Random thoughts that I have been having & things that I am thankful for

There are a lot of other things that I should be doing right now, but the house is quiet and I am lazy.

So here are some random thoughts that I have been having over the past few weeks & things that I am thankful for in no particular order:

I am thankful for my husband. We are lucky that he has a good job with benefits. I am lucky that he works so close to home and that he can stay home for a few hours and help me out with the kids when I am not feeling up to it. He also loves our kids so much. He is a good dad and takes the time to do things with them and play with them. (Things that I probably should be doing). And sometimes he lets me sleep in!

I am thankful for my kids. They are so sweet and we are so lucky that they are healthy. But they also have their moments that drive me crazy!! Examples: Today Miles threw a huge 45 minute fit because Tim didn't take him to help clean the church. Caden doesn't listen and doesn't stop when I ask him to. He always says "Just one more time." Then on Monday he gave Alexandra a black eye by stepping on her because he was playing football in the house when I asked him to stop. Alexandra has had a rough week of teething and getting her head hit on things. Thursday night she just kept on crying and crying. It was so sad and frustrating at the same time.

Good things about my kids. Miles and I had a good 20 minute talk Tuesday night. He is really smart, has good friends, enjoys playing baseball. And he is funny! Caden is sweet. He will come up to you out of the blue and say "I want to give you a hug." He still likes you to cuddle by him when he is tired. He has that natural ability to play any sport he wants. He can hit a baseball hard and far and he can throw a perfect spiral with a football. He likes to play Yahtzee on the computer with you. And he loves his little sister so much! Alexandra has smiles for everyone. She scrunches up her little nose and it is so cute. She is laid back and easy going. She spits good raspberries. And she waves her arms up and down and kicks her legs every time she sees me. (Something she doesn't do for Tim.)

However ... Would I do anything that would hurt my kids? Would I do something so bad that my husband would divorce me? Put a restraining order on me so that I could only see my kids once a week for 2 hours?

I know Tim and I have had our ups and downs but I hope we could work things out if things got that bad. Tim and I have been married for 9 years next month (December 18th.) The time had flown by. It has been fun and it has been hard. But I love him and my family. I don't know what I would do if they were ever taken away from me. But sometimes it is nice to have a break for 2 to 3 days, Just to realize how much you do love them. My mom asked me once when Tim and I were engaged why did I pick him and the answer to that was because he could make me laugh and I knew that I could talk to him about anything and everything. And that is still true!!

I am thankful for my extended family. My parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and grandparents on both sides of my family. They support us and love us no matter what dumb mistakes we may make.

I am thankful for my wonderful friends who make me laugh and support me. You guys are the best! And I am so lucky to know all of you.

Why I love living in Northern California. The weather is perfect. We went to playgroup yesterday, in November and it was still 6o-something degrees. No snow! I thought I would miss it when I moved out here, but I really don't. I don't miss it being cold and having to shovel it. Plus, I am too out of shape to go skiing anyway! It would kill me knees. We have many professional sports our here to cheer for and go to their games. Including the A's, Giants, Raiders, 49ers, Warriors and more. We have the Oakland Temple. It is a beautiful temple. I love walking on the temple grounds and we are lucky to live only about 30 minutes away.