Thanksgiving Weekend 2008

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. We spent it out at the lake with family. This year my Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Mike came along with their kids: Justin and Hannah and their family, Wendy and Ben and their family, and Jennifer and her cute son. My mom and Ken, Stacey and John and their family, Kelley, my Grandma and all of us were also there so it was a big fun group. Just how I like my Thanksgivings to be!!

I was THANKFUL this Thanksgiving for being off of bed rest so I could finally get waxed and groomed. My hair and eyebrows were hideous. So I am thankful for Whitney squeezing me in on Wednesday afternoon so I didn't scare everyone on Thanksgiving.

I am also bummed that my camera/memory card or both malfunctioned and I lost LOTS of my pictures. I could scream. These are a few that I was able to recover!! Of course all my favorites...long gone!!

We actually ended up having two Thanksgiving Dinners. One on Thursday that my mom hosted and another one on Saturday for family members who couldn't make it on Thursday.

Me and my mom (our own Martha Stewart.) Thanks Mom for all of your hard work!!

The table looked so pretty and the food was delicious. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of everyone at the candlelit table due to the food being so delicious. Fat prego girl has to eat!!

Our menu was:

Appetizers: Hot Artichoke Dip and Seven Layer Dip (Hannah, Wendy and Jennifer)
Brined and roasted turkey (my mom)
Sage sourdough stuffing with sausage (my mom)
Vegetarian Sage sourdough stuffing (my mom)
Tyler's grandma's Parker house rolls (my mom)
Cranberry sauce (my mom)
Killer Mashed Potatoes (my mom)
Liquid Gold Gravy (my mom)
Baked artichokes (Stacey)
Roasted Brussel Sprouts (Stacey)
My Great-Grandma Mary's Homemade Noodles (Kelley)
My Grandma's Sweet Potatoes (Kristin)
Pecan Pies (Kristin)
Cherry Pies (Kristin)
Pumpkin Pies (my mom)

I'm sure I forgot a few things but suffice it to say the food was GOOD!!

My cousin Wendy

My cousin Jennifer

The kids table...one of them. We actually had two. This one was for the "older kids" and another one at the end of the big table was for the "little kids". Reilly was excited that this year she actually got to sit at the "grown-up" table.

Tyler and Ailey recovering after the big feast

Fun with the cousins

This year there were two new babies to be passed around and hugged and kissed...Gavin and Peyton. They were so cute and so good to let us all hold them.

Gavin

Peyton

And there are two more babies on the way:

My sister Kelley and I are both having girls and we are due about 2 1/2 weeks apart.

Tyler and I also managed to squeeze in a little bit of Christmas shopping and two movies.


I liked both of them!! I was surprised that I liked Twilight as much as I did...of course not as good as the book and a few odd changes here and there. I was very surprised that I liked the casting of Edward. I wasn't thrilled before I saw the movie but after seeing it I ended up liking the actor who played Edward more than I thought I would.

We had a fun 2nd Thanksgiving Dinner on Saturday with Mike and Bonnie and all their family plus my Grandma, Kelley, my Uncle John and Aunt Ade, My Uncle Steve and Aunt Margaret and my cousin Tania and her boyfriend, Jake. My cousin Justin did a deep-fried turkey that was out of this world AMAZING!! I think that is what we are going to have to do every year. It was so GOOD. He also deep-fried green beans that were heavenly and deep-fried pickles that were super good too. The food for Thanksgiving Dinner #2 was excellent as well!!

My Uncle Mike carving the deep-fried turkey!!

We had so much fun eating, hanging out with family, laughing, and talking late into the night. It was one of the best Thanksgiving weekends I've had in a long time. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. We also got our first snow on Thanksgiving weekend. So everything looked pretty magical out at the lake.

We also managed to squeeze in going to get our Christmas tree. Poor Reilly stayed home due to being sick and throwing up but the rest of us had fun trudging around scouting out the perfect tree and enjoying donuts and hot chocolate!!

The perfect tree!!

If I can recover anymore pictures I will post them. It just makes me sick that I lost pictures and video!! Ugh...

Happy 1st Birthday to my little niece River. Her birthday was yesterday. I hope she had a great day!!

Kirk, Jayme, and Kaiden think of us freezing our butts off here in the drizzle and fog of the Pacific Northwest while you guys are laying on a beach in Mexico!! You suck.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

Pasta 101


What do four wild women let loose on the town on a Saturday night without husbands and kids do for fun? Take a cooking class of course. My mom, me, Stacey and Kelley signed up through the community college to take an Italian Cooking Class. All four of us love to cook and this class was teaching how to make homemade pasta WITHOUT a pasta machine. So we are all up for it. It turned out to be so much fun.

We were taught by the cutest little older Italian lady named Tullia. She has been teaching at the community college and at several local schools for decades. She is amazing. Our class was held at her "Sauce House". She bottles her homemade sauce and sells it to all the local grocery stores, does demonstrations, and has even had a few cooking demonstrations on local TV. She is an absolute gem.

In our class there were the four of us, three other women and even a guy. We all got to have lots of "hands on" experience.

I loved learning to make the pasta the "old way" by hand without the necessity of a pasta maker. My house is like a doll house and there is very little storage and I absolutely HATE gadgets. So I like to just be able to make something without having to locate a bunch of do-dads to do it. Making the pasta by hand takes longer but it is still so easy. The way we learned will allow us to make any kind of pasta including lasagna, tortellini, and ravioli.

Tullia is very particular about how things are done. She is a huge "waste not want not" person and gave us lots of tips on how to save money by not being wasteful. She also had so many interesting stories of her life growing up in Italy and how her mother and grandmother would cook. Her recipes were all family recipes passed down from her grandmother.

It is surprising how cheap it is to make pasta for a family...truly cheaper than buying it from the store and fresh pasta tastes so much better than dried.

Stacey getting down the proper techniques

We also learned to make a delicious meat sauce and a bunch of Tullia's "secrets" for making amazing sauce like...putting a piece of carrot and a piece of celery that has a whole clove or two studded into it in your homemade sauce while it is simmering. It is amazing the amount of flavor that adds.

We also learned to make the best Italian salad dressing...I will not be buying it anymore... and a great light dessert or after school snack for the kids. Cut up an apple or two and sprinkle them with lemon juice, cinnamon, and a little bit of sugar. Let sit in the fridge for about a 1/2 an hour and voila a very tasty and light dessert. It was seriously so good.

After all our cooking was done we got to set the table and enjoy the fruits of our labors family-style.

It was a lot of fun and we are all looking forward to taking another class in the future. Tullia even said that Reilly could come and take the class with us too. She would LOVE IT!!

Shocker!!

Yesterday I had my ultrasound. Huge thanks to Janyse for taking Ailey to preschool!! The ultrasound went really well. The baby looks healthy and strong. The tech couldn't see any signs of my hematoma anymore. Hallelujah!! So my doctor has told me I can "ease" back into my normal life. I do have to wait until Friday to get the definitive word after my OB reviews the ultrasound in detail looking for any signs of that blasted hematoma. But I have been given the official word that I am off of bed rest!! I am hoping to be able to start exercising again...yay Valynn!! Maybe I will see you at the gym on Monday!! AND...no one could be more excited than Tyler that my months of "pelvic rest" aka no sex has been lifted!!

But we did get a huge surprise though. After two ultrasounds one at 12 weeks and one at 14 weeks where the baby looked like it was going to be a boy we found out that we are having...




Needless to say we were completely FLOORED!! We made them check and re-check and check again. Finally they were like "Look!! Here are the legs. There is nothing between them." Whoa. That just goes to prove that you cannot trust those early ultrasounds. Not that we were disappointed but it took us a minute to wrap our minds about little girl #3!! And this after we finally picked a boys name. Boys names are so hard!! But we finally picked one and everyone has been talking about "Baby Callum"!! We had a girls name that we liked...Bryn Katrin... but now that our whole paradigm has shifted we are holding onto it but open to suggestions. Feel free to send any cute girl's names our way.

Poor Kameron took it the hardest!! He was really hoping for a baby brother. Poor guy. We are trying to build up how fun it will be to be the only boy and all the special "guy things" he and Dad will get to do. Ailey, on the other hand, is ecstatic!! She is already planning out matching dresses they will wear...with matching tiaras no less. She was telling Kameron at breakfast... "Aren't you so excited for our girl baby? And Kameron said "I'll believe it when I see it! They've been wrong before!!" So true.

