The time is 11:43

11:43 P.M that is.   I sit here awake because my amazing husband surprised us with a day off today, took the early risers downstairs and let me sleep in 10 this morning.  I must say, it was rather nice.  I now can't sleep, but it was soooo worth it!  I might add, that the baby that runs this household is STILL waking up 5 or 6 times a night.... so yes, that would usually justify sleeping in until 10 one day, BUT he slept through the night last night... and I still slept till 10!  BEAUTIFUL!  I felt like I was 16 again!  Amazing. 

I have been reading so many peoples "Thankful" posts on facebook and blogs and it makes me realize what a slacker I am.  I feel like I have hundreds of people to thank, hugs to give, cards to write and favors to repay.  Now that life has slowed down a tad, I need to get on the ball.  I sit here feeling SOOO thankful.  The past 6 months have been such a crazy whirlwind, and I stand here on my own 2 feet, sane, because of so many people.  Lets just recap the past 6 months... for my sake.

The last part of April we decided to take the plunge and just start the building process on our home.  We had our house for sell for quite a while with no luck.  We both felt like it was time to go, so we put an add on KSL and within about 20 minutes had several calls, and by the end of the day had several applications, many interested people.  We decided on a family (We will call them M's).  So because of the situation that M's were in, they needed to be OUT of their place by the end of the week.  Lets remember that this was the last week in April and I was due to have a baby on MAY 12th.  M's understood our situation and offered to stay in a motel for a few weeks until baby got here.  I thought there would be NOTHING worse than moving 4 days after having a c-section... with a newborn and 2 other kids in tow... SOOOO about 5 days later... we were out.  Me in my 47 months prego glory.  I had SOOOOO many people come to my rescue.  The first people on my Thank you, give hug, return 1000000000000000 favor list are my incredible inlaws!  First of all, my mother in law is a rock star!  That woman can pack a kitchen faster than you can blink your eye, and its all wrapped in newspaper, sealed neatly in a box and labeled.    Vaun and Jesse and his 2 brothers had everything loaded into a POD and a storage unit in a matter of hours.  My WONDERFUL aunts came and packed boxes  and cleaned like maniac's... the relief society came to help, friends took my kids, friends did yard work, it was AMAZING!!  Everyone was amazing!!  I AM THANKFUL!

So, we packed up what we needed for what we thought would only be 3 months (turned into 6) and moved in with the inlaws. We spent a week getting settled, and our sweet baby Jake was born.  Talk about turning a house upside down!  My great inlaws went from the chaos of teenage boys, to 2 wild kids running around bringing a tornado with their every move, their upstairs turned into a hotel, a screaming newborn, and every oversized baby accessory that we could find a spot for.. all in a week.  They claim they loved it... but one would have to wonder.  Here we go again with help coming from every angle.  Family and friends came to the hospital... took my kids, brought food, sent gifts, and just let us know that we were loved.  My family came up a few times in just a matter of days, spent time with my kids, and visited us in the hospital.  Vaun would take the kids to movies, the dinosaur museum, lunch at mcdonalds, walks.. you name it.. they were busy doing it.  Ann was so good to tend to their needs.  I had been SOOOO sick the days before Jake came.  I had such a terrible cough that it made recovery way harder than it should have been.  Everyone was so good to let me take it easy and recover.  People would tell me, "oh... I can't imagine living with your inlaws when you have a baby, oh, isn't that so hard, oh you are one brave woman to do that".  But really, I couldn't imagine a better place to be in the situation we were in.  I had SOOO much help with my kids.  I was able to take time to recover and not have to worry about my kids, and the other day I was telling Ann that I really feel like I was able to cherish Jake's "newborn" stage more.  I know it was hard for them to share their space with us, and I know that having crazy, wild kids running around 24-7 is a hard adjustment, but  they did it.  Without complaint... (at least that we heard :)  )    I AM  TRULY THANKFUL.

A few weeks after moving out we started to wonder if we had made the WRONG choice with the M's.  Ohhh boy.  Its such a long, long.... long... drawn out story... that makes me want to PUNCH the wall.. so we won't go there.  HOWEVER, we did make the wrong choice... needless to say that the M's no longer reside in my house, we are missing A LOT of money, a lot of tears, and a lot of time, energy and cleaning supplies.  I am however  thankful to the M's for getting out when they did.  They could have made it a lot harder on us than it already was.. and our house could have been in a lot worse shape than they left it.    Once again... we had so many people rush to help us out.   We spend HOURS getting the house ready for new renters.  There was LOTS of babysitting, cleaning, yard work, food, and time donated to us.  Once again... I AM THANKFUL.   I am also thankful for AMAZING renters!!  We have the "V's" now.. and we LOVE THEM!!!!  We love that they pay rent!  We LOVE that they are super duper clean!!  We LOVE that they are nice!!

We had such a fun summer living back in Utah county.  We did lots of playing with cousins and friends.  I am so thankful to my wonderful Aunts, especially Racquel who always made sure we were alive, and made sure we always had something fun do be doing.   We made lots of fun trips to Richfield.   It was so nice to go there and be able to relax.  My family is always so good to help out with my kids, and let us  have a home away from home.  I am realizing that I am so far behind in my blogging... I have so many pictures of our summer adventures.  OHHH I will get to that soon.

So about 2 weeks ago,  the chaos began again!  Once again, so many people rushed to help!!  My mom, Kadie, Ann, Vaun, Charise, Racquel,  15 guys from our new ward, ladies I had never even met before, so many people came rushing in, unpacking boxes, tending my kids, organizing my house, bringing food and goodies... OH MY!!  I feel so blessed!!  I don't know that I could even name everyone.  We are blessed.  Blessed beyond measure.  I am so thankful to everyone.

I hate to feel needy, helpless, and chaotic.  I HATE to have to NEED people to help me.  I have a hard time accepting service.  The past 6 months has been a HUGE whirlwind and I never once had to feel like I was at it alone. 

I also owe a ton to my amazing husband.  He really is a trooper.  Lets talk about a 9 month preg wife, moving her family our of their home, then comes the hormonal train wreck who just had a baby... oh boy!  He is a trooper.  In 8 years of him knowing me, i'm sure he has thought I was crazy from time to time, but he NEVER lets me know that :)  He is good to me.  He is an amazing husband, he is the best dad I could have ever hoped for or imagined.  He is SO good to me.  So good.  I don't know what I did to deserve such an amazing person to spend ETERNITY with..... but BOY am I excited!!  Not only is he amazing... he's kinda cute too!

Well, let this be a start to my Thank you's.  I don't know that anyone will read this LONG drawn out post, but if you are... you know who you are.  Thank you.   Thank you.  Thank you.  I have the best family, friends, ward members, husband and kids ever.  EVER.  What a testimony builder of service and love the last 6 months has been.