Thanksgiving 2007

I hope everyone had a pleasant and yummy Thanksgiving.

I'm glad to report we had a pleasant and yummy Thanksgiving as well.

We enjoyed the day with the Merritts (Aunt Naomi, Uncle Gary, Jane, & Ian), Lora Beth, Anna, and her friend Justin. We had a yummy spread of comfort Thanksgiving dishes: turkey, ham, yummy mash potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts (great with soy sauce and a tad of vinegar!), corn, hot rolls, salad, stuffing, and the MOST important dish to any Thanksgiving dinner--the gravy! The meal was so delicious. I wish I would've eaten more than I did. Just remembering the meal makes me want to go back in time and eat it again. Oh! I can't forget dessert: Pumpkin pie, chocolate swirl cheese cake, an "interesting" apple pie (made by yours truly), and pumpkin cheese cake.

Thanksgiving together as a family.
I am grateful to have such a wonderful family extended and immediate.

Isaac enjoyed his Thanksgiving! His tummy was bulging when he was finally done.

Eat up Benjamin!
I am very grateful for two wonderful boys who remind me each day how very blessed I am.

Justin brought his Wii and Guitar Hero 3 over. Everyone had fun taking turns pretending to be famous guitar artists.

Go Tom! Strum that guitar!
How thankful I am for Tom and his love of music and most importantly for the immense love he has for his family.

Isaac even took a turn 'playing' the game.
Mmmmm... mash potatoes and gravy sounds good right now.

Uncle Gary and Aunt Naomi were kind enough to watch Benjamin and Isaac while Tom, Anna, Justin, Jane, Ian, Lora Beth, and I went to catch a Thanksgiving flick. We wanted to see Enchanted, but of course it was sold out. So instead we saw Bee Movie. It was cute and funny most of the time. Nothing much to say about that movie. :)

Here are some more pictures that made the day even more enjoyable.

Benjamin had fun playing with his aunties Anna and Jane.
He also had a blast playing with Ian.

Row Row Row your boat gently down the stream!
What long legs you have Benjamin!

Here's Anna turning an one eyebrow man into a two eyebrow man!
(Sorry Ian, I had to put this in.)

Even though there are no pictures of the older generation for their proof of enjoying the holiday, I am sure they had as much fun as we had.

The Car Wash Incident

Before I get into the gory details, let me just say how satisfying it is to vacuum out a car. What a major stress relief it is to do detail work for a car. I love it! With that said, on with the story...

Yesterday, I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and get our Trail Blazer washed. On a side note: I was very productive yesterday. I did some yard work, cleaned up the kitchen, did some laundry--end side note. I loaded up the kids into the car and drove to our local Sonic to 'give our SUV a bath.' I decided before hand to take advantage of the free vacuums at the car wash. After the wash, I drove into the vacuum lot and started the ever delightful task of detailing and cleaning out our SUV. Remember, the boys are still with me. I let them loose in the car. Ike had a great time pretending to drive, and Ben had fun helping me. Right as I finished...

Ben yells, "I need to go Pee Pee!" He was holding himself, so I knew he couldn't hold it in much longer. I frantically closed the gate and his door, and ran to open the driver side door to get Isaac. BIG MISTAKE! Do not shut all your doors--with the keys in your purse in the front seat--when a 1 year-old has been playing near the lock button. *sigh* I locked my boys in the car!

I wasn't too worried. I have a smart-almost 4 year-old son who is capable of following directions. I calmly asked Ben to unlock the door. He tried, but somehow Isaac turned on the security alarm. Thus, the unlock button didn't work. Ben at this moment was frantic.

I told Benjamin to manually unlock a door (not in those exact words), he hadn't the patience or the concentration (he was concentrating on keeping his pants dry, bless his heart) to understand what I was trying to ask. So here I was trying to get into the car (running around the car like a chicken without its head) before my 4 year-old would pee all over my newly cleaned upholstery, and my 1 year-old son enjoying every moment of this situation. I felt idiotic, and I'm sure the other people there thought the same thing. 5 minutes went by with me trying to calmly (not succeeding) explain to Benjamin how to flip open the lock, but Ben was beyond the point of reasoning or understanding. Well, a boy can only hold in his pee for so long.

