Counting Our Blessings

Dinosaur Face

Well I know I said we would update you more often…easier said than done!   I titled this blog “Counting Our Blessings” because I really need to count them right now to keep my head up.  I think Josh may be doing the same thing and just hasn’t told me yet, because he seems to be thinking positive too.

Baby Bear

Today I drove the kids into the parking lot of their pediatrician (around 10:20 a.m.) and what do ya know…Josh was standing there waiting for us!  I knew instantly that he had lost his job.    I tried to stay positive and ask why the heck he was there and not at work, but the whole scene was pretty easy to figure out.  By the way this came as a total surprise to the both of us!

This week has been A LOT depressing (instead of a little).  A good friend of mine told me she lost her mom…granted I didn’t know her mom that well, but I had hung out with her on a few occasions.  This upset me more than I thought it would.  I guess because I value life so much…every life.  And this was supposed to be a very happy and amazing time for this woman because her daughter (my friend) is going to have her first baby!!  Plus I love my friend…you know who you are…we have gone through a CRAP load together and we turned out alright inspite of it all!

Anyway, I know I’m rambling a bit but this entry is going to be a bit more like a journal entry because I freakin’ need to get some of this off my chest!

Back to Josh and the lack of work.  After it hit me…and it didn’t take long, I went into a dark tunnel…no cave and didn’t want to come out.  I am still pretty down but my calling (I’m Achievement Day Leader) totally got my mind off of this and brought some things into perspective, well maybe.  I don’t want to sound like PollyAnna just yet ’cause I am NOT there.  But I have to say I love the girls my co-leader and I teach.  They are hilarious and they are such good girls!  I am always so impressed at how much they know about the gospel and how well they live it.  They are examples (to me) of goodness and innocence, which I sometimes forget still exist in this world, and they do a pretty good job listening to me.

So now I am going to list the many blessings our family currently has.  I think this will help me to really see how our Heavenly Father is always with us…especially when life throws you curve balls.

1. We have a home to live in.

2. We have food and healthy food at that.

3. We have each other.

Sweet Bear

4. We have the gospel.

5. We have two (not one!, but two!) cars.

6. We are all very healthy people (thank you Word of Wisdom and good genes!)

7. We have clothes to cover our bodies and they happen to be pretty darn cute sometimes!

8. We have our wonderful minds that give us more potential than we know!

9. We live in a nation that gives us a voice and many other freedoms that we are enjoying at this moment!

10. We have laughter.  I love to laugh and I know the rest of my family does too so we will try to do this more!

11. We both have great parents who love and support us in so many ways…thank you and we love you so much!

12. Have you seen our kids???  Are they not the cutest kids???  I want to chew on them every second!

13.  We have a dishwasher…YAY!

14. We have our own unique talents and personalities.

15. It is summer time and summer is my favorite season.

16. We live in Alameda, CA!  We love Alameda so much that we try to do everything here and not go off the island if we don’t have to.

17. We have great friends who when we do get to see them it’s like a day has not passed!

18. We have music.  Josh and I love music and are kind of music snobs but it really makes both of us happy when we listen to one of our fav bands.

19. We have Chocolate!!!

20. We have a Kit Kat Clock who’s eyes look back and forth, side to side as his tail wags. 

Ok so I got a little silly with some of them, but I like to be silly sometimes for silly’s sake.  Now why don’t some of you who read this make a comment and tell us what you’re thankful for!!

Painting Holiday's toes

We are Goonies!

So life with two kids has been a change for us but we’re still alive and we are doing great!  Noah is now almost 16 lbs. and is fitting his 6 month + clothing (the kid is only 3 1/2 months).  We are expecting the NFL to contact us in a few years to draft him as a middle linebacker.  Noah loves to talk a lot (just like both his parents) and has a really cute laugh (we know this because we like to tickle him a lot).  Right now he has the croup and has had it for over two weeks…but we finally saw an ear nose and throat specialist that could help him get better as well as ease our fears.

Holiday is getting to be quite the little sass (just like mom) and we think it’s very cute…most of the time.  She is into dinosaurs, the Disney Princesses, and Thomas the Tank Engine.  She likes to look at bugs when we go for walks and she loves to go to the park.  She still sleeps with her long time bestie “Lucy” (this is her lovie for those of you who don’t know) and also her newest addition (thanks to Grandpa Mark and Grandma Christine) “Mellie” the elephant.  She loves reading so going to the library is a regular thing.  She is a very good big sister to Noah.  She is very protective of him and likes to give him lots of encouragement with things like tummy time or when we have to see the doctor for shots.  She says to Noah “I’m so proud of you Noah, good job!”.

Holiday also says the darndest things.  The other day she was getting out of the car and there were ants in the gutter where she had to step and she said, “I don’t trust these ants”.  Another funny thing she said when we were all on the bed…she was sitting down right next to the wall and bumped her head pretty hard on the wall, she said, “I broke my head, but we don’t need to take it off”.  We probably enjoy these more than anyone else but what kind of parents would we be if we weren’t proud of our kids right?

Josh’s job at Harsch ended May 1st and luckily in this economy he was able to find another very quickly and started the next Monday after.  We have been so blessed and are grateful to our Heavenly Father for all of our blessings.  We are also grateful to Josh’s Father for giving us his Prius so that Josh would have a car to commute out to Dublin in.  He has saved Josh so much time (commuting) and us so much money that we would have had to pay for bus and BART.

Josh has been teaching the 14 and 15 year olds in Sunday school in the Alameda Ward.  He had this calling when we lived in Oakland too.  He is an amazing teacher and loves these kids!

Lori has been busy as a stay at home mom and loves the challenge and blessing of raising two children.  Lori was called recently to be the Activity Day Leader and loves these girls and is looking forward to helping them acheive their goals within their program and to prepare them for Young Womens.

Please come back and visit us!  We will update this blog more often now that we are a little more settled and know what our time looks like.  We hope you enjoy our little quipps and the pix we post of the family!  We love and miss you!

“And now,” cried Max, “let the wild rumpus start!”

(drum-roll please)

And now, with great pride, I would like to introduce to you to the newest member of the Dorks in Disguise …

Noah Aidan

born on Thursday, January 29th 2009 at 7:11 PM

Weight: 9 pounds, 3 ounces

Length: 21 inches

Momma did an AMAZING job. I am so proud of her!

Seriously, I didnt do a thing. I just get to reap the benefits.

The two best midwives in the world. A very big thanks to Racha and Maura of Shifra Midwifery. Without them, we would not be this happy right now. (If you’re interested in their services, check them out, they have their own websites but also work together: racha y maura. We cannot thank you enough!

For a more complete look at Noah’s birth check back in a few days for a link to his birthing gallery.

We MOVED!!

Hello everyone! I thought a nice way to introduce our new family blog would be to also announce that we moved to Alameda recently! The move went really smoothly and we had a TON of help (a special thank you to everyone who was there, you know who you are!)

If you want to stay in touch or just curious where we live now, here is our new address. Happy Trails!