30 Days of Thanks #19

I am thankful that 2 days before we leave on our Thanksgiving Packer Family vacation, Ella does NOT have strep. 

I am also thankful for my cousin Kristen, who is doing an amazing job pitch-hitting for me while I search for a nanny. Ella and Anna love her--and why wouldn't they? She makes cookies, brings sprinkles, and decorates Thanksgiving Turkeys with them. Thanks!!!

30 Days of Thanks #18

After 8 years of having Sacrament meeting during the final hour of church, we finally have it first. The sacrament last schedule never bothered me until I had kids. But helping Anna stay relatively quiet during the first hour of church is a whole lot easier than helping her stay quiet during the third hour of church. Hallelujah...Sacrament first!

30 Days of Thanks #17

And....we're back. After over a week without internet and TV, Ryan is home from Australia and we are online once again. I've been neglecting blogging, and honestly, I'm to tired to try and back-blog.  And since we are going out of town for Thanksgiving, my 30 Days of Thanks is going to be a little lean this year  (which is ironic because I have loads of good things to be thankful for).

Onto #17...

Ella Jane. Smart as a whip, kind and thoughtful, and such a good little friend. She is in the stage where she always wants to be helping me, and while it can sometimes drive me bonkers I really love it. She has done great with the move. A few unexpected meltdowns over silly things, but mostly just excited to be in the new house. She is such a good little girl. Thankful to be her mom.

30 Days of Thanks #12

I was feeling a little tiny bit sorry for myself because I don't have Internet or TV and still have piles of boxes to unpack. And then Thayer was inspired to send me this link.

http://vimeo.com/53357089

And I watched it. And I was proud to belong to this church. And proud of my family in NYC for wearing their yellow vests on Saturday. And I was grateful to have a new beautiful home with boxes to unpack. Thanks Thayer.

(Since this post was written on my phone it isn't an actual link. You'll have to cut and paste it into your browser. But it's worth it. Promise.)

30 Days of Thanks #11

Anna has a new trick. And it melts my heart every time. When she is happy and feeling sweet she calls me "Mimi" instead of mommy. I tried to catch it on video, but never got a great one. But you do get to see her calling her friends on her "phone."

Love that girl.

30 Days of Thanks #10

So I feel a little silly posting this, but it really is what I was thankful for today. On Thursday afternoon I took all the food from my freezer and packed it up to bring to the new house. But I left it in the car. Thankfully it was cold, and by the time I found it on Friday it was still somewhat frozen, but needed to be eaten rather than refrozen. So Saturday night I attempted to make Ryan's delicious short rib ragu. Halfway through the process I realized that the box with the beef bullion was packed. I went downstairs, tore through a few boxes but only ended up more frustrated that I couldn't find what I wanted. I gave up, but was so sad because all my hard work was going to be for nothing. So I said a little prayer. And immediately I remembered what box it was in, and where it was. I went to the storage room and found it no problem. I was so grateful to be able to finish cooking with a smile on my face, and not get caught in a downward spiral of "I can't find anything...everything is a mess...I have so much left to do...I'll never get it all done...poor me..."

I believe in the power of prayer and am most thankful for it in my life. 

30 Days of Thanks #9

So, so, so, so thankful we were not trying to move during Winter Storm Brutus. We were originally scheduled to move on Saturday. Fortuitously we closed early and were able to move on Wednesday, with gorgeous weather. 

(also, I don't have internet yet, so my days of thanks are backdated)

30 Days of Thanks #7 & 8

not a great shot--it was a busy day

I am thankful for movers. We survived the move, mainly because we had 60 man hours worth of professional movers. 60 hours!! Even with the Elder's Quorum, that would have taken us weeks. Who knew we had so much junk?!? 

