Thursday, November 29, 2007

How Thanksgiving unfolds at my Mom's

All you need is a tripod and a trusty introvolometer on your camera to take a nice sequence of pictures of your Thanksgiving feast. Okay, it helps to have a good cooking mother, funny relatives (aka sister), a big table, lots of food, extra food and a great family!

Feast your eyes on this:
Before we expand our waists, we expand the table.

Then Mom brings in the plates.

I add the glasses

and silverware.

The cheese and olives appear, don't worry, the pickles are coming soon. This is an absolute set-in-stone tradition ala Grandma Jane.

Matt brings in the ice.

Salads and stuffing start arriving.

Chelse finally makes an appearance in the preparations. She is dressed in a lovely vintage Thanksgiving skirt ala Aunt Shauna.

And here is Aunt Shauna herself with the rolls.

Everyone is sitting down and the camera decides to click during our blessing. But just check out Chelse! She has her eyes open and is flirting with little Boden! What a heathen.

Dish it up folks!

I'm still dishing. Everyone else is eating.

Finally sitting.

And enjoying it.

Most everyone is done and gone now. But I'm still sitting and avoiding dishes. What a naughty girl.

And the clean up begins.


Note to self - next year put camera up higher so we can see someone besides me and Michael's back.

The future has been revealed.

Get the whole scoop here.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Crazy house, crazy me

Do you ever feel that you become an extension of your house? When my house is all calm and clean and happy, so am I. When my house is crazy, cluttered, and chaotic, so am I. And that is how it is right now. Boxes everywhere, miscellaneous Christmas decorations without a home lying around, piles of mail mocking me and no end in sight. That is how I feel today. Like my house.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Make a list Monday (MaLM) - Thanksgiving

What else could I list today but . . .
What I'm Thankful for

1. my people (family, friends, neighbors, mail person, you know, all of them)
2. church
3. my sweet yellow house
4. warmth inside
5. baby inside
6. traditions
7. plumbing
8. electricity
9. beaches
10. a great job - motherhood
11. another great job - Matt's
12. freedom
13. books
14. romance
15. education
16. modern medicine
17. miracles
18. sweet notes
19. dates
20. babysitters
21. Christmas
22. contacts
23. my van
24. telephones
25. understanding
26. forgiveness
27. parents
28. flowers
29. the sun and all its spots!

One for each year of my wonderful life so far, each of which I am thankful for.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Best Board Games 2007




The winners have been announced! Check them out here at boardgameratings.com. There is nothing better than a good game with family or friends. Just last night we played the Runner-up family game winner, Zooloretto with our kids. Great fun.

You can also read the press release here.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Jane Austen font


I just found a fabulous new free Jane Austen font via Emily Style. Now I can write in Jane Austen's handwriting, if not her witty words.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Cell phones, cheap

Ha you may say. But we just renewed our plan. We talk as much as we need and want. We have rollover minutes for a whole year. We paid $7.20 a month last year.

Sweet. It's a go phone from T-Mobile. I'm so glad we finally went for it. We bought another 1000 minutes for the coming year. Last year we used just under that. Yea for no commitment and low low fees.

Just thought I'd share.

Monday, November 12, 2007

MALM- The busier week

Which week will be busier, last week or this week?

Last week
1. One doctor's appointment for a ear infection
2. A crafting visit with Rochelle
3. Voting
4. Primary meeting at my house
5. Elders Quorum meeting at my house
6. Book club
7. 2 kids home sick 3 days
8. A BYU football game
9. Elders Quorum party at my house
10. Primary activity for 150 kids
11. Dinner party with games
12. Christmas shopping
13. Putting up Christmas lights
14. All the regular shopping, laundry, parenting etc.
15. Flu shots for adults
16. Flu shots for 2 of four kids (the healthy ones)
17. Coat shopping for kids

This week
1. Singing in church at family's ward
2. Primary teacher interviews
3. Stake Priesthood meeting
4. Doctor's appointment for pink eye
5. Haircut
6. Babysit cousins for one night
7. Babysit other cousin for a few hours
8. Primary meeting at my house
9. Elders Quorum meeting at my house
10. Dinner for neighbor
11. Surgery for Scott
12. Relief Society Enrichment
13. Friends over for dinner
14. Appointment with attorney
15. Cannery assignment
16. Play at Hale Center Theater

It appears to be a toss up.

Friday, November 9, 2007

A spot of sun

Rachel left this for me and Matt the other day. It had been a long day with sick kids and lots of "things" to get done. I left the dinner table early to spend a little quiet and dark time alone on my bed. This was there to greet me. It was a huge ray of light from my little sunshine.


"Dear Mom and Dad.
I love you gise. I hope
you like this gift.
Love Rachel"

Halloween Poem

Dawn wrote this little welcome poem that hung on our door all October. Adorable.


"Get those costoo-
ms picked out. Cause
it's almost time! Carv
those punkins. And get
ready to scream! Witch-
es, goghsts and punkins to.
Get ready for me to t-
ell you Boo!

Happy Halloween!
By Dawn"

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

4 more days

You must register. You only have until the 11th. If you can't make it, sign up and I'll take your tickets. Really. Go here.


If you already did that, go on over here to read about my own little miracles.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Things that WILL make me happy today, or soon

1. Listening to Andrew whine in his bed because I know that he'll learn not to indulge in his 2-year-old rage
2. Scott's coughing because I know that we are all generally healthy and he hasn't passed it to anyone else yet.
3. The phone ringing with yet another political call before elections tomorrow because I live in a democratic land.
4. Mounds of paperwork because I have the means to pay bills, brains to throw most of it away and lots of opportunities.
5. Kids whining about errands because I get to be at home with them to run them and they aren't stuck in a daycare watching TV or learning all sorts of useful things like sharing germs.
6. My dirty kitchen floor, because it means I've been having so much fun with family and friends that leave a little love note there and I have no time to clean it up.
7. Feeling sick because I can lay down and feel the slight fluttering of a life coming to be inside me.

Ahh. I feel better already.

Friday, November 2, 2007

Scott's bellybutton






Fresh out of the bath on Halloween, the night before he was supposed to acquire a flat new bellybutton, cough cough.

Cough, cough. What's that? Scott has a cold which saves his bellybutton for now. We'll visit the hospital in two weeks and try again.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Halloween 2007

All the treats with the tricks in the background (Matt's dropping spiders were the hit of the night).



I went with a web server, it worked.
I hadn't noticed how swelling-ish my tummy looks.