Thanksgiving Week 2012

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week.  It was so nice to be with our family that we see so little.  It was a long drive, but well worth it.  We got to do lots of fun things while we were there.

We were able to listen to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and see their Music and the Spoken Word performance.  It was amazing.  They had the huge orchestra and the bell choir there also.  A great way to start the week.

We got to visit the Salt Lake Temple where we were married 17 years ago next month (really, 17 years?  Where did the time go?  He hasn't changed a bit except he has gotten cuter)

And trips are sure fun, but man they make you tired too :)

Got to finally go to Kneaders for breakfast with Grandma, Mr J, and Miss E.  YUM!  Their French Toast is amazing!

Got to go to my grandparents' cabin.  So fun there!  My kids were a little disappointed there wasn't snow.  The week before they had 2 feet of snow, but we had beautiful, sunny, 60 degree weather while we were there.  I wasn't complaining.

My wonderful grandparents which I love so much!!!

We got to see the new city center shopping area City Creek--so fun!

Went on a bird watching walk around a lake with Grandpa and Grandma.

Those long grass weeds were really fun :)

Thanksgiving!  The girl cousin table--so much fun and so much yummy food!  So much to be thankful for!!!

Cousin sleepovers are so fun!

And finally the lights at Temple Square are amazing and so glad my kids were able to see them for the first time.

And the 1000+ mile trip home went great until we were about 60 miles from home, I was driving, and our tire blew.  Ugh.  So glad Ben knows what to do :)  So the return trip was a little longer than we expected, but we all made it home safe and sound and grateful for the wonderful time we had.  We are so blessed.

Hope you all had a great week and a great Thanksgiving!!!!  Christmas here we come!

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

Pre-Thanksgiving week 2012

In case you didn't notice we were out of town for Thanksgiving.  We left the Friday before right after Ben got off work.  It was so nice to spend the week with family.  More about that in the next post.  There are my pictures from our pre-Thanksgiving week.  Enjoy!

Ben and Miss E rocking out together.  Miss E just decided she wanted to learn how to play the guitar.

Miss A and Miss O practicing a duet for Christmas.

Miss O practicing a pie she wants to make for Thanksgiving at Grandma's.  It is a banoffee (banana toffee) pie from Mel's Kitchen Cafe--so yum!

Mr J is so good to practice and prepare for things without being asked.  Today after school he had his goldfish crackers and grape juice and was practicing his Christmas songs for the school Christmas program.

Today I had the awesome experience to go to lunch with a Newbery Medal Award winning author--Claire Vanderpool.  She is a Kansas Native, and the first Kansan ever to receive the renowned Newbery Medal.  She was visiting our kids' schools, and my mom was in charge of taking her around.  My mom called me and asked if I wanted to go to lunch with the two of them--um, yeah!   She was a great lady to get to know, and I loved her book Moon Over Manifest which won the Newbery last year.  If you haven't read it, check it out!

Thanks for visiting and hope you all had a great week!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 45

I am so very glad we live in a free country.  Elections were this week.  Sadly my candidate didn't win, but I can say I voted, and I think that is extremely important.  I am grateful we live in a country where elections and changes of office happen peacefully without guns, riots, or bloodshed.  I am disappointed with the results, but the office of the President of the United States is one I respect no matter who is there, and I will pray for that man or woman (maybe someday) no matter who they are and their family that they will be guided and directed to lead our country in the right direction.  And with Veteran's Day being celebrated here on Saturday I am even more grateful for the men and woman who serve and have served to make our country free, and for their families that sacrifice to have their loved ones gone so they can keep my family safe.  May God bless them, and I want to thank them for making my country free and keeping it that way so I could vote this week, and that someday my children will be able to vote also.

Sunday:  We are so grateful for Skype.  We do not live close to Ben's family, and Skype makes it very easy to see them and keep in touch.  Tonight we were able to Skype with Grandpa and Grandma.

Monday:  Typical after school scene in our house.  Miss E doing her homework with a mug of hot chocolate after school.  Chocolate always makes anything better-even homework.

Tuesday:  Election Day.  We've had this sign in our front yard for weeks.  We have a voice and a say in this country, so vote and make sure it is heard! 

