Count Your Many Blessings

Thanksgiving was so much fun. I love to be surrounded by people I love...and delicious food!  

FABULOUS FOOD-

My babies ate this for breakfast. Thank you Pinterest, they thoroughly enjoyed eating their turkeys!

There was no way I could pull off Thanksgiving dinner for 10 adults and 3 kids alone.  Everyone graciously contributed some of their favorite dishes which made the meal a huge success.  We had plenty of food for everyone.

All the desserts/appetizers **chips with cottage cheese french onion dip, frog eye salad, cranberry salsa, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, apple crisp, pumpkin pinwheels, cranberry jello** The spread took every inch of counter (and sink) space

 Relish tray, light and dark meat turkey, homemade rolls, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes

Just a few dishes I made:

Can't have Thanksgiving without pecan pie.  I even made an extra for the father in law.

I attempted this dessert a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving and the cream cheese filling was too runny. Glad I could redeem myself with these pretty pinwheels.

DECORATIONS-

It's amazing what you can do to decorate when you rub to nickels together! 

Mini pumpkins from a friends garden. Fake leaves from my preschool teaching days. "Tablecloth" is dollar store wrapping paper. Pinterest for the name cards- I "borrowed" the wheat lookin' stuff from a ditch on the side of the road ;)

THE COMPANY-

Quite a few people had to go to work at some point or another in the day.  We ate mid afternoon, then sent the poor men on their way to work.  Later, Some of the ladies braved the Brown Thursday crowds. (is that really what it is called? Maybe cause it's totally crappy that people have to work on Thanksgiving hahaha) Then most everyone came back for seconds.  We were stuffing our faces, enjoying games, watching a little football, and sharing bargain deals till midnight or later.

Deeana and Chris Alexander

Brittany, Teancum, and Michael Livingston

Ben Knecht (his boo went home for the holiday since he had to work...we missed you Aubs)

Twodles enjoying olive fingers :) 

Mr Medic is seriously the best ever!  He may prefer spending time as a small family, but definitely goes all out to help me in my party-making shenanigans, and always without complaint. 

Momma Brown pulled off her fair share of the food-making.  

Christopher and Vanessa Hannan

THANKFUL FOR...

I really love our little Thankful tree tradition.  We try to add something every day in November, but as you will see we miss a lot.  But...we truly are so grateful for all that we have been blessed with.  We know that the Lord has been mindful of us!

Our list of thankful's with some explanation (so I can finally throw away the little discs without feeling guilty and fuel my hoarder-phobia at the same time haha)

• Flower pen- Twodles got it from the dentist
• Books- Goob loves to read
• Skinny hot mom- Mr Medic wrote that one. (I met my weight loss goals. His tribute to my success)
• Grammy- the boys are spoiled rotten by Grammy and they couldn't love her more
• Clothing Swap- I got some stinkin' cute clothes that actually fit, from an activity with girls from my ward...$FREE.99
• Tulane Medical School- MR MEDIC WAS ACCEPTED!
• Haircuts- Mr Medic would love to have his hair cut every 2 weeks if he had his way
• Binky- Goob is in love
• Orange plants- I don't think I have blogged about the TREES Mr Medic is growing in our house...I'll have to do that sometime.
• Good health- We've been uninsured since April 2013 and thankfully haven't had any serious issues requiring medical attention.
• Sock and shoes- Goob loves to put them on...several times a day!
• Daddy kissing owies
• Best friends
• No skids in the undies- Twodles is...a boy, so everyone is glad when we don't have to deal with that little mess. Even he was thankful for that since we've been making him do his own cleanup.  #meanparentaward
• Grandkids- Grammy loves her babies
• Flynn Ryder- Twodles loves to get his boots on and carry his satchel around just like Flynn
• Madison Fire Dept Gym- I can workout most anytime I want for free, even on holidays.  
• Bishop Kunz- There couldn't be a greater person in all of married student wards for us to love and adore
• Tangled- boys fav movie at the moment
• Mommy
• Blankies- our boys love 'em
• Ben and Aub- any friends specifically singled out are compliments of Twodles.  He has big kid BFF's and these two are some of his favorites.
• Diaper changes- no explanation necessary
• Baths- I think I may have given birth to two little fishies.  They scream out of excitement, strip down as fast as humanly possible, and run for the tubby
• Momma Brown- no words can express my appreciation for all she does for us
• Milk- Come on, I have 3 Idaho boys living with me. What do you expect? 
• New coat- I won't go in to detail on this cause I might throw a clot.  Needless to say, Mr Medic now has a new coat that we both agree on.
• JESUS- We are eternally indebted to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is because of Him that we can be clean from sin, have perfected bodies someday, and have hope to be together forever.  

