Thanksgiving is soooo close! What are you thankful for?

I am so thankful for so many things, everyday I am even more humbled to the fact that I am truly blessed! I get to live a never ending love story over and over again! Every evening when I lay next to my husband to go to sleep and every morning when I wake up to a sweet kiss from the man I love most. I fall in love with Chris more and more everyday. I marvel at the greatness he holds strong to, he is my rock, he makes me strong and helps me to know of the things that are most important in our lives. I truly believe in staying close to the the ones who love you the most and treat you with kindness and undeviating support. Forgive & FORGET!

I am thankful for the plan of happiness and that I know no matter what, the Lord wants me to be happy and wants the best for me. He has his own way of taking care of things and I am glad that I have learned to trust him with all my heart!

I am EXTREMELY thankful for my little one on the way! It's funny how you have a path set out for you and though trials come a foot, you always find your way to the best things worth living for in the end! I know baby Jack is on his way right now for a reason and that he will bring sooooo much joy into Chris and my life!

I am thankful for repentance and that I am able to feel fulfilled at the end of each day when I pray to my father in heaven.

I am thankful for FOOD, though I can only keep down a few morsels a day lately, I sure enjoy every taste!

I am thankful for patience, I am learning it slowly, but I am mostly experiencing others practice their patience on me.

I am thankful for my mommy I love her sooo so sososoos soso much! She is one of the people in the world who knows me best, and she is probably THE most patient with me...I know every child is sent to earth to the one person who can raise them the very best. I was sent to her for her sweet spirit and love that could make all my troubles disappear. She truly is an amazing woman, mother, and wife. She knows what she stands for and won't hesitate to help someone in need. I love that she never changes and I love that I know she will always love me. No one could be a better mother to me than her.

I love my papa. He's a funny guy and he loves all his girls. He has the most tender heart and is proving to make the sweetest grandpa ever. I love hearing him talk about my little boy on the way and how excited he is for Chris and I. I love his support he shows me and Chris about us going to school, and I LOVE that he is proud of me. Me and him we are 'pretty much' identical.

I am thankful for my sisters, I am so happy we are so close and have so much in common. I trust them with everything and find the best advice coming from them.

I am thankful for my Grandma. She IS my best friend, I don't think she really understands how much I love and need her friendship. I love that we have worlds of things in common and have so much fun together. I want to always be there for her because she is ALWAYS there for me.

I am thankful for my life on earth and that I won't ever know whats going to happen tomorrow, or the next day, or the next! Life is a mystery I never want to solve, I want to live it to the fullest and forget all my sorrows, for how can there be any when I have so many blessings to be thankful for!

Love, Brittany Kenner



Okay, so honestly one moment you think you'll never grow up and be on your own and the next moment, you blink and you're married, own a home, and expecting a baby. Time just compounds into one quick blur. Enjoy all those little moments, life goes way too fast to not do so.

It seems like every year I feel like the holidays will never come, and then I'm wondering how in the world they came so fast. Around Thanksgiving, I always am able to review my life and those things that I am truly thankful for.

First of all, I'm thankful for my Heavenly Father and his love and his patience. I know He loves and cares for all His children and wants what's best for them. Unfortunately, what may always be best isn't what we, or I, WANT. Live and learn and understand. I'm also thankful for the gospel and the incredible opportunity I had to spread it to those in New York. There really is no greater time than the time devoted to the Lord. I'm thankful for my little brothers who are out there in the far reaches of the globe doing the same thing, and how I envy them sometimes, but that chapter of my life has completed, and I'm incredibly grateful for the chapter I am now in.

How can I describe how thankful I am for my sweet wife? Words fail to describe my feelings for her and how grateful I am for her. Though sometimes she can drive me crazy, she's the only grasp on sanity that I have most of the time. I couldn't ask for a greater friend, a more amazing love, or perfect partner and teammate in this life and in the life to come. I know she was tailor-made for me and put in my path at the time that I needed her the most. I'm grateful for our eternal marriage and that I will be able to keep my best friend by my side throughout eternity and far beyond that. She holds my heart and I know that I can trust her with it no matter what. She is so kind, gentle, loving, fun, hard-working, grown up, and the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I could go on and on about her for pages and pages, but they would never fully express the feelings of my heart for my sweetheart. I love you Brittany Michelle.

I'm grateful for family. First and foremost for my own, my wife and our little Jack-to-be. :D True happiness is in the home, with the family, and I can't wait to meet my little son, our little bundle of joy. (Let's not forget Maddie, Chloe, and Olive as they are just as much a part of the family.) Next, I'm thankful for my parents and siblings. Looking back, I don't think I was the greatest of sons or brothers, and I'm thankful that my family still loved me and stuck by me when I was a complete terror, (i.e. ages 0-present). I am thankful for my parents. Though I didn't see it at the time, I know they wanted the best for me, and many a grounding still didn't get that into my thick skull. :) I'm also grateful for my "second family." I think there are more horror stories and bad experiences shared and bad sterotypes about in-laws than anything else, and I'm so thankful that my in-laws don't measure up to any of them. I've always felt loved and welcome by them and that is something that I truly appreciate. I always felt and always do feel like just part of the family.

