Weekend + Blessings

Busy weekend that wasn't long enough!  We stayed home Friday night instead of going to the ward Christmas party.  It was a good decision.  We put up the Christmas tree.  Lila loves it, and we had a nice evening sitting in the glow of the Christmas lights.  Lila's at a really fun age right now, getting excited about Christmas trees (Kissmas Tees) and just being oh, so cute.  We adore her.  We also made four pans of chicken enchiladas to freeze.  It's so much easier to get things done with Jake around.  Lila is getting better at entertaining herself, just in the past few weeks.  She loves watching The Backyardigans, and sometimes I let her watch them maybe more than I should... but then I think that she's smarter than any kid her age that I know, and more well-behaved than a lot of little ones I know... so then I don't feel so guilty.  Because it helps me to get things done.

Saturday morning we did more shopping at Kohl's.  I spend so much money at that place.  Jake checked out some things at Barnes & Noble but didn't find anything.  He took Lila in there with him and she cried the whole time for mommy.  After we met back up at Kohl's, I ended up having to carry her a lot. She was ready for a nap.

While she napped, I made more banana bread while Jake did some work.  (He wanted to give some to some co-workers.)

And then I got to get away for a few hours and went to Christy Szekely's baby shower at Rand & Lynn Johnson's.  It was a nice time!  She's due a few days before me, this is her first, also a boy.  There are SOOO many boys being born in the next few months or so... I probably know of at least 10.  It's crazy.  Got to visit with Becca Burkhead, Annette Shumway, Lindsey Reyes, Rand.

I met Jake at Target after that to make some returns and to buy more things.  We're spending so much money lately, but it all seems necessary.  Lila was so hyper and had fun hopping down the aisles and singing songs.  By the end of our time there, I was exhausted from walking around and in a lot of pain too.  So I sat in the cafe for a while, and a girl that was eating there asked me if I was okay.  I laughed and told her I was just tired (I think I looked pretty miserable).  Jake came to get me after he checked out and said, "You look like you're going to cry."  I was just tired. :)  He went to Meijer by himself after that and Lila and I came home. She was up late again (11!) but she was happy and we were having fun, quiet time as a family.

Church was exhausting, as usual.  Lila was cranky for a lot of it and didn't want to go to nursery.  She does love sitting in Primary though, especially during sharing time.  She sits with the Sunbeams and does the hand motions and tries to sing, and oh my goodness it is so cute.  Looks like she wants to skip Nursery altogether and just be with the big kids. :)

After church, I napped on the couch while Lila did and it was glorious.  I don't know why I don't nap more often, but I really needed it yesterday and felt so good when I woke up.  After that we went to the Tensmeyers to Home Teach them (Jake couldn't get a hold of his companion).  Lila had fun playing with Ella.  And then we headed to the Randall's for dinner with the Thompsons, Jake's HT companion and his daughter, and the missionaries.  It was a lot of fun and we were there till 10.  The food was AMAZING and it was fun visiting with everyone too.  Jen is just an awesome person.  Lila had a blast the whole night, running around with Brig and being entertained by Reid and MacKenzie (who she calls Kenzie).

Life is good.  I'm feeling very grateful lately for all of my blessings, especially for my little family.  When I'm up in the middle of the night (lately Lila's been waking up once a night, crying and angry because she has a runny/stuffy nose) I've been reading my journal entries from when I met Jake 7 years ago while I rock her to sleep.  It's been really cool to remember that time and how life-changing it all was, and how Jake completely changed my life and all my plans.  He truly was a gift from God, and the timing was perfect.  To read about how crazy and head-over-heels I was over him, and how much I missed him when we weren't together, and how cute I thought he was (it's so funny... I'd write something like, "We watched a movie together and it was so cute seeing him laughing at it!  He is so cute!") is a lot of fun.  And then I get to climb into bed and snuggle next to him.  And then I think about all that's happened since then and how we have such a beautiful life together now... we live in a beautiful home together, we're still so happy and in love, we're best friends, and we have this beautiful, awesome, wonderful little blondie girl and a little boy on the way.  We are so blessed!