Thankful Thursday

1. Baby Steps-My baby is starting to walk! He prefers to crawl still though. I love to sit and watch him as he stands there and decides if he is going to move forward or sit down. When he decides to make that first step I love the pure joy in his face that overflows and he starts to giggle. It is the sweetest sound of my days! Simon taking this next step in life reminds me of how all of our lives our. We get to decide whether we move forward or sit down. When we move forward we then get to decide whether or not we will find joy in our decision. As I was once taught in a Preach My Gospel lesson we cannot sit on the fence. We are either progressing or regressing and I am thankful that my sweet boy's growing up reminds me of what I want to be doing.

2. Spring Colors-They bring such a vibrancy to life! Now that the weather is finally warming up I see lots of spring colors coming out. I can't see them without my spirits lifting and my worries melt to the background for a little while. It is such a wonderful feeling.

3. Dirt between my Fingers-Oooohh I can feel it now as I am typing. There is just something about being outside and digging in the dirt! I love being able to plant something and tend it and watch it grow. I wish I could do more often. I am really looking forward to this year and doing lots of gardening.

Thankful Thursday

1. Alter Egos-I am no superhero but I do have an alterego! A couple of weeks ago for singing time in Primary I dressed myself up as Sister Singer. I wore this huge afro wig with a headband and coke bottle glasses. I had a big apron on and inside the pockets were objects that represented the different songs we were singing. The kids loved it. Even though almost all of them knew it was me I felt more confident to do some silly and fun things. I love how when I 'hide' behind something I am more willing to do things than I am as myself. My kids keep asking when I am going to dress up again. They will just have to wait and see!

2. Breastfeeding-I absolutely LOVE to nurse my babies. I am in a minority around here, but I can't help it. Simon is almost to the weaning point and it makes me soooo sad. There is just something about spending 15 minutes at a time with just me and my baby. Nursing time is so different for me than any either one-on-one time. Usually I recite nursery rhymes or sing to my baby, but sometimes we just sit together and stare into each others' eyes. There is a look that I get from my baby that I never see any other time. I can just feel myself connecting with him on a whole new level. I just want to cry when I think about losing this time with him. It is a time I cherished dearly with Lexi and Ray and I will store all my memories of it with Simon too.

3. Sound of Birds-So Monday we had about a foot of snow fall on us. It was way depressing. I am really looking forward to Spring and getting outside and digging in the dirt! (I know I'm weird but I love yard work.) My spirits were lifted though as I was getting ready this morning. I could hear the birds singing outside. I was reminded that Spring has to come and it is almost here! The weather WILL get warmer. I am so grateful to those birds for singing. I can now keep going with a glad heart!

Wow!

She did this all on her own! My little girl is getting all responsible and doing chores without being asked. This one isn't even her chore!

Thankful Thursday

1. Life-I have had a hymn stuck in my head for the last week. It is 'Each Life That Touches Ours For Good.' I have thought a lot about life and why we are here lately. I am so thankful that I have gotten to have so many lives touch my own. Each new realtionship with someone changes me in an irreversible way. So to all of you thank you so much for being apart of my life and helping me to reach my full potential!

2. Geek Squad-I spent a good deal of time today with these guys. Dirk's computer was attacked by a couple of nasty virus' and wouldn't start up at all. They help diagnos the problem then they didn't get upset when Dirk decided to have my brother-in-law fix it instead. I am so glad there are people out there who are smarter than me with computers!

3. Dinnertime-We always have dinner as a family but we have really been concentrating lately on cutting out the tv and actually eating at the dinner table instead of the bar. It has been a lot of fun to talk to the kids and hear about their day. It is really true that dinner around the table can bring a family closer together.

Our Very Own Liberace!

This is Simon's favorite passtime. He loves to sit and play the piano. Sometimes he really gets into it and sings and dances too!

Blessing From Heaven

This beautiful little girl is Hayden Kali Knight. She was born on Wednesday, February 25 at 4:26am. She weighed 5lbs 7 oz. She is the luckiest little girl. She has a wonderful birth mother who loved her so much that she decided to give her the greatest gift, a mom AND a dad. The lucky parents are my best friend, Britney, and her husband, Brett. After many hardships and trials Brett and Britney's prayers (as well as many others) have been answered and they are truly blessed. I am so excited to see them start this new adventure in their lives and I love seeing the new joy in their faces. Congrats to you guys. We love you tons!

Here is the new little family. Britney, Brett, Hayden, and Kasa!

