All Year Thankfulness

I have more to be grateful for than I feel I deserve. But I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and sees my worth, and gives me these blessings, it may not because I necesserily "deserve" them, but because he KNOWS my worth and loves me so unconditionally that he gives me so much, and that I am more grateful than I could ever say, and only can be seen in my heart. 

Instead of just really focusing on my gratefulness this past month I challenged myself at the beginning of the year to focus on my blessings and what I am grateful for. There is so much negativity in the world, and I hate it. The harsh words that are so unnecessary, the complaining, and not seeing the positive side in things. I have fallen into these categories a few times, and I don't like how I felt... So at the beginning of the year, my mom gave me a little tiny notebook. We sorta have an addiction to notebooks...

I knew it was just too little and precious to throw in my purse, so I started on January 6th a little grateful journal. It sits in our mail basket where I see it every day, and every day I try to write down 5 things that I am grateful for that day. Even on the worst of worst days, the lonely, the sad, the happy, the excited, the self pity, the most loved felt days, I wrote something down. 

Some days I had a lot to write! and really saw my blessings

And some days were just one... it may have just been one thing, but even writing that down made me realize I ALWAYS have something to be grateful for. ALWAYS!! 

I missed days, but all in all I feel like I have kept it going pretty well. I plan to continue it too. It was such a little way to uplift myself. It was just my little private way to know that I have so much and am so loved. 

Just recently at Tithing Settlement, our Bishop asked Dan and I if we have anything that comes to mind of blessings that have had a big impact on our life. I LOVED hearing Dan share his. His testimony of this gospel showed through, I think without him even knowing, it made me a little teary eyed...

But when the Bishop asked me, I didn't have ONE specific large blessing come to mind... I then told him about this little grateful journal challenge and told him that even though these blessings are so small, and some make me laugh that, that day was what I was grateful for, but during that day I was grateful for those things, or feelings, and I'm so happy I got to write them down. That even though they are small they all add up to make a big impact on my mood, and on my happiness. I tend to be more of a positive person because of these few words that I jot down each day. 

November is a great month to remember what we are thankful for. I am so glad we have it, but it has been so great seeing those blessings around me all year. 

There is a Mormon Message that I really like about seeing what we are grateful for each day, and how much we take for granted. You can watch it HERE!

I am so grateful for my life, my love, my beautiful babes, my family, my friends, my world possessions and my spiritual ones... all that is because of my Heavenly Father! 

Happy Gratefulness!! 

Just Really Quick....

I just have to jot down a note about June.
Owen has been incredibly sick with the flu and a viral throat infection this past week. It's been a bit rough around here. A blog post on that later.

But June. Oh my sweet June. She has been so extra sweet since Owen has been sick. We haven't been able to get out of the house, and mostly all of my attention has been on Owen. June has taken it upon herself to be the most helpful big sister, and soooo helpful to me. We've had to cancel playdates, and other outdoor activities that we have had planned and she gets a little sad, but she just understands why we can't go out. She gets it.
    She's been trying her little heart out to comfort Owen when he's screaming by singing to him, and giving him toys, she's been willing to give up her toys when he wants to play with them, which is definitely not the normal... and she's put up with a mother who doesn't have the time to sit and play like usual. She's helped take Owen's diapers to the trash, pick up toys around the house and all in all has just been the biggest sweetheart. That's not always the case, but man she's really stepped up her game this week! How I got her, I have no idea, but I am so incredibly grateful for her gentle,  happy spirit. She's beautiful inside and out and I am so grateful for her!
I love you my June bug!

7 years of Marriage

This blog post is extremely late. 2 weeks! It just got away from me and I shame myself a little bit for it. So before it gets swept under the rug and forgotten completely, here, I blog about our 7 year anniversary.

We opted out of our original plan to Arkansas due to the fact how Owen was so sick, and I was just too nervous to take him too far from home. So we planned an in Dallas 7 year anniversary. 

We went back and forth so much just whether we should even go out with poor Owen the way he was, but our awesome regular babysitter was up for letting us go and she took care of Owen and June. They know her well and I knew they were in good hands, so we headed out Friday to celebrate. Our anniversary was actually on a Monday, but we figured it would be easier to do something over the weekend. 