As much as I don't like them sometimes, I'm thankful for my job and for school. I am thankful for being able to provide for my little family and gain an education that will help me be an even better provider. I can also say that I am thankful for my job because it just helps me realize more and more how much I love my wife. After a long day of screaming angry dummies who have no idea what logic is but every knowledge of how to drive me insane, I come home and am greeted by my sweetheart and instantly I am better and can go on another day.

I'm thankful for prayer. My life seems to have centered around that a lot. Not just for the regular daily prayers that are really just taken advantage of, but also those long, "wrests with God," those deep conversations with him, "as one man speaketh to another," where your heart is poured out to Him and you can feel him kneel beside you and take you in his arms and say to you gently, "I'll take it from here." I'm thankful for the Atonement and the liberating power it has over sin and pain.

I'm thankful for my beautiful home. We were so blessed to find such a perfect place in a perfect little neighborhood at the most perfect time. It's still hard to believe that I have a house, I just feel so grown up. :)

I'm thankful to live in the country that we do. Sure, things are a little rough and times seem to just get more stressfull and hectic, but we truly live in a land prepared and set aside by Heavenly Father to be the land of the Restoration. The freedoms we enjoy far surpass anywhere else, as well as the opportunity. Ours is a truly blessed land, one that I am very thankful for.

I'm thankful for the Holidays. It's nice to be able to see at least once a year a greater spirit of brotherhood and kindness. Sadly, that spirit is being displaced by the selfishness of materialism, but that underlying tone of good tidings still holds true. I'm thankful for the true meaning of the holidays and the chance to reflect over what I am thankful for and who Christmas really celebrates.

Lastly, I'm thankful just for the little things: The feel of my soft bed, the sound of my wife's quiet breathing next to me at night, the purr of my Chloe as she sits on my chest. I'm thankful for all those little things that put life on pause, even for a split second and I can sit back and think, "Yeah, life is good." Life really is good and only gets better as you sit back and count all your blessings and what you are thankful for, no matter how big or how small they are.

Happy Holidays,
Christopher Kenner

Keeping busy and preparing for baby

9 months is a long time.....it goes by fast, but it's still just 3 months short of a year!! Soooo to keep myself busy and occupied during the next few months I've been crafting for my little guy!! Here are some pictures of the crafts I've made for Jack as well as the crafts other loved ones have made, enjoy!

Burp clothes :)

I bought enough supplies to make what I thought to be 6 burp clothes...I ended up being able to make 12! And I still have a ton of fabric and terrycloth left over.

Instead of spending $7.99/yard on straight terrycloth from JoAnn's I ended up just purchasing a few $1.99 towels from K-mart! it only took 2 towels to make all the burp clothes I made!

I'm in love with them :)

The six different fabric designs

The baby quilt I made for my baby Jack

I can't wait to cuddle my little boy in this quilt!!

The baby quilt my mommy made for my first baby! It has such soft fabric, Jack will LOOOVE this blankie.

She did a wonderful job huh :)

haha great minds think alike, we have the same theme going on with the quilts we made.

The A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E diaper pocket and wipes case my friend Kara Maxwell from Maryland made my baby!! She even personalized it with Jack's first initial!! She is so sweet, we sent her a picture of the diaper bag we want and she picked matching fabric so they will match :)

This is the tag blankie she made baby Jack as well, it has the softess fabrics on it, he will LOVE it!

YES YES, I did do some actual shopping :)

Can't you just imagine cuddling my sweet baby in this??

$1.00 shoes from ON

All the loot! The two plastic bins are full of baby food, wipes, baby lotion, baby wash, baby shampoo, baby powder...etc This little boy is already more loved than we could imagine! Love you all!

Babysteal.com

Have you ever heard of babysteal.com? Well, if you haven't it's a website where they have 2 AMAZING deals each day! One at 9am and one at 9pm. Today I lucked out and happened to browse through their site bright and early :) I snagged my unborn son an adorable teddy bear that will match the colors of his room and give him a good snuggle buddy when he is older. It was regularly $36.00 and I got it for only $9.99! So make sure to check them out for your little ones :) they always have amazing prices!! And if you don't like paying for shipping(like me) their warehouse is very close to my house and you could always just pick up your order :) And stop and visit me on your way home!

And the verdict is........

BOY!!! ( I guess my, "mother's intuition" was proven worthy heehee)

I can't even put into words how incredibly happy Chris and I are that we have a little fella on the way to meet us and be in our little family! :) Today couldn't have been a better day either. After a very restful sleep Chris and I woke up and drove to work together. We both worked until 5 and were actually able to grab lunch together :) The day went by very slowly....but that tends to happen when you have exciting plans set. Chris and I drove to our appt. at Fetal Photo and just chatted about what our life will be like when the little one arrives. We both shared our last impressions with each other on what we thought the baby was and funny enough we both "guessed" BOY!! After the ultrasound session we made sure to celebrate over dinner, and snag a few clearance baby boy things at Carter's. THE PERFECT DAY!

