Thanksgiving Top 10 (hopefully that will limit my gushing)

In no particular order, honestly any of them could be number one depending on the day, or hour, I've been having. . .

1. My parents who I have loved, admired, and respected for more than 3 decades. Thank you Mom and Daddy!

2. My lovely children who are growing up too fast and are turning out to be very smart, helpful, cheerful, energetic, generous, and loving people.

3. Our home which is, thankfully, large enough to accommodate all of us yet economical enough for us to comfortably afford it, whew!

4. My Savior, Jesus Christ, whose birth we have the opportunity to celebrate at this time of year and who I am so very grateful for.

5. My so very wonderful husband who cheerfully and willingly provides for us. He is also my very best friend and I truly adore him. I hate to let him go away in the mornings and I think about him all day when he is gone and I get really excited when he comes home. Did I mention that I really really love him a lot?

6. The country we live in and the freedom we have to select our leaders and the laws that govern us.

7. The health and safety myself and my loved ones have enjoyed.

8. My wonderful parents-in-law who I have loved, admired and respected for over a decade. They really are the best in-laws anyone could get.

9. The times we live which, although this world is filled with scary and terrible things, we still get to enjoy wonderful advances in science and technology and many other areas that have blessed us and for which I am grateful.

10. Modern day Prophets and leaders who help guide us thru #9 and give us direction, council, and hope.

Happy Birthday Tessa!

Here's what I've observed of my 30's so far:

It's a lot like our 20's only our little kids talk more and get into the fridge more often.

Here's what I recommend:

Make it a goal to have as many kids in your 30's as you did in your 20's, it might be fun ; )

Have a wonderful and Happy Birthday!

New Dresses

My Mom is constantly coming up with fun dresses for the girls, she is an amazing seamstress :) The girls always love her creations and prefer them above all others. Mom even knitted (crocheted? I'm no weaver) their little sweaters.

My Mom Rocks

Waffles and Bacon, yum

As I've been reading your blogs this morning and eating a leisurely breakfast I've been thinking and the thought I've thunk over and over is "Hope 'Ya Know, We've Had a Hard Time."
I vaguely remembered this talk from Conference, I think it was because he quoted a child and (surprisingly) I am kind of tuned in to kid's language right now ;) Well, I remembered that quote and that it was a great talk, so I went and read it and it sure was. So I've linked to the talk if you'd like to read it. I don't know about you, but I've been feeling a bit stressed lately. I want to be in the right frame of mind for the Holidays, I want to enjoy them and not become some kind of crazy frazzled nut (like I was at 3:15 yesterday :) ). So read it if you have a spare minute, there will probably be times when some of us will have to eat Brother Brigham's Ox-Tail Soup, or we will feel like Sister Yates. But let's give President Monson his birthday present anyway :)

P.S. does this count for my Visiting Teaching?

Fun with Mispronounciation

I can't help it, I just overheard the funniest conversation. On the way home from preschool Oliver and Alana were talking and this is a snippet:

A - "There's a president named Uchtdork."

O - "No, he's an impostle named Uchtdorf."

A - "I like President Uchtdork."

Oh, that's funny stuff.

Cutie Pies

We had a service auction for Enrichment on Tuesday and I volunteered to make a pie so here are the pies I made, I kind of made the one below as "the pretty one to give away" but it turned out uglier than the one we were going to keep. Should I switch them? They sure smell yummy :)

Pete was a big help.

Is it me or does it kind of look like he is taking his own picture with his arm stretched out like that? Well, he did, he is a technology wiz!

Halloween!

Are there any mothers out there who actually like this holiday? I'm telling you, if attempting to make people happy with their costumes doesn't get you the candy will. . . However, I am a sucker for punishment so here's the picture.

There was sort of a theme to our costumes, we had three zebras (my mom made those costumes about a quarter of a century ago, not too shabby, eh?), an elephant (borrowed from Amanda who made it a couple of years ago), a cheetah - she had a tail sewn on those pj's, a hunter (to go after all the bounteous game in the area), and Super Dad (Ryan went as himself). This picture was taken at the end of the evening, we looked a bit cuter a few hours before this but this was the first opportunity I had to gather everyone together for a picture.

I've hidden all the candy in my closet, they'll never find it :)