Thanksgiving By Christopher and Garrett

T Turkeybowl ~ Playing Football Thanksgiving Morning

H Holiday ~ Daddy's Home

A Absolutely Full Stomachs

N Nice Indians

K Kind Pilgrims

S Sweet Pies and Spotless Kitchen (we're eating out this year)

G Giving Thanks and Gathering Together

I Indians taught the Pilgrims

V Vegetables

I Incredible Turkey

N Natalie loves her family and friends

G Grateful for all of you

Deep thoughts by Madelyn

Madelyn loves to ask questions. I wonder who she gets that from? Last night she came up to me and said, "Mom, will you cry when I go up in the sky?" Yes, Madelyn I will cry but hopefully, I am there to greet you...

She was crying yesterday because her friends keep moving away. 

When we moved from Utah, she had to say goodbye to her best friend, Paige, who lived next door.

Then earlier this year, our next door neighbors moved to Malaysia.  Michael moved away and Madelyn was sad.

October came and another friend moved away, Carter moved to Seattle.  Madelyn was again sad!

November came and Madelyn's friend, Roary, moved to California.  (Roary is the Robot) Madelyn cried for her friend yesterday.  Maybe she needs to play with the girls more often because the boys keep dumping her.  Hopefully, this is not a theme for her teenage years.  

December is coming and another boy-friend is moving away... I hope Madelyn will survive.  For now, I think she should stay a single lady.

Little does Madelyn know, that her mom keeps losing her friends too when all Madelyn's friends move away.  I miss all of  you too.

Kristen

Trang and Nicole

Chelsea

Chanelle (in her halloween costume)

Election Week and Tagged

This past week we elected our next President, Barack Obama. The kids voted at school this week, too. Their results were different than our nations outcome. This is the beauty of our freedom to Vote. Sometimes our canidate wins and sometimes our canidate loses. But we should all in the end support our newly elected President. That's all I'm going to say!

This past weekend Matt's Parents came to visit and watch the boys play baseball. We had a great visit and it was nice to have them come spend time with their grandkids. We're are grateful to have them in our lives.

Tagged 8

My 8 Favorite TV Shows

(I have never been a big follower of TV shows and I don't have a DVR so I watch whatever is on)

1. King of Queens
2. Everybody Loves Raymond
3. Dateline or 20/20
4. Law and Order
5. The Cosby Show (all time favorite)
6. American Idol
7. Oprah (sometimes but I am NEVER watching TV at 4 pm)
8. Food Network

My 8 Favorite Restaurants

1. Pappasitos (Mexican)
2. The Melting Pot (Fondue)
3. P.F. Chang's (Chinese)
4. Rudy's (BBQ)
5. Jason's Deli (Sandwich/Salad)
6. California Pizza Kitchen (Pizza)
7. Hires (Hamburger)
8. The Spaghetti Factory (Italian)

8 things that happened yesterday

1. Walked with my walking buddies
2. Went to Presidency Meeting for Primary
3. Made Lasagna with Madelyn
4. Watched the kids play outside after school
5. Took down Halloween Decorations
6. Rented Baby Mama and Journey to the Center of the Earth
7. Jumped up and down because Baseball was canceled tonight
8. Drank Candy Cane Hot Chocolate..yum!

8 things I look Forward to

1. Going back to Utah or Ohio for a visit...sometime
2. Putting up Christmas Ornaments
3. A vacation with Matt (does anyone want 3 kids for the weekend)
4. Turkey and Pumpkin Pie
5. Reading Christmas Books to my kids
6. Madelyn being tall enough to ride all the rides at Disney World
7. Going to the Beach
8. Seeing my Mom again (but I can wait...I'm not ready to go to heaven just yet!)

