Thankful

So with the month of November brings thoughts of gratitude. I have a dear friend who had decided to post one thing each day of the month that she is thankful for. I think it is awesome idea and want to to the same, but I know myself too well....and I wouldn't be able to do it! I do however, want to express some of my feelings and thoughts on the blessings that I have in my life. I was reading a book to Garrett yesterday called, "The Most Thankful Thing." It is a cute story of a daughter trying to figure out what her mom's most thankful thing is. The little girl goes through her mom's scrapbooks and see lots of pictures of great things that has happened in her life. With each one, she asks her mom, "Is this your most thankful thing?" The mom answers her with how wonderful each of them is, but that there is something even better than it. It ends with the picture of the mom holding the daughter in the hospital when she was just a few minutes old. The daughter's eyes get big as she looks at her mom and discovers that SHE is her mom's most thankful thing. I of course cried as I read it to Garrett and so many memories and feelings flooded my heart.

I agree with that book, there is nothing else that I am more thankful for than being a mother. Especially to the amazing son that I have. I really do look at him everyday and think about how miraculous it is that I gave birth to him and that he is mine....FOREVER! He is amazing to me in so many ways and is growing up so quickly. I feel blessed that I get to be with him everyday to help him learn about the gospel and the wondrous world that we live in. His sweet tender, "I love you mommy" and "I'm sorry mommy" melt my heart. To hear that he cried the other night to Colin when I wasn't home yet because he was worried about made me want to never leave him.

It is easy in this life to forget the things that we are blessed with and our focus is on what we don't have. I really have tried hard to look at those things that are dearest to me and to be more aware of how they bless my life daily. My lucky number must be NINE.....

My sweet, sweet Grandma turned NINE-ty this last summer. She is such an amazing person. She is funny, creative, thoughtful, giving, and so much more! I am so grateful for the example she is to me in so many ways and hope everyday that I can be more like her.

At the end of September, we participated in the annual diabetes walk. I have had diabetes now for over NINE years! I can't believe it has been that long, but almost don't remember life without it. I have really struggled lately with my diabetes with the classic, "WHY ME?" I am coming to understand that Heavenly Father has BLESSED me with this disease. This blessing is helping me take care of my health. This blessing is helping me teach others about the disease. This blessing is helping me become closer to Christ as He is the only one the understands what I am going through and the everyday struggles that I have.

My dear husband. We have known each other for over NINE years now! I can't believe that we have been married for eight! He sacrifices so much for our family. He works hard, is an amazing dad, and is a caring and supportive husband! I love you!

Summer NIGHTS!

We've been having a lot of fun this summer! I love the evenings when it starts to cool down and the real fun begins! Here are some of the activities that we have been enjoying!

Real Soccer Game

I was worried about him wanting to run around and not stay in his seat, but he did awesome! He loved the thunder and lightning (the game was delayed for almost 30 min!!!), the loud drums, and the fireworks!

Demolition Derby!

This may just be the highlight of Garrett's summer so far! This kid absolutely LOVED it! The cars, the crashes, the dirt, the backhoes and tow trucks! He sat there in amazement and kept wanting more! The night ended with a car tipping over for the win and we have been hearing about that for weeks now! "Car tip over, CRASH!!!!"

What started out as a innocent boy helping his dad water the brown spot in the lawn...

Turned into a family water fight!

And ended with ALL of us being soaked!

That's what we get for letting the 2 yr. old be in charge of the hose!

First family campout of the season!

Nothing says happiness to a two year old like playing with a stick in the fire...especially if it has a GINORMOUS marshmallow on the end of it!!!

Neighborhood Fireworks!

Garrett didn't want to get too close, but finally agreed to do a sparkler!

Cooling down with dad on a hot evening with some yummy popsicles!

HAPPY SUMMER!!!

5 weeks....really?

Yikes! I can't believe it has been five weeks since my last post! I guess it doesn't seem like that long because I think about making a new blog post almost every day! I think maybe I have really created these blog posts (my mind is a pretty amazing thing!!) until I actually look at the blog and there are no updates! How many times have I looked through the pictures of the last few weeks and thought about which ones to use for the updates....too many times! Why can't I just do it!? I don't know why, but want to try and do better so that I don't feel so overwhelmed when I am behind. So, here's an attempt, but I feel like it would take too long to tackle all right now with the afternoon clock ticking! Hopefully I will give more details on some of these adventures in the near future! So, here's a glimpse into the past few weeks in the Lewis fam!

Seeing San Francisco twice in two years!

Enjoying the sunshine and the all the sand at the beach in San Diego!

Sherd and Adam's wedding! What a beautiful day!

Garrett's first tux...cutest kid ever!

