Grandparents

Growing up, I never really had grandparents. My Mom's dad died when she was 8, my Dad's mom died when he was 11, my Dad's dad died before I was born, and My Mom's mom died when I was about 2. Most of my Mom's family lives in Utah and she had a couple of Aunts that were kind of my "adopted grandparents", but it wasn't really the same. In grade school, they celebrated Grandparents Day on occasion and it just broke my heart. My mom let us sluff school that day so we didn't have to deal with Grandparents Day. Sad stuff.

The first official grandparent I've ever had was Jeff's Grandma, who is now in her 90's. She is one of the absolute sweetest ladies I have ever met and she has meant the world to me. I have been so blessed to be able to call her Grandma. She's in a nursing home right now to heal from a broken bone in her pelvis and hopefully she'll be home by Thanksgiving or Christmas. We saw her briefly last night and she is such a sweetheart. My boys just love and adore her and love to go to her house. We hope she makes a really quick recovery.

Here is a picture of Grandma taken this summer:



Due to my lack of grandparents growing up, I've threatened both my parents as well as Jeff's parents that they have to be around for a long, long time. If not, they'll be in serious trouble. I have been really blessed that both Nathan and Zach have been able to get to know their Grandparents. When Nathan was about 3, we nicknamed grandparents to keep them straight. Jeff's parents are now Disneyland Grandpa and Grandma (because right after Nathan turned 3 we went to Disneyland with them). My parents are Silly Grandma and Grandpa (I don't think they're too thrilled with the name) and Jeff's Grandma is Super Grandma. We've tried to change the names to things like Grandma Liz, but Nathan has been stubborn and hasn't wanted to change the names as of yet.

Anyhow, my boys just love their Grandparents and I've been so grateful that we live close by so they can spend time with them. Both Nathan and Zach get so excited to spend time with their grandparents. Nathan, on occasion, has asked me if he could stay at Grandma and Grandpa's without me. It may be because Grandma (especially Silly Grandma) tends to give them goodies and they could get more without Mom around. I love and adore my parents and I am so grateful for all that they do for me and my family. I also love and adore Jeff's parents and am so thrilled that I get to be a part of their lives.

I'm sure she'll love this, but here is Jeff's fun loving mom on her son's four-wheeler:



Here's a recent picture of my parents:



And here's a picture of Jeff's parents this summer at their daughter's wedding:

Nathan's prayers

Ok, so I know this isn't a very exciting blog, but it's something I want to remember.
As mentioned before, we try to always do prayers as part of our nightly routine for bedtime. Nathan will say his own prayer and, though we have blessed the food a few times at bedtime, he has put a lot of thought into his prayers. for the past 3-4 weeks, I have heard Nathan says in his prayers that "Please bless Jesus that he will come back to the Earth soon" or something along that line. We've talked about the Second Coming a few times before, but we haven't really talked about it recently. I asked Nathan's Primary teacher, and she said she doesn't think they've talked about it in their Primary class (he's only in Sunbeams). I've been in Sharing Time with him because I'm in Primary and I don't think it's been discussed there recently either. It just makes me wonder if he knows something I don't....

Zion's this summer

I was going through pictures from my camera and came across these from our family reunion this past summer at Zion's National Park:

(Jeff and Nathan hiking the Narrows)

(Nathan and Zach enjoying the Narrows)

(Zach loved the water coming off the rocks)

(The boys showing off their sticker books from Grandma)

Updated family picture

Ok, so there's the latest family picture:

And the whole family:

Blessings and Challenges

I've thought about this post for a while. I know I have been blessed in so many ways. I have a wonderful family, with cute adorable little boys and a wonderful husband. I've been blessed to have a roof over my head and food in my cupboards. I've been blessed to have the gospel in my life and have the knowledge of my Heavenly Father and Savior's love for me. There are times where I am amazed at how blessed I am.

I'm also dealing with some challenges right now. Trying to work while being a mom of too little boys has been a blessing and a challenge. I have an amazing situation where I get to work from home and usually set my own hours. I go into work just on Tuesdays (which are very, very long days), but other than that I'm home. I feel so blessed that I get to be home with my children and experience their youth and watch them grow. I get to be with them for all, but that one day a week. I think it's been a good experience for them, where they get to play with their best friend. I know I've got an amazing situation. However, it has been a challenge for me. Trying to juggle everything has been really hard. There are times where I get so jealous of the other young mom's who don't have to work. Who can sleep in, who don't have the same pressures, and don't have to juggle. Based on what's going on with work, there are times where I have worked into the early hours of the morning, or woken up very early to try to get a project done. However, I know I have an amazing situation and I truly have been blessed. I have to remind myself at times how lucky I am. Thankfully, I'm only working part-time (for the most part). I also know that there are so many people who are dealing with so many more challenges than I am. I also have an amazing job, with an amazing boss, and staff that are wonderful to work with my crazy schedule. With how crazy the economy has been, I'm grateful to have steady employment. I know the challenges that we do face are individualized and meant to develop in us the characters we need in order to live with our Heavenly Father again. However, there are some days that are just hard.

With all that said, I know that I truly have been blessed and I feel grateful for all that I have. My boys (Jeff, Nathan and Zach) are wonderful and I don't know how I deserve them. It's been a joy to spend my life with them.