I am Thankful...

I decided to do a separate post to list my many thanks. Of course, Thanksgiving always makes me reflect on my many blessings and I would like to mention just a few...

I am thankful for a loving husband. Jason is 110% dedicated to everything he does. He is a fantastic daddy. He is solid and strong. I am especially thankful for this because my emotions tend to fly all over the place and Jason is the straight line that keeps me from losing it. He is my perfect match in every way.
I am thankful for my sweet Allary. I could go on and on about all her funny quirks I adore, but I will just say, I love my girl.
I am thankful for wonderful family. I feel so blessed to have such love and support coming from all sides. I am thankful for a Mom and a sister who I call constantly to discuss life's daily ups and downs. I am thankful for awesome parents on both sides who raised Jason and I in the gospel and give us such wonderful examples to follow.
I am infinitely grateful for the gospel and my testimony. These two things shape who I am and what I do more than anything else. I am thankful for a loving Father in Heaven. The traumatic events in my life 26 months ago have left a lasting impression with me of His love and constant watch care.
I am thankful for lifelong friends. You know who you are, thank you for being there for me and keeping me out of trouble growing up. (Unless you can call toilet papering trouble). I have been blessed with good friends who carry with them such powerful positive influence.
I am thankful for health. At the moment, Allary and I are both suffering from tonsillitis, but on the whole, I am thankful for all of our health. Allary is strong and healthy and has been ever since she entered the NICU over two years ago. I am thankful for my recovery and for a strong heart and strong will.
I am also thankful for modern medicine. Without it, I would be blind, snaggle-toothed, and most likely dead from heart failure. I know without it, neither Allary nor I would be here.
I am also thankful for the simple things, chocolate and diet coke, unexpected phone calls from friends, drive-thrus, good music, good food, good fortune, etc etc...
And lastly, the thing that makes me feel as if my cup runneth over is the simple act of tucking my sweet daughter into bed each night saying,
"I love you baby girl."
"I wuv you too, Mommy."

Thanksgiving

I'm a little late getting a Thanksgiving post up, I know.
Jason was gone on a business trip to Phoenix for 4 days right before the holiday and Allary and I sure missed him. I asked Allary, "Where did Daddy go?" She said, "Ummmm, home?" I said, "Home? Where does Daddy live?" She said, "Ummm, church?" Not far from the truth some weeks. I can't ever convince her that Daddy is at work because he got new work shoes which are black, and so she says Daddy is at church because he wore his church shoes.
So anyway, we drove down to Jason's parents' house Thursday morning and met them out in the boonies to hike around and pick out the perfect Christmas tree. Allary thought that was great. Then we all headed over to Jason's grandparent's house for a delicious feast. There were lots of people and lots of great food. We spent the rest of the day visiting, playing the Wii, and just lounging around. On Friday, I forced Jason out to go shopping. The rest of the time we spent playing games, the girls did some crafts, and the boys played video games. Allary had so much fun playing with her cousins. So much fun, that she refused to take a nap the whole time we were there. Ugh. Well, actually, she did have one nap in the most unlikely of places... on a four-wheeler ride! Silly girl. We took her on a bumpy ride out in the hills and she conked right out. We turned around to take her home to lie down and of course, she woke up and was completely ready for action when we got there.

For some reason, we did not take very many pictures. I do have this one of Allary and her cousins in front of the Christmas tree about to be cut down.

Time for Some Photos

I was looking over the last few posts, and decided it was time to post some pictures. (Also, I get mad at the Bachelor every time I open my page). So here are some photos from the last little while.

Allary loves to help me cook dinner every night. Don't you love the chef hat?

She still talks about Disneyland every day... riding Dumbo, Grandma riding the train, and seeing Mickey Mouse.

Allary enjoys brushing her hair and pretending to put on makeup. The other day, she sat patiently while I experimented on her hair with a curling iron. It turned out really cute, but I'm not sure it was worth the time and effort because it didn't survive the nap.

The back.

Just another day in the life of a princess.
One of my friends told me she and her daughter saw Allary and me out walking one day and she told her little girl, "Look! There's Allary." She said, "No Mommy, Princess Allary."

I love my little Princess.

Also, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We are spending Thanksgiving with Jason's family. I will post pictures of the fun when we get back.

Idiot!

Eeeeew, I'm so mad right now. The Idiot Bachelor chose no one! I didn't arrange my schedule every Monday night to watch this show from beginning to end just to watch the Idiot dump two girls on the season finale! He couldn't find one girl out of 25 supermodel girls that was good enough for him? What is he thinking? And what is up with leading them both on, mostly Deanna, up to the final date? He was saying things like, "Oh, I could see her as my wife for sure, I have such strong feelings for both of them, oh woe is me what am I doing to do?"
What an idiot!

10 Signs You've Got to Get Out More

I found this list in one of my babytalk magazines (yes I still read those.) Although I did edit it a bit to my own liking. So here it is...

10 Signs You've Got to Get Out More

1. You find yourself cooing at the mailman.

2. You read baby name books (and babytalk magazine) for the entertainment value.

3. You have a favorite Teletubby (or Little Einstein, Wonder Pet, Backyardigan, Wiggle, etc)

4. You're miles from home before you realize your blouse is unbuttoned.

5. Your life is full of passionate kisses, warm embraces, and ecstatic declarations of love- with someone whose age is measured in months.

