so much to be thankful for

I love thinking about all of my blessings this time of year. I am grateful for my wonderful, amazing husband. I am grateful for my sweet, loving and helpful little Gracie. I am grateful for my sweet and stubborn little Ruby. I am also so grateful to have wonderful parents, in-laws, brothers and sisters (in-laws and "regular"), nieces, nephews, cousins, everyone. I love family and am so grateful to have so much family that I adore spending time with. I am grateful for my own health and my family's health. Despite being a bit heavier than I'd like to be, I am grateful that I can run and play and roll on the floor with my kids and can cook and clean my home and do pretty much anything that I want to without pain or discomfort. I am grateful that Rob has been offered a great job that he has accepted with HP. While I may have been a bit happier to be moving to the West, I am excited to be headed to Plano, TX and for the adventure that awaits us there.

Most of all, I am grateful for my belief in God and Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that was made for me that I can return to live with God again. I am grateful for a living prophet and scriptures to give guidance to my life. I am also grateful for temples where I can be sealed to my family for time and all eternity.

I have been blessed so bountifully and am thankful for a special time to reflect upon my blessings and to thank God for them. I hope that I will remember more of this stuff that matters coming into the Christmas season, and not get so wrapped up in the fluff.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Bubles!

(Bubles rhymes with Rubles (roo-bulls))


One year ago, we welcomed our sweet and gigantic baby Ruby into our family. What a blessing she has been to us. She is so sweet and stubborn. We sure do love her! Grace is especially happy to have a little sister to love on, boss around and be a little mommy and friend to.










The classic "bib" cake. Ruby got one little mini cake and Grace got the other :)


Ruby dug right in to the cake. By the end she had decimated it and loved every moment!







Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl! We love you!

Tara's Visit

We were so lucky that my friend, Tara, got to come visit us last weekend!

Friday we headed downtown to the Bicentennial Mall. It's a neat State Park right off the State Capitol that has the whole history of Tennessee engraved on a wall that runs along a pathway. It's really neat!



Afterward we ate at Monell's. It's a neat Southern restaurant where you're seated with the 10 other people who arrive at the same time and then the food is served family style all you can eat. It was yummy and fun to try so much authentic Southern fare. After lunch, we got cupcakes at the cupcake collection...mmmmm!

Friday night, we got a sitter for the girls and Tara, Rob and I headed downtown. We walked around a bit, did some boot shopping (but not purchasing), then headed to the Wildhorse Saloon for some dancing. We had such a fun time dancing and hanging out to the live music.

Saturday morning we headed to Midtown, near Vandy and saw music row and the Parthenon. Fora world fair in the early twentieth century, Nashville built a temporary life size replica of the Grecian Parthenon. That original temporary building fell apart after a while, but the citizens of Nashville loved it so much, they built a permanent one. It's really cool! This is the first time we'd been inside. It houses the city art museum and an a.maz.ing 40+ ft. statue of Athena Parthenos like the one that was originally by the Parthenon in Greece.





That afternoon while the girls napped and Rob did homework, Tara and I headed to Franklin. We did some window shopping downtown, drove by the temple and visited the Carnton Plantation.

This was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The McGavock family that lived at Carnton found themselves in the middle of a very fierce battle - the bloodiest 5 hours of hte Civil War. The house was turned into a hospital and by the end of the fighting the Carrie McGavock had thousands dead on her property and in her home and 4 Confederate Generals dead and laid out on her back porch...can you imagine?! The good McGavock family who lived at Carnton donated a portion of their land by their family cemetery and buried all of the soldiers killed there. It's really sobering to see and think about all the fighting that happened in this beautiful area.

Tara had to leave early Sunday morning. We had an awesome few days with her! Thanks for visiting us Tara!