Thankful Four...

This Thanksgiving, I'm especially thankful for these four:

From left to right,

1) Sam, who brings me the sweetest joy each and every day. Through him I've learned not to take anything for granted. He is truly a blessing to be thankful for this year, as we have been waiting years for his arrival into our lives.

2) John, one of my biggest challenges in life right now, but without a doubt one of my biggest blessings. I'm learning and growing so much in ways that I never expected to because of this special kid.

3) Peter, who is not only my husband and the father of my children, but also my best friend. He's talented, kind, and he has a heart of gold. I lucked out to get him.

4) Christy, my beloved dog of 14.5 years who has been with me through high school, college, getting married, working, and having kids. Last month she became very sick, and for the first time in her life, I thought she might be nearing the end. But she's made a full recovery and is healthy and happy again. I love my dog and I'm thankful we've been together for so long.

I wish you and the ones you love a very happy Thanksgiving!

Movie Review: New Moon!

As you may have heard, on Friday New Moon broke the opening-day box-office record that was previously held by The Dark Knight. If it goes on to have the best opening weekend ever, I'm happy to say that I'll be a part of that new record, because I saw the movie today, and (surprise!) I really enjoyed it. I like that it stayed so true to the book. People who have read the series will likely be very happy with the movie. Admittedly, it can be slow in parts--there's a lot of talking in it, so I can see why some movie critics (who obviously haven't read the awesome books!) thought it was boring. The action scenes were great, though, especially the ones with the werewolves. Kristen Stewart is beautiful as Bella, and Taylor Lautner plays a perfect Jacob. (And man, is he ripped!) Overall I'd give this movie four out of five stars, or a B+. I'm in the mood now to re-read the books, and I can't wait until Eclipse comes out next year!
*If you saw New Moon, how many stars or what grade would you give it?

Baby Blessing

Sam's blessing at church was last week on the 8th of November, when he was seven weeks old. It was a sunny, mild, lovely day, which was a pleasant surprise, it being November in Connecticut. In the Mormon Church, when a baby is a few weeks or months old, the father (if he holds the priesthood) gives him or her a special blessing. A circle of men stand around the baby with their hands on his head while the father blesses him with what he is impressed to say by the Spirit. It's a simple, beautiful thing that I've always appreciated; never more so than when it's my own child!

Brainstorming

It's been awhile since I've paid a visit to the blogosphere, due to a certain little guy who arrived in my life about two months ago. I've missed reading the blogs of others and creating my own blog posts. I know I'm stating the obvious here, but having a baby is life-changing! It's making me re-prioritize what I do with the precious little free time I now have. As hard as it is for me to accept sometimes, it's impossible to do all of the things I was doing before Sam was born.

This process of re-prioritizing and cutting some things out has forced me to consider giving up blogging. But I've missed it. It provides a good creative release, as well as an entertaining, interesting window into the lives, experiences, and opinions of people all around the country. I don't want to give it up! So I've decided to fit it in when I can and do mostly short and simple posts that won't take a lot of time to create and edit. I plan to check my friend's blogs regularly like I used to do, but probably about once a week instead of a couple of times. That seems pretty reasonable, right?

I also want to give my blog a new look, and that was decided for me anyway because the background I had before has magically disappeared. I think I'm going to come up with a new name too. Any cleverness I ever had has disappeared these days, so I don't know how good or original it will be, but I'll try. I'm looking forward to getting back into the bloggin' swing of things again! And if you're one of my blog friends, I've missed you and your blog! I'm back! I think! Almost!