On to November

I can't believe October went by so fast. Here's a few highlights:

I had a great 25th birthday. I guess I'm growing up since i'm a quarter of a century now.... A lot of my day was spent with these 2 boys... couldn't ask for cuter boys!

 My mom, Julie, and Shaela also took me to my favorite thrift store and babysat while I went out to lunch with James. My mom also made me dinner and my favorite Oreo ice cream cake.... It doesn't get much better than that! It was so fun to be back around my family and I sure felt spoiled and loved. Shaela and Jared took us to "Abuelo's" for another birthday dinner and to a place called "Primp and Blow"...the hair styling bar. Somehow, Shaela's hair was the one that turned out amazing. Hmm...

Halloween was sure exciting for Jackson this year. They had been doing a ton of halloween activities at  Orange Patch and he knew he wanted to be a superhero. (Ok, well he calls it a super reader from PBS, but making a super hero costume was SO much easier.) While he was taking a nap one day, I threw his costume together and boy did he wake up so happy! When we went to the ward Halloween party at montagues...he was the hit with his little friends. I think it's because he was so happy about it. no one knew he had girls' tights on! :)

James has been put in charge of renting out the cabin, and he's actually had a lot of renter's sign up. We spent veteran's day weekend there to try and get a few things ready/taken care of, etc. It ended up being an incredibly COLD trip, but still relaxing all the same. We even drove through the snow to go into town for the broadcast stake conference. Elder Holland spoke on how the missionary work in Arizona will be growing immensely and we need to be prepared to help with it. Elder Eyring then talked on remaining optimistic despite all that seems wrong in the world. Inspired message seeing as president Obama just got elected for his second term. 

We made it back in time for the veteran's day parade. The tanks were of course a big hit.... 

I stood by this mom who's son was "somewhere fighting al quida" she didn't know where, but hadn't seen him for 4 years. He told her he was finally able to come home for Christmas, but only if they could pay the 4000. She cried as she told me she couldn't afford it, but sure wished she could see him. I was so impressed with her story and realized that for the first time in a long time, I actually thought abotu veterans on Veteran's Day! Ha! imagine that! 

To say that all has been right with our world isn't quite true. James' job has gotten pretty stressful. He took on this job knowing we couldn't make it work on just his salary. But, he would get paid commission for any properties he could bring on, and he really felt things would improve. Well, it still has only been 4 months, but out of the 60 properties he's contacted, he hasn't had a single one go through yet. Naturally, he is starting to get frustrated. And adding to that, he's somehow gotten in the middle of a little feud going on between his company and a competitor. It's been such a mess and the competing company sent out a letter to several properties, which needless to say, wasn't very nice about James. It made me mad, but mostly just added to James' stress levels... That and one property he had, that might have actually gone through, ended up being an even bigger mess. Unknowingly, he had gone with an unlicensed landscaper and thus, would've taken lots of business away from Jared, my brother in law. To put it nicely, the past 3 weeks has been really bad for James. I don't know he takes bad news, after bad news, after bad news, and just keeps going. He sure is incredible to me at just still trying and finding ways to mend relationships. I've done my best to stay positive for him, but man, it sure  gets hard for me....and I'm not the one going to work every day any more! We've done a lot of thinking about it, and we both know he needs to stay with this job...it just seems right. But, things better start picking up real soon! And, I just thank James every day (sometimes several times a day) for being the man that he is, and willing to take on so much responsibility for his family. Looking back on our marriage, things have never really gone "the easy way" for James, he's always had his fair share of difficulty in whatever he has faced, but it always has worked out to his advantage....sometimes it just takes a LONG time. :) And let's face it, who really likes waiting? 

Tommie has sure started showing his personality. He has picked up laughing and sure surprises us at what he laughs at. Most of the time, it's just whatever Jackson does gets him laughing...To quote my niece, Macey, "I'm not sure what's more funny...Tommie laughing or Shawnne's singing...." But, whatever, I'm not ashamed of my great entertainment skills (or lack thereof). Tommie's laugh is still cute... and yes, we are BIG caillou fans in this house. Here's the link....

We've also had Sadie over while Shaela and Jared went to Disneyland. Jimmer has been going NUTS. He plays non-stop and let's just say he's definitely hit puberty and knows that Sadie is a good-looking girl! :) But, he's also started limping and been really fatigued. While doing some research, he may have been a little to hyperactive lately, and probably has severe growing pains. Guess what's supposed to fix it? Vitamin C! Ha! Who knew! We'll see if it actually works.