Giving Thanks

Since it is Thanksgiving, I thought I would list just a few of the things that I am grateful for.

• my family--my great husband and our little mischeivious boy
• that I have a knowledge of the reality of my Savior and Heavenly Father
• cleaning up after a little boy all the time
• when hard work pays off
• that we survived the blizzard of 2010 (haha)
• cars, electricity--all the things that those poor pioneers lived without--I know I would have never survived a winter without these things
• the wonderful family that grew up in and the wonderful ones that I married into
• Christmas and seeing peoples' faces light up when you give them their gifts
• my talents
• good friends that still hang out even when they have kids and life slows/speeds up a little for them
• black friday deals--mostly I think it is fun to see Gary get so excited about them
• Gary's contagious smile--(his Grandpa Schaugaard has it too!)
• the funny things that Tucker does that Gary and I can't seem to stop talking about
• that when Gary and I are trying to go to sleep at night we think, "Let's go get Tucker up and play with him!" because we just can't get enough of him
• honest people
• uplifting entertainment
• music
• our home
• being a mom and being able to be a stay-at-home one
• summer time--when you don't have to wear 50 layers of clothes to be at a decent temperature
• my new sewing machine
• thoughtful people
• my computer
• my camera
• Paypal
• when Tucker snuggles and lays his head on my shoulder
• moments when you start laughing so hard that your stomach gets a workout
• that I get to watch cable at the gym and that it is literally 2 minutes away from our house
• when you can't think of too many things you want because you are so happy with what you have
• my ancestors and their lives that ultimately affected my own

Oh...I feel so grateful and I couldn't possibly list everything. I hope to remember to be grateful everyday!

Doodlepaws Extraordinaire!

Tucker (Doodlepaws Extraordinaire) has been such a good boy today. So much in fact that I thought that it was worthy of a blog post. 

I have been babysitting a little boy that is 9 months old on Mondays. At first Tucker was a little jealous because Owen likes to be held a lot. Today, he ran and got Owen's bottle when Owen was crying. He shared his toys with Owen and even tried to feed Owen some licorice. He helped me when my hands were full, by throwing stuff in the garbage for me. He wiped up his milk that he spilled on the floor. He was even helping me put the laundry in the laundry basket.

Then, as if he hadn't shined enough to earn a gold star already, tonight he did something that we didn't expect, HE ATE HIS DINNER! We had Fettucini Alfredo with chicken and broccoli. I don't know what it was. We try to feed him what we eat for dinner every night! I was very pleased with him today!

Thankful Wall

I just wanted to post about our Thankful Wall. 

I did a post about it on the This & That Creative Blog found HERE, but thought it would be fun to post on our family blog as well. I am actually super surprised that it has gotten so much attention in the crafting blogosphere!  A special thanks to:

• Dot To Dot This, who featured it on their blog HERE. 
• Tip Junkie, who featured it as a Thanksgiving project HERE. There are tons of other great ideas on her post, so check it out! 
• U-create, who posted about it HERE.
• Tatertots and Jello, who wrote about it on their facebook page HERE. 
• Pirates-n-Princesses, who posted about it on their facebook page HERE.
• And my awesome cousins, the Brockbanks. I think they are the actual ones that got this Thankful Wall started years and years ago and spread the tradition to my family!!!

Here's the post:

Since I was a little girl, we have had a tradition in my family to have a "Thankful Wall" during Thanksgiving. This is this year's version that I created!

Usually the Thankful Wall consists of a large sheet from a big roll of poster paper stapled to the wall.

We leave it up from the beginning of November throughout the Thanksgiving holiday and we all get to write down the things that we can think of that we are thankful for. It has been such a fun tradition, and I look forward to the Thankful Wall every year. I even had one with my roommates when I was single and in college. It's especially fun to have if you are the one hosting Thanksgiving Dinner so that all the guests can write down what they are thankful for. It definitely helps keep the meaning of Thanksgiving on your mind.

This year, I had decided to put a little more into our Thankful Wall. I have had this huge frame that I got at a thrift store for like $2 that has been hanging around my house.

