It's About to Get Ugly

Last year on facebook, I saw pictures of a friend that had gone to an "Ugly Christmas Sweater" party. It looked like so much fun that I wanted to do one this year. We had a great night and all of the people that came were such good sports. We have great friends.

I thought I'd be fancy and try to make my own eggnog. I found a recipe that people raved about online, so I tried it and after two batches of stirring and stirring and stirring over low heat (so as not to curdle) to bring to a boil and only partially filling the punch bowl I was serving it from, I thought "this is for the birds" and bought the rest and mixed them together. I guess "fancy" I am not.

I took a million pictures, so please bear with me.

And the winners were (drum roll please)...

Best Couple (yes, their sweaters are sewn together):
Guy and Jena Fish

Most likely to out-shine the Las Vegas strip:
Andrea Bemis

Best Homemade:
Brian Stafford

If grandma had been wearing that sweater, I'm not surprised she got run over by a reindeer:
Kristy Smith

Biggest Party Pooper:
Greg Tilton (Blue? Come on, that's not even a Christmas color!)

And the winner for UGLIEST:
Shane Hoyt (front view)

(Back view)

Gingerbread House

I wanted to make gingerbread houses this year from scratch. My sister has started doing it and swears that it is easier than it seems....However, upon unloading our Christmas decorations we discovered an unopened pre-fabricated house that we didn't use last year. The kids were so excited and I was already started to feel like making my own was one more thing to have to do that I relented. Maybe next year...

Fall Cleanup

My kids actually asked me if they could go out and rake leaves this year! Pick my jaw up off of the floor. Maddie and Ryan did the bulk of the work, while Phillip's version of helping was staying out of the way...on the trampoline.

The best parts of raking fall leaves are:

playing in the piles you make...

...and coming in afterward for some hot cocoa.

Thankful Thursday

It is early and the kids are all still in bed (maybe that should be one of the things I am grateful for). Dave is off playing football with a bunch of guys from the ward. I hope they all get to return injury free. I sit here at my laptop knowing that in a few moments the usual noises of the house will start to come alive. The sound of footsteps will fill the air and the kids will and will not get along depending on the minute. The rolls still need to be made. They always make the house smell so good when they are cooking. The pies are all made. I'm really hoping the new recipe I tried for pumpkin pie will be good. I'm famous for trying out new recipes when I have company. Not always a good thing. I guess I'm too impatient to try them out beforehand. Fingers crossed that this will be a keeper. The cranberry relish is made and I'm hoping it is as good as I remember it. I'm not normally a cranberry jelly fan, but I remember having something similar to this at a Relief Society activity years ago and loving it. Again, another recipe I'm plunging into for the first time. As I think about the things I want to mention today that I am grateful for, I can't help but get a little teary-eyed. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for my blessings and as I say that I hope I don't sound cliche, because I really do recognize that the Lord has greatly blessed my life. Here are just a few of the ways:

1. Health. For the most part my whole family enjoys great health and I realized more than ever how precious that is on days when I'm not feeling so hot. We all have all fingers and toes. We see, hear, smell, taste, walk, talk, stretch, play.

2. Forefathers. How grateful I am for people who have paved the way for me to make my life easier in ways that I know I take for granted. Especially today, I think of all the people who came over to America in search of a better life. That could not have been easy to leave their friends, families, homeland, but they wanted something better and were willing to sacrifice to get it.

3. Family and friends. I love my family. I love my kids, my husband, my parents, my in-laws, my brothers and sisters and their families and all of my dear, dear friends. I feel a great sense of comfort in knowing that we are all there for each other. We love and support and care for each other. We are all different and sometimes those differences make us want to go crazy, but it is through our differences that we can learn from each other and help each other.

4. Religion. That is one of the reasons people came to America. For religious freedom. I'm so grateful that they established a place where I can worship almighty God according to my own conscience and that others can do the same. I'm grateful for people who want to serve God and thereby serve their fellow men.

5. Love. It is the motivating factor in most things that we do. I know that God loves me. I feel his love for me. I also know that God loves everyone else too. He wants me to love others as much as He does. Knowing that helps remind me to be nicer to people. It helps me to be more patient with my kids. It helps me to be kinder to strangers and to those close to me. It helps me to forgive the angry driver who cuts me off on the road. It helps me be nicer on the road. It helps me to forget more about myself and my problems and when I do that my problems always have a way of being put into perspective and I can see them in a new light. I'm so thankful for all the love that is shown to me on a daily basis.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! May you reflect on your many blessings this day and always and may your hearts be filled with the Love of the Lord for you and your fellowmen.

Thankful Thursday

Some random ones this week:

1. Getting to go to the midnight showing of the new Harry Potter movie tonight. I realize I might have a different tune tomorrow when I'm super sleep-deprived, but it will be fun to be with some friends and my hubby. Not normally a night owl these days. I think the last time I did a midnight show was when Jurassic Park came out. Yes, I am getting old.

2. Having a daughter that is old enough so that I can go to the midnight show and leave her in charge.

3. Dental hygiene. I went to the dentist today. I have really bad gums (thanks, Dad) and have to go in 4 times a year now for "special" cleanings. Hopefully it will prevent me from having to have some of the procedures my Dad has endured. I'm grateful to live in a country that values oral health and grateful for dental insurance that helps pay for it. Oh, and those cool little "sucky" things that gets rid of all the extra saliva accumulating in your mouth. Those are cool.

