A LESSON LEARNED

Andrew learned an important lesson today.

The success of our marriage and family is based on *principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, wholesome recreational activities, and...NOT EATING RACHEL'S ONLY LITTLE DEBBIE CHRISTMAS CUPCAKE.

It's good that he learned this early in our marriage, I guess. But he still has to learn not to laugh when I get angry. 
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I don't care how cute he thinks I am. 

*Refer to THIS.

DECEMBER

This is the busiest of months. So much goin' on!

• Dad's birthday
• Obtaining a Christmas tree
• Family Christmas party
• The elementary school's Holiday Program
• Andrew graduating from college!!!!
• Family coming to town
• Christmas!
• Our 4th wedding anniversary
• A Sun Valley Ski resort vacation
• Becca's birthday
• Cousin's mission farewell

Usually, I spend a few weekend hours typing up and scheduling posts to appear automatically during the insanity that is Monday-Friday. I can get as far as two weeks ahead in a Saturday afternoon! That was until December came along. Recently, my weekends have been taken up with other obligations. So, sorry about the neglect.

But I am anxiously awaiting Christmas vacation, and the time it will provide for not only blogging...but sleeping, putting gas in my car, vacuuming pine needles from my living room, shaving my legs, and feeding my husband something other than frozen corn dogs and Little Caesar's pizza. It is definitely a time to look forward to.

Until then, here's a snapshot of just about the happiest part of life right now. Isn't it lovely?

That's another thing I'm excited for over Christmas break: staring dreamily at this tree for unreasonable lengths of time. I haven't had nearly enough of that yet. 

LITTLE TURKEYS

Our second Thanksgiving  celebration began with a family turkey bowl game at the high school stadium. This was Aurora's first year as a participant, and she sacked our quarterback! Not bad, eh?

We enjoyed our feast back at Grandma's house, before Utah's incredibly warm weather beckoned me outside. 

Colorful Becca and I herded the little ones outside for a snowball fight...with what little snow was left.

Utah still looked appropriately autumn-ish, while the Idaho we left behind looked like it was ready for Christmas. 

 My baby sisters. 
Aurora, look at me. 
Aria, scoot over so your face is in the sunlight. 
Belle, smile pretty, please. 
Aurora, hold still. 
Aria, stop talking for just a second. please. 
Say cheese!
Aurora, look at the camera!
Belle, will you please open your eyes?
Okay, ready?1...2...3!!!


That's basically how it went down. 

We all played with our beautiful, little cousins until the last of the snow had been scraped for Grandma's back lawn. 

I mean really. Aren't they the sweetest?

Little turkey...

MEMORY MONDAY--our funny

July 1997? Camping in Arizona.

That's me in the trunk and Becca in the backseat. We thought we were so funny. 
(Get it?)
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JONAH AND THE WHALE

The story of Jonah from Corinth Baptist Church on Vimeo.


OH. MY. GOODNESS. You MUST watch this video! My Grandpa Brown e-mailed it to me, and I can't stop watching it. It is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen. NO JOKE! Her expression...her lisp...her confidence...and her big white bow... 


I DARE any of you to disagree. 

OUR FIRST

We have never hosted a Thanksgiving meal before, that the preparations weren't carefully supervised by a more experienced mother figure. This time we were on our own. There was no one to ask how to roll out a pie crust, to share the best fruit salad recipe, or provide reassurance that the turkey is in fact, cooked through.

Okay. I got it into the pan. Now what?

We tag teamed the pie. Andrew handled the filling while I conquered the crust. Ready to bake!

Our makeshift place settings. We took our tiny kitchen table built for two, pushed it up against our skinny hall table, and covered it with a spare window curtain. We didn't have enough matching place mats for our three guests, so I just went with the mismatched look. Not only the place mats were different, but so were the chairs, and all of the dishes. Apparently, we're not set up very well to entertain.
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And I'm still wondering why I took a picture of the table...and not the people.
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But we enjoyed a lovely meal with belching Becca, her Canadian roommate, and Andrew's crippled Canadian business partner (ha!). Then we played card games, ate pie, and kicked our friends out, so we could hit the icy road. We were off to Utah for the next day's Thanksgiving dinner!

(The camera doesn't capture it, but imagine a whirling blizzard out that window.)

THANKFUL THURSDAY--I Scream

Dreyer's holiday ice cream flavors. Absolutely delicious. Even better with a warm brownie.
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My gratitude knows no bounds for these rich, creamy, festive desserts. Especially that of the Egg Nog variety...
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