Things I'm Thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day

I'm so thankful for my beautiful grandchildren. I never imagined it could be this good being a grandma. My love for them is so great. Each one brings so much joy to our family and they each have such unique personalities. I'm so excited to be adding a 5th grandbaby in March. Grandma loves you so much Brayden, Daxton, Makinley, Gentry and baby Colby.




I'm grateful for my husband. For the 30 years we've been together. He's such a hard worker. Rog is such a sensitive person. He wears his heart on his sleeve. When it comes to his kids and grandkids he loves them more than anything in this world.





I"m so thankful for Jared, my first born son. I"m so thankful for Kristi, his beautiful wife. I've always admired their marriage and how much in love they are. Jared treats Kristi like a queen and is such a wonderful father. Kristi is a hard working mother and wife. She loves being a mommy. They are such good examples to me.



Shana is my beautiful daughter. She's married to Jake. I am so thankful for them and for the example they have been to me. They have survived some big trials their first year of marriage but have come out on top. Shana is a wonderful mother and loves her boys so much. Jake has taken on the role of father and is doing an excellent job. I love them so much.


Then there is my baby. Troy and his beautiful wife Kori. I"m so thankful for each of them and for the hard workers that they are. They are great examples to me in every sense. They have a great love for one another and are so supportive of each other too. Our family is looking forward to them having their little boy, Colby, join our family in March. I love you both so much.

As you can see my family is the number one thing that I"m always thankful for. My list of others are as follows: I'm thankful for my parents who brought me up in a good home. They were such hard workers and loved me. I miss them so much. I"m grateful for my siblings and for being able to find my brother Jim after almost 30 years. I'm grateful for Rogers family. We have so much fun when we're together. I'm grateful for the gospel. For what it represents. That Christ died for us all and that we can live with him again. I"m grateful for my job, Rogers job and for the benefits it provides for us. I"m grateful for my close friends and for their unconditional love for me. I'm grateful for a warm home that shelters me from the elements of the world when others are so less fortunate. I'm very grateful for my good health. I'm grateful for men and women who sacrafice their lives for my freedom to live in this free country. I"m grateful for this Thanksgiving Day that gives us this opportunity to reflect upon all that we've been blessed with.
May you each have a wonderful holiday season and remember that I love each and every one of you. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

7 Things You Don't Know About Me But You Do Now

Ok here goes..since everybody else has done it I guess I will.

1. I have always wanted to learn to play the piano and hope I can some day before I die.
2. I have this fear of dying before I feel like I have accomplished all the things I want to.
3. When I was growing up I swam on the Riverside Country Club swim team and won many ribbons. I guess that's where I get my love for the water.
4. My pet peeve in life are the advertising inserts in all the magazines I read. Thank goodness for the Ensign because it doesn't have any unless it's once in a while advertising church stuff.
5. I used to be on the Orem High Gymnastics team and I did the uneven parallel bars as my specialty.
6. Starting in Jr. High I started passing out whenever I entered a hospital. I had this phobia about them. One time they had to take me out in a wheelchair and another time I passed out and my blood pressure was so low they had to lay me down on the ER table and here I am working in the ER now. No phobia anymore about hospitals. Thank goodness.
7. I hate being gone away from home for very long. 3 or 4 days away from home and I'm starting to get antsy. I miss my kids, grandkids, home and my own big bed. I guess I better work on this one because when we retire we're wanting to do a lot of traveling.

I must have had a few nightmares

What do you think? Maybe a nightmare or two? I woke up one morning last week and I laughed so hard at my hair. I called Roger in to see it and he had to grab the camera. Now you know why I have to shower every day and wash my hair. There is no way I could make anything out of that hairdo in the morning to just brush and go.

My Play Date with Daxton and Makinley

Makinley enjoying her fruit snacks. She loved being outdoors on our day together

Daxton was raking leaves to surprise Papa when he got home.

Makinley and Daxton made me a couple of birthday cakes with their playdough!!

I was fortunate to have another "play date" with Daxton and Makinley on Tues. Monday night they both slept over. They started out on the floor in our room on some mattresses. By about 2 am Dax was already in our bed between Rog and I. Makinley luckily stayed on the floor all night and didn't wake until 7:30am. The three of us were all in bed together watching cartoons for a little bit then I got up and made them breakfast. I sent them downstairs to make a hut while I made some playdough for them.(I have an awesome recipe if anyone wants it). Can you believe for 1.5 hours they entertained themselves with that playdough, rolling pins and cookie cutters?

