Thankful

I have loved reading everyone's "Thankful" posts over the past few days.  It's really made me reflect on everything I am thankful for.   Here are some of my many blessings.  I am a lucky girl. 

• I am so thankful for Josh.  He is so good to me and I love him more than anything.
• My family.  I love them all so much and feel so blessed to have the parents and family that I do.  And I have the cutest nieces on the planet!
• My in-laws.  I scored big-time when it comes to in-laws.
• Our church calling.  I love our Sunbeams so much!  I would seriously keep all of them.  I will be so sad when we get released.
• Our ward.  I was so attached to my home ward and was worried I would never feel at home in another ward.  I'm so happy that my thinking was wrong-very wrong.  I really hope we can find a house in our ward boundaries.  We don't want to  leave.
• My friends.  I love all my girls so much-My high school girls, Xi Babes, childhood friends, school friends, church friends, I love you all!  I am also very thankful for Josh's friends because they all have awesome wives who are now my good friends as well.  
• Our cute apartment.  Although I am excited to find a house, I love our cozy apartment.  It feels like home to me and I feel safe here.  My favorite place to be is at home with Josh.
• My job.  I seriously love it.  It may not be the most glamorous job on the planet, but I have been so much happier ever since I started working there three months ago.  I have learned a lot about crafts-which are something I love.  I absolutely love the people I work with and I am so glad an old friend from the U referred me to the job and has now become my good friend. Watch out, Swiss Days!  :)
• Music!  Oh I could not live without music.  
• Flannel sheets.  I love getting in bed in the winter to soft, cozy sheets.
• Cadbury chocolates.  My favorite treats at Christmas and Easter time.
• My dog.  She is the cutest little ball of fur that has ever lived.
• My cute Grandpa.  He is too cute for words.  I know he misses my Grandma like crazy but he is staying strong and wants to continue living life to the fullest.
• The Gospel.  I would be so lost without it. 
• The knowledge that I will see my Grandma again.
• My health.
• The future.  I am thankful for the things to come-whether they are good or bad.  

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Holiday Decor

I LOVE decorating for holidays.  When I was growing up, my mom always had fun decorations out for each holiday and I want to do the same for my children.  It adds such a fun feeling to the home.

I have started collecting decorations little by little and have started making several of my own.

Today I put my Thanksgiving decorations up and looking at them puts a smile on my face.

Here is the fall door hang I made.  I love that I can use it for all of fall.

 
I made these cute pumpkins that can also be up for October and November.

My cute turkey!

Fall table runner

Cute Pilgrims!

Fall frame.

 Fun figurines for my shelf.

 This has also been on our door for part of Fall.  Now I have it on our coat closet door.  It will definitely be on our door the week of the BYU/UTAH game.  Go Utes!

 I meant to blog about my fun Halloween decorations back in October, so I'm just going to blog about them now!  I LOVE my Halloween decorations so much.

 My Halloween tablecloth.

I love my Bats!

I bought this picture up at Swiss Days and I absolutely love it.  It was done by an artist named Jon McNaughton.  I also bought a beautiful picture of the Nativity as well as a picture of Christ from him.  I love his work.  You can check him out here.

My Wicked letter set.  Love it.  Anyone recognize the font? :)

Cute Halloween phrases I got at Michaels for $1.

 Fun find at the Quilted Bear

My cute Frankenstein.

 Fun plaque I made.  I'm in love with the paper I found for it.

 And last but not least....the cutest Halloween decorations EVER!  The second I saw these I knew I had to have them.  I know if I wouldn't have bought them that I would regret it every year when I got my Halloween decorations out.  I'm pretty sure they were meant for me.  :)

Oh I love the Holidays!  Now I've got to get to work on my Christmas crafts.  I can't wait to finish them and put them up!

A week and a half later...

...I am FINALLY blogging about our Halloween.

I know I would regret not blogging about it, so here we go.

