Thanksgiving 2011



We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We had Thanksgiving at the lake and then spent the weekend at my Mom's house in Sandpoint...with a foray into Spokane for some shopping on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. It got off to a bit of a rocky start though. When we returned home from Stacey's house last weekend Ailey woke up in the night with hives. Thinking that she was allergic to something she ate we gave her some Benedryl but it had no effect and she got worse. We ran her into the doctor who diagnosed her with Erythema Multiforme which means she had an allergic reaction to a virus. Weird. I had no idea that was even possible. Anyway it is nasty stuff. The poor kid missed 3 days of school prior to Thanksgiving break. She had hives EVERYWHERE. Her lips and eyes were so swollen she could barely talk, smile, or see. She was miserable. With this particular illness you get horrible joint pain...some days she couldn't walk...other days it was in her hands and she looked like a little arthritis patient. I felt so bad for her!!

This was a good day...you d0 not want to see a picture of one of her "bad" days. Wow.

When we got out to the lake on Thanksgiving day the weather wasn't too bad. I was thrilled that there wasn't much snow and that the lake hadn't frozen over yet. It was beautiful.

We hiked up on my grandma's property to cut down Christmas trees for Stacey and Kelley. I am a *bit* too particular about my tree!! (We planned to go farther north the next day to cut down a big Christmas tree...we had permits from the forest service...but we never ended up going.) Poor Ailey couldn't walk earlier that day and got to ride in Elle's stroller and then got packed into the woods on her daddy's back.

Ailey in the stroller and a cat that took a shine to her on our walk. Yep...she likes cats about as much as I do.

It was beautiful in the woods. I was packing Bryn on my back in the areas where it was hard for her to walk and she whispered to me "I in the deep dark wood."

Stacey and Ken. I wish I could have gotten a picture of Stacey's husband, John, in his fetching chapeau. I think it might have been a hat my great-grandpa wore...or maybe more like my great-grandma. :)

This year it was just our McClellan family (Kirk and Jordin and their families couldn't come) and granny of course. It was delightful. Not that we don't enjoy seeing all the extended aunts, uncles and cousins...it just wasn't such a MADHOUSE. No eating in shifts...there were places to sit etc. It was a really nice, fun and relaxing holiday. We fired up the wood stove...my mom was actually using it to heat up food...it was cozy and fun.


We set a table using foraged items and some of my grandma's special Thanksgiving decorations. We ate by candlelight. It was gorgeous.


My mom made turkey, mashed potatoes, her amazing gravy, sausage stuffing, and pumpkin pies. I made two pecan pies, two cherry pies and sweet potatoes...and brought the fixings for Shirley Temples our favorite drink of choice when we were little. Stacey brought rolls, a brussel sprout gratin, chipotle cranberry sauce and jello squares. Kelley made the most delicious green beans and a relish tray. The food was DIVINE!!

The lake clearly has some magical healing properties. Later that afternoon, Ailey's joint pain eased up and her hives went away. Hallelujah. The doctor said that she could be sick for up to 14 days. She is still hive-free as of today (Tuesday). It was so nice for the cousins to have some "cousin time". We had music from the 1940's playing, lots of laughs, and family time. It was a great day to reflect on our blessings and to be thankful for one another. I can't even tell you how many times I have fallen asleep on the old blue couch to the sound of laughter coming from that kitchen and the conversations of my grandparents, parents, and aunts and uncles. It is one of the best sounds I know. I am so glad that my children get to experience that as well.

River, Bryn and Ailey

Dane and Kam

Elle Rockin' Out

How cute is my sweet Brynnie? She particularly loved the Shirley Temples, mashed potatoes and jello squares.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

(Hope It Was Great.)

Tim Tam Slams and River's Birthday

We had a fun weekend. Even though we are still unpacking and recovering from what I now like to call "our disappointment" (sounds very Jane Austen doesn't it?) we managed to hit two parties, tackle a big project, and have a Tim Tam Slam Fest. Not too bad for a dreary snowy weekend.

Friday night we went to a friends surprise 40th Birthday Party and had a great time...and got started painting Kameron's room. Saturday we painted and painted and in order to get a sugar buzz going to keep us on task late at night, Tyler and I, did a quite a few Tim Tam Slams which are perhaps my new favorite dessert.

Ever heard of the Tim Tam Slam? How about a Tim Tam? I never had but apparently it is Australia's favorite cookie. America has been missing out. Any how I saw this on a blog and then randomly saw the ol' Tim Tam's at Albertsons this weekend.

They are delicious right out of the package. I managed to scarf down a few while running around on Saturday and boy did I regret eating them cold and not in a "slam". A slam is done by biting off opposite corners of the Tim Tam cookie. You then dip one end in a hot beverage either hot chocolate or coffee.

Like so...this is not my hand...I got this from the Internet. This was not documented because believe me people you DID NOT want to see me and Tyler slamming and sucking like greedy little pigs.