Benjamin was so dismayed when he finally couldn't hold it in any longer. I reassured him that it wasn't his fault, and he did the best he could (from outside the car of course). After his relief, I explained yet again how to manually unlock the door. In no more than 15 seconds, I was able to get into my Trail Blazer and find my keys. Ironic, isn't it? I sat down and had a good laugh. :)

So what's the lesson of this story? Is it don't ever leave your car without your keys in your pocket no matter how close your are to the car (even when you're in it at times)? or Is it always have a potty ready in the car? or Is it life just throws you some really ironic curve balls? or finally Is it there's always an upside to a downside? Whatever it is, I am truly grateful to have such wonderful boys. They bring laughter and joy into my life, and they remind me each day that there is hope left in this world.

When it Rains, it Pours!

Yes, I know, my fourth blog today. I don't know why but there are times when I get into blogger mode and want to document everything; and then there are those weeks where I don't want to do any blogging. So enjoy while I'm in my blogger-zone. :)

Last Saturday, November 17, after a hard day of yard work and watching the BYU/Wyoming Game (BYU won 35-10), we went to an indoor play area called Kangaroo Zoo with some friends. The boys (Tom included) loved it. Kangaroo Zoo has the big inflatable slides and bounce areas. It's a great place for kids of all ages to play when the weather outside is frightful. Isaac felt he was BIG enough to try out the big slides. Fortunately, Tom being the great dad that he his, was able to help Isaac climb (ahem...carry Ike) the bigger toys.

This is towards the end of our evening of fun. As you can see, Benjamin's had enough fun for that evening.

Piano is here!

I'm a week too late, but our piano did come. Let's celebrate for a moment!
Woohoo!!! Yipee!!! Excellent!!!

It's been a joy playing it. It's been more of a joy hearing Tom, Benjamin, or Isaac playing it. Tom even brought his violin from his mother's house to play. I'm hopeful he'll want to play it more. My piano fingers are slowly coming back. I get frustrated at times because my fingers aren't as agile or as fast or as strong as they once were. But nothing a TON of practice can't fix. :)

Again a moment of celebration please:
"Celebrate good times, come on! It's a celebration!"

Alyssa Look-alike?

The question is this: Does Alyssa look like me or do I look like Alyssa?

Standing on our Heads

The title says it all. :) It was only Tom and Anna who attempted to do head stands.
However, the boys loved watching Tom and Anna make their faces turn bright red. (I got a kick out of it as well.)

Music in our home soon...

I'm so very excited for Tuesday!! ...hehe... Why you ask?

My piano is coming....... dum da dum dum DUM!!!!

Woohoo! We got it yesterday. Alisa (who was so kind to help me look... thanks again!!) and I looked at pianos Saturday morning. It was so much fun. I'm glad Alisa was there to help. Without her expertise and ear, I'm sure I would've picked out a dud. It's a 48" Brodmann. Black. Sleek. The sound---to my liking very much. Loud. Deep. Soft when needed. Oooh, just thinking about it makes me want to play.

Isn't it purty?!?

I can't wait for Benjamin and Isaac to play it. They'll have so much fun. Tinkling of the ivories in our home.... I can't wait for that sound!

Twilight Series

Okay, I know I'm four years too late, but here I go anyways. I cannot get enough of the Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer. The books are one of a kind. Seriously. The series is geared toward young adults, but frankly, I feel anyone any age would enjoy the books. Her writing is refreshing, simple, yet very intense and descriptive. The intrigue is drawing and persuasive, the action scenes are intense, and well Edward is well Edward. *sigh*


Don't laugh, but it reminded me how I felt while dating Tom. I'm hoping while I'm writing this that I'll get over this silly obsession and move on to another book. It's been about 3 weeks since I've bought the series at Costco, and I still can't put it down. :( Help me. When first told about Twilight in the summer, I thought to myself: "Why would I want to read about vegetarian vampires?? It's certainly not my kind of book." As I realized that more and more of my friends read it AND enjoyed it, I finally gave in. I needed something to distract me from my nausea anyways. A good book sounded like the right remedy. It did it's job, and now look where I am.