For our anniversary this year we went indoor skydiving. We had no idea what to expect but up for whatever was about to happen. It basically is where you get to feel what it's like to skydive without having to jump out of a plane. It was crazy fun! 

You go into a little room and they do a bit of training with you to get the proper stance for when you are up in the air. I got kinda nervous at this part. After the training we suited up and got ready to go into the air chamber. 

 Right before heading in. We were nervous. I was sooooo nervous and Dan took it like a man. There was another couple in there with us and we laughed at how nervous we were. It was comforting knowing we weren't the only adults feeling like such wimps.  

So we go take our seats in the air chamber and get ready to start flying. I went first and was out of my pants scared. You look down and all that is between you and your death is this little metal grate, that I thought was going  to fall if I touched it. 

You jump into the tunnel of air and instantly take off. There is an instructor in there with you so they help you keep your form, and help guide you for a better flying experience. It was the craziest feeling ever. You're just flying around in this chamber of air. I loved it! 

Dan went second and he did great. It was fun being able to sit and watch him fly! He ran into a wall or two a couple times, but managed to fly pretty high. He loved it too and is ready to do the real thing. 

We both got to do another flight and the second time was much more relaxed and felt more in control. It was such a fun thing to do and next time we have friends come visit we are totally doing it! It was a blast!!! 

Afterward we headed out and started looking at some things for the kids Christmas and went and had dinner. It was a great little escape even if it was just for a few hours.

We headed back home and we were so grateful to find out that Owen slept the entire time. That was the first time he had slept for that long without getting sick!

The whole night was fun, but of course any one on one time spent with my love is fun!

Monday on our actual anniversary, Dan brought me home a dozen red roses. We got the kiddo's down for the night and then we had a little celebration with our favorite Japanese restaurant take-out and a puzzle. 

I love this man with all my heart. 7 has always been our number. I don't even know why, but it just has. It's going to be a good one. I can feel it. My world is him and I love him all my energy, heart and mind. 

Beard

Dan has had a beard now for a solid 5 years. Our whole life here in Texas has been Dan with a beard. It honestly is weird to think that he used to not have one. I now associate Dan with a beard. He loves it, I love it, and our children know no different so all in all the beard stays.

November came along, which means "Movember". It is a charity supporting mens health where you grow a mustache or change your facial hair in some way so that people notice. When they talk to you about it you are supposed to talk and support mens health. It's for a good cause. 

After work one night Dan told me that he was going to shave his beard and donate to Movemeber. I totally thought he would chicken out, but he supported the cause. He told me before Halloween and since we were going as pirates he decided to shave it all pirate style...

He thought it best to shave it down a bit for Sunday, but with Owen being so sick, Dan stayed home that day so I could go to church. 

He went to work on Monday with only a mustache. He missed his beard so much. So he now is growing it back. It's actually come back for the most part and came back so much darker. We will see if it will lighten up. After this little experiment Dan has learned that he still is and thinks he always will be a beard man. 

June's reaction was so funny to daddy not having a beard anymore, But once she saw daddy's mustache she wanted one of her own. 

Seven Years

Today Dan and I celebrate seven years of a happy marriage. Not perfect, but very happy. 

So in spirit of celebrating our anniversary I thought to share how it actually all began and what led to this happy little life of ours. 

Now, these are my words. Dan probably could add a few things in this story, but I will leave that up to him.

We go back to winter semester, 2007, at BYU-IDAHO. I was living at Tuscany Village and Dan lived at Delta-phi.

We met through my roommate Sarah who knew him from Canada. I walked into the door one day from school, and there he was, sitting on our couch. 

My roommates and his all went to dinner in Idaho Falls that night. Dan made us laugh the whole night. Then the friendship slowly started to take form. We went and had lunch up on campus together, super casual, and acted as just friends. Ok, I'll be honest, it bugged me a little bit how casual he was about it, but I'm not the type to lose my cool in front of a guy, so i just kept it chill as well. 