Katherine asked me if I had been having any weird cravings or aversions. I am just starting to be able to eat again. But I do crave pomegranates and ice cream...not together. ;) I'm not really an ice cream girl either. Things that taste disgusting to me...CHOCOLATE!! That Halloween candy nearly did me in. I ate a Krackle mini-bar the other night and had to spit it out because it tasted like chocolate covered dog food. I hope this aversion lasts!! I still have lots of things that don't taste good due to just recently getting over the morning sickness. But pomegranates are really hitting the spot right now!

So that's the latest from here. Oh...if the house is rocking don't come a knocking!! Wink Wink!!

Happy 8th Birthday Kameron!!

The Birthday Boy!!

Kameron turned 8 years old last Tuesday. What an exciting age to be turning!! Kameron is so excited about getting baptized and becoming a cub scout that he can hardly stand it. Kameron's birthday falls on Veteran's Day and that has the added bonus of not having school that day. Both Kameron and Reilly had friend birthday parties planned for this year and had to scrap them due to my being on partial bed rest. Tyler and I were dreading telling them that their parties were off but both kids reacted so maturely and understandingly that we were floored. They were so accommodating. Wow. We must be doing something right as parents.

Since the kids had the day off from school Tyler decided to take the day off of work as well. We had a family day o' fun. Which started off with a matinee of High School Musical Three. The kids have been dying to see the movie...and if I am honest...so was I!! What I love about these movies are that they appeal to the whole family. Boys like it because of the sports element and girls like it because of the "love story" and all the singing and dancing. Even Ailey can tell you all about "Troy Bolton and Gabriella." So off to the movies we went...a nice calm sitting activity...for the pregnant lady.


Ailey looks less than thrilled...but believe me she had a GREAT TIME!! Maybe she thought Dad was going to steal her popcorn.

After the movie we headed off to pick up some birthday gifts for the birthday boy and his treats to take to school the next day. Then it was time for PIZZA!! This is a big treat for our kids because I HATE pizza. I know I'm a freak of nature. But I really don't like it. I only like two kinds: Margarita Pizza and this really good Blue Cheese Chicken Pizza from a local restaurant here. So to get to go out for pizza was high excitement for our crew.

The kids devoured our Cheese/Pineapple/Artichoke Pizza. I must admit it wasn't too bad...lucky for me though this place had a salad bar!!

This was literally the highlight of our dining experience. Reilly getting stuck under the table. She also got salad bar and in trying to get out for a refill she thought she would crawl out under the table instead of making everyone get up. Well...she's not a little as she use to be and ended up getting stuck...unable to get out or back up. I thought Kameron and I were going to pee our pants laughing. Tyler had to be called away from the salad bar to come and unwedge her!!

After that there was some more birthday money to spend and so Dad took the kids into a bunch of places while I took it easy in the car.

Then we came home and had Kameron's Birthday Feast. This year he chose: My friend Sharon's amazing spinach stuffed Manicotti, fresh pineapple, Cold Duck Sparkling Grape Juice (we really should buy stock in this company), Homemade Hot Milk Vanilla Cake with Homemade Vanilla Buttercream Frosting topped with Huckleberries (YUM!) and Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream.

Happy Birthday Kamers!!

Kameron also had his baptismal interview with the the bishop a few days ago. He was very prepared but the morning of his interview before church he decided he'd better study up in case Bishop Finn decided to throw him a curve ball.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how intently he was studying his baptismal covenants...even Ailey went and grabbed Reilly's Faith in God booklet and the two of them were pouring over them. It is hilarious because it looks like Ailey is intently studying up...I guess she forgot that she hasn't learned to read yet!! :)

Kameron, of course, had nothing to worry about!! He did great!!

Kameron is the best kid. He brings so much joy and love into our home. He is so sweet, loving, smart, talented, and CALM. He truly keeps us sane in between our two drama queens. Kameron is a wonderful big brother who is helpful and kind to Ailey...he holds her hand and walks her to Primary every Sunday...he gets her in and out of her car seat every day. He watches out for her and protects her. His is a wonderful little brother to Reilly as well. The two of them have a great time together.

