Gratitude

Being that it's Thanksgiving in two days I thought I would take this time to say a few things that I'm so grateful for. Many, many things that people do for me go unnoticed. Not because I mean to but I think I get so busy and life flies by. My mind might be set on other things and not on the things I should have noticed.
First and foremost is for my family. I'm so blessed to be the mother of three beautiful children. They've grown into such wonderful people. Such good examples to me. My boys are terrific husbands and fathers too. My daughter is a wonderful wife and mother. What more could I ask for? Well, I"ve been blessed with two daughtersinlaw and one soninlaw who I love like my own. They fit perfectly in our family and we're so lucky to have them. What more could I ask for? Well I've been blessed with a wonderfulful husband who loves me and I love him. He's been by my side for 31 years now. He's such a good example to his children and grandchildren. He lives for them. What more could I ask for? Well..... I have the most beautiful grandchildren. Five are here with us right now on this earth and two more are awaiting to join our family. My heart is always filled with so much joy and love whenever I can hold one and kiss one. I love that we're all so close by that we can gather together on Sundays and enjoy each others company. We look out for one another and help each other whenever possible. They all lead busy lives but always seem to find the time to drop by and say hi. I love them all with all of my heart.
What more could I ask for? I have wonderful friends who are so kind and loving. Non judgemental, supportive, and have unconditional love. Their beauty is obvious on the outside but their inner beauty is what stands out. I know I could call them for anything and they would be there.
What more could I ask for? I have siblings both on Rogers side and my side who I love. We've all had our share of trials growing up but we always know that we can count on one another. It's hard seeing everyone get older and having health problems or economical problems etc. But we will be there to help each other in these times.
What more could I ask for? I have a job that offers me insurance, job security, life insurance, paid time off, retirement etc. Roger has a job that offers the same. And we all know in these days that all of these things are so important. I live in a country where we enjoy freedom. I'm grateful for the men and women who protect us. I'm grateful for a religion that I can practice and that I believe in. And that I have a Heavenly Father who listens to prayers and blesses me continually. I'm grateful for my good health especially when I see so many others suffering from terrible illnesses. I've been blessed to have a home to live in. I'm so blessed to live where we have such beautiful mountains to enjoy.
I'm so grateful for my parents who taught me so many things in their short lives. As I get older and closer to the age of when they passed away it makes me realize how young they were when they were when they died. I can't imagine leaving my children and grandchildren like they did. I love them and miss them so much. Especially during these holiday times. I try to do for my grandkids what my mom loved doing for hers.
I'm also grateful for our relatives on Rogers side who we get to spend every Thanksgiving with. We have so much fun and they open their big homes up to our family so we can all be together. Thank you so much!!
I'll end this now but please know that there are many, many more things that I am grateful for. My list could go on and on. But I've listed the most important ones to me.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you who read this. You make me smile when I read your blogs

More Friends

This past week I had the opportunity to get together with two of my school friends. We met at Los Hermonos and got caught up on what's going on in our lives. Kim, in the white sweater has been my girlfriend since 2nd grade. We met at Edgemont Elementary and she lived about a 1/2 mile from me. We have shared so many fun times growing up. She was my rock when I needed her throughout our school days. We were in the same ward also and our parents weren't active so we always walked together to church and went to mutual together. Her mom recently passed away and I was able to go to her funeral. Going to her funeral made me realize how much I've missed my friendship with Kim. Life is so short. I called her a few days after to see how she was handling her mom being gone and we decided that we're not going to allow time to go by without knowing what's going on and seeing each other. She's got a great family and grandchildren like I do. She's so special to me.

Judy is a friend that we met in Jr. High School. She has always been so much fun. I hadn't seen her for like 15 years even though at Christmas time we'd send cards. She got married when she was a Jr. in high school so she missed out on a lot of our senior fun times. She's still married to her sweetheart and has kids and grandchildren too.

Friends are such an important part of my life and I've been blessed with the best ones. I know if I ever needed anything they would be there in a heart beat. I'm looking forward to more times together now and keeping up on each others lives.

