Count Your Blessings, Name them One by One

Count Your Blessings, Name Them One by One

1. My Husband

The man who yesterday, when I was sick (the kind of sick where a trash can is kept VERY close, all I am willing to say), brought me crackers, Sprite, and soup in bed; he had Family Home Evening with the kids, cooked supper for the cuties, bathed them, dressed them, read scriptures, said prayers with them, and put them to bed. This is the same man who also lugged the TV and DVD player down from upstairs, when he couldn't find the plug for the portable DVD player, so I wouldn't be bored; he even popped in Prince Caspian for me, knowing that it is the movie I would select. This is also the man who rigged a bell system for me, so I could ring anytime I needed something; he also humored me with flirtatious text messages during my convalescence. I knew there was a reason I married that stud!

2. Braden- my sweet 5 year old son

The little boy, who in the van on the way to the store to retrieve the above mentioned crackers and Sprite, said to his father, "Daddy, I really think we need to buy Mama some flowers." He even carefully selected the flowers himself, and let his daddy do the purchasing, smart kid!

The little boy who also continued to pop his head into my room all evening, to insure that all my needs were met, and the little boy who used his artistic abilities to draw a picture to lift my spirits.

3. Brooke-my sweet and sassy 3 year old

The sweet little girl who checked on me continuously throughout the evening, brought me a book to read, and a picture she had drawn to help me feel better.

This is also the little girl who, more times than I can count, said, "Mama, I'm really sorry your tummy hurts."

4. Emma-my sweet and crazy 21 month old

The little girl who was like a spy, sneaking into my room every chance she got; if the door was left open even a crack, she took full advantage of the opportunity. I would hear her precious feet and then feel her adorable hands pulling on the side of the bed, trying to climb to the top. Once she achieved her mission, to get to her mama at all costs, she would look at me with those big blues of her eyes, smile her sweet yet devilish smile, and wrap her arms around me, until Rich came to retrieve our cute little escapee.

Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your blessings;
See what God hath done.
Count your blessings;
Name them one by one.
Count your many blessings;
See what God hath done.

(LDS Hymns, Count Your Blessings, no. 241)

Last night just reconfirmed to me that one of my greatest blessings is my family and the love we have for each other; Heavenly Father has blessed me beyond anything I could have imagined!

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you his wealth untold.
Count your many blessings; money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven nor your home on high.

Who needs money when you have a family that loves you?!!!!!!
My family is my greatest treasure!

Who wouldn't love...

Who wouldn't love a little girl

that already at the ripe age of 21 months clears her plate off of the table?!?!!

Of course, she doesn't quite understand the concept of dumping the food in the trash can before putting her plate in the sink, but hey, beggars can't be choosers; I'm just amazed that she clears the table!

Christmas Morning Pics

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning; I'm sorry there are only a few, but I was more concerned with using the camcorder. Years from now, I want to be able to look back and hear their little voices, watch their little mannerisms, and see their expressions of excitement, and though I do LOVE my camera (which I think we all know) it wasn't going to help me reach my goal.

Emma and Braden playing with Brooke's new dollhouse

Brooke playing with the Barbie Braden bought for her
(with his own hard earned money I might add)

Brooke sporting her new Tinkerbell robe
(all the cuties got a robe pj set for Christmas)

Braden and Brooke opening up the Hungry Hungry Hippos game we bought for them

Emma still playing with the dollhouse

Okay, I admit it, I love my children's feet. They are only to going to be small for so long, so I have to do my best to capture this time. These little footsies belong to the smallest member of our family, Emma.

Rich and Emma checking out Braden's new Leapster

(present courtesy of his Granddaddy and Great Grandmama)

Brooke looking cute with that morning look going on

Christmas Eve

Here are pictures from Christmas Eve. We had our traditional dinner of Spaghetti a la Daddy, set out cookies and milk for Santa (Oreos, ran out of time to make cookies), got in pjs, sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn, read the Christmas story, and put the cuties to bed. Then the real fun began; Rich and I stuffed stockings, laid out the goods, I gave each of the sleeping cuties a lipsticked kiss on each cheek, courtesy of "Santa"

(tradition started last year http://masedamayhem.blogspot.com/2007/12/christmas-2007.html),

and then Rich and I collapsed into bed for at least a few hours of sleep.

Braden setting the table

Our sad little plate of cookies for Santa

Emma obviously didn't think they were too sad; we finally convinced her, that they were not for her.

Sprinkling reindeer food on the lawn

Reading the Christmas story

Now off to bed! :)

One of my Favorite Christmas Pics

I promise I will eventually post all of my Christmas pictures, not that I took that many this year; I was too busy using the camcorder instead. In the meantime, I thought I would share one of my favorite pictures from this season. As you can see, Braden finally got his "rock and roll guitar" he has been begging for, FOREVER, courtesy of my mama.

I love this picture, because I was able to capture a special moment between father and son. Braden adores his daddy, and I know that his guitar will allow him to spend even more time with the man he adores as Rich teaches him how to play; maybe one day his guitar playing will help capture a special someone's heart, like Rich's captured mine.

