Thankful

A Thankful Post:
I'm Thankful for new friends, who invite and include.

We got invited to spend Thanksgiving dinner with some new friends in our ward, the Lindseys. Their brother and his wife drove up from Utah as well, so it was a nice group. I was so grateful to be invited somewhere and to have some company on a day that's usually filled with family and familiarity. I felt silly snapping pictures, so I didn't get any of the evening, sorry!


I'm Thankful for yummy Thanksgiving food, and for telephones so I can ask my mom dozens of questions on how to cook said Thanksgiving food.

I was assigned to bring pumpkin pie, rolls and a broccoli salad. I had never done a pumpkin pie before, but thanks to step-by-step coaching by my mom, everything turned out great! My rolls even rose! I struggle with making rolls - they never turn out exactly how wish.



I'm Thankful for patient boys.

We had a nice time getting to know them and letting the kids play down in the basement. They have a boy who is Boo's age who was really friendly and wanted to hold Boo's hand and involve her in everything he was doing. It took Boo almost the entire evening to thaw from her frigid reaction to any and all strangers. She looks over at me with this pleading look of "Mom, please save me from this annoying presence! Maybe if I just turn my head, he'll GO AWAY." That poor kid didn't give up, though! He kept inviting and thinking of something else that might draw this crusty girl out of her shell. They finally all warmed up and played together the last 10 minutes of the evening! (Sigh) We've gotta work on that.

I'm Thankful for three-month-old babies.

This little Diddle Brains turned three months! She's getting so cute and smiley.

I'm Thankful for a Church that allows us to stand and share our testimonies of what we know to be true.

Josh and I both gave talks on Gratitude that following Sunday. Yaks fell asleep during the Sacrament and a nice lady behind us offered to hold Diddles while we tag-teamed out talks. It couldn't have gone better! I'm grateful to get that speaking assignment out of the way, though.

I'm Thankful for the Holidays and all they represent.

We spent that whole weekend decorating the house for Christmas We hit our little mall in town, which consists of a Macey's, Claire's, Bed Bath and Beyond, Old Navy, Bath&Body Works, and some other little shops. When we were driving home the roads looked like this! Foggy, maybe 10 feet visibility! It was scary.

We bought little trees for the kids to decorate

Decorated Gingerbread Houses
"I'm going to eat candy for breakfast and lunch and dinner!"

"I'm gonna eat candy ev'ry day!"

Skyped with family

We spent a lot of time in front of our toasty fire! It was a nice weekend.

And finally, a special edition of RIGHT WHERE IT SHOULD BE:

The kids have been helping decorate this past week, and I found these two decorations around the house that made me chuckle. "Where are the trains?" "Oh, they are attached by their magnets to the metal lamps in the living room...right where they should be! Who needs Tidmouth Sheds? We've got lamps!"

"Where's my plastic brown horse?" "Oh that? It's on the Christmas tree, of course! It only makes sense that plastic horses would like to nestle into the plastic tree needles. Right where they should be."