6. You've memorize the 3 am television line-up, but couldn't name a single news event since Bush (Bush, right?) won the last presidential election.

7. You now have over 2,000 photos of the baby, and not a single one of anybody or anything else.

8. Getting dolled up for a special occasion means wearing shoes and brushing your hair.

9. You try to make small talk with the cashier at the drive-up window just to get in some adult conversation.

10. The most dramatic moment of your day involves a bowel movement.

Tagged by Katie

Okay, Katie, this is for you.

5 Things I was doing 10 years ago...

1. Let's see I was 16 and 9 months. I was pretty boy crazy back then. My first date was with Sonny M. and my first school dance was Homecoming with Spencer B.

(this is really difficult, I just pulled out my high school scrapbook, but apparently I didn't have anything to scrapbook from my sophomore year and my journal from back then is packed away.)

2. When I think about high school, I think about hangin out with the crew every weekend and all the fun we had. I loved just hanging out at the seminary building after school with everyone.

3. I actually started to really love piano lessons at this point. Music was a big part of my life, I participated in Guild recitals (playing in front of professional judges to receive scores), and I went to Durango a few times to compete there.

4. I was driving "Blue Lightning," the little blue truck that was passed down from sibling to sibling in my family. And as I recall, there was a certain group of boys who loved to "decorate" my truck just about every weekend.

5. Oh man, I don't know. The things popping into my head are hanging out at friend's houses (Katie, Liz, Melinda), slumber parties, toilet papering.. it was such a care-free life back then and yet so seemingly full of the typical teenage drama.

5 Things on my To-Do List today...

1. workout
2. dust and vacuum (ugh)
3. Allary's laundry
4. run to the bank and Target (Yea Target!)
5. play with Allary (ok, not really written down, but it is a big part of my day...reading stories, singing silly songs, building princess castles out of Legos, etc)

5 Foods I enjoy...

1. Chocolate!!!
2. French fries and fry sauce
3. Chicken Enchiladas
4. Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
5. The Cabo Mexican Grill

5 Bad habits... oh boy

1. hitting the snooze button, I hate getting out of bed, hate it.
2. eating junk food, I love candy, cookies, and especially chocolate
3. hand washing, you may not think of this as a bad habit but I am obsessive compulsive about it. My hands are always excruciatingly dry and my knuckles crack open in the winter. I can't stand anything on my hands and it's not enough to just wipe it off, I need soap and water.
4. procrastination
5. Diet Coke, I've gotta have it.

5 of my favorite toys

1. my guitar, although I hardly ever play any more
2. my computer
3. my camera
4. Allary's blocks, we love to build together
5. my art supplies, although this in another thing I haven't pulled out in ages it seems

That took a lot longer than I thought it would. I think everyone that I would tag has already been tagged, so I'll leave it at that.

The Binky Fairy

We finally did it! The Binky Fairy came to our house last night. I have been trying to wean Allary off the binkies for a few weeks now. She was doing pretty good about only needing them to sleep, so I finally decided to ditch them for good. I told her about the binky fairy who comes and takes the binkies and gives them to the new babies who need them. We've been talking a lot about all the fun things that big girls can do that babies can't. I told her that when she is ready, we would give the binkies to the binky fairy and that the binky fairy would leave her a present. She seemed to like this idea, so we went for it. Last night, we rounded up all her binkies and I let her pick out some pretty ribbon. We tied pretty little bows on each one and hung them on a hangar above the window. (After all, that is where the binky fairy flies in). Allary colored a beautiful note for the binky fairy and left marshmallows and chocolate chips for her to eat. So far so good. She complained for about 5 minutes before going to sleep and only woke up once in the night. She just went down for a nap without one mention of the b word. And here I was picturing nightmarish scenes of screaming and temper tantrums for days on end once she realized they were gone. Hopefully, this lasts. :) Here are some pictures and video of her coming down this morning to see what the binky fairy had left for her.

Mom's Sidekick

Turtle Song

Happy Halloween!

We had a very happy Halloween. Allary and I went over to trick-or-treat at Trisha and Mark's house, then we came home and had a quick dinner before all heading out to knock on some doors in our neighborhood. Then we headed over to our ward party. They had a homemade chili contest, a spook alley, a cake walk, crafts, and trick-or-treating around the classrooms. It was fun. Allary wanted to just keep going to the same people over and over again, mostly those who had suckers, her very favorite treat.

Here are some pictures.
We carved our pumpkin on Sunday evening.

I left the dirty work to Jason and Allary.


How do you like that nasty bruise on her head? She took a dive down the stairs last weekend and landed face first on one of her hard toys. Ouch!

The finished products. Allary colored her own little pumpkin and begged me to draw an Elmo face on it.

This is Allary at the ward party with her friend Abby.

Here we are at the ward party. Can you tell who me and Jason are? There were a few people who just didnt' get it. I think they were just wondering why we got so dressed up for the ward party. Mostly, people just found something funny about seeing the Elder's Quorum President with a goatee and earrings. :)

This one is zoomed in so maybe you can see the earrings.

She did pretty good. This girl has definitely got a sweet tooth just like her mom. She loves candy and chocolate in any form.

I realized I had a very similar picture from last year. Same cute ladybug with the cute round face...