really close to a lot of my clients and truly care about them. It is also rewarding to do some ones hair for the first time or do a big change to their hair and when you are done and they look and in the mirror and can't stop smiling because they feel so good about themselves and feel pretty. It is such a good feeling to think "wow I was apart of that". Or when you get done with their hair and they say over and over how much they love it and how great you are, that is one of the best feelings. I'm not claiming I am the best hairdresser out there, but I think I've convinced some of my clients that I am! ;) Today I was thinking just how fortunate I am to be able to work just a couple days a week and to love what I am doing as well. I am so thankful to be a hairdresser, it is seriously the best job in the world!

Gratitude Day 2

Krew is the sweetest boy, even though he is 10 and in 5th grade he is still so kind and thoughtful. He just makes you smile! He hasn't turned into a punk yet and hope he never does. You always hear about how awful these 5th grade boys can be, he is still so innocent.He is such a mommas boy and I love that, he still calls me mommy and likes me to cuddle him before he goes to bed. I don't ever want him to grow up! He is the best big brother, today at Jade and Ryders soccer practice Violet was sad and crying, he came right over and hugged her and took her to the park along with Preston to go play.

He is such a happy kid, people always tell me how he is just so smiley and happy. Even kids at school notice this about him and tell him how they can't believe he is always in a good mood and happy,I asked him if he told them its because he has such a great mom, he just laughed at me. My friends from church have told me how they see him at school and how cute he is that he says hi to them and talks to them, instead of being too cool for them. I think that is such a great quality to have. On top of being nice he is funny, he for sure gets this from Jared. I seriously love this kid and I am so grateful he is my oldest to set such a good example for the rest of my kids, and I feel so blessed to be his mother.

Cherie and Stephen are Krew's primary teachers and on Sunday she texted me this. They were playing hang man and this is what one of the boys did for his turn. If you can't tell, it says "Krew the happiest guy in the world". Kobe, the kid that did that, is always telling me how he can't believe how happy Krew always is. How cute is that?

Gratitude Day 1

Since it is November and it's the time of year to be thankful, everyday this month I am going to write what I'm grateful for. I got this idea from Kelly Ahlander, her whole family does this and emails it to each other. I love this idea, it is such a good idea to think and reflect on what we are grateful for.

I am so thankful for Jared. Today was a long day at work, I didn't get home until 7:30, and I was not in the best mood. I thought for sure I would be coming home to make the kids do homework and knew I would need to clean up but didn't have the energy to do so. Even though Jared was so exhausted, he had all the kids finish their homework, they cleaned the down stairs, Jared did laundry, and part of the upstairs even got cleaned! This was seriously the best surprise ever. Coming home to a thrashed house no matter how hard I try, it just puts me in a bad mood. I am seriously so grateful for Jared for doing this for me cause I know this was a huge sacrifice since he doesn't feel good. I love coming home to a clean house!

an answer to prayers

Church was so good today, I swear one of the sacrament talks was just for me. It was mostly about prayer and how prayers are not always answered the way we hope they will be, or as fast as we are wanting them to be answered. He read a quote about just that, it really touched me, I'm not sure who it was by but it read-"sometimes He calms the storm, and sometimes He lets the storm rage, and He calms the child". Isn't that awesome? I'm pretty sure He is calming me and not my storm, I'm not sure why, but at least I have the strength to get through each day. It's crazy how this talk was an answer to my prayers. I'm embarrassed to admit, but I have been feeling like what is the point in praying? It isn't changing anything and Jared is still not better. I'm all talk cause I have never stopped praying but I was thinking what's the point,and praying to know why my prayers can't be answered, which is awful to think that way. After the talk today it reiterated what I already knew, that my prayers are what's getting me through this mess and making me stronger, Jared may not be getting better as fast as we want but we will be stronger from all this in the end. In the talk he talked about how sometimes our prayers never being answered the way we want them to is our answer, and whatever we are going through is given to us so we can grow and become who he wants us to be. I guess he is wanting me to become a crazy lady! I'm just joking.

posin' for the camera!!!

So we went to disneyland back in June and I just posted the trip but I back dated it so my blog would go in somewhat of an order, for the purpose of making it into a book. There was some crazy funny pictures of Jared that I wanted everyone to see, since no one would be looking up stuff I blogged in June, I decide to post these pictures so you could get a good laugh! Jared knows where the cameras are on every ride and he trained my kids as well to pose for the camera. So check these out!

Jared is nuts! He took his shirt off and just went on the ride with a zip-up hoody so when it came time he could quickly un-zip the hoody and be shirtless. That isn't me behind him, it's some lady with her kid, she didn't realize until she got off the ride to look at her picture, she was dying laughing. There was literally a crowd around Jareds picture laughing hysterically and people were actually taking a picture of his picture cause the thought it was so funny. Jared said he nailed it, and there is no way he can ever top that! Even Krew and Jade did a pretty good job posing! Look at Jades tongue out, they are all so stinkin' funny.