I am Grateful for The Mouth of Babes

Lately I've been spending lots of time sitting and playing with my nephews the past few days so I have some hilarious quote from the kidos :)

Yesterday Jakey came a knockin at my door while I was getting ready. I peeked my head out the door and said "Sorry Jakey I'm busy right now we can talk in a second" He told me "ok... we took a walk today with grandma. The people there wuz playing" he then pauses, squints his eyes, crinkles his nose and looks up and to the left as if contemplating the grammatical error he had just made, then goes on to say "the people there were playing soccer uhhh football. And the lady was soooo the bad catcher! She could not catch the ball every time... couldn't catch the freakin ball and couldn't every time!!" "I laughed and said "ok Jakey I gotta talk to you about this late" and he says "alright... well.... thanks for talkin' with me shauna."

Braden was also being quite cute so I had to take a video of him :)

Today I took Cooper to Petsmart just for fun to see all the animals and he told me "wast time we wuz hee-wuh Wucey pooped in the stow!! and ooooh my gosh sauna it was bee-SCUS-ting!! translation: "Last time we was here Lucey (their dog) pooped in the store!! and ooooh my gosh shauna it was disgusting!!"

I always tell my kids when we hold hands if I squeeze twice it means I'm saying 'i love you' Cooper informed me "fow squeezes means i wuv my dad"

I was taking the Gaskell Kids on a walk after dinner today. I taught them to sing "Lou Lou skip to my Lou" Later as we were walking I heard Rylee singing "Lou Lou Skip to the Loo!!" hahaha then Adyson was following her singing "kip to the moon" and Aiden following her yelling at the top of his lungs "LOU LOU LOU!!!" haha I'm a terrible teacher of music apparently.

At the Gaskell's house popcorn and a movie is a big treat. They call it popcorn night. So tonight about half way through Finding Nemo Aiden comes up to me and says "Popcorn" in a normal volume of voice, then he lets out a HUGE sigh leans in towards me and with a gigantic smile whispers "night."

During the movie Aiden ran out of popcorn. He asked for more but before I could take the bowl to the kitchen to get more Rylee took his bowl and dumped her own in because she was already finished. When he saw his bowl suddenly full of popcorn his jaw dropped and his eyes went huge. He said "Wut duh heck?!" hahaha

Today, I am grateful for all the wonderful children that play SUCH an uplifting role in my life and I love So So much!!!

I am Grateful for Ah-Bee

Tonight I went to Ginger Ewell's amazing institute and it was as uplifting and motivating as ever. My favorite quotes of the night include, but are not limited to..

"If you believe in God then why not let him direct your life"

"Children you can trust... Satan you can not"

"Stop dragging your heels, stop kicking and screaming all the way to your blessings"

"The further you are in the light the greater are you chances to call down the blessings of heaven for what ever you may need"

"Nothing can contribute more to the downfall of a marriage, home, family, team, institution, or church than people who murmur"

"In relation to events that will yet take place, and the kind of trials, troubles and sufferings which we shall have to cope with, it is to me a matter of very little moment; these things are in the hands of God... he dictates... and controls our affairs"

"We, as a people, have to... seek after and cleave unto our God, to be in close affinity with him, and seek for his guidance, and his blessing and Holy Spirit to lead and guide us in the right path. Then it matters not what it is nor who it is that we have to contend with. God will give us strength according to our day"

Institute has become something that I look forward to SSOO much. A time for me to set aside the trials and heart aches of life and push the reset button. I love to hear the way Sister Ewell talks about the gospel. She can really fire you up! She puts so so much effort and thought into her lesson and she doesn't just get up there and talk for an hour and 1/2. She is always open to feed back. Although I don't agree with her on all her view points I have come to admire her and respect her in a way I do few other women.

After a wonderful spiritually uplifting lesson I was about to leave when I got talking with my friend Abby. I have hung out with Abby a few times in the last couple months and we get along great. Last night we really had a great conversation. We talked from when institute ended to about 10!! It was some much needed venting for both of us. I think it's important in a conversation to speak up and be heard but it's also important to listen and understand. Abby did just that for me, nothing that was said in our conversation changed my life in a dramatic way, but I can still see our conversation for what it was, a tender mercy. A few months ago a conversation like this would have been water under the bridge. Now having been through a few trials I have come to be more appreciative of tender mercy's like tonight. When you feel like you are in the refining fire of the Lord you can do two things, see only the bad, or search out the good things in life. I have been trying to do this and BINGO! the Lord sent Abby. I am very glad to have had the opportunity to vent and listen, hear and be heard, give advice and receive counsel. It was a wonderful conversation that I think marks the beginning of a very promising friendship.