4. That the mouse living in my garage STILL has not made his way into my house. For awhile I thought that he had moved on, but those hopes were dashed when Maddie recently found a mouse dropping in one of her tennis shoes. YUCK. I'm starting to itch now. I've also been delegating more trips to the extra fridge and freezer (in the garage) to my kids.

5. Finally finding a good cherry crisp recipe to use up all the pie cherries that have been hanging out in my freezer (in the garage....) since I bought them over a year ago. It's a keeper.

6. People who comment on my blog. Who doesn't need a little validation?

The Happiest Place on Earth....Except When it Wasn't

When we decided to go to Disney World and Universal Studios, and were looking at the prices for park passes we realized that the more days you went, the cheaper they got. So, in our infinite wisdom, Dave and I thought more is better. We got passes to go to the parks every day that we were in Florida (not including travel days).

The older kids were on board and although pooped at the end of each day, liked the excitement of it all. Phillip...not so much. We're talking about a 4-year old who likes his routine. So not only had we taken him away from his friends and preschool and his pillow, etc., but we were running him ragged. I know that he had a lot of fun on our trip, but some days, the tired factor took over and we had a few melt-downs. Here are a couple of them:

Upon entering the Animal Kingdom on our second day and as the older kids were rushing to their favorite ride (Expedition Everest), Phillip got a little frustrated with the hectic pace and declared:

"I HATE THIS PLACE! I WANT TO GO HOME!"

Sit-down strike:

Can't remember the impetus for this one, but another time he stated quite boldly "This place is HIDEOUS!"

One morning we had this little heart to heart:

Phillip: Mom, do we go to Disney World all the time?

Me: No, Disney is really special, it's not something we get to do very often.

Phillip: Then why, EVERY morning do we go there?

Me: Speechless

So, I guess next time I now know to slow down the pace a little bit. Maybe take a day or two in between park days to just relax, go to the pool, do some shopping, or whatever, and just breathe.

Thankful Thursday

This definition of the purpose of temples is from lds.org:

Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are sacred structures in which questions such as "Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? What is my relationship to my Maker? Will death rob me of the treasured associations of life? What of my family? Will there be another existence after this, and, if so, will we know one another there?" are answered. Each is dedicated as a house of the Lord, a place of holiness and peace shut apart from the world. There truths are taught and ordinances are performed that bring knowledge of things eternal and motivate the participants to live with an understanding of our divine inheritance as children of God and an awareness of our potential as eternal beings.
I got to go to the temple today with my hubby. I'm glad I went. I need to go more. I live so close to ours that I really have no excuse to not go more. It was a great day; beautiful inside the temple and out. These are some things about the temple for which I am so grateful:

1. That we live so close to one. It is right off of the highway about 25 minutes from our house. We drive by it often. Every time we do Dave invariably says "Doot de de dooooo" (imagine a trumpet sound, for the angel Moroni--holding a trumpet that is atop the temple).

2. The patrons and workers are all so friendly and welcoming. I don't know a place where you will see more smiling faces. One of the ladies there said to me "I'm so glad to be with you today". I don't know her. I don't know if I will ever see her again, but just her saying that made me feel really good.

3. Quiet introspection. It is so peaceful inside the temple. No superfluous noises or distractions.

4. Being able to reflect upon my covenants with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and giving someone else who has passed on from this life the opportunity to accept these covenants and blessings for themselves.

5. Always learning something new every time I go. I love getting little epiphanies about aspects of the gospel that I didn't realize before. It is a perfect setting to receive personal revelation from a God who loves me, knows me and my circumstances, and wants to guide me and help me succeed in mortality.

6. Whenever I leave I have a renewed sense of what is important. My priorities come more clearly into focus. I want to be a better, kinder, more patient mother, wife, friend, and driver on the highway.

Highlights

To spare you the kajillion pictures I took on our trip, I thought I would mention a few of the highlights from each of the parks we visited while in Florida.

Magic Kingdom:

1. Seeing Mickey and Minnie:
2. The Buzz Lightyear ride:

3. Splash Mountain and Phillip getting enough courage to put his hands up as we went down:

Animal Kingdom:

1. Kali River Rapids (Before and After):

2. "It's Tough to be a Bug":
3. Although not pictured, the coolest ride here and favorite by all (except Phillip who was not quite tall enough) was hands down "Expedition Everest". If you ever go to Disney's Animal Kingdom, don't miss this one. You won't be disappointed.

Hollywood Studios
(does anyone remember when it was called MGM studios? I wonder why it changed....I digress):

1. Phillip and Ryan doing the Jedi Training (I wish I had this on video...so cute):
2. Tower of Terror (I think the girls went on it 6 times):

3. Toy Story Midway Mania Ride (probably my favorite ride of all three Disney Parks):
4. Watching Ryan groove along with the Disney Channel Singers (he's in the red shirt):

Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure:

1. Of course, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, complete with Butter Beer and the Ford Anglia:

2. SuessLand and all things Suessian (like the very cool carousel):

3. Spider man, Shrek, getting soaked, and sentiments: