Feeling thankful

As Thanksgiving is fast approaching I thought it appropriate to share some things I am feeling thankful for this year.

My family. Of course this is number one of my list! My husband, our four boys and daughter. Each are amazing and wonderful to me in their own way. I love them deeply. I also am feeling thankful for my parents, siblings and all my in-laws who treat me with such kindness and love.

My husbands job. They recently gave out two lay-off notices (scary!) but he did not receive one (whew!). I am thankful for his employment and that it provides a wonderful quality of life for us.

My testimony of the restored gospel. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the true Church, restored to the earth in these, the latter days. I know that Heavenly Father lives and that He knows me by name and that He loves me. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and that through the power of the Atonement we can be perfected and live with Heavenly Father and Jesus again. I know that we have a modern day prophet, President Thomas S. Monson and that he communicates with God to lead the church today. Heavenly Father loves us enough that I know He would not leave us alone without someone to guide us through these latter days. I know these things to be true and they bring me great peace.

Friends. They fill my life with joy. They allow me to lean on them, cry to them, ramble on and on to them when life gets difficult and I am struggling with it all. My friends also rejoice and laugh with me, share common interests, encourage and cheer me on.

Tucson winters. The weather this time of year is amazing! I'm loving that the sky is always a beautiful clear blue. I'm especially enjoying riding around in my mustang with its top down while listening to Christmas cd's. How fun!

Our dog, Violet. She is the perfect little pet for our family. She is so mellow and kind to all, lays around throughout the day and is a spark of energy in the evening.

Quality schools. We have two children in the local elementary, one in middle school, two in high school. We have children in advanced placement classes, regular classes and special education. We have children in fine arts programs in the elementary, middle and high schools. I am so grateful that the schools here provide a quality education, a safe environment and outstanding extracurricular activities for our children.

My current calling. I am absolutely thankful for my current calling serving in the Young Womens program of the Church. It brings me great joy. I spend hours on my calling each day because I love it so. The young women are simply terrific and I love that I genuinely love each and every one of them.

The little things. bath and body works hand soap and body wash. dark chocolate. vanilla scented candles. fun socks. sprinkles. photography. green paper clips. volunteering at the school. grass. scrapbook supplies. black and white photos. chick flick movies. cake plates and ceramic platters. computers and the internet. magazines. fresh flowers. purity. the stars at night. curly willow. the temple. a clean car. receiving a letter in my mailbox. sharp pencils. a vacation. a hug from a child. laughter. good music. hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles. a good novel. exercise. an empty day on the calendar. lamps. throw pillows. paper. happy people. fun shoes.

What are you feeling thankful for?

chocolate mint cookies

I made these cookies for a teacher lunch at Chase and Ryan's elementary school last week. They are so yummy and so easy to make:

1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
2 eggs
1/2 Cup oil
Approx. 24 Andes Mints

Mix first three ingredients together - drop in spoonfuls onto cookie sheet.
Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and lightly pat each cookie with back of spatula to flatten cookies.
Immediately after removing from oven place Andes Mint on top of each cookie.
After it starts to melt take a toothpick and gently move the mint around on each cookie until smeared over top of entire cookie.

Our boys do not like the taste of mint so with some of the cookies I just put some chocolate chips on instead of the Andes mint for a chocolate, chocolate taste.

weekend fun!

Ryan received a belated birthday gift from Grandma Gubler, Aunt Patty and Aunt Claire and their families. He spent hours of fun playing with this imaginext set this weekend.

Chase had double-header soccer games on Saturday. We went across town for a 9:30 game and then came closer to home for one at 12:30. Luckily, and with advanced planning, we did not get stuck in the El Tour de Tucson traffic. The weather was gorgeous for both games and the team played great!


Reid spent his Saturday morning doing some chores (he's trying to earn some $$). Austin spent his day at the end of season party for the high school marching band and then he joined us for Molly's Young Americans performance later that afternoon. The Young Americans are a traveling group of college age adults that teach singing and dancing workshops across the country. They taught kids from the local elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. It looked like everyone had a great time.
High school students (as well as Young American staff) got to be in the blue shirts:

Molly dancing in a Mary Poppins skit:

Molly had a solo:

After coming home from Molly's performance James and I changed into our Sunday best and attended the stake high priest social. They had a senior couple report on their mission to Chile and then served pie and ice cream. There was only us and one other couple from our ward in attendance and it made me realize how few people we know in our new stake.

Young Women in Excellence!

Our theme for YWIE was from Matthew 5:14-16 "Ye are the light of the world"
I'm thankful I got a picture of all the young women that were in attendance (we were missing two that night). I love these girls!:

The young women practicing their song before we begin. They sang together our closing song "Just One Little Light":

Our focus of the year: the temple and standing in holy places:

I love this picture of Joanne pouring milk for all cupcake lovers at the end of the evening. She is such an awesome laurel advisor and friend to me:

The laurels were in charge of the refreshment table. They decided on cupcakes with the frosting in the different value colors. I got lots of compliments on this little gumdrop tree. I've had it for years and I think it's fun for young women events because the gumdrops come in the young women value colors:

The young women did a great job displaying their projects:

Each of the young women stood and shared a talent or talked about one of their Personal Progress experiences. Molly sang a Taylor Swift song about mothers for her talent. It was very emotional and wonderful. I love this girl!
Molly and I:

Molly, Courtney, me, Julia, Joanne. We're excited for Molly to turn 16 soon so she will join our laurel class!

This was the last Young Women in Excellence for both Courtney and Julia. They are both amazing young women! It was a wonderful evening.

a party!

The treat bags were made:

The decorations were hung:

The bounce house arrived and was ready to go:

and we had one very happy seven year old!!!

His friends arrived and they bounced and bounced and bounced. Then they ate hot dogs and chips and drank soda pop:

He opened lots of super fun gifts from his super fun friends:

They had chocolate birthday cake with chocolate filling inside:

They each got a turn playing with the gun with lights and sounds:

and I even got a thank you hug at the end of the day:

happenings around our house

Reid was invited to a birthday party for one of his best buddies, Matthew. Even though it happened after Halloween he had everyone come in costume. Reid went as a vampire - here he is in the process of getting his make-up done before adding his costume:

I made birthday goodie bags for Ryan's classmates (sorry for the blurry picture!), he passed them out on Monday. All reports home state he had a great birthday at school:

Chase is enjoying playing club soccer this year. He loves that a lot of friends are on the team, they have a great time together and play good ball together. Here's photos from Saturday:


After Saturdays game I took him to Dairy Queen for a post game treat!

There was no school on Veteran's Day so the boys got hair cuts

and went to the dentist. Ryan was treated like a king by Dr. Wolfman and Dr. Lele. He received a birthday crown and birthday bubbles along with lots of other fun toys.

Thursday was our wards Visiting Teaching Conference. It was a wonderfully relaxing evening surrounded by great women. I was asked to participate in a skit entitled Women of God that featured appearances of various women from the scriptures.



I portrayed Eve. It was an honor to be asked. Isn't it amazing that participating in a small event such as a skit pulls your heart closer to that topic. I have enjoyed studying in the scriptures of Eve.

Birthday celebrations!

Yesterday Ryan turned seven!
Seven is such a fun age, he loved opening his presents, grinning ear to ear during the entire process...
We got him a Star Wars R2D2 toy:

Nana and Papa got him a Star Wars Clone Wars game for the Wii with a lightsaber so the action is real! Thanks mom and dad - he loves it and is excited there is no school tomorrow so he can play it some more.

He loved his card from the Wilfongs with a big number 7 on the front and the $$ on the inside!

We gave him another puppy for his puppy collection and...

Wii batman.

Posing with the money from Aunt Cindy and Nana and Papa.

After the opening of presents we went for ice cream at Austin's Ice Cream Parlor, a Tucson tradition. Ryan had chocolate chocolate chip - yum! He was so excited to be there!

He was even more excited when his ice cream came out with a birthday candle on top!


We all got to sing him Happy Birthday and he did his happy dance.

Happy Birthday Ryan, we love you!
More birthday celebrations coming on Friday with a bounce house and a friend party!

Happy 7th Birthday Ryan!

(photo taken in Utah, summer 2009)
We hope you have a fabulous day at school buddy! We love you so much.
Seven years ago today was the due date for you to be born, however none of the other kids came on their due dates. Most of my pregnancies needed to be induced two weeks after the due date, but you were determined to come and join our family. The morning of November 9, 2002 your dad and I went to the hospital since I was contracting pretty hard. We told the nurses that it was 'probably a false alarm' but it wasn't - you were on your way and you were born later that afternoon. Your brothers and sister were excited to come to the hospital to welcome you into our family. You were just a little baby back then and continue to be the 'baby' in the family even today. But you are growing up and turning into a young man. You are a big first grader now! We are proud of how well you are doing in school. You are reading really well, making new friends and gaining the confidence to try new things.

(photo taken Sept. 2009)

We are looking forward to a celebration in your honor tonight, a dinner of your choice (chicken nuggets and fries) and then ice cream at Austin's ice cream parlor with birthday presents to open! Happy 7th Birthday Ryan. We love you to the moon and back.

Welcome November

November is a month for feeling thankful. I welcome November!
October came and went in a huge blur. I hate to admit I did not even get out any of my Fall home decorations (and I think I like them even more than my Christmas decorations!). Fall is my most favorite season! Yet those 31 days of October just flew by.
I snapped this picture of the pumpkins at the Safeway down the street from our home but I never did even purchase one pumpkin this year. so sad. :(

I snapped these pictures while I was in Washington. I visited a pumpkin patch in Puyallup during my stay. I'm still sad I didn't bring any little pumpkins home with me, my parents even offered me some from their own garden.




I have so much to be thankful for in my life. I need to make sure I record my blessings this month in my journal, naming them one by one.