The Dr at the studio was suuuuper nice he is an OBGYN and from Europe so he had a very thick accent and also a good sense of humor. When I was all situated on the ultrasound table he asked me, "So what do you want, because I can make sure to find our not find what your looking for?" I answered with a nervous giggle. "I don't care, just a baby." (At this point I was just soooo anxious to know!) Jack was moving around so much during the ultra sound, he was kicking his long legs and he liked to squirm side-ways with his bum facing us so we couldn't see his "stuff" for a while. The Dr took lots of pictures and had me move from side to side to see if he could get a better position since my uterus was tilted. Jack finally let up and gave us a few good peaks to see what flavor of baby we were having. He made it very clear that he was a little boy too, the Dr laughed and said, "Well without a doubt in my mind your having a boy!" He shook my husbands hand and told him congratulations "dad" it was sweet. I think my baby is already the cutest, sweetest baby in the world. He has an adorable profile and just the cutest little nose!! I can't wait to kiss his cute cheeks and toes! What a blessing! And what a perfect little boy :) We are just so in LOVE with our little Jack Ryan Kenner :)

Cutest profile EVER!! :)

BOY!!! I love this picture! I love how you can see his long skinny legs and chubby tummy, what a cute little guy :)

Jack Ryan Kenner will be making his arrival in just 6 months!!!

Christmas Steals!!!

Alrighty, so after work today my co-worker Aaron and I decided to stop by the Down East Discount Center in West Valley. Aaron has a friend that works there and he heard they had a recent shipment of Pottery Barn stockings arrive. I've been wanting to get some nice stalkings now that the baby is on the way and his friend said he could get us a good deal. WELL, $30 bucks, 5 stockings and a tree skirt later I am MORE than satisfied with my purchases!!! So on potterybarn.com the stockings I purchased cost $20 a piece and an extra $6 for embroidery. I got three non embroidered velvet stockings for only $5 a piece and 2 embroidered stockings that read "Mom" and "Dad" for also only $5 each!!! They are all matching and I am sooooo excited to use them as my family grows!! To top it all off I purchased a BEAUTIFUL matching velvet tree skirt with "Merry Christmas" embroidered on the bottom for only $5 dollars!! It sales for $89!!! Crazy huh!! Thank You Aaron's friend!!!! Here are some pictures :)


hopefully we will have more than one child, they only had enough for two more haha :)

I LOOOOOVE them!!!

Such pretty fabric huh? :)

The picture of the tree skirt from the Pottery Barn website. (mines the bottom one)

The picture of the stockings from the Pottery Barn website

You can stop by the Down East Outlet and still get a fabulous deal on these stockings, they are priced for $10 for regular customers at the store so it's still HALF off the website

On a side note, I made these fabulous wreaths for my Grandma and Mom's birthday gifts :) I got the idea off of a blog my husband's Aunt Andrea Blogged about.

They are just made out of different pattern's of fabric, I am seriously in love with them!

Gender Anxieties

I find out the sex of my little baby in 5 days...5!!! I don't think I've ever been so anxious in my life. I'm wondering if not finding out would cure this crazy rage of anxiety that has just begun? Who knows...because I WANT to know...but at the same time I DON'T want to know. Did any of you mothers out their feel this way. I feel like I'm over reacting, but I'm kind of scared to know, because it makes everything all too real and I'm getting nervous for motherhood. I know every mother-to-be has her apprehensions, but are you suppose to be this nervous? Honestly, I have NO preference of what im having...(I thought I would) but turns out I don't. My thoughts. Girls scare me, I was a heathen child and was always getting into trouble and breaking bones left and right from my sheer confidence and curiosity. So that is what I know to be a little girl by my own childhood example, I think I would have a girly-girl/tom boy who wears dresses and sparkly shoes, but prefers to play in the mud and eat bugs (just like I did)...SCARY!! (How did my mother raise me, she is so patient.) Boys...are more familiar to me, but also completely unpredictable. I nannied for 5 terrors under the age of 7 two summers ago. I thought I was going to tear my hair out...The 5 terrors were ALL boys and had energy to power a small power plant. As an understatement I was never bored. So finding out the gender would be a way to "prepare" myself, but how do you really prepare yourself for parenthood? I think it's more learn as you go. I'm very excited for Chris and my new adventure and I can't believe we only have 6 months left! I know this is what heavenly father wants for us and we have been wanting a baby for 2 years, it's just funny how they come when your not trying or expecting it anymore.

So what do I think baby is?

While many of you have told me I'm having a girl, I assure you...I'm having a boy :) I just "feel" like I am, but mother's intuition has not always been accurate I'm told...so we will just have to wait and see. If baby is cooperating we all should know in 5 days!!!