The week of Halloween ended up being really crazy with my Grandma's funeral and everything else, so our costumes weren't figured out or purchased until the VERY last minute.  And when I say very, I mean we bought our costumes 20 minutes before we went to our ward Halloween party on the 29th.

We had no idea what to dress up as, but after wracking my brain a little, I remembered that Target sold these bad boys in our size:
 

So, we went as babies. 

The next night our friends, The Crayk's, hosted the funnest Halloween party ever!  We had dinner and then did a digital camera scavenger hunt.  If you've never done one, I highly recommend doing it at your next party!  It was so much fun.  I want to do it again!

But I am pretty certain that baby Josh's favorite part of the party was playing with the babies.

Everyone had GREAT costumes!  Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of all the couples, but here are the ones I got.

Sean and Ariel as mimes

Ty and Lauren as Poison Ivy and Batman.  Ty was hilarious!

Chris and Shianne as Teletubbies and Maddex as a monkey

This party was just what I needed after a difficult week.  Thank you Crayk family for the fun time!  Can't wait for next year!

What a week!

First of all, I just want to thank all of you for the love and support you have shown me this past week. Thank you for your kind words and for your prayers. I definitely felt them. I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends in my life. 

Last week was one of the hardest weeks of my life, but also one of the most uplifting.  Losing my Grandma has been so hard for me, but I have felt the Spirit so much knowing where she is now.

To add to all the craziness, I was just getting over a cold when my Grandma passed away, but after a lot of crying, all that drainage in my throat brought some of those cold symptoms back and gave me one of the worst coughs I've ever had.  Not a good thing to have happen when you have to sing at your Grandma's funeral.
 
Even though I was a little under the weather and mourning the loss of my sweet Grandma, I was able to learn so much about her.  She was amazing.  More amazing than I ever realized.  I will always look up to her and hope to be the kind of woman she was.

My Grandma's funeral was perfect.  Absolutely perfect.  Everyone's talks paid a wonderful tribute to her and the Christlike woman she was.  I learned so much about her life and her relationship with my Grandpa.  They are a prime example of what marriage is all about.

Like I said in my previous post, my Grandma had asked me to sing at her funeral.  I honestly didn't know if I could do it.  Singing at funerals is so hard, especially if the funeral is for someone you were close to.

All week I prayed and prayed asking Heavenly Father to give me the strength to make it through my song without crying.  On top of that, I had a nasty cough which made me that much more nervous.

I can honestly say my prayers were answered.  I made it through my song without crying and I think I sang it better than any of the times I practiced it.  I didn't even feel nervous and I was able to sing with the confidence I needed to make it through the entire song.  I tried to think about my Grandma and make the song as good for her as I possibly could.  I am so thankful for answered prayers.  As soon as the song ended and I headed back to my seat, the waterworks kicked in with full force!  But that was okay.  I had held in my emotions and was able to keep them in until my song was over-which was exactly what I had hoped for.

I am so grateful for my Grandma and the things she taught me.  I am thankful for answered prayers and feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends in my life.  I am especially thankful for the knowledge that death is NOT the end.  I will see my Grandma again.


On top of the funeral and everything else going on last week, my dad retired after teaching for several years. I could not finish this post without letting him know how proud I am of him.

His retirement happened sooner than we expected, but it was the right time for him.

My dad is one of my heroes.  He has been battling Multiple Sclerosis for several years now and not once has he ever complained about it.  I know he does not feel well or normal a lot of the time but he has never been one to complain or let anyone know when he's hurting.  Most people don't even know he has MS.  He has not let this disease interfere with his happiness.  He has always taken such good care of his body and I know that has helped his MS not progress as fast as it could.  His job has become more and more stressful each year, which can have a big impact on MS, and I know that his retirement will only improve his health and prolong his life.

I can't believe both of my parents are retired now!  I feel old :)

I love you dad!  Happy retirement!