What up AZ????

I was thrilled last month when I learned that they were building 2 new temples in AZ- two towns that I have lived in to Gilbert and Thatcher (gila valley) but it was amazing to learn today that they have yet announced another temple in Phoenix!!! I am amazed! I can't believe that AZ is getting so many temples. Ya'll must be living right! I am thankful for temples!

Frosting

I LOVE the movie how to loose a guy in 10 days. I always laugh at the part where Ben's boss leans out the window and yells "women of New York frost yourselves." We are leaving for CA tomorrow and while we are there we are going to have a birthday party for Turner. So I was making up frosting for his birthday cake last night and found the best recipe for frosting. It is so good. My happy thought is that I am thankful for frosting! Here is the recipe:

1/2 c. butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1/3 c. boiling water
1 tsp. vanilla

In a medium sauce pan melt butter and cook until it turns nut brown (this step is essential for the flavor) remove from heat and add powdered sugar and boiling water and stir. And vanilla.

If I don't get a chance to post in CA I will see you all when I get back!

Happy Thought

I am thankful for early mornings. This week I have had a lot to do so I have been waking up early to get stuff done. I love when everyone else is still sleeping and I am checking things off my to do list. This morning my alarm didn't go off and I didn't wake up early; it made me realize how thankful I am for my early mornings.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
~ Melody Beattie ~

Happy Thought

Today I am thankful for family vacations. Sunday we are leaving for Mission Beach for a week! I am so excited for the beach and the opportunity to just get out of town and see something new :) We are meeting up with my whole family for the week and I just can't wait!

"Gratitude is an uplifting, exalting attitude. People are generally happier when they have gratitude in their hearts." -lds.org

Happy Thought

There may be a couple of you out there that remember Happy Thought. In one of my apartments (when I lived with Jen, Michelle, and Cami) in the Villa we had happy thought every night where we said something we were thankful for that day, sang a song and prayed together. My experience was amazing. I think it is through expressing gratitude that life becomes great. Dietrich Bonhoeffer obviously agrees with me:
"In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich."
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I want to start posting my happy thoughts for the day. I am grateful for families. I now am part of 3 amazing families, my family of origin, Josh's family of origin and now our own family of 4. Most of the meaning in my life is tied to the people in those 3 units. Families make me happy!

Sharing

Pulling out all of the baby stuff again has been fun. Turner has also had fun and has wanted to play with all of his old stuff. He discovered that he can still fit in his old bouncer! Unzip the bouncer and find what is inside!

A 2 year old!

Good thing Max at the time was snoozing in his car seat- another favoirte toy of Turners :)

Mother's day- Me and my boys

Mother's day was fabulous. I got to spend it with three fabulous mothers. My mom, my grandma and my mother-in-law. I love celebrating mothers and the important role that they play in our lives. My husband went above and beyond in making my mothers day special. I am so grateful that I am married to a man that appreciates my role and my contribution to my family. Josh made me breakfast and even brought it to me in bed (eating in bed grosses him out so this was a big deal for him!) He gave me a beautiful jewelery box that he painted. It was just such a wonderful day! One of those days that feels like a tragedy when the sun starts to set.

Super Saturday

Josh had to work Saturday and I knew I would go crazy at home by myself. So we dropped Josh off at work and headed to temple square. It was neat to feel the peacefulness as we stepped into the temple grounds. With Max sleeping and Turner in the stroller, I could just relax and soak it in. We have a picture of the temple hanging in our living room and Turner had been asking about it the day before so his face lit up when I explained that this was the temple. We got there about the same time as the sisters were getting to their posts. It brought back a lot of memories as I watched the sister's demenor and you could tell who got along with their companion and who didn't. I realized that I came home over 7 years ago from my mission. I did a quick check to see if I was where I would have thought I would have been in 7 years. Yeah- pretty much a stay at home mom with 2 kids. I realized that I am just on a different mission now. As we walked into the visitors center the ramp to the Christus was roped off for a group so we walked around and looked at the beautiful paintings depicting the Savior's life. Turner exclaimed "found Jesus!" It was so sweet and such an amazing feeling came over me- like a reasurance that the Lord was pleased with my efforts in raising my kids.

When we could go up the the Christus I let Turner get out of the stroller. He walked up to the statue and said "Hi Jesus." It was so cute! Then he looked at me and said "Jesus tall" Yeah ya think!

This picture is blurry but I really liked it because to me it looked as if the Savior was just about to scoop Turner up and I imagined that he was going to give him a great big hug!

We went to the I am a Child of God exibit at the museum. There wasn't much for a (almost) 2 year old to do there but he enjoyed feeding the babies.

The flowers were beatiful as they always are. We enjoyed walking around the gardens.

I loved all of the tulips. I realized if God cares so much about his flowers to make them beautiful- how much more does he care about me? It was a very special Saturday morning.

May 1st

So it is snowing today... SNOWING!! What is that global warming thing again?????