Way past due! Sorry Miss Boo...

 My beautiful, brown eyed girl turned nine in April.  Yes, it was a long time ago, but she deserves a spotlight this year.

Amazing. Talented. Funny. Strong willed. Creative. Smart. Loving. Kind. Beautiful.

 She wanted a sculpting, face painting party.  Nothing fancy, but it made her happy.  No special cake… just chocolate… and her friends.

She felt very loved and special on her day.  We love her so much and are blessed to have her as our daughter.

Our Miss Boo!

Am I ready?

YES!

Thank you for asking.

I am ready for Christmas.

I do understand that we have not celebrated Thanksgiving and don't get me wrong, I love that Holiday and having friends over to cook and eat with.  I love being grateful, but I feel a longing for Christmas.

A year ago we were in Mississippi.  Shhhhhh, don't say that aloud.

We have almost recovered from that experience.

Apparently I wasn't supposed to post the rest of this because it disappeared on me.  Time to change the whine fest I was having.

We have really enjoyed being home.  We took our children to the "real" Circus, which was a spectacular event.  Just watching our children's faces was amazing.  Wow!

I am grateful for my children and their absolute joy that gives me so much joy.

It was a wonderful evening.  Thanks to Mr. Finn for letting me pick the event.  It was delightful.  As you can see, he was having a great time too.

Surprise Gratitude

I see everyone on Facebook posting about what they are grateful for.  I am very grateful for many things in my life, but can't seem to join the ranks.  I feel very selfish about sharing it... I want it for myself.

In our world, where we are struggling with health issues, death and other issues, I feel the need to keep everything inward.  But while in the temple today I ran into a woman from our ward.  Actually, I could hear her voice while I was doing temple work and I got so excited that she was there.  Does it ever surprise when you realize you have stronger feelings for someone than you thought?  I have always adored her, but I realized I love her, that I think of here as someone very special in my life and I could imagine seeing her in the next life and be so happy for that to happen.  She saw me and I saw the same look on her face... I love how we are blessed with special people in our lives.  How Heavenly Father puts them there for us to enjoy and to be blessed by and to bless by knowing them.

I AM GRATEFUL FOR FRIENDS.

I have a lot of friends and some of them I find myself smiling when I hear their voice on the phone.  You know those smiles... the cheesy, ear to ear ones.  I like seeing that in the mirror and grateful that I recognize the joy I have been blessed with.

I also consider this cat a friend.  She is a menace, but we love her.  She brings us great joy, even when she is being naughty.