Wednesday:  This is half a cow :)  We bought half a cow from a local farmer and had it slaughtered and packaged.  It was ready to pick up today.  Looking forward to having enough beef to last a along time!

Thursday:  Becky Higgins had a picture on her blog of her and her siblings watching TV when they were little.  I thought that was an important thing to capture and remember the things we watch.  We don't have TV per say, but we play DVD's and watch things off the internet and have it connected to our TV.  Tonight we were watching "Studio C" which is a new comedy show my kids love on BYUTV.  Things to remember. 

Friday:  I think I have a problem.  I am addicted to post-it notes.  They cover this cupboard in my kitchen.  I put everything on a post-it note and put it here.  This is how I organize my life.  My oldest daughter came down and said, "Mom that is covered.  You have a problem."  Yes, and I keep post-it note pads everywhere--in my car, purse, church bag, night stand--anywhere I can possibly think I would need them.  I buy them in bulk :)  Thank you Costco.

Saturday:  Our town had their Veteran's Day parade today.  They always have the soldiers march this huge flag which I think is so impressive.  Love it.

Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

2012 Blue Jeans Week 44

We had a fun and busy week, as I am sure all of you did, with Halloween.  My previous post was all about our Halloween, so check it out.  Here are our weekly pictures.  Enjoy!

Sunday:  For some reason Mr J has been begging and begging me to make an apple pie.  Finally today we got around to doing it.  He was a huge helper, and having an apple peeler/corer/slicer really helps.  It was a yummy apple pie!  Love the flavors of fall!

Monday:  The Monday before Halloween is always our family Halloween party.  Everyone is to dress up, and we always invite my parents.  They did a great job of dressing up this year, especially my dad who was a load of laundry :)

Tuesday:  Decorated a lot of pumpkin sugar cookies today.  Mr J needed them for his Halloween party at school.  He was quite proud that he decorated them all himself, and the kids at school loved them!

Wednesday:  Happy Halloween!  Miss A and Miss O didn't last too long trick-or-treating, but Miss E and Mr J sure had fun!

Thursday:  Welcome November!  We don't live close to any of Ben's family, but they are so good to keep in touch and remember us.  We love them.  They sent us a November countdown calendar.  In each envelope is something different each family member--cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents--is grateful for.  We hung it up in our kitchen to see it.  Then we tape their grateful cards on the wall after we open them.  Thank you family!!!  We love you!

Friday:  Typical evening scene in the kitchen--Mr J washing dishes (we had pancakes tonight, thus the grill being out) and Miss O cutting carrots for lunches.

Saturday:  The younger kids had an awards ceremony for the first nine weeks of school.  They both did awesome, and we got a picture of their awards today.

Thanks for visiting and hope you all have a great week!  Welcome November!

Halloween 2012

Halloween, what a fun and crazy holiday.  We were lucky this year, the weather was gorgeous.  The kids didn't even need a jacket to trick-or-treat.

The Monday before Halloween we always have a family Halloween party. Everyone is supposed to dress up.  We invite my parents.  They did an awesome job of dressing up--especially my dad!  He was a load of laundry :)

We always eat the same thing for dinner the Monday before Halloween.  We have beef stew cooked in a pumpkin, and when you scoop it out you scrap the sides and get some of the yummy cooked pumpkin in your stew--yum!  We have it every year.

The Monday before Halloween is when we also crave our pumpkins.  Mr J is so good, he always finds his design ahead of time, and Nana is always his helper.  This year he got his pattern from pumpkin in The Berenstain Bear's Trick-or Treat book.  Looks good!

This was Ben's costume Monday night.  Knew his master's degree robes would come in handy someday :)

Scary!

Miss E and Grandpa did her pumpkin.  They were going for the Santa Claus look they said.

Miss O and her sad pumpkin

Everyone's pumpkins outside

In the daylight--Miss A's is the 3rd pumpkin, and somehow I missed getting one of her with her pumpkin.

We always make pumpkin sugar cookies at Halloween.  We had to do lots this year because we needed them for Mr J's school Halloween party.  He had a lot of fun decorating them for the kids in his class.

Halloween day--there is always the parade at school--Mr J is the rocker in tie-dye with his awesome guitar he and Ben made.

And Happy Halloween!  Trick-or-treating here we come--at least for Miss O and Mr J.  Miss A and Miss O only went to one house and then they were done :)