Thankful Day #30: My Side

I wanted to save my side of the family for last. The Chapman side of the family is a completely different dynamic than the Wright side, but I wouldn't have it any other way. First of all, I just need to say how much I MISS my family. Up until a few months ago when my brother Scott got married, I have been the only one living away and everyone else was within an hour of each other. Now, Scott's family lives in NV and he is hoping to find work there really soon, but they are at least within driving distance! It is seriously killing me being away from them. Especially since I have a new and ADORABLE niece, 2 prego sister in laws (both their first babies... I am extremely sad I am missing this!), and a new sister-in-law, along with her 4 kiddo's that visits often and I am missing out on getting to know them better. Not to mention all my nieces and nephews that I haven't been able to get to know. I am particularly sad about not being able to see the nieces and nephews grow up when I was able to be there during their younger years. Every time I see them and how big they have gotten, it makes me SO SAD.

Anyway, I'm so lucky to have 4 older brother's who all looked out for me, teased me, counseled me, etc. I know I could always, and still can, count on each of them with anything I need. I am so lucky that way. They all married amazing women whom I love sooo dearly. When I was 8, my mom married a wonderful man who had 4 kids of his own. The oldest, Randy, actually passed away before they got married. I am so excited for the opportunity I will have to get to know him after I pass. He and I will be total buds, I just know it! Anyway, this marriage brought along 2 more step-brothers and a step-sister. I can honestly say that I love and care for these step-siblings just as much as I do my biological siblings. The word "step" in my stepfamily simply just doesn't apply for me. They are family! Again, I feel so blessed for that!

Awesome picture taken by Michelle. This was less than a month before my mom passed and it has everyone that was in our family at the time (minus Heather, who passed away). We had no idea it would be our last with mom.

Scott and Shannon

One thing Nate and I have started to do when we visit California is try to get individual time with the sibs and their families and it has been awesome every time! I have so much fun with each of them. Anyway, I love and seriously MISS each member of my Chapman/King clan.

Onto parents...

My mom. She was and is amazing. I miss her dearly. She taught me humility, patience, love, understanding, the importance of the gospel, and you know, all that good stuff. I think about her several times a day. Sometimes I am okay with her being gone. Other times I just think it's unfair. You know, the usual. And sometimes when I imagine her still being alive, I imagine her walking, playing with my girls, and being the grandma she always was inside. I can't wait to see her again (but I also sort of can wait) :).

Another pic by Michelle.

My dad. I have an awesome dad. He is one of the most generous men I have ever met. He really knows how to take care of his "little girl". I can go to him with just about anything I need and he makes sure that I am taken care of above and beyond what is necessary. He is a great example of hard work. He is a faithful friend. He has taken me on some seriously sweet vacations. It makes my day every time he calls me "just to say hi". And it makes me so happy when I see him happy. And every time I am around him, I am convinced even more of how much he loves me. I am so, SOO blessed to have him as my dad. I love, admire, and respect him for so much!

And then Rik. He has been a second father to me. He took care of my mom up until the day she died and he did it without complaint. Any time I was struggling with something, he would take me for a burger to help me work through it. If my mom and I were arguing or something, he would again take me out to eat and let me know I needed to be easy on her and how much she loves me, etc. He is the greatest example of service that I know and I was so blessed to live with him to witness that day in and day out. And even though my mom is gone, he is still very much a huge part of my life. Just like my dad, I love, admire, and respect him for so much!

I miss my family. I love them. I seriously cannot wait until I get to see all of them again!

Between my family and Nate's, I have completely hit the jackpot.

I am also so grateful and happy I did this grateful November blog. Even if I was late on more than half the days, It has helped me to remember only a few of the things I was grateful for and why. It has helped me to remember my many, many blessings on the days that I wasn't feeling so grateful. Anyway, I am one happy, lucky, and extremely blessed girl!

