I'm thankful for. . . .

family marshmallow roasts

Christmas trees

walks

exercise

cousins

icecream

fried turkey

AND cory and jenny who hosted us this year for thanksgiving. it was absolutely amazing. we had a blast. loved it every moment! ethan mentions jake at least 10 times a day. it was so good to be with family. and for me personally it was great to be out in the country. we loved the vacation.

a box of thoughts

a box is dropped inside my head, and in it is a jig saw puzzle. sometimes these puzzles are three pieces or sometimes a thousand. i put the puzzle together, and then i am able to describe my feelings, or my thoughts. this is the best way for me to describe how i think.

scott has paper airplanes shooting across his brain. as the airplane enters, he is able to read each one clearly before it leaves out the other side. his airplanes come in order: 1,2,3 etc. after the last airplane leaves he has already told you quite convincingly his feelings or his thoughts. they were conveyed so plainly that you find yourself nodding in agreement. only once in a while when he his mad or frustrated do they come out of order: 4,7,2. it then takes him sometime for him to put his thoughts in order, before he can explain them to you. this is the best way i know how to describe how scott thinks.

my moms thoughts are a million butterflies dancing in the air all around her. they follow her. always present. some catch her attention more than others. she describes the butterfly to you-and then the next, and the next. and then you have found that you have just had an enjoyable talk -and it has already been an hour.

the best way to descibe my fathers thoughts would be 'hammer and nails'. he pounds one nail in completely, moves onto the next nail. then, perhaps if some new information is brought to his attention mid swing. he stops, goes back, pulls out a few nails, changes their position, or discards them completely. he then continues to hammer. hammer. hammer. steady. this is why my dad's responses are often wise, and well thought through. don't expect to know his thoughts quickly or get a response in a certain time period. perhaps days will go by before he returns to you and expresses his feelings or his thoughts. or perhaps you will never hear them at all.

my babies

TWO Today!!!!

i can't tell you how enjoyable it has been the last two years with ethan in our family! he is so amazing. i love how everyday he is so excited to start the day. his favorite breakfast is bacon. and his favorite lunch is hot dogs. he loves to play cars and trains. he still likes to cook. he loves to dance. and his favorite game would be wrestling or rough housing or chase. i love that right now he goes to bed with a toy and his favorite blanket. his blanket has been his favorite for about a year now. i found out today that he can sing twinkle twinkle little star--the whole song. crazy. i didn't know he knew that one word for word. he loves to learn. and he loves to copy his dad. i love it when he will stand like his dad, or put his hands in his pockets like his dad, or dip his cookie in his milk like his dad, or put his eggs on his toast like his dad. he watches us so closely. he learns so quickly. he loves to watch 'the train show.' he loves to take the calculator and pretend its his cell phone. he's always so cute walking around the house with the calculator up to his ear, and laughing every third jabber with his fake laugh. he also is singing often, i don't know what song-and usually i can't understand what he is saying but he has his own little tune. i love his little body and his cute little buns. i love his crazy energy. i love his i-don't-know-what-color eyes. i love his strong desire to do good. i love his natural obidience. i love him completely. -crazy how when you become a mom the love just flows-it's always present, always constant. i never have to work at loving ethan. i think this is one of God's greatest gifts- the gift of love a mother can have for her children. i've never loved anyone else the same. every one else-my mom, dad, scottie, neighbors, friends, siblings-that's love i've had to work at. ethan--that's love that flows strong.

happy b-day buddie!

my little spook

this little outfit was given to cora jean by her aunt jana. she wore this halloween day. yea!

ethan and mo-tab

so ethan loves the mormon tabernacle choir. it' so funny. the other day there was a magazine on the floor. some deseret order magazine. and there is this picture of this mormon tabernacle choir cd. and he bends down and study this picture with the big organ on it. and he puts his face like 3 inches from it. and then looks up at me with a big smile and says, "mom, they sing." and then he pulls cora down (she was on my lap) and puts right next to the picture and says, "cora they sing." and he started leading. my only thoughts were that he must have recognized the organ from conference. and remembered the choir. so i asked ethan if he would like to watch them sing and he excitedly said yes. so i turned on music and the spoken word. well ever since then we periodically have mo-tab time. where he will watch the choir. when he wants to watch them he will ask "mom, hallelujah?" he also often goes around the house singing in his own tune or yelling aleayluuuya. --love that boy!

new van yea!!!

so we bought a van today off of craigslist yea! it is great to have a car that fits our family again. it's been 2 months with no car. we have just been running errands and things with the work truck. but now we can go places as a family. and no more rides to churh! o happy day!