family night fun!!

for this past family night we decided to make smores. it was seriously a blast!! we used our barbeque to roast the marshmallows, and i have to say, jonathan roasts the marshmallows the best. his were all perfectly browned and warm. i'm very jealous. so i tried to do mine like his and i was too impatient. i just ended up sticking mine right into the flames instead of listening to his strict no-flame instructions. so, of course, mine always caught on fire. but i will say that i LOVE the taste of the burned-black marshmallow smores!! i know that is weird, but i do love them so. anyway, cody was hilarious. he kept walking over to carson and stealing bites and taking handfuls of smores. we were all gloriously sticky and very content afterward. it was so fun!!

lately, i've been feeling very thankful, just thankful for things in general. here are a few things i've had on my mind: (sorry if it's corny or cheesey)
i'm thankful for my husband. for everything he does and everything he is. i can honestly say i would be totally and completely lost without him.
i'm thankful for my two handsome boys who keep me feeling like i'm a kid and always give me hugs, kisses and shower me with silly, lovable faces.
i'm thankful for my parents and my parents-in-law for always helping us out at the last possible second and just being wonderful in general.
i'm thankful for my sisters who trust me enough to let me make their kids costumes and teach in their preschools!! i'm also thankful for my sisters because they never judge me and always make me feel like i can be myself.
i'm thankful for certain ward members who are great examples to me and still are my friends even when they know i'm a little flaky and a lot crazy.
i'm thankful for my good friends who always include me and love me still.
i'm thankful for my church callings.
i'm thankful for my sewing maching.
i'm thankful for my family as a whole. including parents, brothers and their wives and kids, sisters and their wives and kids, brothers-in-law, and sisters-in-law.. i love all of them and love to spend holidays and vacations with them.
i'm sure i will think of more after i post this, of course, since i have a slow-moving mind, but this will have to do for now.

there is one more thing i would like to share with you. i recently visited a blog of an lds woman. i don't know her personally, i just heard her blog was awesome. her name is stephanie neilson. she and her husband were in a plane crash in august and are still recovering. they have four children. she is one of the most inspiring women. her sister is keeping up her blog for her while she is in a coma (i think). she posts things that stephanie has posted in the past. the things she writes are wonderful. one thing that particularly caught my eye was this: our marriage+our children= treasure. i don't know if she made it up, or if she heard it somewhere, but the way she writes about her husband and her children makes me wonder what i'm doing on this computer right now, and why i'm not hanging out with my family!! if you want to check out her blog, it's www.nieniedialogues.blogspot.com. i love that saying so much. it keeps things in perspective for me. i might just make it into a plaque and hang it up in my house!! thanks for reading my long post!!

p.s. my parents computer won't let me post pictures of our family night! next time!