Thankful Day # 29: Nate's Side

I truly think I married into one of the BEST families in the world. Seriously. I hear so many people complaing about their spouse's side of the family and their inlaws and such. And every time one of these conversations occur, I have NOTHING to contribute! I can't even say anything like "Oh yeah, I hate that." or "Oh, I know what mean!". In fact, I usually feel the need to declare how sorry I am for them and how awesome the Wright family is and just how much fun we all have together. It's so true. I love each and every one of Nate's siblings and their spouse's (if they have one). Right now we are all spread out but I have been fortunate enough to spend a good amount of quality time with each couple or individual at some point in our marriage where we were able to build individual relationships. I. Love. Each. And. Every. One. Of. Them! One thing that makes me so sad thought is because we are all so far apart, I haven't been able to get to know a lot of my nieces and nephews and my sweet daughter's haven't been able to get to know the Wright Family very much (mostly aunts, uncles, and cousins).

Nice family photo in Kauai.

During our Secret Falls visit.

To top off my awesome siblings-in-law, I have an amazing Father-in-law and Mother-in-law! I cannot express that enough. They are total opposites, but so perfect for each other. They have always treated me so wonderfully and I have always felt so loved by them. Jerry was my bishop when I was entering into high school and he always made me feel so loved, even then! So he has had a place in my heart since the day I met him! And Pat was the same way! She even comes to my aid whenever I have a child since my mom wasn't/isn't able to and she was SOO helpful in all the right ways and whenever she would leave I just wanted her to stay for a little while longer! They have I think 17 grandchildren with 2 more on the way, and they treat every one of them as if they were their only grandchild. Every month the girls get an awesome package from Gr. and Gr. Wright that tells them in some cute way that they are thinking of them and that they love them. Here are a few examples:

A bag of Skittles that went along with this poem:

Hey you sweet little kiddles...

We thought you'd like some skiddles.

...And if they're feeling sad,

Share some with your Mom + Dad.

From Grandma + Grandpa Wright,

Think of us with every bite.

We really miss all of you,

and that, of course, is true!

Another time they sent Lyla the book (Ruby wasn't born yet), Flat Stanley. Along with the book, they also sent Flats of themselves! Lyla was to take Flat Grandma and Grandpa all over with her and take pictures. Each family got a Flat Grandma and Grandpa and I think in end, Grandma put together a book of their Flat adventures. So fun, huh?

Anyway, these monthly packages range from a stick of gum to books and every time, regardless of what is inside the package, the girls are so excited that their grandparents sent them something, were thinking about them, and expressed their love for them. I am so grateful that they are so mindful of my kids and work so hard to let them know that they love them. We are a very blessed family!

I love this picture of them!

Another thing about this family that I am personally grateful for is the parenting. I look up to Pat and Jerry, and each of Nate's married siblings in their roles as parents. They all do such a great job of showing their kids how wonderful they are and building them up and helping them grow in such a positive environment. Nate and I do our best to model our parenting after what we have been able to observe by all of them (and my siblings as well). I am so lucky and blessed to be a Wright!

Thankful Days 23-28

Sorry for the thankful blogging hiatus. Nate was home early on Tuesday and was off for the rest of the week so the girls and I were busy soaking up every moment with him possible!! Gosh, I love family time! Anyway, here goes the catch up!

Thankful Day #23: All Recipes

I love this site. It is my go-to site for recipes and most every recipes has turned out so good! Thanks all recipes for making our tummies oh, so happy!

Thankful Day #24: Thanksgiving

This year was my first year hosting Thanksgiving and I was SOO thankful that we pulled it off without a hitch (probably because I was NOT in charge of the turkey)! OK, well dinner was actually ready 45 minutes later than we hoped, but it was all so yummy! Everyone brought delicious food that I had been craving all week. Kevin smoked a turkey and had smoked gravy that went along with it. The turkey, along with the mashed potatoes, was my absolute favorite part of the entire spread. I seriously could have eaten it all but my friends probably would have been pretty grossed out :)

Here's the gang, minus all the kiddo's.

A very poor picture of the spread/kitchen setup.

