Busy Day

We've had a busy day today.  First, Carl took Garrett to Discovery while I went to a movie with my friend, then Carl went to watch the U/BYU game at a friend's house while Garrett and I went to Garrett's friend Kyndall's birthday party, and then finally we all went to my annual family Christmas party, where we had a lot of fun and took a lot of pictures.

Santa and Mrs. Claus were at the Christmas party, and Garrett would only sit on Santa's lap if I held on to him.  Santa gave Garrett a Star Wars toy that he really loves.  We then sang Christmas carols, and made scrapbook pages for my grandma.  It was a lot of fun.

On the way home, we stopped to look at some Christmas lights.  We had a good day, but it's definitely time for bed now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving, and there are so many things I am thankful for.  We've had a nice day, spending all morning at home getting some things around the house done, and then making a quick trip to my parents' house to say hello before heading to Thanksgiving dinner.  We are having Thanksgiving at Carl's grandparents' house, and there are a lot of people here.  None of Carl's siblings could make it, or his parents, but Carl has a huge extended family with lots of aunts, uncles,  cousins, and cousins' kids.  It is nice to spend Thanksgiving with such a big family.

We just finished dinner, and everyone is now sitting around relaxing, reading, and playing Rock Band.  Garrett just enjoyed a piece of cherry pie.  It's nice to sit here in such happy company.  I am thinking about how grateful I am for everyone, and especially for Carl's grandparents for always putting so much effort into Thanksgiving dinner.  I also started thinking about everything else I am grateful for, and thought I'd make a short list.  Here are a few of things I am thankful for, in no particular order.

1. Garrett - (No order, but of course he has to be first!) He is the joy in my life.  He is such a wonderful, sweet boy, and I am so grateful I get to be his mom.

2. Carl - He is the nicest, best, most wonderful husband and best friend anyone could ask for.  I don't know what I would do without him.

3. My parents - They are the best parents ever.  We love spending time with them, and we are so grateful for everything they do for us.

4. Carl's family - They are all so great, and his siblings really help to fill the void of being an only child.  I just wish we could all be together more often.

5. All of our grandparents, and extended families - We have such fun, crazy, loving families.

6. Our friends - Our friends are the best.  They are always there for us, and we love spending time with them.

7. Our home - We recently donated a few items to a homeless shelter, and it was a cold, snowy night.  There was a line of people standing outside in the snow, waiting to get inside the shelter, and it broke my heart.  I am so thankful we have a safe, warm home.

8. Our neighbors and church - We have the best neighbors, and the best ward.  We have a couple of neighbors that are especially wonderful.

9. Our cats (and all animals) - We love our 3 kitties.  Chloe, Gabby, and Sebastian are part of our family.

10. Korinne, Garrett's birth mom - We are so thankful for Korinne.  I always think about her a lot on holidays.  We love her so much, and we are eternally grateful for her.  We are also so grateful for adoption.  We get to be parents because of someone else's sacrifice and love.

I could go on and on,  but this post is already way too long.  I am just so thankful for everything I have, and for all of the blessings in my life.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Home Study Day

We had our home study for our adoption today.  This was the last step we needed to accomplish before we could be approved.  We've had everything else done for a while now, but have not had the time to get our house organized and really clean.  We finally scheduled our home study for a couple of weeks ago, but all three of us got sick, so we had to postpone. 

I really wanted to get everything done before Thanksgiving so we wouldn't have to be worrying about trying to get approved during the holidays.  We scheduled another appointment for today.  Of course all three of us got sick AGAIN, so we didn't get as much done this past weekend as we wanted to.  We ended up really scrambling last night to do everything.  We managed to get it done, and even though everything wasn't as organized as I would have liked, it was just fine.

Our caseworker Larry came over, asked some questions, walked through our house, and then we were done!  He said he should know in a few weeks whether or not we are approved, but he doesn't expect any problems.  I am so excited to finally have this last step done!  One step closer to a new little bundle of joy. :)