The Adventures of Two Girls and Their Mama: I am Thankful

With Josh training for Battle of the Badges and me preparing for a horse show and my second half marathon, the holiday season sneaked up on us!
I have always loved Thanksgiving, not only because it brings our family together, but because I believe being thankful for all we have been blessed with is extremely important. I am sometimes amazed by all the blessings in my life and I try to make it a point to thank my Heavenly Father for each and every one of them. This time of year is a good reminder to me that even the things that may not seem like blessings can turn out to be the biggest blessings of all.
The weather here in Arizona has be lovely so much of November was spent outside. Lillian has a new love for slides and refuses to let me go down them with her now. She whizzes down, her face shinning with glee, and I catch her at the bottom before she flies off the end.

She is the best little helper. She loves to help me wash the car and will sometimes ask me ALL DAY when we are going to wash the car next. Needless to say, I have the cleanest car on the block.

Tractors are Lillian's absolute favorite thing right now. Thank goodness we own one and she can take rides whenever she wants. Tucson is full of road construction and Lillian frequently points out all the tractors as we drive and tells me, "Tractor scoop dirt!"

Drawing is another love of hers. We sit and draw together pretty much every day. I use that time to not only draw, but teach her as well. She knows her colors and I think it is pretty safe to say her favorite is orange (maybe because her tractor is orange?). She also knows her shapes and we have fun finding circles, squares, and all the other shapes, when we go on walks.

Thankfully, Lillian's crib can still contain her but I am not sure how much longer that will last. One morning I woke up to her saying, "Up, up, up!" and discovered she had pulled the ladders off of her firetruck and was using them to try to escape!

These days, my shoes are not the only things Lillian likes to play with. She has taken to pulling my clothes off the hangers and putting them on. It is funny to see what combinations she comes up with and how she ends up getting them on her body!

Josh fought in the Battle of the Badges on November 16th. He spent months training for his fight and really enjoyed learning a new sport. He fought an experienced Sheriff's Deputy and fared pretty well. Unfortunately, he lost by split decision. I am very proud of him and I hope he does it again. Our friend and neighbor, Phillip Flores, took these photos and (I hope) filmed the fight for us. He is a fantastic artist. Check out his blog here http://phillipfloresphotography.blogspot.com/

I haven't had the time or money to horse show much this year. I did make it to one horse show this month thanks to Susie Straus (www.WellspringFarm.net) and my dad. I rode Ritoque, Susie's horse, and had a blast returning to the hunter ring after spending the past few years in the jumpers. Ritoque was a fabulous boy despite all the wind and rain. Thankfully the show was at Westworld and all the rings were covered. We would have been swimming through the mud if we had to ride outside!

At first, Ritoque wasn't sure what to think of Lillian. After a few treats he warmed up to her and now they are buddies.

I think Lillian was the only person at the horse show who enjoyed the rain. She thought splashing in the puddles, clomping around in boots, and feeling the rain on her face, was the most exhilarating thing.

At this point in time I am lacking Thanksgiving photos. My aunt Renee took a bunch but I haven't received them yet. Here are a few I snapped of Lillian playing with her cousin, Elle.

It was fun to have all the kids together for the day. There were only a few missing. This is a photo of all the little girls who were born between November 2011 and May 2012. They look thrilled, don't they?