My pretty stuffing from Allrecipes. To be honest, I think I put WAY too many craisins in it!

The tots were all so good while they happily ate their popcorn while watching Snow White.

We also busted out the ping-pong table. Tyrus was the champion of the night... and all the other nights :)

Me, Ruby, and my good friend Haley.

We had such an awesome Thanksgiving! Thanks to all of those who joined us and made it spectacular!

Thankful Day #25: My Dedicated Husband

One thing I made clear to Nate several weeks ago was that I wanted him to put Christmas lights up the day after Thanksgiving and he happily agreed. What he, and I, didn't realize was how terrifying the process was going to be.

Our house has a lower roof, and an upper roof and both of them are pretty steep. To make it even more nerve-wracking, it was super slick! Every time Nate made a move, the grit on the roof would come off and run down the sides. This made Nate a wee bit nervous.

Nate, laying on the roof to ensure his safety. He was not very happy with me taking pictures of him while he was trying not to slide off the roof but I had to preserve the memory :)

If we thought the lower roof would be difficult and scary, the upper roof was 10x worse! We borrowed our friends 15 foot ladder that just barely reached the bottom of the top roof. I held the ladder for Nate while he climbed up it and when he got to the top he was shaking. I realized then just how high and dangerous it was and told him he didn't have to do it and it wouldn't be worth it if he fell off. But he went ahead with it anyway because he knew I wanted the lights up. This man spoils me! I felt okay since I knew he was going very slowly and was mindful of all his movements.

My studly husband finishing up the upper roof...

Anyway, I found out later that day that several people have actually died trying to put up their Christmas lights and falling off the roof. After I heard this I really felt like the worlds worst wife and that I have the worlds best husband. We may just keep these lights up for the remainder of our stay here in Durham, haha! Thanks babe for risking your life on the super steep and slick roof, just to make me so happy! You're amazing!

Thankful Day #26: Christmas Decorations

I started to decorate while Nate was doing lights, but when we realized how dangerous it was, I stayed outside and saved the decorating until the next day. I was SOO excited to decorate because we bout a bunch of awesome decorations last year after Christmas at Sears that were on sale. Anyway, here are a few pics...

The train around our tree...

Our Christmas village...

Most of the inside setup...

We finished our decorating and cleaned everything up. We had friends over and had a fabulous time. After everyone left, Nate went to return a redbox and came home with pizza. We turned the lights off and all the Christmas decorations were lit up and our little family watched Elf while eating our pizza. It was complete bliss. I love the feelings of Christmas, especially with my little family and I love my family more than anything!

Thankful Day #27: Evey

My girls LOVE dogs, especially Lyla. Every week day we take our friends puppy, Evey, out to go potty while her owners are at school and work. This has been really great for my girls to get some interactions with dogs since we fully intend to get one in the future. We've been doing this for the past month and my girls have sort of developed a bond with this pup. Anyway, our friends were leaving town this past weekend and asked if we would be able to watch Evey while they were gone and we happily accepted!

We seriously had such a great time! There were a few hiccups here and there, but nothing that the 4 of us couldn't handle. Ruby has learned how to defend her face when Evey attacks her with slobbery kisses. Lyla has felt so comfortable wrestling around with "Evey Girl" and has had a blast playing with her. Evey was also very protective of the girls. When we put them to bed the first night, she sat at the top of the stairs as their "watch dog". And when we sent Lyla to timeout, Evey went and sat dutifully next to her the entire time. Lyla LOVED that!

Anyway, this has been the perfect way for us to get our "dog fix" while we aren't able to care for one ourselves at this point in our lives. And Lyla wasn't even upset when she went home because she knew we see Evey all the time. Perfect setup if you ask me!

Evey was sooo patient with Lyla!

Lyla loves this pup!

Thankful Day #28: Family Time

I just have to say how much I LOOOOOVED having Nate home for such a long time. It was all about family and the girls and I ate up every moment! Complete, Christmasy bliss! Nate seriously is the greatest father and husband and he is the calm to our emotional storms! Now, he only has 2 more weeks of crazy, I mean class, and then finals. After that he gets an entire month off!!! Oh, I can't wait!