Okay, so after you have bitten your cookie and submerged one end into hot chocolate you suck the other bitten off end. Once you feel hot chocolate moving up through the cookie...the cookie cools it off so don't worry about burning your mouth...you slam that whole cookie into your mouth where it collapses into liquid fudge. Sweet Mother!! It is seriously one of the best things I have ever eaten. If you could have seen the look of ecstasy on Tyler's face (because I made him try it first) you would be RUNNING to the grocery store right now. (Tim Tam's are also sold at Target.) We got a package thinking it would be fun to do for FHE with the kids. We ate the whole thing ourselves. Sorry kiddies!! They were too darn delicious. Who knew that Tim Tam Slams were so popular. There are YouTube videos on how to properly slam them and even a song about Tim Tam Slams. Those crazy Australians!!

****Edit: DO NOT buy the caramel Tim Tams. While you can slam them...they are not nearly as good as the chocolate creme ones!!****

We also managed to squeeze in a fun trip down to Stacey's house to celebrate our niece River's 4th Birthday.

The Birthday Girl and her parents

River had her party at the gymnastics place in Moscow and it was a hit!!

These two were old enough to participate this year and they had a blast.

Cousins...before the guests arrived

Stacey making the magic happen. We don't do friend birthday parties anymore. Hallelujah. And guess what? No one cares... as long as we do something fun. Lucky for River, her mom is a much nicer mom than Aunt Kristin. :)

Happy Birthday Rivvy!! We love you.

Little House on the Prairie From Hell


So wholesome. Such a family show. Not really. Behind the scenes things were quite snarky and not in a good or interesting way. I have kind of lost the joy of what was the "Little House Experience". Let me preface everything by saying that I truly hate celebrity memoirs. Yet like a fool I read them and get sucked in and I always end up hating the celebrity...with only one exception...Julia Child and the book My Life in France. I loved that book and Julia even more.

This particular hellish spiral of celebrity trash all began with the reading of this book:

What a large mistake. I have always been intrigued by the Melissa Gilbert and Rob Lowe pairing. They never seemed like a good match to me. During my teen years I would occasionally read in a gossip magazine about the couple and would think "How in the world did Melissa Gilbert get Rob Lowe?" So as I read the Rob Lowe autobiography for the purpose of behind the scenes information on the filming of movie "The Outsiders"; Melissa Gilbert began to crop up here and there. Never in detail and only occasionally. But I knew that they had dated for several years so I knew there must be more to the story. That was my first mistake. Curiosity. They say it killed the cat. How about several days out of my life and my already too short summer. I soon found out that Melissa had written her own tell-all and it was full of Rob references. So like a sucker I read it...and thus began my downward spiral into Little House on the Prairie Hell.

Are you a fan of the Little House books? Are you a fan of the TV series? If so, and you would like to continue to be one; do not read this book. Laura Ingalls Wilder she is not!! It sort of ruined the series for me...just when my kids had discovered it and were enjoying watching all the old episodes. Shoot.

From Goodreads.com:

"To fans of the hugely successful television series Little House on the Prairie, Melissa Gilbert grew up in a fantasy world with a larger-than-life father, friends and family she could count on, and plenty of animals to play with. Children across the country dreamed of the Ingalls’ idyllic life—and so did Melissa...Women everywhere may have idolized her charming life on Little House on the Prairie, but Melissa’s own unexpectedly honest, imperfect, and down-to-earth story is an inspiration."

What I have come away with is that Melissa Gilbert is/was an over-privileged, narcissistic bore. I thought that Melissa would talk about the making of the television series, and give us insights into the people who portrayed its characters, she does, but most of it is her airing her dirty laundry IE (her affairs,marital woes, family issues) and name dropping. It was highly disappointing and unsatisfying. Clearly she and Rob Lowe (the whole point of me reading this book) have MUCH different ideas about their past relationship. Neither one of their perspectives is flattering to either themselves nor to each other. The other issue that kept arising was Melissa Gilbert's dislike of her co-star Melissa Sue Anderson. Apparently they never got along and, according to Melissa Gilbert, Melissa Sue was a snotty brat. I was surprised to find out that her on-screen nemesis Nelly Oleson (Alison Arngrim) was actually one of her best friends. So what did that lead me to do...read Alison Anrgrim's book Confessions of a Prairie Bitch. Oh dear.

My Rating: Annoying, self-absorbed drivel.

This book was a bit more interesting. Alison Arngrim is a much better writer and funny to boot. Her book was full of interesting back stories and tales from the set. I really enjoyed those parts of the book. Her life story however was so dark and sad...and although I feel bad writing this...there are parts of her life that I wish I never knew. I can't look at poor evil Nellie Oleson anymore and feel anything but pity for the poor, abused, little girl portraying her. That said...I found the book to be entertaining and I enjoyed reading it while traveling this summer. She corroborates Melissa Gilbert's claims that she and Melissa were good friends. There are several funny pictures in the book of "Laura and Nellie" having a great time together. She also backs up Melissa Gilbert's assertion that Melissa Sue Anderson was a nightmare. But Alison Arngrim cuts her a little bit more slack than Melissa Gilbert. So, of course, I then had to read Melissa Sue Anderson's book The Way I See It.