Thankful Thursday

1. Storytime-My kids love to bring me books and ask me to read. Even Simon has his favorites. Lexi and I have been slowly working through some chapter books together, but usually they bring me other books. Right now their favorites are Dr. Suess and PD Eastman books. Simon loves anything that rhymes and turning pages. Alexia and Rayden usually snuggle up to either side of me. Rayden will sometimes have me read a boo 3-4 times in a row and later I will see him turning pages and telling the story to himself. I love this time with my kids and knowing it is something worthwhile.

2. Spring Cleaning-Yeah, I know I am a little early, but a girl can dream can't she? Dirk has been working late recently, so the kids and I are doing some cleaning out to keep us occupied. It feels so good to clean things out and put things away. Hopefully we will be ready for the good weather and than we can start on the garage....maybe we will leave that one for Dirk!

3. 'Meet Ya!'-This is a catch phrase that Lexi uses all the time. Whenever her and Rayden race anywhere, whether it is the car, up the stairs, or who can eat breakfast the fastest, Lexi always says, 'Meet ya!' She actually gets upset if Rayden says he is going to 'beat her.' She doesn't feel this is a very nice thing to say. I love how aware she is of others feelings. She never wants anyone to be upset. Just those two simple words say so much about her personality. I hope she never wants to 'beat ya!' but always wants to 'meet ya!'

Little Poser

The other day I took some pictures of the kids. I am no where near as good as some of my friends. (I really would like a great camera though!) I was just tired of not having any pictures of my kids that were half way decent. Lexi has now got the camera bug in her. She begged me to take some pictures of her with Rayden's fake rose. I figured I had a willing subject to pose while I played with some of the manual features on my camera. Here is what I got!

This one is Lexi's favorite. She couldn't wait to pose like this!

I think this one turned out ok.

This one is my favorite. I really liked how this turned out for my amateur skills. The red backdrop was a little much but I didn't have much to work with so this is what we got! It was fun playing around with my camera and now I have some fun pics to scrapbook of my girl!

Thankful Thursday

1. Scrapbook Time-There is rarely a day that goes by that Lexi doesn't come up to me and ask if we can scrapbook together. I love spending time with her and talking. It is a great bonding time for just the girls. I have an album just for her that we put all of her pages in. It is so fun seeing her creativity flow. I am so glad that she likes to spend time with me.

2. A Good Man-Dirk is the absolute best! Yesterday I was suddenly struck with a horrible stomach ache. Dirk didn't even bat an eyelash. He made me go to bed, fed the kids and played with them until bedtime. Then he put them all to bed. I came out once to ask if he would give Simon a bottle since I wasn't up to nursing last night. He was already doing it. I am so glad I have such a good guy who is so incredibly thoughtful and just plain wonderful!

3. Online Grocery List-I have friends who like to make lists. I like the idea but I am horrible at making lists! If I have one than I am sure to get things crossed off. That is a big IF! My favorite grocery store recently started an online shopping list. You can pull items out of the weekly ad or from recipes plus you can add whatever else you need to it. Since I am a computer addict I actually have been making these lists on a regular basis. It is so nice going to the store with my list and not forgetting anything! Small things really can make you really happy! :)

5 Things Tagged

So Mandi tagged me FOREVER ago and I started to fill it out, but than....well life happened and I forgot about it. So here it goes!

5 things I was doing 5 years ago:
1. Living in Smithfield, Ut
2. Teaching the Family Relations Class in church
3. Teaching Lexi to walk
4. teaching flute lessons to my sister
5. found out I was pregnant again

5 things on my to-do list for TODAY
1. Laundry, again, Lexi got sick last night, so add a few more loads in there
2. Call the dance commitee for the school dance
3. keep Lexi company while she is feeling terrible
4. shampoo Lexi's carpet, yeah, I'm sure you can guess why!
5. clean up the basement, again

5 things I would do with a million dollars
1. Pay off debt
2. pay tithing
3. help out family and friends
4. go on an awesome vacation
5. put some in an high interest savings account

5 places I've lived
1. Cardiff, Maryland
2. Logan, Utah
3. Louisburg, Kansas
4. Morris, Illinois
5. Smithfield, Utah

5 jobs I've held
1. Burger King drive-thru Queen
2. IHOP hostess
3. Marketing/Accounting Asst for the Sock Outlet
4. Wife and Mother
5. Co-business owner with my wonderful hubby!

5 things I want to be doing in 5 years
1. Staying home and raising my kids
2. Be done having kids.
3. Have a successful business
4. Have traveled to Nova Scotia, yeah that is my traveling aspirations!
5. take a vacation with just Dirk, no kids.

5 people I tag
1. Linz, come on girl do some blogging!
2. Jenn
3. Debbi
4. Kristi
5. Ashley