As I sat in church this morning and watched Ashton (quietly sitting on Grandpa Sterling’s lap), Cooper (contently snuggled in between Sterling and me), and Phoebe (cradled in my arms), I felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude—for so many things. I’ll focus on just a few tonight.

I’m grateful for our grandchildren who make my heart sing; a mother who happily helps me whenever she’s able; and a wonderful husband who loves and supports me and our family unconditionally.

Here are a couple of shots of the kids after church. I wanted so badly to take a photo of them during the perfect photo opportunity (described above), but that probably would have been a tad inappropriate!

The chance to watch Shalae and Jon’s children while they went to New York and Washington, D.C. (to explore graduate schools for Jon) has been a delight. The boys were busy running around and playing, and they kept us busy, too! Phoebe fussed a little during the days but slept well at night, and if I’d gone to bed instead of working or ordering Christmas gifts, I would have gotten a good night’s sleep. Although the children were almost angelic, this week-long experience has reminded me of being a young mother and not getting much done.

And I would have gotten less done if my Mom Pat hadn’t been here for much of the week. She comes about once a month, ever since my dear friend and housekeeper retired earlier this year, to clean the house and attack special projects for me. She’s been a lifesaver more than once this week—like when Cooper fell off his chair after dinner a few days ago. I was trying to calm him down while Phoebe cried and Sterling was taking care of another “accident” with Grandpa (his dad), so my mom dashed to the store to get children’s Tylenol. (You can’t see it in the photo very well, but his nose got bunged up a bit and his eye is bruised). We always make time to visit, and I’m always sad when she leaves!

Sterling and I didn’t get a lot of quality time together, but we did spend lots of time partnering. For example, I’d feed the baby while Sterling got dinner for the boys; I bathed Phoebe while he bathed the boys; and when I had meetings at Stampin’ Up! or spoke at Brigham Young University (BYU), Sterling took the boys to run errands while Phoebe stayed with the nanny (Shalae has someone come in for a few hours a couple times a week and I took advantage of that arrangement). You get the picture, I’m sure. Basically, Sterling quietly did whatever was needed. You know I love Sterling, and now you know another reason why!

Here’s a photo of Sterling fixing dinner tonight with the boys while I started on this entry—that is before Phoebe woke up and the night-time routine took over.

So, while it’s been a full seven days, I wouldn’t have changed a thing! I will admit, though, that I expect to get a lot more done this week. I’m even planning to go to the office almost every day, and that hasn’t happened for a long while!