My Review: Okay. The best of the bunch.


This may be the worst one of all. It is the most unemotional and cold account of Melissa Sue Anderson's time on Little House On the Prairie. It was so unbelievably dull. At the time I read it my life was extremely stressful and this book certainly didn't tax my brain and it enabled me to fall asleep each night with ease.

I have to wonder what the point of this book was? To relive a cherished time in America's golden age of wholesome TV? Um no. To put to rest the rumors that she was unfriendly and difficult? Or even to tell her side of the story? Um no. This book contains very little depth and the bulk of it consists of Melissa Sue (she doesn't care to be called that BTW) sitting watching the DVDs...hitting pause...writing down the blow-by-blow account of her more memorable episodes with very little commentary. Bizarre. Equally bizarre is when describing something that might actually be interesting she writes it in a screen play format...Lest you try to ferret out any emotion from her whatsoever.

This was such a strange book. Even some of her pictures where copies of newspaper clippings etc. The very few family pictures she included were years old and there were absolutely zero photos of her parents. In fact, there is hardly any biographical information from her life prior to Little House. It is strange to read a "memoir" with such little personal content. There is a bit more at the end of the book about meeting her husband and having her children. But it still lacks any depth and is so detached and bland that who cares by this point anyway.

After reading this book it doesn't appear that she had any friends on the set or that she keeps in touch with anyone. From information gleaned from reading both Melissa Gilbert's book and Alison Arngrim's book she doesn't come to any Little House reunions. Things like this only lend credence to the claims of her former costars about her onset behavior.

There is no reason to read this book. Watch the DVDs and imagine her voice describing everything. "Mary walks in...Adam smiles. Ma says...blah blah blah." That's what this book is...blah, bland, detached and a total bore.

My Review: Boring with a capital B.

Here are my final thoughts after knowing way too much now about Little House on the Prairie. Don't read any of the memoirs. They will ruin the show for you. Watch the wholesome DVDs with the kiddos and enjoy them for what they are.

That said...if Jonathon Gilbert aka Willie (who has apparently disappeared from off the face of the earth and is estranged from his family) or the guy who played Albert (who wasn't mentioned in any of the books...except that his character existed on the show) wrote books I might be inclined to read them. They remain shrouded in mystery. And as you know...I am curious...and like the cat was killed...so was my summer and some brain cells by giving any of these books any thought whatsoever.

Birthday Bowling Bonanza


This weekend to celebrate the kids birthdays we went bowling as a family. We have a great place near us called Hugo's which the kids describe as a "fancy bowling alley". It is. They love having a waitress that brings them all kinds of appetizers and drinks while they bowl to great music, all under neon and black lights. We love it!! We all had a great time. It also helped to boost my mood as snow was falling outside. Boo.

The Birthday Girl and The Birthday Boy

Bryn bowled too. She was NOT going to be left out!!

Ahhh...Tyler and I love showing off our sweet BYU bowling skills. Dare to dream children...Dare to dream.

Hugo's has great food. This was our THIRD enormous plate of food.

They even brought out birthday sundaes for the kids.

Oh yeah. That's the face of fun.

Then we had the *pleasure* of stepping out into a wintry *wonderland* and making our way home on icy roads. Oh winter I DO NOT enjoy you.

This also helped a lot with my winter gloom...


My wonderful friend, Judy, just opened the most fabulous and chic bake shop in downtown Spokane called Sweet Frostings. Her creations are beyond delicious. Our family has been enjoying her treats for awhile. We are big fans!! Now everyone can have them. She had her business partner, Sally, had their grand opening on Saturday. All you locals need to go there ASAP!! We had a great time eating pretty much everything. Wow. We might just survive another gloomy winter with this cozy bakery nearby. You can read more about my visit to Sweet Frostings (on 1st Ave and Washington) here. It was decorated by two of my other talented friends, Gladys and Cel (Junebug Furniture and Design) and I just want to move in and live there. It is so darling and delicious.

The Golden Birthday Boy

Kameron turned 11 on 11/11...and he made a birthday wish at 11:11pm. How cool is that?
So what is Kameron like at eleven? Here is a glimpse into his personality. He and his friends have just discovered Weird Al Yankovic. They can be entertained for HOURS watching his videos on YouTube. He was blown away that we had Weird Al in the "olden days". Kameron's particular favorite right now is this...

There you have it!! Kameron at eleven.

Happy Birthday You Studly Stud!!
We love you very much!!

15 Years Old

How is it that the baby that caused blood vessels to burst on my forehead while giving birth to her is now a 15 year old causing blood vessels to burst on my forehead with her teenager-iness? (New word) 15 years in the blink of an eye.

Life with a 15 year old. One picture says it all. :)

Next year...driving...dating. Yeah 15 looks pretty darn good.

Happy Birthday Reilly!!

WE LOVE YOU!!