Kameron we love you VERY MUCH!! We are so proud of you and all of your accomplishments. We are so proud of your decision to be baptized and how seriously you take it. We are lucky to be the parents of such a amazing son!!

We love you lots!!

Happy 12th Birthday Reilly!!

This picture was taken of Reilly earlier this year in Primary by Sister Alger.

Yesterday was Reilly's birthday. She has been waiting and waiting for #12 to come along so that she could FINALLY go to Young Womens and be done with Primary. At last the big day arrived. We are really proud of Reilly. She worked hard and finished her Faith in God and left Primary with all her goals accomplished.

Reilly's first day as a new Beehive in Young Womens.

These pictures were only taken about 6 months or so apart but the growth and change in her is amazing. Bye Bye little girl...hello teenager!!

A woman stopped me in the bathroom on Sunday and was marveling that Reilly was already 12 (she has known her for years in Primary) she asked me how it felt to have a 12 year-old. I told her that it just felt like time was flying by. It reminded me of a conversation I had with a wise friend of mine, Sharon, whose children are grown and always has such great perspective on life. We were talking about how Reilly's 12th birthday was approaching and I said how I felt like Reilly was just 2 years old and I blinked and now she's almost 12. Sharon told me that the next time I blink my grandchildren will be 12 and that it is just so important to enjoy the small moments and try to really be "present" in them because life doesn't slow down. One of the reasons I love blogging is that not only do I record small moments, big moments and milestones but I feel like I look for these moments each and every day.

Reilly picked for her birthday dinner: Broccoli Divan, 7-layer dip and chips, Cold Duck Sparkling Grape Juice, homemade pecan pie, and homemade cherry pie with whipped cream and ice cream.



11 1/2 to 12 years old has been a VERY emotional roller coaster. Mood swings left and right. Laughter, tears, sullen grump, pleasant daughter...you just never know. Her birthday dinner was no different. Fraught with highs and lows.

Reilly with her very favorite gift: Mascara. If we only knew how happy a little pink and green tube was going to make her we would've saved our money on everything else. I remember when I turned 12 and my mother allowed me to wear mascara. BIG EXCITEMENT!! All other make-up will have to wait until further down the road of life for Reilly just like it did for me.

While on partial bed rest it has given me and Reilly lots of chat time. One day she was complaining about how mean I am and how I don't understand what it's like to be in 6th grade and how there's no way I could understand what she is going through. So we found my old journals from 6th and 7th grade. We were laughing our heads off reading them. My complaints about my parents, always having to babysit, hating to always have to do chores when none of my other friends had to do them, boys I liked and how much I liked them and on and on. I sounded just like Reilly!! We also found out that in 6th grade we both had piano lessons on Tuesdays and a few other fun facts. Reilly had a great time mocking me and my 12 year old self but she did say "Oh Mom if you were in my class we would be best friends!!" That is a huge compliment from a 12 year old!! ;)

Reilly also wanted me to read her what I wrote in my journal about the day she was born and read all that was going on while I was pregnant with her. Even Kameron was quite interested in listening to my journal entries. It was better than TV. Yesterday Kameron brought to me a clump of papers he had stapled together into a journal. He told me he was going to start keeping a journal so that his kids would have something to read and laugh about. What a cutie!!

All in all Reilly's birthday was a lot of fun and it is so neat to see her making her way toward womanhood. She is a great girl who brings so much joy, laughter, heart and soul into our lives. We love you Reilly!!

Aunt Kelley, Reilly, Kameron and Ailey...who apparently all got the memo to wear brown. Or as Kameron called their little group "brown heaven"!! :)

Thanks to all the family who called to wish Reilly a Happy Birthday she loved it!!

Kameron and Ailey talking to Aunt Jordi after Reilly was done. Ailey got tired of waiting her turn as Kam was having quite a long and involved conversation with Jordin. Ailey thought she was pretty clever when she grabbed the other phone and started talking too.

Happy Birthday Rye!! We love you!!

Two Questions

Question #1: Barack Obama will you be able to live up to your hype?

I didn't vote for you so I'm saying my prayers, crossing my fingers and wishing upon a star that there is more to you than charisma.