Sea World was awesome! Garrett still is talking about it almost two months later!

First stitches...glad we survived it!

Beautiful hike up Bell Canyon

Enjoying the sunshine with two cute girls!

First canoe ride on their first fathers and sons!

My most recent favorite of these two handsome boys! (Notice G's shirt!)

At the "BOTTOM" of my list....potty training! :)

Slowly, but surely....we can do it!

You call it creativity...huh?!

So....the last post I did about Garrett being a creative kid...let's just say he took it a little TOO FAR today! Can you guess what I am about to admit? WELL, it happened today! My first true time of parental embarrassment and humiliation. (Won't be the last...right?)

We were over at a neighbor's house today having a church meeting. Several other kids were coloring nicely in the kitchen and Garrett asked me if he could color too. I said no because it was almost time to go and we needed to go and clean up the toys. He of course threw a tantrum (which I ignored) and we continued on with our meeting. Well, while I was distracted with finishing things up, Garrett found a colored pencil on the floor that someone had dropped. He then found a place to color......the wall in the hallway and in the toy room!!!! I of course didn't know this until one of the other kids came and said, "Your boy just colored all over the wall!" My response to this was, "No, my boy wouldn't do that!" Ha ha! He showed me! Well, after a timeout we found a rag and cleaned it up. Luckily the owner of the home didn't seem to care too much and offered her "magic eraser" to do the job right!

I hope we BOTH learned our lesson...Me to let him color with the other kids using paper in a place where I can supervise him and Garrett to color on the wall again so he can use a cool sponge to wash it off with! (That's what he kept talking about all day afterward and was excited to tell his dad about when he got home from work!) Grrrrrrrrr! :)

Creative kid!

Garrett still loves to draw! He has been enjoying all my "teacher stuff" including my whiteboard and markers. One day he was concentrating really hard and made a masterpiece! It was sooooo fun to ask him what he was drawing! They were ALL his ideas! I mostly just kept repeating,

"Oh WOW! What is that?!"

The first photo was too "crazy" so I didn't have room to label it. Don't be deceived by all the scribbles. There is a snake and crocodile swimming in the water, a snowman, an octopus, a butterfly, a bird and a chicken in there and much much more that I don't remember! :)

The second masterpiece is a little more controlled and I was able to label what he said each thing was!

I LOVE IT!!

Lacrosse Season!

This was Colin's second season refereeing lacrosse. It has been a nice side job, he enjoys being involved in a sport he loves, and he even gets a little bit of exercise! :) I think his favorite thing about it was his biggest fan on the sidelines, Garrett!

This was his usual...watching intently, eating his snacks, and yelling, "GO DADDY GO!"

Garrett found Colin's uniform very amusing! The first thing he would say when we arrived to the games was, "Where's Daddy. Daddy's right there! Daddy's striped shirt! Daddy's a zebra!" So, for his last game I made this sign to remember the cutest little fan of his most favorite daddy ever!

p.s. Now that the officiating season is over, Colin and Garrett spend time together playing lacrosse in our front yard together and watching re-runs of college teams playing on the internet! No joke, the other night for "story time" before bed, Colin had his laptop on the rocking chair and they were watching the 4th quarter of a really intense lacrosse match. Garrett cried when it was over because he wanted to watch more and daddy said it was FINALLY time for bed! :)

TOP TEN

Spring is definitely my favorite season! So on this list I tried to include some of the reasons why!

10 - It's not winter anymore! Ohhhhhhh wait a minute! I think we got more snow in the first few weeks of Spring than we did all winter! We took advantage of the extra inches and made a snow man complete with a carrott nose and oreos for the eyes! When it started to melt, Maggie ate the nose and Garrett ate the eyes! :)

9 - Cool dude! Gotta love the shades!

8 - Splashing in puddles - kids (and some adults) can't pass one up without a big stomp!


7 - Seeing all the animals at the farm and zoo! You know it is SPRING FEVER when your own husband requests a day off from work without the usual begging from the wife, JUST to go to the zoo on a beatiful day with his family! :)

6 - Easter egg hunts and new Easter outfits! This year we invited the cousins to come and have fun at the neighborhood hunt! We also enjoyed family time in our backyard finding some too!

5 - Mommy's birthday! I think April is a great time for celebrating! Here is some of the yumminess to prove it!

4 - Playing at the park! Just being outside!

3 - Bike rides - Garrett got a new trike for Easter. He had fun helping his dad put it together and looks adorable with his helmet on cruising the sidewalks!

2 - Flowers - We have made it a birthday tradition to go to the Tulip Festival! It is a great way to enjoy one of my most favorite parts of the season!

1 - Sunshine!