Mr. Darcy

Thankful For

Siblings!

 I really like having 3 brothers.

I like that they are always willing to listen and always give me something to smile about!

 Joel, we love you, but even now as a grown man, you ruin family pictures on purpose :)

(I zoomed in on Joel in this picture. It was a picture of the entire family, and Joel....and now it's just Joel.)

 Josh, you are old and wise.

You live in Texas and we like your wife Stephanie.

We also like that she likes you :)

 Jamison,

You are always looking for opportunities to show off how amazingly good looking you are.

I am sure women everywhere are thankful.

In all seriousness. I love my brothers and I am thankful for them.

Fellin' Nice?

I just read THIS study about how the aroma of freshly baked bread can actually make people feel better and act nicer.

It came as little surprise to me. Nothing smells better than bread baking in the oven!

I have a whole board on pinterest dedicated to BREAD.

Theses are some of my favorites:

This Whole Grain Basil Bread from The Diva Dish.

 It's totally delicious with lots of butter and honey.

I have decided that muffins fall into the "bread" category as well.

My kids love mini muffins. I like to bake large batches and freeze them for breakfast and lunch snacks.

This recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins looks like something the little people in my house will love. I haven't made them yet, but I did buy several bunches of bananas this morning in the hopes of making them soon.

 And this Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread is my favorite banana bread recipe ever.

Whenever Ty works late nights I like to bake bread for the kids and I to eat for dinner.

Last week we had a loaf of pumpkin bread and I have a big loaf of crusty bread rising for dinner tonight. Fresh baked bread is fun and turns a meal into something special.

And now it can make you and everyone around you nicer! Win-Win-Win.

Go bake some bread and get happy :)

Thankful for...

Ty!

I am thankful for a hardworking husband who does his best to make our lives wonderfully rich and happy :)

Time Change Sunday

1. I am out of butter.....until tomorrow.

2. I am thankful for the extra hour today.

3. Zackary loves pancakes more than any other food. Yesterday I was browning the last of the butter for a recipe and Zack said, " I smell pancakes!" 

4. I am weaning Zoey. If you have ever exclusively breastfed a baby for 11 months you know that this is not an easy thing to do! 

5. I am looking forward to having my body back once this whole weaning this is done. To celebrate I went for a 5 mile run yesterday. 

6. The primary program is done for the year and I am excited to sing all non-program songs for music time today.

7. Ty and I are taking the kids to Utah for the Newman Thanksgiving celebration the weekend before Thanksgiving. My original plans for the holiday fell through :(

8. We will be back in California for the actual holiday to do the whole thing again with my family. So much for getting my body back. I see lots of jogging in my future!

Enjoy the extra hour today and some early morning sunshine tomorrow!

It's Saturday!

I was so excited for the weekend to arrive!

The kids and I stayed up last night making cookies and making mini monsters out of pom-pom balls and googly eyes.

This morning I had a nice long jog. It was especially fun, because I did it on my treadmill while watching Gossip Girl!

Ty is on call so we are staying at home, but we are still making the most of the day.

We are "crafting".

 I put together a little craft basket for the kids full of pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, pom-poms, crayons, paper, and glue.

It makes for hours of fun and creativity, thus the glasses.

Don't they look smart :)

on another note:

We have discovered that Zoey has a fondness for Christmas music. She has fallen asleep while listening to it for the past few days. I think it may have something to do with the fact that she was born on November 28th and the first few weeks of her life were spent listening to Christmas music.

Happy Saturday!

Jumping on the thankful bandwagon

Moroni 8:3

"I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of His Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end."

I love this scripture. Each time I get to Moroni in the Book of Mormon; I read this scripture over and over. I love that Mormon wrote this to his son, Moroni. I love that we too can pray for our children. I love that God is mindful of us and our children and willing to always listen and always guide. This is a great source of comfort to me.

I am thankful for prayer and communication with God.

Leftover Candy

I know I said I was making cookies with the leftover Halloween candy, but

this

Leftover Halloween Candy Bark

from Brown Eyed Baker

looks pretty awesome!

And on that note: Baby, It's Cold Outside

And now.....November!

1. Quick! Halloween is over, now switch on the Thanksgiving/Christmas mode.....That's how I feel this morning.

2. There will be Christmas music from now until 2013.

3. This afternoon the kids and I will be working on a countdown chain of "thankfuls" for Thanksgiving. I am excited to hear about what they are thankful for!

4. I am out of dishwashing detergent so I have 3 options: wash the dishes by hand, buy more detergent, or start using only paper plates and plastic utensils.

5. The plan for the Halloween candy: Set some aside for the kids, Bake up a batch of candy cookies, and Save the rest for Gingerbread houses in December.

Are you ready for November?