It's an odd size, so I haven't been able to find any canvases to paint or prints to put in it. So I decided to do the DIY chalkboard from our earlier post by Kristin, found HERE, and make a Thankful Wall that we can use year after year.

I spray painted the frame white, used some chalkboard paint on a masonite board we cut for the inside (and by saying "we" I mean my amazing husband), and I cut out some white vinyl on my cricut for the "I am thankful for" part. I found some perfect little cornucopia shaped baskets that I added some ribbons to and nailed them to the frame to use to hold the chalk too!

I let my little boy write what he was thankful for on there too, because he was just begging to use the chalk on the chalkboard when I put it up. I think I see a tree in there somewhere...it's fun to interpret.

Some of you may notice the "bloating" listed as what someone was thankful for in the last picture. I had originally wrote boating, but my husband came home and asked me why I wrote bloating down on the Thankful Wall. Obviously he just didn't see it right, but after noticing that, he decided to put an "l" in there anyway, and I just left it there. It seems like every year there is a little joke with the Thankful Wall. It's part of the fun!

Some great ideas for variations that viewers have given me are:

• use a framed dry-erase board
• if you have the glass for your frame, you can leave it in there and use dry-erase markers, and even do a cute background behind your glass
• leave the board up all year long, with or without the vinyl

So now you know how to start your own Thankful Wall, if you haven't already! It will be a tradition you look forward to every year that helps keep the meaning of Thanksgiving alive.

***Since I posted this, my husband has added "Power Tools" to the Thankful Wall. I just had to write next to it, "...and that I benefit from the power tools too!" because he is always busy helping me with some new crafty project that requires power tools. So I've also added, "my husband" to the wall. I couldn't have asked for a better one! Oh the list keeps getting bigger and bigger. There are just so many things to be thankful for!

What are you thankful for?

Linked up with:

Today's Creative Blog

C.R.A.F.T.

Be Colorful

Blue Cricket Design

Fun Halloween Things

So, I'm not really a fan of the haunted houses, and the creepy eerie stuff of Halloween, but I am a fan of all the dressing up, pumpkin carving, candy, and trunk or treating!

Our ward threw a Halloween party where we made our debuts as Lady Gaga, Joe Dirt, and a cute little cow. 

At one point during the party, we were wondering where Tucker had ran off to. We finally found him with a cookie in each hand! Looks like those cookies were a little close to the edge!

Tucker and Sophie the Duck kept playing with the strings that were hung for the donut eating contest. I think they thought they might suddenly pull down a balloon or something.

The donut eating contest :)

A happy cow!

Tucker the Cow drinking some root beer from his trough

Daddy and Tuck just hanging out at the party. We finally just put some root beer in Tucker's sippy cup.

Gary getting ready to chug some root beer in a contest

So we decided to let tucker try on Gary's wig. We were seriously cracking up! He looked just like the little Joe Dirt in the movie that got lost at the Grand Canyon. "That's why Mom named you Joe Dirt!" Bahaha! I think he liked his cow costume a little better though.

Brad and Lauren as Salt and Pepper

Later, the next day, we carved a pumpkin that we got from Grandma and Grandpa Haroldsen!

Then we got dressed up all over again to go Trunk or Treating with our friends, Trish, Kody, and Lily. This time Tucker was a cute little chicken. Before we left, Grandma and Grandpa Bolin stopped by to see us all in our costumes!

I just had to show some pics of my Lady Gaga costume. I totally made it all homemade style, the clear origami shapes that I super glued together and everything, to try to look be kind of like this one, but more modest: 

Here's Lily and Tucker showing off their cute costumes!

After Trunk or Treating, we invited Trish, Kody, and Lily, as well as Gina & Darrell, over to our house to hang out, eat pizza, and watched a movie. 

Here's Tucker and Lily  just hanging out on their little chairs. Oh boy...how did I not notice that Tucker had the fly swatter again?!

Here they are playing around in the pack-n-play. I made a fort for them, and they were having a blast!

Well, we are already looking forward to dressing up next year! With good friends, pumpkins, candy, costumes, and more, how could we have been disappointed? We had a blast!

