A little like heaven...

Unfortunately, this was not today. Nope! Today, Everlit didn't want anything to do with a nap, and Joseph's nap was less than an hour! *sigh*

Maybe tomorrow will be more like this...

and if not, we'll survive. But it's so nice when they get good naps!!

Everyday a Birthday Kind of Day!

Yesterday was my birthday. I had such a great day.

It started with presents in the morning...

Everlit gave me some beautiful flowers.

Joseph gave me pictures to fill the empty frames on my walls.

Jopes gave me a new key for our car,

(our old one was so worn, it sometimes wouldn't turn! I got stranded at the store for at least a half hour, just trying to turn it, and in the end, Jopes had our neighbor bring him down to help me!)

and he got me a new vacuum!!

(our old one got melted last winter, so it doesn't work very well at all. But our new one works great!!)

I got 3 delicious birthday meals, and a yummy chocolate birthday cake!

Joseph helped me blow out my candles, and then he kept wanting to blow them out! Instead of eating his piece of cake, he blew on it, like he was blowing out an imaginary candle over and over! We might have to get him one of those "trick" candles for his birthday!

Now, what I wanted more than anything was to just spend time with my family, having fun. And I got that, too! The most fun, was playing in the snow before Jopes had to go to school.

Joseph's friend, Nora, has a little sled that they shared yesterday. They loved it!

Later that day, we got one for Joseph and he loves it-even in the house!

But the BEST part of my birthday, was realizing that besides the presents, my wonderful birthday day was not much different than any other day! Yes, I have frustrating days and moments, and my life is far from perfect. However, I get to be with my family every day, and that makes it perfect to me. I am so grateful for my many blessings, and I'm grateful to my Heavenly Father for helping me to see so many of them.

Thanks for all your birthday wishes, everyone!

Thankful for Family

I just want to say how thankful I am for my family. I was born to amazing parents. I have wonderful siblings and those who are married have married wonderful people. I have extremely cute nieces and nephews. I have terrific in-laws. But best of all, I have my own family, and I love them with all my heart.

Joseph {Jopes} is my #1 best friend. He makes me smile every day, if not laugh ridiculously. He's handsome, intelligent, and very athletically talented. He's an honest and righteous man, and I can always look to him for anything. He is a spectacular father, and an even better husband.

Our Joseph is so much fun. He is so smart, too! He knows how to do things that we would never expect him to be able to figure out at his young age. He has the best laughs and smiles. His "cheese" is great. He is a loving big brother. He is small for his age, yet such a little man at heart and in attitude.

Everlit is beautiful. She has a smile that just lights up your heart. She loves to be held and loves to be talked to. She handles her brother's "playfulness" so well. Sometimes, we're even sure that she's looking around for him. She's got strong legs and a strong grip. She is ticklish. And she is so pretty.

I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such great, loving family.

Halloween 2010

Our ward did a trunk-or-treat, which was really more of a chair-or-treat. Our ward doesn't have many kids, and the ones we do have, are pretty young. So, we had our trunk-or-treat indoors. The candy passer-outers sat in a circle of chairs, and the kids just went around to get their candy. It was pretty easy, which was nice since the kids were so little. :)

Joseph has been watching Tarzan a lot, so when my sister, Lora, offered to send up her elephant costume, we decided to be Tarzan (Jopes), Jane (Elizabeth), Tantar (Joseph), and Turk (Everlit). Thanks, Lora and Mama! We were not the most impressive versions of each, but we did our best. ;)

My little sister joined us at our ward party and took a couple pictures for us, but she either didn't notice that they were blurry, or didn't feel the need to mention it to us. Lesson learned-always check family pictures taken by someone else. :D

This is the best one we have:

Jane, Tantar, Tarzan and Turk

Aunt Anna and Joseph

Joseph and his cute black cat friend, Nora.

Tired little Tantar.