Not much usually holds a 3 year olds attention for that long but it was awesome. I was downstairs getting ready for the day and I heard them yell "Mimah, come here!!" I ran upstairs and they both were hiding behind the countertop. They stood up and with hands in the air yelled " Happy Birthday." It was so adorable!!! They each had made a birthday cake out of the playdough and had put their cookie cutters on the top of it for decorations. You can see in the picture what I mean. It just melted my heart!!

After they played there we walked to the park with the dogs. Oh what a joy that was. They each had to hold a leash. They played at the park for about an hour and we came home and played in the back yard. Dax was trying to help by raking leaves. Makinley didn't want to. She just wanted to eat her fruit snakes. Well, we called Papa and asked him if he wanted to meet us for lunch so we met him at Carl Jr. so the kids could play on the big gym they have there. Again, they had a blast. Makinley didn't want to go home so she spent the rest of the day with us.

Can I just say how much fun I had? Those two are quite entertaining. What a fun age they are. I love them both so much and I'm so looking forward to our next "play date." When Gentry gets just a little bit older I'll take her too. I need to get with Brayden and take him on a one on one date also. My life is centered around my grandkids. They are the joy of my life. I love their hugs and kisses so much. Thanks Dax and Kin for making my day!!!

Guilty Feelings of a Mother

There are times when I wish I could do more as a "Mom" or as a "Grandma". Yesterday when I was at work I got a text from Shana telling me how sick she was and how she wished she had someone to take Daxton so that she could sleep and try to get better. I felt helpless. I wanted so much to be able to take off work and go "mother" her and help her out at home and with the kids. I was training someone new at work and right now I have no one to call to back me up so I had to sit there all day wondering how she was doing. Then she told me that Daxtons pre-school that was supposed to open on Monday is not going to open for another week now. Here I go again feeling guilty that I can't help out more. Work, work, work. It seems to stand in the way of everything that's important in this life. I'm going to have Dax on Tues.(my day off) so i'm looking forward to spending my time with him. We'll plan on doing something fun together. I look forward to the day when I can retire and be able to be of more help to my family. The guilt really gets to you some time. Anyone else have those guilty feelings?

Finally an answer to my pain

I've been dealing with lower back pain for a couple of years now. It comes spuratically. About every couple of months. I've never had a back injury of any sort. I think it's just from getting older. I used to carry the grandkids around on my back singing "Giddy Up A Oompapa Oopapa Mau Mau"..but had to give that up because of the pain it would cause the next day.
I've been doing physical therapy twice a week for the last 3 weeks for a pulled hamstring and I'm thinking the exercises they are having me do has caused this to flair up again. It started on Monday and I finally decided I needed an answer. I went to the doctor today and since I've never had any kind of diagnostic treatment for it she decided to have me have an MRI and Lspine xrays of my back. I went directly to my work and they were able to get me in right then which was wonderful. I guess it pays to know people huh?
Well the results came back as follows:
AT L1-L2 I have a broad based disc bulge
L2-L3 there is another disc bulge and mild facet degenerative changes.
L4-L5 a mild central disc bulge
and at L5-S1 I have a right paracentral disc herniation.

So there is my answer. It wasn't all in my head. I'm going to have to quit my physical therapy on my hamstring now because several of the exercises I was doing do not sit well with back problems.
At least I have an answer and can learn to deal with it. I will try to be more careful lifting etc.
It won't get in the way of my exercises and outdoor things I love to do. Thats for sure!!
If any of you have had back pain you know how it can get you down. I sit on my butt for 12 hrs a day at work so I know that doesn't help at all. I'm always having to get up and walk around and bend over to stretch. (maybe i'll get my doctor to sign me a note saying I can't work for a month!!) hahah..

Another memory made

All of us at our Candy Apple Party

Ok..call me crazy again!!! But I love getting the kids over for special parties. This is a first for candy apples though. I'm not sure if we'll make this one a tradition but we'll think about it.
I'm so glad I had Shana, Kristi and Kori's help that's for sure. But as you can tell we had a blast decorating the carmel apples. The kids got to choose what they wanted on them. It was a real dirty mess but totally worth it. And they are way yummy. I hope the kids will always remember these fun times we have because I sure will.
Happy Halloween time!!!