Here I am, posting a blog about a trilogy--no, soon to be quadropology (is that even a word???)--that really shouldn't have this affect on me. After all, it is about vampires. So if you haven't read them--what till you have the time to start, cause you won't be able to put them down--and go read them! After your done, check out her website: www.stepheniemeyer.com. She has more yummy tidbits on the characters. It gives you a deeper understanding of the interactions of each character.

There. . . my rant is done. Perhaps I can find the strength to go read Les Mis or some Anne of Green Gables. Did I tell you I'm thinking about naming our next son Edward. :)

Halloween!!! Boo!

I hope everyone had a grrreat Halloween. Halloween snuck up on us fast this year. Where did the summer go? Let alone September???? AND can I say how much we love our neighborhood. Our neighbors are so friendly and nice. We got 'spooked' with some nice chocolate truffles. YUMMY! The chocolate was great, but the best part was the warm fuzzy feeling we had--how welcome we felt in our neighborhood. But back to Halloween.

Each week for 4 weeks prior to Halloween I asked Benjamin what he wanted to be. Consistently he would reply, "I want to be ghost. Daddy will be monster. Isaac will be a baby ghost. And you, Mama, will be a princess monster." I wasn't able to make him a new ghost costume. (He was a ghost last year as well.) I resurrected the ghost costume from last year that could have doubled as a KKK ceremonially robe. (The hood was too pointy.) Luckily, it didn't need altering, and Ben's head grew enough to fill in the hood--which in turn didn't make a point. I was unable to get a picture of Ben, but I am awaiting some pics from Jimdy with some of Ben as a ghost.

Isaac was a tiger. A very cute adorable tiger. When asked, he would go, "RAWR!" He loves the candy. I can't wait till they finish the candy.

I was a pregnant lady. Benjamin got a huge kick out that. I couldn't fool him though. He knew it was a pillow and not my real belly.

Tom was a Jedi Knight--so fitting for Tom. Can I also say what a sexy and handsome Jedi he was!

Tom took both boys out trick-or-treating around our street. Isaac didn't do much, just lounged in the stroller while Ben did all the work. Ben did a good job knocking on doors and reciting, "trick-o-treat". He also asked for some candy for Isaac. He's such a great big brother.

We went to Jim and Cindy's (aka Jimdy) home for Halloween Dinner. Cindy made the yummiest sloppy joes. It was great just spending time with family. Lora Beth was a baby. Cindy was CindyLou the Dr. Suess character. Jim surprised us all with this:


Again, sorry for the lack of pictures of Ben and us. I'll post them as soon as I can get them.

A Trip to the BYU Widtsoe Building

For FHE a few weeks ago, we decided to go feed the ducks at the BYU botany pond and look at the fish in the mini aquariums on campus. You'd think the ducks would have flown south by now, but to my surprise the ducks and geese were still there being all nice and fat. Benjamin and Isaac had a fun time throwing chunks of bread. These birdies were very aggressive. If I didn't toss the bread fast enough, some would snap at my shoes. Thank goodness I wasn't wearing my sandals. (Side Note: I LOVE my sandals. I look forward to the snow, but am disappointed I only have a few more weeks--if that--to enjoy my comfy, soft as butter sandals.)






After we finished tossing the stale--not quite moldy, but close--bread to the ungrateful fowl, we went to the basement of the Widtsoe Building. Ben loved the fish. There wasn't anything exotic. They mainly had species found locally here in the Utah (ie carp, trout). There were some lobster and snails and a few sea anemones. It was a definite pleasure to see the smiles on Ben's and Ike's faces.