Blessed

I've been a complete slacker lately when it comes to our blog, but when your energy level is about an eighth of what it normally is and your subbing 2-3 days a week...blogs become very low on the priority list.

But...I have become very aware recently of how blessed our family is and as a result have felt very overwhelmed with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for all our blessings. To help me always remember how blessed we are I want to write them down, so when I'm discouraged I can look back and see how truly lucky and blessed our family is.

The first thing I'm most obviously aware of when it comes the many blessings we have received is the fact we are pregnant. To be able to bring another sweet and special spirit into our home is the greatest gift our Heavenly Father has given us. Though I've been sicker and struggled with more symptoms this time than last, I'm so grateful for those symptoms. I'm so excited b/c I've been able to feel some movement this week and each time I feel it my heart jumps and I can't help but smile and sometimes tear up. I'm so very grateful for the blessing of bringing another child into our family.

My family is the another HUGE thing I am so grateful for. We have the sweetest little two-year old you have ever met. While he does still have a bit of an independent two-year old attitude, he more than makes up for it with his smiles, hugs, and kisses. And he especially melts our hearts when he says things like, "Oh, nice mom/dad." (when you give or do something for him), "Danks (Thanks) mom/dad", "Dank you mommy/daddy", "Peees!!(While signing it with a huge smile and puppy dog eyes)", and my favorite is when he just walks up to you and gives you a hug and says, "Hi mom/dad!!" like he hasn't seen you all day and is so happy you're there. We thought we had a pretty good life before, but we had no idea what was missing. Our Bug has brought so much love, peace, and happiness into our home, and we are so grateful for him.

I'm also thankful for such a good husband. He is my very best friend in the entire world. He's the one I share everything with, including my bad/sick days. And he has never complained about my lack of energy the last couple of months and the fact he has pretty much had to do all the dishes and keep the kitchen clean, clean up after a two-year old and completely entertain him when he's home b/c I'm a slug on the couch. I thank my Heavenly Father for him every day, b/c he really is the best person for me. He makes me laugh every day and he makes me mad sometimes too...but we respect each other so much we are always willing to listen to each other and work out our differences. He's also the best daddy ever. He loves his little boy, there is no question about that. He plays with him, he feeds, bathes, dresses, changes dirty diapers, does bedtime and even helps potty train! But more than that...he loves on his little boy like he'll never see him tomorrow, which to me is so important. I'm so thankful for such a wonderful best friend and husband.

I'm especially grateful during these uncertain times for Shayne's job. We are so thankful he has the sort of job we know is secure and allows me to stay home with The Bug. Not only that, but he's also been recognized recently with a couple of awards from the State which shows how much time, effort, and dedication Shayne has for his job. He enjoys his job, but is always looking for a new challenge and I'm glad he has a job with provides a challenge for him. I'm also grateful for my education which has allowed me to substitute teach to take some pressure off Shayne during the Christmas season when money is always a little tighter. We are both so grateful for his job and the security it provides our family.

There are so many other things I'm grateful for but these are the ones that have been the most obvious to me recently. Maybe it's because of the time of year, being Thanksgiving and all, but regardless I feel it's important to recognize our blessings.

I hope that when I do get discourage, b/c there will always be those valley's of discouragement, I can come back to this and read about the many blessings which our family has. I'm so thankful I know I have a Heavenly Father who knows me and my family and loves us and wants us to be happy, because that's what I am today...Very Happy.

Our Award Winning Nurse/Dad/Husband

Getting the Melissa Ann Peters Memorial Award.

My camera died just after this (whoops! I could have kicked myself), but we have the photographer there sending the pics she took, so I'll scan them and post it later.

Sonia & Mike Hanrahan. She was nominated for March of Dimes Oncology Nurse of the Year, but didn't receive it. They are in our ward in Soldotna...and he's our home teacher. It was fun to go to Anchorage with them.

The CFO of the hospital, Jason, playing a game to win round-trip tickets to almost anywhere in the world. I just thought it was a funny pic...and a good blackmail pic! J/K

Jason, when he actually won the plane tickets. He was pretty stoked!

Shayne receiving his March of Dimes Award...in case you couldn't tell by the huge screen behind him. :)

Shayne has had a very good year, or more particularly fall. He was nominated for two different State recognized nursing awards, and won both of them.

The first award he received was the Governor's Council Melissa Ann Peters Memorial Award, which recognizes one nurse throughout the State of Alaska for their outstanding efforts for their work within the EMS (Emergency Medical Services) area. He received this b/c of his work outside of the ER. He teaches trauma classes, has started the process to get the hospital trauma certified, and re-wrote the computer software for a more efficient triage system. He has done A LOT of work outside if his regular responsibilities and it was nice for him to get recognized for it.

He received this award in Nov. 13th, and his mom, Jonette, was able to be there for the big banquet/dinner where he received this award. His mom & I actually surprised him with her being able to be there for the banquet. He thought she was going to have to leave earlier, so it was neat to have her there for the award. The EMS council actually paid to put us up in the Captain Cook Hotel for the night, and Kaye was kind enough to watch The Bug for us that night.