"...cast about your eyes and being to believe in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgement day, according to their works." -Alma 33:22 (The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ)

Its a good good life!

Mr Medic and I found out we will be welcoming another baby BOY into our family.  I'll have to admit, when the tech said it was a boy I was shocked and started to tear up, and not in a happy-feel-good kind of way.  It wasn't as if I was hoping for a girl, even though I kinda thought it might be.  I have always said it would be fun to have two boys first, but I had an instant vision of a repeat of Mr Medic and his older brother...payback style!  They were mischievous little buggers. You know the type, the ones that sabotage innocent babysitters causing them to vow never to return again.  I pictured a bleached blond, gap toothed, sly-smiling Dennis the Menace x2.  OK maybe not that bad, but close.  All the way home I kept saying "I can't believe this is happening!"

I had Mr Medic do the usual belly pictures when we got home from our appointment.  Normally, I can expect him to grumble and fuss because I make him take about 800 pictures of the EXACT SAME THING.  Then I look at them, and ask for 800 more.  I'm a little bit of a freak like that.  I try to explain to him that the "whole world" will be looking at these and picking apart every tiny detail, and unfortunately for me I don't have photoshop to make everything look "naturally" beautiful.

Guess what happened this time?  He was so sweet, he didn't complain or grumble one bit.  He even started teasing saying "work with me...strike a pose...the camera loves you!"  I found myself relaxing, getting into my ANTM groove and even having fun.  As I looked through the 8 (instead of 800) pictures I found something unusual happen.  I turned to Mr. Medic and said "Guess what babe?  I feel pretty...I even kinda like myself!"  He stared at me like I was speaking Klingon or Elvish and asked "For real?"  I replied "YES!"  He then said "I think that is the first time in 4 years of marriage you have said that.  I have tried every day to make you feel that way, and hear you say that."

21 weeks, and feelin' pretty!

We talked about how it COULD have been the fact that I splurged a little at a good sale and bought some maternity clothes.  Initially when I bought the clothes I felt proud of myself for the good deals I got, and was excited to model them for Mr. Medic.  He was excited with me and teased that he hoped the purchases went towards our deductible. But then the guilt set in!  How could I spend money on myself?  Surely I could squeeze into my other clothes, or pull out some old ones from when I weighed a lot more.  I just tried not to think about it after that.

Mr. Medic has even tried to convince me on numerous occasions that it is worth it to him for me spend some extra money to feel pretty and presentable.  I usually try to ignore him because I know it just means more work and sacrifice on his part.  I guess it could kinda be like that phrase "If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!"  It probably makes a man feel good when he knows his woman is happy and confident.  It's probably way more attractive too.

After the "I feel pretty" moment I realized I wasn't showing how I truly felt in a new outfit because I was to busy feeling guilty for spending the money.  I learned how important it is to verbalize how those splurges really make me feel.  It shows Mr. Medic that I appreciate his hard work.

Now I don't think it was just the clothes that made the difference.  I know that the weight loss prior to getting pregnant played a huge roll too.  But, there is more than just the outward mumbo jumbo!  I have been trying to be more productive in my day.  I make an effort to get out of the house and to the gym, but don't beat myself up when I don't make it.  I turn off the cartoons and spend precious time with Twodles reading books and laughing together.  I work hard to magnify my church duties.  I turn on the tunes and even dance around the house occasionally...I forgot what music can do for me!  I focus on being grateful for what I do have, instead of what I don't...and so much more.

Its not like our circumstances have changed.  Our financial situation is the same.  We will be driving our current unreliable car to its grave before purchasing another one, like I had hoped.  I don't get to see my sweetheart any more than usual.  And I'm STILL changing poopy diapers.

I am learning just how influential my attitude is on our entire family.  When I feel good about myself and life in general, everyone around me tends to absorb that positive energy and in turn, they start to feel the same way.

The point is, nothing has changed except MY ATTITUDE!

It's a good good life, when I make it that way!



And because I believe that when others give input, a blog can be beneficial for everyone...especially me:

What do you do to get out of a funk or stay positive and upbeat even when things are tough?