Sunday Smiles as the sun goes down 8/8

It's interesting that I've spent the day with my emotions close to the surface. So many wonderful happenings and realizations of the blessings in my life. I'm certainly spoiled.

I SMILED when I got this picture sent to my phone from Kjel.

The picture is blurry but it was something I'd been looking forward to seeing all week.

Every time this monkey's head pops up peering over the top stair I smile. 

Silly baby.

Saturday, Anthony and I were out looking for a Sunday paper so I could start this new fun game of shopping with coupons. We came across this sign that I see all the time yet have never laughed at it like I should have. Anthony read it out loud in just the right phrasing.

It reads, Turn Groceries into Gas. After Anthony saying it, all I could think was, 'well duh, isn't that what we always do with groceries?'  If you don't get the joke then you need more boys at your house. That's a smile... boys at my house bring me smiles.

After church today, it was a long Sabbath, we all felt a little shot. I looked in the rear view mirror I noticed that Matthias had beat us all to that happy place we wanted to be.

I smiled all week as I didn't weigh myself on the scale. I decided that I'm not a number and I've put the scale up high so I can't reach it. yes, i am that short. Anyhow, I've got more important things to do than stand on a scale twice a day and beat myself up for gaining weight which ends with me eating ice cream because i failed. OR celebrate by eating ice cream because i lost weight.

And this picture sent to my phone was a smile.
This is what my nephew, due to arrive in November, will be sleeping in when he's in the car.

Anthony has this game that he plays in the car. Anytime you see a yellow vehicle you yell bingo and punch the person next to you. I've started playing the game with him. I'm not showing anyone my arm because it proves that I'm not the best at picking out the cars. I smiled though as we passed this vehicle in our neighborhood.

So it's not officially a car you can call bingo on but it does leave us all with a good laugh and smile.

Sandboxes with my baby in them is definitely a smile. This kid loves the dirt and can spend hours enjoying the digging. I smiled big when I realized that the shirt he's wearing says, Under Construction, could get dirty.

I booked a quick trip to Virginia for this October that has me grinning so much my face hurts. I can't wait to see my girls and their new sibling!

I smiled when we sang, Come Ye Disconsolate, in Sacrament meeting. I get that that's not a smiling song but I found this song one day when I really needed it and heading it's advice eventually landed me with smiles.

While Clayton was gone I did some laundry and as I was folding I smiled when I saw one of his shirts. I'm so pathetic!

Look closely and you'll see what Matthias is eating.

Look in his left hand, can you tell what he found for a snack?

Matthias loves to play in my shower. I do my best to keep him out but this kid is seriously stubborn and persistent and he somehow makes his way in when my back is turned. Anyhow, one of those times he slipped in he found himself a snack of some soap. Mmm. Delicious. I looked at him and said, 'Yuck.' He gave me a goofy look and then spit the soap out. I figured he'd learned his lesson.

Wrong. 

A few days later I found him eating the soap again. 

A few years ago I was asked to speak in church. It was the sacrament meeting on Easter Day and I was stressed about doing justice with the topic. I was also in the middle of getting ready for a major break down.

I had started a process of medicating for anxiety, OCD, and severe clinical depression. I didn't know what life was bringing me. I found myself ever anxious as I sat in the stand waiting for the meeting to start. The dear sister next to me, who was also speaking that day, must have sensed the panic that was building inside of me. She penned this note that I will forever keep in my scriptures.

I found the note recently and it brought me smiles.

Kjel took our camera to camp and he actually remembered to take a few pictures. That alone is a smile. I smiled as I scrolled through and got a glimpse at my boy at scout camp.

Clayton had originally been labeled a beginner when he took the initial swim test. Being a beginner I guess keeps you from some of the activities that he was eager to participate in. The smile came when I found out that he worked hard and practiced and retook the test. Not only did he retake the test but he went on to almost complete his swimming merit badge. One more item to pass off and he'll have it done. I guess I'm just glowing inside at the thought that when the tough stuff hit he was, with the help of others coaching him on, able to conquer. That's a smile.

Here he is diving

Monday morning was Matthias' 12 month check up. He's a big boy! Everything checked out fine except his Iron. The test result came back as extremely low so we had to take him to have some blood drawn and tested. The end result came back as much better than what the doc's machines had shown. He apologized for the lab error at his office. He did go on to say that I really need to get more eggs and meat into Matthias. He could still use some additional Iron. I hopped right on that doc's order and hooked Matthias up with some eggs....

in this cookie

Matthias still likes his milk from his mom but if you give a Matthias a cookie he'll

suck milk from a cup! That's a smile.