We kept in touch through text messages and just hanging out with our roommates. We even would have these random get together parties. 

This one was to watch Miss America together. 

Now Dan says this isn't true, but it totally was! I remember being so flirtatious with Dan and he seriously would not give me the time of day. I really wasn't used to that.. It made me fight for Dan all that much more! I remember asking him to help me with my Book of Mormon homework and this is what he said... "Maybe you should try and figure it out on your own." WHAT!? I was so annoyed. 

We continued to hangout...

 We all took a road trip down to Utah together. Dan went and visited his brother and wife, and us girls shopped and played in Utah. 

 Dan and I stayed pretty close to each other. I think Utah was what made us really start liking each other. 

Our official first date was a few days after Utah, on Valentines day. We went and ate at Applebee's then went back to his friends Condo's media room. We watched Chronicles of Narnia. 

He walked me up to the door and we had our first kiss. My Awesome and best friend in college (Christy) saw us through the peep hole at our apartment. hahahaha that was the best. 

We spent everyday together after that.

We literally spent all our time together!
It was such a fun summer! When we first starting dating we didn't know how long it would last since Dan thought he would be going home during the summer semester, but he found out that he was submitted for fast track which allowed him to stay all year on his student visa.

I was pretty confident I was going to marry him. After a date one night I bolted in to my apartment and yelled that I was going to marry that man. Some random dude that was in our apartment said "Well that's confident!" Low and behold it would be true!

At his apartment we were alone sitting on his couch and he told me he loved me. I yelled back "FINALLY YOU SAID IT. I LOVE YOU TOO!" We had been wanting to say it for a while. 

We had a six week break in-between summer and fall semesters. Dan went back to Canada and worked and I stayed in Rexburg and did the same. It was a long six weeks being apart. 

Dan came back to school in August and we continued on dating. 

In September Dan was ready to ask the question. 

His birthday was the 18th, I was making him a quilt and was trying to finish it before his birthday, so I told Dan I was going out shopping with my mom, but really I was staying home to tie his quilt. Someone kept calling my house, I would answer, and they would hang up. Over and over again. 

I later learned that it was Dan and his roommates trying to get ahold of my dad so that Dan could talk to him about his intentions to marry me. I would answer the phone though and so they would hang up. 

Dan was able to talk to my dad and on the 17th of September we were engaged!

We spent two months getting all wedding prep ready and then 7 years ago on this day, we were married for time and all eternity in the Idaho Falls temple. 

He is my everything. Literally no one get's me the way he does. It's a deep love. 7 years has never been more amazing, frustrating, and full of happiness and joy than I ever thought possible. I am so lucky he decided to give me the time of day and fall in love with me.

Happy 7 years babe. Many many more to come!! 

Owen's Troubles

To say this little guy has had it rough the past few weeks is an understatement. It's been down right miserable for him, and it's been pretty darn sad and miserable for me as well. 

I guess we will just start with the big trouble first.

About 3 weeks ago, (around the kiddo's birthdays) Owen started feeling rather sick to his stomach and having some pretty bad diarrhea... sorry, should have warned you. This gets kinda gross. 

At Owen's one year appointment I mentioned this to his doctor. Which at this point had only been a few days. I told her that June had just had a flu bug, so she told me to keep an eye on him, but thought it could just be the same stomach bug. 

It hasn't gotten any better.

We have gone through a million and one options of food allergies, milk allergies, ANYTHING! This to me is the hardest part about being a mother. The guessing of everything! We resorted back the basics of basics. Formula and gentle things for a baby stomach. Nothing changed. 

It has been about 3 weeks of what has felt like a newborn all over again. Up all hours of the night, and dealing with blow out after blow out of diarrhea. Guys, It's been ugly. It' so hard watching him scream when it's happening, but all I can do is wait for it to pass. I hate it so much. We are all exhausted. I think I've cried over him more this week out of pure sadness for my little boy, than I have the entire time he's been born. Dan and I had the awesome experience of scooping out poop into 4 containers for tests to be ran. That was a real treat to be doing in the middle of the night.. or day.. all in all a great experience... 