Today I'm grateful for Abbigail Harris and for her way, not with words, but with listening. :)

I am Grateful for Garrett

Garrett has been one of the most influential people in my life, we had some amazing times together. He's easy to talk to, thoughtful and hilarious! When Garrett and I were together I made some major mistakes and I messed things up pretty bad. I took him for granted and now. as a result, we don't talk anymore. I miss him like crazy, but I'm still SOO grateful for the time I have been able to spend with him. I'm thankful for the lessons I've learned from him through his example. I didn't really realize how much I depended on him until he was no longer a part of my life. Although our break up was painful, I still look back at the time we had together with gratitude in my heart that I was able to spend a small part of my life getting to know someone as incredible as he is. That I was able to share so many laughs, and memories with someone I grew to love so much. I have lots of regrets about the past, and if I let myself I could dwell on those mistakes and drive myself crazy, but instead I choose to try and focuss on remembering the good times we had together and trying to be a better person. I am a different person today because of him.

Today I'm grateful for my memories with Garrett Laidlaw and the influence he was in my life.

I am Grateful for Audo

Last Night I had a fun fun night with my two cousin's and aunt. Ray, Audo and Auna (Rachel, Chelo and Shauna) were reunited once more! :) It has become somewhat of a tradition to have a sleep over whenever she comes into town. We spent the night finding strawberries and Nutella at Walmart, trying to pants eachother (actually mostly just pants me at walmart) Eating Chocolatey Chocolate cookies with milk (thanks Charlene) watching bourne identity, and racing pretty much everywhere we went. We had big plans of T.P.ing my Formal date's house which is right down the street but ended up just falling asleep during the movie (andother MacKay girl Sleepover tradition) We didn't take any pictures last night so I thought i would take a quick walk down memory lane and post a few older pictures :)

The last night we hung out before Audo moved to Florida.

If I remember correctly Ray had recently returned home from a hike or lake trip or something. She got a littel burnt that day haha

Audo's first trip visit home from Florida. My mom did a fun photo shoot and we got all dolled up :)

Pretty sure this is also the sleepover that i fell asleep before Chelo and Ray did so they covered me from head to foot in blankets and wrote 'in the closet' backwards on my forehead. They assumed I'd read it in the mirror and go look for them downstairs and find them sleeping in the game room closet. This plan failed, all that happened was that the ink smeared on my forehead.

This is how we feel everytime Audo leaves :(

Friendship Rings <3

Last Christmas

A more recent trip home

I'm pretty sure this is the night we spent the whole night in Grandma and Grandpa's closet eating, talking and throwing silverware at eachother. Then we were on Grandma's bed in the dark and confused the heck out of Chloe who was Rachel and who was chelo. Little did she know everytime she left the room we switched spots and one of us laid on the floor behind the bed. Next we tried to convince Chloe that Chelo was alonee in Grandma's bathroom while we were all squished on the toilet so she couldn't see our feet. And to top it all off hididng in Chelo's old closet and yelling Chloe's name (all on the exact same pitch) until she finally found us haha

THIS is how much we LOVE Chelo

Love you Audo!!! Ray and I miss you allllll the time and we can't wait til you come again and we can have ANOTHER epic sleepover :D

Today I am grateful for Consuelo Baca!

I am Grateful for a Japanese Sister

We have a ELS (English Learning Student) staying with us until July. She's turned out to be a super fun addition to the family. :) Her name is Rei Mizutani and I introduce her to people as my Japanese sister. I thought it would be fun for her to get a chance to do some touristy things so Ray and I took her down to the strip for a chance to experience some of the free classic Vegas attractions.

We started at the MGM grand to see the lion habitat there.

When we first got there the lions were napping and pretty boring

After about 10 minutes the trainers came around and

got the lions blood pumpin! :)

They had some kind of meat that they were feeding the beasts.

It was pretty hard to get a still shot cause they were moving so much but it was crazy how they just cuddled right up to the trainers!

It was like they were just regular cats and not freakin lions!

Around the back there was a "little" cub only about 18 months old! It was soo cute :)

Next we walked downt the street to M&M World.

It was very yummy.

(Hello double chin)

There was this bucka (Japanese for stupid ha) movie that

we watched, it was in 3D so we wore these dorky glasses

Lastly we ran next door to the Coca Cola Factory.

It was definitely a fun filled day filled with lots of laughter,

memories and miscommunications haha I'm so lucky to have

Rei and Ray in my life. They both bring me a lot of smiles!

Today I am Grateful for a Japanese Sister named Rei!

I am Grateful for a Blog

I've been considering starting a blog for a while now, but I wanted to make mine different and original; then this idea came to me. I can post the happenings of my life through the eyes of gratitude. I have not been very grateful lately, infact I have been going through some pretty trying times. I think it's the most important to be grateful when we feel when we don't feel we have a lot to be grateful for. All of this has been inspired by President Gordon B. Hinckley when I heard his talk to the youth regarding the "Be" attitudes. So... today I am grateful for a blog! :)