Month of Thanks

Our November...

I was so happy to see Novembers dropping leaves, crisp mornings and the lovely spirit of the holidays that comes with this month. 

Our cousin Amanda Grover got married so we took a quick trip down to Blanding to celebrate. It's always too short when we go down there. Endowment, sealing, reception, maybe some down time in between and then home. 

I only got one picture but it was a fun weekend spent at the temple, chilling at Lynette and Jerry's, helping wherever we could with wedding stuff. Amanda asked Brynlee to help clear tables at the reception and it being her first time, she was a bit timid. 

I was asked to play a session of indoor soccer that started this month! It was sooo fun. I'm equally as terrible having not played in a long time, not that I was ever that great anyways. But it was fun to run my tush off! 

During the month we had a friend come visit. We found him chilling in Brynlee's sand box and then he decided to try to climb the stairs and get in our house. Good thing we closed the door. He was trying to quack but couldn't. Super weird. We had to leave and he was gone before we got home. 

 

American Express gave us tickets to the Natural History Museum of Utah with the special Birds of Paradise special event. The dinosaurs, fossils, taxidermy and the balcony were among some of the favorites. 

Brynlee came home from school one day and said, "Mom I hurt my ankle at school, will you massage it?" I was beaming. Of course I would do that for her! She was in heaven too. 

I took Britt out for her birthday this year and used the crap out of my Wasatch Savings Card. Rumbi, Bowling, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.... mmmm. I love this sister of mine. 

We had the W crew one night and we took them to clean the church which they thought was so fun for some funny reason. We also started watching Scrappy - Toby's Dad - that night too and had him for about 10 days. After the initial first day of attempting to mark his territory, we all settled in and everything worked out fine. Other than when he escaped from our backyard and almost got hit by a car. That would've been devastating but like I said, everything turned out fine. Phew! 

  

Our annual Ward Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving was a real treat. Brynlee really wanted to do it with me so we started out with her bike. Well she really doesn't get much practice so she was pretty slow and then the chain came off the bike anyways. So we didn't go the whole way, plus I ended up carrying it home, we picked up the scooter instead and headed to the Bishops house.

Ty and I went with Grandma and Grandpa Brown to do sealings and it was hard. As children were being sealed to parents I had a feeling that was hard to describe. Maybe a little sad, longing, hope, and discouragement all at the same time. If we ever get our babies through surrogacy, we would have the opportunity to do this, to take them to the temple to be sealed to us for all eternity. It's hard. But the whisperings of the spirit told me we would get there. That gave me peace. 

They treated us to dinner in the temple at the cafeteria and I think they've converted us to Temple food. Great timing now that the Jordan River Temple is closing February 2016 for 18 months or something. 

One other thing that need not be forgotten was our trip to Urgent Care with Ty for stomach pains. 

It ended up being nothing but heartburn but not knowing what it was, plus having some other unexplainable symptoms really got us both a bit worried. We can laugh about it now but at the time it was quite serious. I love that man and it isn't fun around here when he doesn't feel well. So for the first time in our married lives, we have a prescription med in our cabinet that will probably be there until the end of our earthly existence. 

Just a sign that maybe, just maybe, our bodies are getting older. 

  

Thanksgiving this year.... 

Starting with the Turkey Trot, heading to Grandma and Grandpa Browns then ending at Mimi and Papa's for pie. 

My family and I have much to be thankful for this year. Our little family of 3 is such a precious gift from Heavenly Father and Ty and I don't go a day without thanking Him for our daughter and our marriage. We are truly blessed with the Gospel, our testimonies, the Atonement, our families, the comforts and temporal blessings have also been poured out upon us and we are truly grateful for all of these things. 

Over the long holiday weekend, a friend of ours came over and fixed our stair railing too. It's been crooked and wobbly since the first day we moved in and we are ever so grateful to have them fixed and looking so nice now.

Our last event of the month was our Annual Lawrence Adoption Exchange Sub-4-Santa.

We took on a little boy this year. 

My hope is that not only are we helping give someone something they can't do for themselves but that Brynlee sees and feels what Christmas and giving are really about. I want her to feel the joy that giving without expecting anything in return can bring. It's rewarding and hopefully one day she can look back on this tradition and say she learned something important and meaningful.