My sweet Gram

I still miss her so much. But love this reminder every year of what she means to me
and how I cannot wait to see her again one day. I know I will. I absolutely know it.

Light the World

My new favorite Christmas decoration is something I designed and had printed to hang
on our wall this year. It will definitely be a part of each Christmas from here on out.
Now for the stickers to arrive and December 1st to come so we can do our best to
literally light the world with service. We've been practicing to make sure we do it well.

I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and the encouragement it constantly gives to serve
others. And my Savior whose life and love and sacrifice makes me want to
give more and be more, if only to show Him how much He means to me.

Thanksgiving...the second

My sweet kids always beg to have our own little Thanksgiving the day after being with
extended family (I think they love the leftovers), so I decided to make them a fabulous
deal this year. They decorate for Christmas and I would make our Thanksgiving meal.

Annie took the lead in the decorating, but everyone helped, and they did a great job.
And when they were through, we sat down to our own small Thanksgiving feast.

I sure love Thanksgiving. And am so excited for Christmas.

This time of year is pretty fabulous for sure.

Oh and while we have three Christmas trees, I took a picture of the one
that holds our memory ornaments. Each one is associated with
something that is a significant deal in our family. I love it a lot.

Addendum: As if anyone cares, but just a note to mention that Jacob is in my chair for the picture. I really don't plant
myself at the head of the table each mealtime. Nothing wrong with it, but it is definitely not my thing. Carry on.

Thanksgiving Day

Today was such a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent the day with Jacob's family and they
are truly so fabulous. We had a great time talking and laughing and playing games and
just being together. And then Annie took a picture of the sunset for me and all felt right
in the world. I'm just so deeply grateful for my life and so many good people I have in it.

So incredibly thankful

Well, well, what do we have here? My very favorite humans in the whole world in one
single picture. They are pretty much the best. And I'm just so incredibly thankful for my life.

Closing night

Tonight was closing night for this gorgeous girl of ours. There was a whole lot of
emotion from the cast as the play ended, they really had given it everything and worked
their hardest for so many months. I'm so proud of Annie for being a part of it.

She could have gotten loads more sleep, had hours more time each day for homework and
many more of her days and evenings free for fun, but she chose the play instead. And it
changed her. I love when my kids do hard things, especially that they love so much.

We sure adore this Annie. She is tremendous in every way.
And that most definitely includes being on stage.

Rain and motherhood

Today is a rainy, rainy day where I live. And I just feel overwhelmed with gratitude. Not because of the rain, although I do love it, but for the blessing of being a mom.

This morning, Annie wasn't feeling great. I don't think it is anything serious, mostly just exhaustion from performing in the play so many nights in a row, on top of school and homework and life. So Jacob told her to go back to sleep and I would wake her in a couple of hours to see how she was doing and check if she wanted to go to school.

And all morning I just felt so grateful that I get to be a mom and be here when my kids need me. I know that is the case with so many others, but it just felt personal and wonderful to me. I could just be here, taking care of my other kids, until it was time to wake up Annie to see how she was feeling.

I don't know why I've been so blessed, at least it feels like a huge blessing to me, for motherhood to be enough for me. I know that is not always a possibility or a desire for others and I completely respect that. And I even worry about posting things like this when I know others would give anything to be a mother. I'm not more deserving than anyone else, possibly just that I needed it more to become a better person than others because of my huge struggles and how often I fall short. I don't know and I don't profess to understand. All I know is it is a huge privilege in my life and even with all the crazy and chaos and days I'd like to run away, just for a few hours mind you, I truly wouldn't trade it for anything. Not a single thing the world could offer me tempts me to trade.

Because I'm here on a rainy day, completely available to take my darling girl to school when she is ready. She never misses school. As in never. So what a sweet opportunity to let her have that option when she needed it most. God has truly blessed me.

Now and always

"I leave with you my witness and my testimony that God our Eternal Father lives
and loves us. He is indeed our Father, and He is personal and real. May we realize
and understand how close to us He is willing to come, how far He is willing to go
to help us, how much He loves us, and how much He does and is willing to do
for us. May He bless you. May His promised peace be with you now and always."

~ President Thomas S. Monson

My brother

That first photo is a picture of my three older brothers. And I love it a lot.
But that "soldier" on the left is who has been on my mind all day.

