52 Blessings - Week 6

This week I am grateful that Mike has had successful surgery. For eight months he has not been feeling well. He has been complaining of dizziness, shortness of breath and fatigue. The doctors finally figured out that he had a growth on his thyroid that needed to be removed. Last Friday he had surgery that took over three hours. It was only supposed to take 1 1/2 hours. The nurses kept coming out to assure me everything was O.K. The growth ended up being as big as a tennis ball and going down into his chest area - no wonder he couldn't breathe! He stayed in the hospital for three days and has been taking it easy since then. He has never had surgery before and I did not like seeing him in a hospital bed. I am so grateful everything went O.K. This is another reason I have not been posting. We have been a little busy.

52 Blessings - Week 5

I am grateful this week for a husband that provides so well for our family that we could take an impromptu trip with some of his family to Disney World. We had so much fun being in the warm weather and being with some of Mike's family. Here are a few pictures of our trip.

Mike thought I was crazy to buy the children ice cream before the fireworks one night, but they had so much fun!


This is the children walking towards the "Tree of Life". Do you think they will still hold hands when they are teenagers?

This is Emma afraid before her first ride on Pirates of the Caribbean.

This is Ben (in the red shirt) getting drenched at Universal Studios.

Dave & Dea had fun "scooting" all over Disney World.

Here is a cute video of Emma's first experience in "It's a Small World".


Here is a video of Abby and Ben being included in "The Lion King" show.

52 Blessings - Week 4

This week I am grateful for my awesome friend Lisa Bunnell who took the time out of her busy day to help me finally conquer bread making. Yes, I am a Mormon woman who could not make a loaf of bread that was not so heavy I could use it as an anchor.

Here is a picture of my first attempt with her looking over my shoulder to make sure I was doing everything O.K. She thinks my problem was that I did not have the water hot enough, that I did not let the yeast sit long enough and that I beat the heck out of it after it raised the first time. She laughed and laughed when she she saw me start to punch it to death. She said, "No wonder it wasn't rising for you, you are beating the heck out of it. What did it ever do to you?"

Thanks Lisa!Notice one is gone - I had to try one hot from the oven!

52 Blessings - Week 3

It is time to play catch up. I have had so many blessings I have not had time to write them all down. I know, I know woe is me.

I will go in chronological order to appease my type A mind-set.
For week 3 I am thankful for my Roomba. He is affectionately called Robby by one and all in our home. I was a bit skeptical when my Nana said she loved her Roomba and that he did a great job. I bought him 15 months ago intending on bringing him back if he did not meet my expectations. I love him. I have the children get their rooms "Robby Ready"in the morning before they leave for school and I put the chairs up on the kitchen table before I leave to go to the Y in the morning and when I come home my whole house has been vacuumed. Every time I go to empty his canister it is full of dust, dirt and lint that I did not have to actually clean. I have done so many things while I have been "vacuuming". It feels good to get it done when I hate doing it in the first place.
Thanks Robbie!