8 things I love about Fall

1. Anything made with Pumpkin
2. Cool mornings and evenings
3. Back to School
4. Leaves changing colors...they're not great here in Texas though
5. Soups
6. Putting blankets on our beds
7. Honeycrisp Apples
8. Watching my kids enjoy Halloween

8 things on my wish list

1. a vacation
2. the economy to be more stable
3. for Obama to not mess this country up
4. to be a good example
5. to be a better friend/sister/wife/mother/in-law
6. to not yell at my kids
7. not white carpet!! it's so hard to keep clean!
8. for my kids to love their childhood

Shouldn't kids sleep in after all that sugar.

Mine didn't. They've been up for way to long and it's still dark outside. We had a great Halloween week. Last week we kicked if off with Trunk or Treat at the church. The trunks of cars were decorated so creative. The kids picked out their pumpkin and carved it on Tuesday. Christopher had a party for cub scouts on Thursday and they had a contest for the best carved pumpkin.  Christopher's won for happiest. (on the right)

Thursday was Madelyn's party at school.  They had a parade, sang to the parents and made these "bootiful" frames.

Friday, Garrett had his story book parade a school.  He is the Joker.  Madelyn also had a party at her church teacher's house.  She decorated cupcakes and ate pizza.  

That night we went trick or treating and got enough candy to last the rest of our lives.  Madelyn was a princess, Christopher the Dark Knight and our scary Joker, Garrett.  After trick or treating, the neighborhood had a block party.  The kids made a spider web out of yarn that was pretty cool.  Everyone stands in a circle and you pass the yarn back and forth, holding onto a piece before you throw it.  

Now, that it's over....what should I do with all this candy??

November Birthdays!

November 5th is my nephew Nathan's 12th Birthday. (Nathan is my oldest brother, Todd's son) Nathan loves to play, watch and eat football! Happy Birthday Nathan!!

November 8th is Matt's sister's husband's birthday. That was a sentence...but just so you know. Marc is the most down to earth, nicest person you will ever meet. I always love hanging out with him when we go to Ohio.

November 14th is my sister in law, Stacy's birthday. She is married to my oldest brother, Todd. Stacy is very talented with her hands. She cut hair for many years and was one of the best! She loves to decorate and remodel her house. Happy Birthday, Stacy.

November 15th is my nephew Blake's 19th Birthday. Blake is Matt's Sister's Son. The size of the picture doesn't mean how much we love you...I can't figure out why some come across smaller. Blake is leaving to serve a mission on December 17 for two years in the Salt Lake South Mission. He couldn't be more excited and we couldn't be more proud of him. Happy Birthday, Blake!

Our First NFL Game

Matt got tickets for a suite at the TEXANS game this past weekend from work.  So we took the boys to their first NFL game against the BENGALS.   The Texans won 35-6.  The boys thought the whole experience was awesome, right down to the all you can eat drinks, ice-cream and food!

I HATE Daylight Savings Time

For those of you that REALLY know me. Know that I hate Daylight Savings Time. EVERY stinkin 6 months my internal clock is messed up and it takes me forever to get back on track. I don't know why but last fall it took me till December to stop waking up at 5 am instead of 6 am.

So this month, I have been hoping it wouldn't happen again. My trusty calendar that I bought at Big Lots has Oct 26 marked as Daylight Savings. So of course, I highlighted it and I have been thinking about this week. Last night around 9:30 as I was reading I was nodding off but I thought I can't go to sleep now because this would be like going to bed at 8:30 and I will be up really early. Well wouldn't you know it I woke up at my usual 6 am time today and thought it's really only 5 am...here we go. So I go get on the computer and I check a few blogs. The first one that I read says, "Sorry to anyone that I told it was Daylight Savings Tomorrow...it's really next week" WHAT.. are you kidding me. My calendar says it's today. So, I google it and yep, it's NEXT Sunday. I guess it wouldn't have been good to show up an hour late for 8:30 am church..huh. Or maybe I will and pretend that I never saw that blog.

Just wait until I have to go wake up that sleepy man in my bed. He went to bed thinking he was getting an extra hour of sleep too.

Should I take my defected calendar back to Big Lots? Do you think they will give me my dollar back?

Click on the calendar to enlarge if you don't believe me!