We should be getting test results back this week and praying that there is a find to his problem and a quick and easy solution. Thankfully he is a pretty happy little boy when he's not feeling like his stomach is being ripped out. 

His poor little troubles just keep on coming though:

-He pulled down a chair, (from when I was mopping the floor) and landed square on him, giving him a bloody nose. 

- He fell in the bath tub, bit right through his tongue 

-Fell AGAIN in the tub gave himself a nice bruise on his head and under his chin 

-He climbed into my bathroom cupboard and played with my razor which sliced 3 of his fingers. 

The majority of those are my fault. It's been quite the learning curve having a much more active little one around. I am taking these lessons in stride, and am learning from them for sure!! Like now I mop floors while Owen naps, and don't be an idiot and leave a razor where a baby can climb and reach it! duh!

Don't you worry, I'm giving back my mother of the year award!

We are hoping things start looking up really soon because we are pretty exhausted over here. 

Perfect for Blogging update

It's cold, rainy, and rather unpleasant outside and I love it. Such a change of pace from our 90 degree weather that would not let up for what felt like was forever. It's nice to be able to just stay in, watch movies, do crafts, and play with my little people. Home is my absolute favorite place to be! 

This weather also calls for some blogging. I am trying to finish up with all of October pictures and move on! It's been a crazy month and I am very much looking forward to slowing down a bit and enjoy the day to day. 

Enjoy our randomness:

Trips to the park

One morning while June was in school, I came out from a store and put Owen in June's carseat without even realizing what I was doing. He was already buckled in so I left him. It was fun having him face forward and he loved it. Someday buddy!

We went shopping to get Dan some new work clothes and I walked around the corner and found June holding hands with the mannequin. it was pretty funny. 

She was getting pretty tired of shopping. We dragged her around a lot that day. 

Every Wednesday is story time at the library. We don't go every week, and June was kind of getting bored with it. Then I found out some of my friends were going to the older story time class. 3yrs-6yrs. I thought we would give that one a try and June liked it so much better. It actually kept her attention. 

Plus they do little crafts at the end of each story time. June was thrilled when she found out she was going to get to use a glue stick. 

Owen is getting stronger and stronger with standing. He is walking along things so fast, but still refuses to let go. 

Her typical morning while I'm getting ready for the day 

Ha! This little lady of mine. 

Nana sent us a package with fun little goodies in it for Halloween plus matching dinosaur pajamas. We haven't put June in footie pajamas for ever, and she loved them. Looks like we know what kind of Christmas PJ's are coming her way! 

Ranger bath time. June thought he needed toys for his bath. 

More park days 

This little boy and June played tag for a good while. He was older than her so she was always being tagged and seemed to not get away fast enough. But she didn't get frustrated and just kept on playing. 

It's a little blurry but too funny to not share. 

Cleaning toys up while Owen is around is a waste of time. The kid pulls everything out of everything.  He is already so adventurous. It's fun to watch him go explore on his own. Also a little terrifying. 

So really nothing extraordinary to report, just our simple day to day life. 

HALLOWEEN!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween. We sure did, and we celebrated and celebrated and celebrated again.

Our's was more of a Halloween week, and it started with a playdate at the park in costumes. It was fun getting dressed up for the first time. June has been so excited to wear her doctor coat and be Doc McStuffins. Owen obviously could care less. In this picture he looks like he is being the amazing Hulk, but he actually is a Dragon. 

He is just working mighty hard at standing. 

Later that evening we actually had two pumpkin carving parties that we were going to attend, but then last minute Dan and some guys from work decided to go to the Dallas Cowboys football game. Dan was hesitant because we had "Family" plans, but the Cowboys only play once, (Other than Thanksgiving) not on a Sunday. So I absolutely thought it was a great time to go! In fact it was a must! He had a great time and I'm really glad he went. 

 Thursday was June's school Halloween party. She got to dress up, and have a trick or treat party with all her  little classmates. Plus a little pizza party.

Her face! hahahaha 

My little DocMcstuffins. SHE IS THE BEST!!! 