Question #2: What can you buy for $14?

Reilly's 6th Grade School Picture = $7

Kameron's 2nd Grade School Picture = $7

$14 = Endless Amusement

Plus there are always fun games like: Compare: Who was more hideous in this same grade Mom or Dad? Or the equally amusing Time Line: line up all the school pictures thus far to see the progression of missing teeth, hairstyles, huge teeth etc. Guaranteed to provide hours of amusement for children.

Personally I think this year's pictures were much better than last year's so I would say $14 well spent!!

Non-traditional Halloween

Happy Halloween!! This has been a bit of an odd holiday this year. It is so weird not to be doing all the usual things that I do to celebrate this particular holiday. Due to my partial bed rest I feel like I've just been watching everyone and everything go by. As far as the pregnancy goes...things are going fine. The baby and I are hanging in there.

This year I didn't get to go with Ailey on her field trip to the pumpkin patch. Tyler stepped in and Ailey had a great time having her daddy all to herself.



I also didn't go to the pumpkin patch with the rest of our kids and pick pumpkins and apples and eat pumpkin donuts...I got to stay home. But Tyler did take me on a drive and got us some hot donuts from Harvest House so I didn't miss out this year. They were SO good. But since I wasn't on the pumpkin-getting expedition...no pictures.

I also had to bail on volunteering at all the kids Halloween parties which I do every year and enjoy. I was particularly excited to volunteer at Ailey's preschool. Her teachers always do really great holiday parties and Ailey was excited to have me come help at "her school". Thanks Janyse for stepping in and taking my place. I appreciate it!!

I also didn't participate in the carving of the pumpkins...I didn't really mind...it's more of a Tyler thing anyway.

EW...Pumpkin Guts!! Thanks for taking a couple of pictures Reilly!!

But we didn't get many pictures of the finished products. Here is one from Trunk-or-Treat. We put them up on the top of the Suburban.


Also a huge THANK YOU to Reilly who got our three big tubs of Halloween decorations and did an extraordinarily festive job with decorating the house as a surprise for me. I'm glad she did it because otherwise I probably would've skipped the decorations this year. I'm glad things at least felt Halloweeny around the house.

When the actual day of Halloween arrived I was feeling pretty good and could be up and around for short bursts. So I had fun getting Ailey all decked out as a "mean old witch with a hat" for preschool...picking her up from her party...making a special Halloween dinner of Butternut Squash Lasagna, Orange Frappe Punch and pomegranates...getting out of my pajamas and putting on "real" clothes and attending our ward's Trunk-or-Treat...following Tyler and the kids in the car as they hit the neighborhood trick-or-treating...and even visiting Kelley where we were not attacked by raccoons like last year!! So yehaw...I felt almost normal. How nice. Of course the next day I had to take it super easy to make up for all my activity.



Reilly was a cheerleader this year. Very cute. Alas she informed us that this was her last year hanging out with us (her lame family) at trunk-or-treat. She is too cool for us now and will be going trick-or-treating with her friends from now on...good luck shaking her dad...who will undoubtedly be tailing them!!



Kameron was Darth Vadar. I'm loving his "action" poses!! Let me just tell you how much I love boys and Halloween. Could it get easier? Every year it's either someone from Star Wars or a super hero. I buy a $20 costume and call it good. It is so nice!! No drama...no tears...no arguments. Delightful.

Kameron and his friend Kathrine at Trunk-or-Treat

Ailey the spooky witch!! She was so darn cute. I love this costume. My mom made it for Reilly when she was Ailey's age. Cute cute!! Reilly could keep the wig on but Ailey was having difficulties so it survived only for a picture. I like her better without it anyway.

Ailey extra "mean and spooky" with her witch hair.

Hanging out waiting for Trunk-or-Treat to begin.

Aaahh...here I am actually out in the fresh air and wearing real clothes. So nice!!

Here's a picture of my cute niece Jaylah that Jordi emailed me. She was so darn cute I had to post a picture!!I was actually going to use another song this year but there's just something about Halloween that screams cowbell. I really wanted to use "Hells Bells" by AC/DC but Tyler felt that might be a little "too much". What do you think?

Happy Halloween