My Fridge Door

Have you ever wondered what your fridge door reveals about you? I was looking at mine the other day and I sat there and looked at all the different things I have on it. A calender that is still on January, different magnets from places I've been, my gym class schedule, different quotes, and the most darling pictures that my grandchildren have drawn. While I was looking at my fridge door I started to think what a mess. My fridge door at my age should be clean and sparkling looking. (I know it would certainly make my kitchen look more tidy) But the things I treasure most on my fridge door are the pictures that the kids have drawn. They represent who they are and the things that are important to them. I will take the pictures down once in a while and then all of a sudden there are new ones adorning my fridge. I just smile as I look at them. The pictures are made with the tiny little hands of my precious grandchildren and I wouldn't trade it for the world. So next time you come into my kitchen please take a moment and look at all the different things on my fridge and you'll see what's important to me.

My Blog is going Private Nov. 8th

There's an article on KSL.com about people invading your blogs and taking information and even your pictures and making them into their own memories and violating your privacy. So for this reason I'm going private as of Nov. 8th. If you would like to view my blog you can let me know at offonrharley@yahoo.com and I will add you to the list.
Thanks..

The Pyne Family Halloween Party 2008

I decided to start a family tradition (another one) and that's to have a Halloween dress up party. Crazy I know but we had lots of fun. I loved the fact that everyone was up for it (even Jared and Mike who hate dress up parties). But we all had some fun costumes. We played toss the candy into the pumpkin, pin the nose on the pumpkin, we decorated cookies and carved pumpkins. Our dessert was rootbeer floats in skull mugs and we had yummy brownies. Our good friends joined in on the fun. We love sharing family things with them. Mike, Teresa, Danielle, and her three kids. We all get along great. The weather was awesome for the outdoor party and we all just kicked back and enjoyed the fun. Thanks to my great kids for going along with my idea and making this something I would love to do each year. This picture shows our fun costumes we all showed up in.

We had so many cookies to decorate. We had moons, pumpkins, ghosts and cats. The kids especially loved it of course. And the cookies were very tastey.

Daxton did a great job of pinning the nose on the pumpkin. ( I have a feeling he was cheating..hahaha)

Shana the grandma is trying to find something to munch on.

I'm the tattooed biker chick with her crazy clown husband and Dax the Ninja.

Mike was trying to pin the nose on the pumpkin but got side tracked and ended up pinning it to Rogers nose. They're quite the pair!!

Makinley loved fixing up her own cookies with all the different decorations. I think she even liked tasting the frosting as you can tell from her face.

Kori is the pro in their family at decorating pumpkins. Troys just observing. Brayden is taking the pumpkin carving contest very serious. Colby even got in on the cookie decorating. He loved the frosting!! Jared took the candy toss game very serious!! hahaha. The competition was on to see who could get the most candy in the pumpkin. Our fun friends Mike and Teresa Eastman with their daughter Danielle and her three cute kids. We're glad they joined us for the Halloween fun. They're both good sports aren't they? Mike the bum and Rog the clown. They were the hit of the party.

Fall Time and Halloween 2008

This is Halloween night. I had all the kids and grandkids over for pizza before they went out trick or treating. They were all hyped up about this night and couldn't wait to get out and get their candy. Jake took the boys all over. Dax was ready to come home after about 5 houses because he wanted to eat his candy but they stayed out for quite a while. Makinley and Gentry went trunk or treating in their church parking lot. I miss the days when I used to take my kids around but it's also nice to stay in the house and watch all the little ones come around. We sure didn't have very many trick or treaters though. Not sure why but now I'm left with tons of candy!! OH NO!!

Gentry loved being a mouse. And she made such a cute one!!

Makinley wasn't too sure about having her nose and face painted but she ended up letting her mommy do it. She was a cute little kitty cat.

What child doesnt love this time of year with the fall leaves and Halloween time.

Daxton loved helping us in the yard. He couldn't help but get a running start clear back to the driveway and run as fast as he could to jump in the leaves. It brings back so many memories of when my children were little. They loved doing that.