When we got home she was sooooooooo excited to show me her Trick or Treat bag that she made. We still have it and she sorts her candy from it everyday. She's really big into sorting into piles right now, so Halloween candy was the perfect thing to sort. 

When Owen went down for his nap we went outside and played. The weather was beautiful!! 

We've had Halloween music on all month. I attempted to teach June "Thriller". These are her zombie dancing arms. 

Her Ghost. It finally dried and we were able to hang it up. 

The next morning, June woke up and I told her to go play for a bit while I got Owen up. I came out and this is how I found her, chomping down on candy. 

NOW IT'S HALLOWEEN!!! 

We painted our nails halloween colors

Since Halloween was on a Friday, we went down to Dan's work and met him for lunch. Lunch was  quick due to a cranky Owen. He's been through a few things the past couple days... Another blog post  about that later. 

Both kids fell asleep on the way home! WHICH NEVER HAPPENS!! 

June fell asleep and slept a couple hours. It was great because we knew she would be up late because of all the Halloween festivities. 

The kiddos woke up happy and we got to carving our pumpkins!

Our end results. Dan and June's was the smiley face and mine and Owen's is the stitched mouth!

Then it was time to get ready to go trick or treating!!! We got all dressed and took some pictures!

 OH THEY ARE THE CUTEST!!!!! 

June had this awesome idea to drag Owen by his tail. (Video)

Halloween 2014, june dragging OWeN from Lesli Lancaster on Vimeo.

Uh... obviously we dressed up! It's Halloween!! June Really wanted us to be pirates, and so we were pirates. We always have a really fun time dressing up... Yes. Dan's beard is shaved. And it's even MORE shaved today. More in a later blog post about that!

TRICK OR TREATING!!! 

June LOVED IT! 

Owen got stuck in the stroller. Next year bud!

June and daddy were the door knocking duo. 

Owen and I rocked out on the sidewalk at each house

Patiently waiting. Yelling "TRICK OR TREAT"

A little clip of June Trick or Treating. (VIDEO)

Trick or Treating 2014 from Lesli Lancaster on Vimeo.

June was beyond words to see Elsa and Tinker Bell in the same house!!

Of course these two are beyond adorable together!

We aren't too bad either. The little dragon on my arm definitely adds to the cuteness in this picture.

It was hard to have June stop. She was loving it but it was getting cold and getting dark and late. It was time to call it a night!

Kiddos in their Halloween Pajamas.

We put Owen to bed and let June sort her candy

Halloween was a very successful day! It was so much fun with the kids! June was wired and had a harder time falling asleep that night, but once she fell asleep she was OUT COLD!! 

We had a handful of Trick or Treaters. About 16. Which was perfect because we had 18 full size candy bars and we had two left over for Dan and I... not that we didn't have enough candy in our house. 

I LOVED getting trick or treaters. I would get so excited each time the door bell rang. It's fun, and little kids are so excited and happy and I just love all the excitement. 

Funny thing... 3 boys came to our door. They had to have been 12 or 13. Young. I had on my Life Guard sweater, and this 12 year old kid says this to me: 

"Hey, you a life guard... cuz you just saved my life." In his best, not hit puberty yet, seductive voice. 

He's 12. hahaha I wished them a Happy Halloween. Closed the door, and I go sit back down.

Dan asked "Did that kid just hit on you?!" It was pretty funny. I'm glad I could make a 12 year olds night. 

Don't worry our Halloween did not end....

Our Wards Trunk or Treat was the Saturday After Halloween. 

We got dressed up, one more time and headed to the church. 

Dan was helping judge the chili cook-off. Owen was happy on the floor so June and I were messing around. 

They put whipping cream on the bishopric and had the little kids throw marshmallow's at the face. It was fun, but a HUGE mess to clean up. 

After eating and playing, we headed out for our trunk or treat 

Our Trunk

My little helper. He was such a trooper. 

Stoppin at our trunk. 

It was a fun night! 

Afterward we were helping clean up, and Owen was just watching some boys throw the football around. He was loving it. 

We celebrated Halloween to it's core and we definitely wore out our costumes. 

It was a very fun week! I'm glad it's over and It felt good to take down the Halloween decorations. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!