Thankful Day #22: When Daddy Comes Home

Today was sort of a meltdown day. It started off when Nate left for school this morning, Lyla started screaming and crying. I quickly ran downstairs and she was staring out the door window just crying and crying. Here was our conversation:

Me: Lyla are you ok? What happened? (The sobs continue and so I crouch down next to her and give her a hug) Oh, are you sad that dad left?

Lyla: Still sobbing, she nods her head.

Me: Oh sweetie, It's ok. He is just going to school. He'll be back later. (She continues the crying). Do you want me to call dad so you can talk to him?

Ly: No! I don't like him!!!

Me: What? That's not true, you love daddy.

Ly: I just want him hooome! Sobs continue...

I tell her it's going to be alright and that he was getting home early tonight and we were going to have 5 days with him all to ourselves, etc. This seems to stop her crying almost completely but she was still pretty emotional. So I walk into the kitchen and call Nate as he was still on his way to school and tell him what happened. So he asked to talk to her and I put the phone on speaker next to Lyla so he could talk to her and I could translate since I was pretty sure she wouldn't say anything.

You know when you're feeling really emotional and upset about something and when you see or hear that person, it takes everything within you to keep your tears from gushing out? Well, that's exactly how it was for Lyla. As soon as Nate started talking to her and trying to reassure her that everything was going to be ok, she was just silent and was working sooo hard to keep from losing it, occasionally letting out the high pitched little whimper. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen!

And then the emotions somehow transferred to me later in the day. Lyla ended up being in a great mood, thankfully. But I think it was a combo of different things going on for me... worries, children (and dogs) not listening to me, never ending cleaning, and some other things. So when I called Nate to see when he was coming home, it was me who was trying to hold it together and not unleash the waterworks.

And somehow, when Nate got home, everything was better for all of us. We all went to Chik-Fil-A for dinner and then went shopping for our Thanksgiving Extravaganza (I LOVE grocery shopping with my whole family!). The best part of our night (besides being together) was Lyla. The store we shop at has double seater, race car shopping carts where two kids can sit in the cart that looks like a car and they have little drivers wheels. The girls LOVE these carts and it makes shopping with them bearable and even fun! But when we went to get the car cart, Lyla saw something even better–a mini shopping cart with a huge obnoxious flag that says "Customer in Training"– and her eyes just lit up!! So the whole time, she dutifully carted along right by my side with such a proud look on her face! She wouldn't let anyone else push her cart and she wanted that thing filled to the brim! And then when it came to check out, she hand delivered every item in her cart, one-by-one, to the cashier. It was sooo cute and the cashier was very patient and encouraging. Hopefully next time she'll figure out the concept of moving out of people's way, not running into shelves, not running at all, etc.

Thanks Nate, for being so patient with your emotional girls. We LOOOVE you!

Thankful Day #20 & 21

Thankful Day #20: Relief Society

Because I don't know of any other organization that takes care of its members the way the Relief Society does. I've seen it's power throughout my life growing up with all these amazing women helping my mom AND my family every single day. I've seen it play out in my own life after I moved out of the house through visiting teaching, my Relief Society president, and others. I've served in Relief Society presidencies and just felt a unexpected amount of love for each of the sisters, even if I didn't know them. I couldn't explain it except that I truly felt Christ's love for them. The Relief Society organization is so inspired and a blessing in mine, and many others lives. I love the Relief Society!!

Thankful Day # 21: Hot showers

I loooove a nice, hot shower! Nate thinks my showers are scalding, but I think they are perfect. And I feel so good after I have showered. If I skip a day of showering I just feel gross, unmotivated, and tired. A nice, hot shower makes my days soo much better! :) Shower, shower, shower!

PS: Baths are pretty amazing as well, but I always take a nice hot shower when I am done with my bath!