Brooke's New Do

Well, I finally bit the bullet and took Brooke to get her hair cut; I think it's cute, but she looks like a totally different child. Here are some pictures of Brooke's new do; I wonder what it will look like curly.

9 Glorious Years Today!

With the Christmas season being how it is, I don't have much time to blog; having said that, I would be remiss if I didn't take a moment and say how grateful I am to have spent the past 9 years married to this stud.

Over 9 years ago I drove up to the Stake Building in Charleston, SC for what promised to be a typical Family Home Evening with the other singles, but as I walked up to these steps,
and saw this stud sitting there,

I knew the night was going to be anything but typical. I looked at him,
he looked at me,

and I knew I had to find out who he was and what he was about. Anxiously I walked up to the stairs, and upon arriving at the steps of destiny, he stood up; Jodi (one of the other singles) introduced me to him, he extended his hand, and I shook it. A simple gesture I know, but in that single moment, the simple touching of his hand, revealed so much to me about my future. In that single moment and in that single touch, I knew I had met the man I was going to marry, the man who was going to be the father of my children, and the man I would spend forever with. How can you know such a thing with a single touch? Seems crazy, right? I thought so too, but there was no denying it; with that single touch, I knew I had found the ONE! With that simple touch, there were things I knew about Rich and his spirit, that I shouldn't have known from having just met him. I felt of his goodness, his strong character, his humor, and his intelligence. As the weeks and months passed, all of my initial feelings were confirmed as we spent time together; Rich was everything I had ever dreamed about and more (and I had set the bar pretty high).

We fell in love,

got engaged,

got married,

and began our journey into eternity.

So far this journey has had many ups,

some downs, and an abundance of fun, love, and memories made.

All in all, after 9 glorious years, I am even more in love today with Rich; I thought I knew love the day he and got married, but now I realize how wrong I was! Every day my love for him grows even more, and I can't wait to see what the rest of eternity holds for us; good or bad, we will be by each other's side through it all!

Rich is the love of my life, my prince, my best friend, my rock to lean on when times are tough, my sounding board, and the one person who makes me feel at home just by being close. He makes me smile, he makes me laugh, and he makes life sweeter; I had to kiss a lot of frogs to find him, but it was worth it! Rich is more than I could have ever imagined!

Happy Anniversary Hubba Hubba!

Our Annual Treat Making Fest

Well, it is that time of year again, Christmas, which means of course celebrating Jesus' birth, his life, and his sacrifice. It also means a time of family, love, and giving; it also means it is time for our annual treat making fest. Every year, we pick a goodie to make for friends and neighbors, and then we as a family load up in the van and go out to deliver the goods. This year things were a little different though; with Rich being the bishop, I knew we would have A LOT more people to add to our delivery list, so I made sure to pick a treat that was easy to quadruple and still tastes good.

To begin, I first gathered all of our ingredients:

For each batch of candy, you need one bag of peanut butter chips, a bag of chocolate chips, a bag of butterscotch chips, and two cans of Spanish peanuts.

Next you need to gather a chef's assistant to help with all of the fun; if no one seems willing, bribing them with full chocolate licking rights always helps! My very willing assistant for tonight was Braden.

Here is the little stud now.

Next, you have your assistant open all three bags and dump them into a micro cooker, or other microwave safe container (while you snap your camera wildly as to insure that not a moment will be forgotten); you then nuke all of the chips for two minutes in the microwave.

After removing the chips from the microwave, stir quickly to mix all the chips into a smooth mixture.

Next, have your assistant pour the two cans of Spanish peanuts into a large bowl.

Once both cans of Spanish peanuts are in the bowl, it is now time to pour all of the melted goodness over the peanuts; then you and your assistant take turns stirring the melted goodness and peanuts, guaranteeing that each peanut is well coated.

Now comes the tedious part, using an awesome Pampered Chef small scoop, or a spoon (not as much fun though), drop candy onto wax paper, and allow to firm up (usually takes about an hour or more, putting them in the fridge speeds up the process). Each batch can yield anywhere from 60 to 70, depending how big you make your scoops.

After Braden and I finished with our first batch, we had three more batches. Luckily, Braden was quite the trooper and stuck by me until the sweet end; it was probably because at the end he and Brooke got to do this:
While they were busy working on their sugar rush, I got the candy ready to deliver.

Once everything was ready, we loaded up in the car to commence delivery, and can I just say how much I love spending time with my family?!!!!! I think the best part for me was traveling in the van with everyone. As I listened to Emma and Braden singing along with O Holy Night, Emma belting out the words she knew (mainly night divine), Brooke in the back pretending to be the little girl on Frosty the Snowman (her imagination never quits these days), and looking at the Christmas lights on the houses we passed, I couldn't help but feel blessed. I also thought about how important it is that we do spend this time together as a family; we are making memories that hopefully the children will always remember, and they are learning to serve others. I sure hope my family knows how much I love and treasure them, and the time we have together!