Birrell Reunion

We went up North the 15th, 16th, and 17th to go to the Birrell Reunion. We had a blast! 

The first day we all helped build up some raised garden beds at Grandma and Grandpa Birrell's house. Grandpa Birrell has Lou Gehrig's Disease and wanted to still be able to garden, so this was a great solution. It was a lot of hard work, but I will admit that I actually enjoyed it. I kind of let go of my gym workout streak, and shoveling dirt and working hard made me feel like I got a little workout in :)

Grandpa Birrell proudly wearing an Alabama shirt!

Grandma Birrell in the shade. It was surprisingly warm outside (which I didn't mind at all!).

Lisa, Me, and Jenn hanging out at the dirt pile.

Hmm...let's see if I can list everyone in this picture. I see Gary, Chad, Kailey, Jamie, Grandpa Schaugaard, Christopher, and Korbin all helping out.

Lisa, Grandpa Schaugaard, and Gary shoveling away.

John, Jer, and Christopher working hard.

Briawna watching Lucas hang out on the dirt pile.

Krissinie giving us a thumbs-up!

Kaitlin showing us how to do a cartwheel. I think she is mid-air in this shot!

Tate and Briawna pushing Tucker on the swing. 

They were Tucker's buddies the whole time (but his aunts were too)!

After that we went to a park that Gary used to go to when he was a little boy to get our family pictures taken. After the pictures, all the kids got to play on the playground, including Gary (hehe). 

Just cousins having some fun!

Austin, Amber, and Krissinie

Tucker going through the tunnel to get Daddy!

Whoa! Tucker getting some speed on the slide!

Two kids having fun in the tunnel

Hey! There's a friend in this tunnel!

Then we went to a big huge garage set up (Gary was eyeing it the whole time--he would love a big huge garage) and had a pizza party and movie night on the projector. Tucker kept getting fed candy from everyone who didn't know that he had already had some. Hello Mr. Sugar Rush! 

The next day we all relaxed a little and enjoyed everyone's company, then got to go to Toy Story 3, which I must say is such a good movie! 

Sunday we got to go to church with Grandma and Grandpa Birrell, hang out and enjoy the company and eat some great food. Then we spent just a little time at Grandma and Grandpa Haroldsen's and had to go home.

It was a great weekend of delicious food, great company, and a lot of fun! 

These next pictures are from a previous visit in August to Grandma and Grandpa Birrell's.

Tucker was getting blown in the face by Grandpa's oxygen thing. He thought it was pretty cool!

Tucker teasing Grandma Birrell with the car they let him play with.

Tucker playing with the cool truck they have at their house

Here's kind of a cute story from this visit. Tucker hadn't taken a nap, so he was a little grumpy. He fell and bonked his head and was crying. Grandma and Grandpa had cookies at their house and Tucker got one after he got an "owie", so he started faking that he was getting "owies" so he could get a cookie. Oh boy. That boy loves his cookies!

Monticello 2010

It has taken me far too long to get this post up, but it's finally here! 

I love Monticello. When we go there each year, it means that fall is really here! We always have so much fun hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Schaugaard at their house and up in the mountains! I think Monticello is just beautiful in the fall :)

Look at all these dear just chillin' in the field behind the temple.

Tucker and Gary just having a little fun at the temple grounds!

We stopped to play at a park while we were taking a walk. Tucker is such an adventurous little guy on the playground. He wants to climb on everything!

Looks like Gary and Tucker got some speed going down that slide!

He climbed all the way to the top of this little yellow ladder thing! Gary was right by to catch him if he fell.

Petting some horses on the walk

I love this one of Tucker running through the leaves!

We took a drive up the mountains with Grandma and Grandpa to have lunch and help set up the tent for hunting.

Tucker is a good little helper!

Gary was hammering the stakes down, so Tucker pretended to hammer some on his own.

Once the tent was set up, Tucker thought it was the coolest thing ever!

Here is a dear that I saw when walking down a trail.

My favorite hunter. 

We had a blast and can't wait to go visit again!