Thanksgiving 2010...
This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family. We started off with an awesome Jazz game the night before. J.D. went with us along with one of Russel's partners, Dr. Bell, (his sweet wife got sick), and the game was great! J.D. had so much fun and even got a big Taco Bell parachute. We then spent the night with my parents and had a wonderful day on Thursday. The kids loved the turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes, pumpkin cake, ice cream, and on and on....and I somewhat enjoyed my almond flour bread stuffing, mashed cauliflower, and mocked up version of apple crisp. This is the first Thanksgiving that I've been on this special diet (basically grain free, lactose free, sugar free, processed free....it would actually be easier to just list what I can eat), and everyone was so helpful. Tammie (my awesome sister-in-law) made a wonderful cranberry/apple relish dish and made me my very own without sugar. I've never even liked cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving...let me tell you, it's a new favorite of mine. And everyone was so nice about the Waldorf salad I made so I've come to the conclusion that either a) they pretended to like it for my sake; or b) i have found a recipe that tastes somewhat normal. So it was a great day. We played cards and just enjoyed being together as a family. We of course looked through all the ads for Black Friday and almost talked ourselves into going out.....but in the end we found all sorts of excuses as to why we didn't need to get up at 3 a.m.!!
Friday night my sister had her 2nd Annual Writing Letters to Santa party. She started this new tradition last year and it was such a hit, she kindly offered to do it again. Russel and I missed out on the festivities last year as we were unfortunately on the islands of Hawaii trying to shield that dang sun from our eyes. It was rough and there was definitely no reminiscing about it this year. ;) Anyway, the party was great. Gina invites her in-laws too and it's always fun to see them and catch up. The kids wrote and decorated their letters and then amazingly enough the doorbell rang and we had a special visitor. I bet you can't guess who it was???? OKAY, I'll tell you, it was Santa Claus himself!! He came and let all the children sit on his lap and gave them candy canes. He told them a story about Rudolph and even let us take pictures. Meili was pretty nervous.....even the bribe of the candy cane couldn't get her on his knee but in the end she was willing to let mom hold her and stand next to Santa in trade for a candy cane. She actually did really well. I thought she'd be crying and wondering who the heck this strange man was in a big red suit but she handled it all in stride.
We put up all the Christmas decorations for family night on Monday before Thanksgiving. It's a fun tradition that the kids love. It was extra fun this year with Meili. I think she thought it was great that there were actually ornaments on our tree and grandma's tree that had her picture on them. Oh yes sweet girl, we were dreaming of you at this time last year and praying and hoping that you would be with us this Christmas. All our wishes came true and it's better than we've ever dreamt it would be. We have so much to be thankful for this year. Our hearts are filled with the love we feel from our Savior and for the many blessings that we have. God has performed a miracle in our family and we will be forever thankful. To wrap up our Thanksgiving post, I thought I'd do a little list of some of the things we are grateful for.
T - Time that we spend with our families and loved ones
H - our Home where we feel loved and warm
A - Apples, one of our current family favorite snacks decked out with peanut butter
N - five Nifty children that are so sweet and keep us on our toes
K - two Kittens this year that we found loving homes for (thank goodness)
S - our Savior, Jesus Christ and for the gospel that blesses our hearts and home.
G - Gabbing children that we hear each night after they are supposed to be sound asleep. And of course Grandmas and Grandpas. (G is a good letter!)
I - In-N-Out now debuting in Centerville! Much closer than our standby in Arizona.
V - Vacations this year that brought us closer together and for the memories made
I - Instant hot cocoa to warm us after playing in the snow
N - Nail polish on little girls fingers and toes
G - chewing Gum to keep the gabbing children quiet in church
Friday night my sister had her 2nd Annual Writing Letters to Santa party. She started this new tradition last year and it was such a hit, she kindly offered to do it again. Russel and I missed out on the festivities last year as we were unfortunately on the islands of Hawaii trying to shield that dang sun from our eyes. It was rough and there was definitely no reminiscing about it this year. ;) Anyway, the party was great. Gina invites her in-laws too and it's always fun to see them and catch up. The kids wrote and decorated their letters and then amazingly enough the doorbell rang and we had a special visitor. I bet you can't guess who it was???? OKAY, I'll tell you, it was Santa Claus himself!! He came and let all the children sit on his lap and gave them candy canes. He told them a story about Rudolph and even let us take pictures. Meili was pretty nervous.....even the bribe of the candy cane couldn't get her on his knee but in the end she was willing to let mom hold her and stand next to Santa in trade for a candy cane. She actually did really well. I thought she'd be crying and wondering who the heck this strange man was in a big red suit but she handled it all in stride.
We put up all the Christmas decorations for family night on Monday before Thanksgiving. It's a fun tradition that the kids love. It was extra fun this year with Meili. I think she thought it was great that there were actually ornaments on our tree and grandma's tree that had her picture on them. Oh yes sweet girl, we were dreaming of you at this time last year and praying and hoping that you would be with us this Christmas. All our wishes came true and it's better than we've ever dreamt it would be. We have so much to be thankful for this year. Our hearts are filled with the love we feel from our Savior and for the many blessings that we have. God has performed a miracle in our family and we will be forever thankful. To wrap up our Thanksgiving post, I thought I'd do a little list of some of the things we are grateful for.
T - Time that we spend with our families and loved ones
H - our Home where we feel loved and warm
A - Apples, one of our current family favorite snacks decked out with peanut butter
N - five Nifty children that are so sweet and keep us on our toes
K - two Kittens this year that we found loving homes for (thank goodness)
S - our Savior, Jesus Christ and for the gospel that blesses our hearts and home.
G - Gabbing children that we hear each night after they are supposed to be sound asleep. And of course Grandmas and Grandpas. (G is a good letter!)
I - In-N-Out now debuting in Centerville! Much closer than our standby in Arizona.
V - Vacations this year that brought us closer together and for the memories made
I - Instant hot cocoa to warm us after playing in the snow
N - Nail polish on little girls fingers and toes
G - chewing Gum to keep the gabbing children quiet in church
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