The second award was for the March of Dimes Emergency/Flight Nurse of the Year. He received this award on Nov. 19th. The hospital flew us and the others nominated and involved for the banquet/dinner. No one had any idea who had one each award, including the administrators from our hospital. So, when they read Shayne's name off as the winner for this particular division everyone was completely surprised. In fact, they said that usually the award goes to a nurse from the Elmendorf Air Force Base Hospital, b/c of the nature of where they work (usually being deployed and doing serious trauma stuff). But, not this year...it was Shayne. Again this was b/c of all his work outside his regular work shifts...though they did mention his compassionate nature to patients (which he and I both chuckled a little at).

Shayne really has been lucky that he has a great supervisor in Leann who nominated him for both of these awards. We are glad she recognizes how hard he works, and the effort he puts in even when not working his regular 12 hour shifts. He's the only nurse in recent memory who has won an State of Alaska recognized awards like this, so he's pretty well known at the hospital now. Kinda funny for him.

It's been so fun for me to see Shayne get recognized as well. He works so hard, and takes major ownership in his hospital and wants it to be a better place. I see how hard he works, and I'm so glad others are being made aware of it as well. So, while he is a little embarrassed about all the recognition, I know he's grateful for it as well.

Congrats Babe! You are awesome, and now I'm not the only one who thinks so! :)

Playin' with Grammy Jo

Poor Grammy Jo. She came up to watch The Bug for us while Shayne & I went down to Oregon to check out the Bend/Redmond area to move to. However, while she was here, it snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed and snowed. It snowed so much she was out of power one time for about 8 hours, and another for 3-4 hours and it was probably out more than that too. It was a serious snow storm...and she was totally fine with it all.

In fact, she did all kinds of fun things, not just with The Bug, but for me as well. She made my raspberry jam and canned some fresh pumpkin for me...she's awesome!

But, she spent most of her time playing with The Bug. They made a snowman, went sledding, ventured out to Walmart (after the major snow storm) and bought "Cars" character cars, colored, did puzzles, watched movies, and all sorts of other things.

I decided to get these pics of them playing outside just before we headed to Anchorage so she could fly out that night. He loved the sledding...and talked about his snowman with Grammy for weeks after she left.

She is such a fun Grandma, and The Bug LOVED having her come visit. You couldn't ask for a better babysitter while mom & dad are gone for 3-4 days.

However, he had to get used to not having Grammy giving into everything he wanted...or maybe we had to get used to a munchkin throwing a little tantrum when he didn't get what he wanted. But isn't that what Grandma's are for?

Oregon Trip

So, Grammy Jo wanted to come up and visit The Bug, and offered to watch him while we went on a little mini vacation. We weren't gonna turn her down, so we decided to go and check out the Bend/Redmond, Oregon area to eventually relocate to.

She happened to come just after The Bug and I had had the puking flu. He fared pretty well and got over it quick...I on the other hand did not handle it well. Imagine...almost 12 weeks pregnant with some serious morning sickness and now I've got the puking flu as well. So, I can't eat b/c I'm sick, but I get sicker b/c I'm not eating. It was NOT a good combination. Thankfully, I had nurse Shayne to help out, and getting a liter of fluids the night before Grammy showed up helped A LOT. So, I was feeling much better when she got here...as in I could get out of bed and actually stand up long enough to brush my teeth. :)

She flew up early on Nov. 6th and we left that night and flew into Portland early the morning of the 7th. The flight was long for me, b/c I was still not feeling great, but at least I wasn't puking. We drove down to Bend that morning and stopped at the coolest ski resort on our way down. It was Timberline Ski Lodge, and it was incredible, b/c it was one of the first high class ski resorts built during the Great Depression to create jobs. It was more like a museum, but it's still a functioning ski resort on Mt. Hood. We got there around 7am and were able to check out the main lodge w/o a lot of other people. The fire place was the only pic we were able to take...the battery died shortly thereafter.

We really enjoyed our time in Bend/Redmond. We liked the area...reminded us a lot of Idaho, it has a high desert sort of climate. We checked out a few hospitals in the area (which were good hospitals and definite options) and drove around to lots of different areas. We also were able to eat at some VERY good restaurants in downtown Bend...yummy.

It was nice to just spend some time with Shayne, and get some much needed sleep. I felt so much better after being able to sleep as late as I wanted for 3 days. We drove a different way back to Portland, and stopped at this rest stop where these cool falls were.

Kinda funny we only took pics on our drive down to Bend, and on our way back to Portland, but not a single pic in Bend/Redmond which is where we are considering moving. Oh well.

And just to keep the fam in Idaho from getting too excited...we aren't moving for a few years yet. Just looking at all our options.

First Big Snow

We got our first big snow storm on Nov. 2-3. This pic was taken on Nov. 3rd. The Bug is wearing his new coat (which I'm pretty sure is gonna last well into next winter it's so BIG!) an snowpants. I say big snow...but as you can see, it wasn't that much, you can still see rocks through the snow. It was also really wet and heavy and melted not too long after, but it was fun to go out and play in it for a little bit.

And besides...I just LOVED this pic of The Bug.