We are getting settled in our new place. I continue to have so many people help me--I can't thank you all enough. My aunt Sharon and cousin Kristen came and helped (unbidden, I might add. Refer to yesterday's post :) Sharon brought the most delicious cookies, and Kristen totally unpacked the girls' rooms so that when they went to bed that night they had a somewhat familiar setting. My friend Danielle has watched my kids for two days straight, all like it's no big deal. And she unpacked the playroom. My friend Lyssa came down and turned my kitchen into something workable. Ifeta came and tried to do everything, from cleaning to organizing to moving. I kept telling her that we hired movers, and she kept telling me that she would do a better job so she was just going to do it herself. My Dad brought his truck and some muscle (thank you Jose Louis). And my mom...despite a horribly swollen sprained ankle, has done it all and then some. We also had three people from the new ward stop by with treats in hand. Ryan left for Australia yesterday, so it has been great to have so many people stepping up. I feel really blessed.

30 Days of Thanks #6

During this move I have had so many people show up and help out. Today a friend brought me lunch (when I really needed a friend to ground me and keep me from freaking out) and then another friend knocked on my door and said, "I've got an hour. Put me to work." This second friend, Trudy, is one of my favorite people. She gets stuff done, and doesn't ever worry about if she gets credit, or who is actually supposed to be doing it. And this is all the more impressive when you know she has cancer (although she'd never tell you). The kind of cancer that doesn't allow her out of bed some days. And still, there she was, knocking on my door and helping me pack boxes--for the second time--she came last week, too! She is a fun, kind, hard-working Idaho farm girl and I love her and am grateful for her in my life.

a photo I snapped of Trudy while she was getting Anna some juice

Above quote by Ronald A. Rasband. Read the whole talk here.

30 Days of Thanks #5

I love my job. I do. I'm lucky like that. I look forward to work. It can be stressful and crazy and heart wrenching, but for the most part it is really really great.

(until we move in and get settled, these posts might be of the short and sweet variety. t minus 1 day!)

30 Days of Thanks #4

I am thankful for many things today (that's the beauty of this exercise--in trying to find something to blog about you become aware of so many things that might have previously gone unnoticed). But one of them is this talk. One of my partners told me about it a few months ago, and I've been meaning to look it up. It was highlighted in this month's BYU Magazine and I thought it had some great insights.

30 Days of Thanks #3

I have said it before, and I am sure I will say it again, but one of the things I am most thankful for is my nanny Lyssa.  The main thing I ask of her is to love and watch over my children while I am gone. And she does that willingly and very well.  But it is the countless extra things she does that make me over the moon thankful for her. Like organize my storage room. For my birthday she came down and floor to ceiling cleaned out my storage room. It was a dream. And today, when I had to pack it all up, it was a million times easier than it would have been without Lyssa's touch. Out of all the things I am going to miss about living here, number 1 is Lyssa Jane.

30 Days of Thanks #2

My cupboards look like this right now. The only dishes I have are the ones I forgot about that were in the dishwasher while I was packing. Last night my mom took the girls home for a sleepover. She left me minestrone soup. It was delicious. And it was not McDonalds. Thanks Mom!

30 Days of Thanks #1

In planning this move I had lots of friends tell me they wanted to help. In a moment of desperation I took them up on it. I sent out an email saying that Thursday was the day to stop by for an hour or so, pack a few boxes, eat some leftover Halloween candy, and be on your way. At the end of the day I had 11 people each help for at least an hour--closer to two or three. I am close to being packed, and there is NO WAY I could have done it (mentally or physically) without these great friends. I was overwhelmed with the love and support I felt. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

30 days of Thanks

I am going to try and do the 30 days of Thanks again. I did it in 2010 and the song is right--it does make you happier! We have a busy 30 days coming up. Packing, moving, unpacking, settling in, traveling. So even if my world is falling apart, I'm hoping looking for the good things in my life will keep me "singing as the days go by."

If you want to join in (but don't want to fully commit) feel free to leave a comment about what warmed your heart that day. I'd love to hear it!