Thankful Day #18 & 19

Thankful Day #18: Modern Medicine

Because let's be honest, a lot of us wouldn't be here if it weren't for that. Here are a few things I am thinking of:

• Epidural: I am convinced that the epidural keeps me wanting to have kids.
• All medications, chemotherapies, etc. that help us fight for our lives against horrible diseases.
• Medicines for headaches and migraines!
• If we were born way back when, my sweet Lyla would not have been able to walk due to her clubbed feet.
• Muscle relaxers that have helped my hubs back when he has problems with it and the really strong doses of them that made my mom's life livable.
• Ultrasounds, xrays, ct scans, mri's, etc.

I just feel so blessed to be a part of this generation where we have so much knowledge, medicine, doctors, hospitals, etc. that help us to survive and live long and healthy lives!

Thankful Day #19: Technology

Computers, the internet, digital camera's where you can see if you actually like your picture, cars, radio, i-pods, photoshop. The list goes ooooooooonnnnnnnn!!

Thankful Day #17: My Lyla Girl

I am sooooooo thankful for my Lyla girl. In a few weeks she will turn 3 and I just can't believe it! I already feel like she is a little girl now and not a toddler! Whaaa????

This little girl one of the lights of my life and here is why...

• She has THE best facial expressions I have ever seen! I have several pictures of them that are just priceless and make me laugh every time I see them.
• She has the cutest belly laugh I have ever heard! And so does Ruby.
• I love watching her with Ruby. She loves her sister and to hug and squeeze her! And she is getting much better at sharing with her.
• Her eyes completely light up every time Nate and I sit down to play with her, but she sometimes will try to hide her excitement as if trying not to lose her cool :)
• She is a great eater.
• She's an even better sleeper! Last night I put her down to bed early as a punishment at 6:30. She woke up with some tummy aches a few times later in the evening so we made a bed for her on our floor. Then she slept until 7:30 and waited so patiently until 8:15ish for Nate and I to finally get out of bed and make breakfast. Heavenly Father blessed me with ANGEL sleepers!
• Lately she has become a really big cuddle bug. I think Ruby sparked some competition in her!
• Whenever Nate gets home, she just starts laughing uncontrollably as soon as she see's or hears him because she knows he's going to come tickler her.
• She is suuuper dramatic and loves to pretend. She is going to be an actress one day, I just know it!
• She's super smart. I love listening to and watching her learn and remember things.
• Any time she see's a picture of a beautiful, blonde model she says "Look! It's my mom!" Thanks for the confidence boost Ly!
• She is starting to actually want to be just like me. This really helps me to shape up. But it's usually looks she wants to imitate. She'll often ask me to do her hair like mine. So we'll blow dry and straighten it occasionally. One day I did my hair like hers and her eyes just lit up when she noticed! And then the other day I was wearing a hat and she wanted to wear one just like me. I know this won't last forever so I am eating it up while I can!
• We are best buds!
• And there is more but I'll spare you the rest...

She does have days when she is very tantrumy or she doesn't listen very well, but they are always usually when she is super tired, hungry, or genuinely upset. And I know that post I did a few days ago about our doctors office visit sounds horrific. And it was. It was absolutely horrifying for everyone involved. But in the end, I can't blame the girl one bit! She has had several traumatic doctor visits that completely merit her response and protectiveness over Ruby.

In the end though, the day I had Lyla was the day that the BEST change in my life occurred. I became a mom. My heart expanded beyond what I thought was possible. She was and is my mini-me! I grew a protectiveness in me that I never knew existed. Seeing her having to go through treatments for her clubfoot was so sad, but I was so grateful that I just felt peaceful through it all. I honestly feel that Heavenly Father put her in my life to help me grow in all the ways he needed me to. I love my sweet Lyla!

Where's Lyla?

I posted several of these pics on Facebook but we had so much fun taking these pictures! Here are some of my favorites....

Crazy Face

Sad face

Laughing at our previous sad face

Love you Ly, and I am THANKFUL for you!!