Because it is Veterans Day and as you can see from the second photo, he is just that. I will always
be thankful to him for his incredible service and sacrifice (I still cry when I think back to those
days when he was injured so terribly and we could have so easily lost him), but I look up to and
admire him for many other reasons. Too many to list here, but I will just say he is one of the most
inspirational people I have ever known and has accomplished things many of us only dream about.

Today I share my profound gratitude for so many who have and do serve and sacrifice​ and support
and make my life possible. I'm so deeply thankful for each one of them. But this Veterans Day,
I am feeling especially thankful for a little boy named Kamm, who grew up to be a real soldier.

My brother, my hero.

Opening night

 

Oh sweet waffles, I am so excited for the next eight days! Because this gorgeous girl,
and all of the amazing cast at her high school, have been working incredibly hard to be
ready to put on a performance of Once On This Island. Times eight. Opening night is
tonight and it runs most evenings and one matinee until the following Saturday.

I'm just getting ready to be my emotional self. Because seeing my girl on stage
does something to my mother's heart. She is amazing in every way and I'm so
blessed to be her mom. And cannot wait for the next eight days.

Yesterday

Six

Happy Birthday my sweet boy!
You are so, so loved.

Winner

I wish everyone could know this cool kid as well as I do. He lives life is such a fabulous
and unusual way and is one of the funniest people I have ever known. He is just completely
himself and unapologetic about it. Which is why crazy things constantly happen to him.

Like not only winning the competition at the orthodontist's office to guess how many candy corns
were in a huge glass jar, but being the only one to guess the exact number, out many entries.

This was taken right after we picked up his prize. I made him pose for a picture because
I not only wanted to remember this hilarious experience, but I wanted to be reminded of
Matt's way of living life and how much I adore him and how grateful I am to be his mom.

Side note: I love our orthodontist and his staff. They are pretty much the very, very best.
All the heart emojis for that entire office.

Heading home

We just left the home of those lovely people on the right and I just can't get over
how they have become two of my favorite people ever. And I don't say that lightly.

In just three days, I have come to adore who they are and see why Jacob holds them in such
high esteem. I truly want to be more like them. They welcomed us into their home for several
nights, generously provided food and a wonderful dinner out and mostly, spent multiple evenings
visiting and laughing and sharing such incredibly interesting information about their homeland.

Without doubt, building a friendship with David and Margot will remain one of my
favorite parts of our time here. I'm anxious to come back again soon because I absolutely
love Scotland and I absolutely adore these two and their good and hilarious selves.

Our England and Scotland trip ~ Day 7

Okay, a bit of a story about the first many pictures from our last day in Scotland. 

Jacob had another board meeting with Mary's Meals, so Campbell and I explored again on our own.
We visited an amazing area, in the small village we are staying in. The village is called Milngavie
(pronounced Milguy) and we visited Mugdock Park, just a five minute drive away from where we
were staying (yes, I actually drove on my own). The park was absolutely unreal and honestly took
our breath away with its beauty.  Lakes and castles and just a complete Scottish experience.

And while we were there, we may or may not have ignored a restricted access sign (it was just
a small piece of paper and it didn't really look like they actually meant it) in order to see a
beautiful castle on a hill. When we got up to the top, we found a whole bunch of people working
hard in and around the castle. Not one of them told us we shouldn't be there. So we stayed.

And quickly learned, we had just stumbled onto the filming of the new Robert the Bruce movie,
The Outlaw King starring Chris Pine (I may have had to ask Cam what movies he starred in).
And Campbell and I kind of died from the coolness of it. Where we were at initially, we couldn't
see much of anything. But in our wander, we might have walked through a bit of a forest and
come upon two different views that were pretty awesome, as you can see from the photos.

And just so you know, between all of these people dressed in their Scottish attire and on horses,
fog machines pushing the mist toward them, war cries going up multiple times and the director
shouting instructions through a megaphone, it was pure awesomeness. And kind of made our day.

Never mention just the park in general. It was one of my favorite things we saw in Scotland.

Afterwards, we rode the train to Glasgow to have dinner with Jacob and David, Jacob's incredibly
kind friend that let us stay in his home while we were in Scotland. (He and his wife are kind of my
favorite people.) And while we were in Glasgow, I took a couple of photos of some interesting things.

And at the end of the night, I couldn't help but take a picture of this handsome
guy waiting for the train with me. He's pretty much the best. I adore him.

It was a wonderful last day.