Thanksgiving...

Whew, another holiday come and gone. Mine was great, how about yours? I hosted the big dinner this year, which honestly I love, because I get to determine the menu AND wear slippers to dinner. Of course we had all the basics: turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, etc... and tried and true favorite recipes of garlic mashed potatoes, Trader Joes salad, stuffed mushrooms, dill dip with Hawaiian bread...I even tried to make Jackie's rolls, but I'll never be as good at them as she is. We invited my parents to come up, as well as had some favorite friends come over. Perfect sized group, great food, Mom's awesome pecan pie... what more could I ask for? I even made a lemon meringue pie this year, which was quite well received... here's our table setting... including Jackie's awesome turkey plates and vinyl-on-mini-pumpkins for our place cards.

After dinner I was so wiped that I didn't want to do much more than sit, so thank goodness Mom was there to clean up all my mess. I love my friends and family!

I love this boy SO MUCH.

An Attitude of Gratitude.

Lots to be thankful for today, as I looked over at my husband in church and thought, MAN, I'm lucky. 13 years we've gone so far. Happy anniversary honey!

1. I'm grateful that my husband sits next to me in church now. The kids act 100% better and I don't spend sacrament meetings out in the foyer fighting with #2 and #3 anymore. I do tend to fall asleep more in church now, though.

2. Grateful that previously mentioned husband let me trim his hair yesterday, instead of doing it himself. It looks great!

3. Grateful that I was able to find coordinating head-to-toe outfits, shoes and accessories for the 5 people in our family for yesterday's family photo shoot. It took 4 days of running around to different stores and trying different combinations, and entirely too much worrying but I'm really happy of how our little family turned out. Got lots of excellent deals on things! I'm hoping the pictures reflect how well everything went together and how happy my kids were. (And that I don't look fat, of course)

4. Grateful that we were able to go out last night for our anniversary to see the Blue Man Group. I needed a night of laughing - - it was so totally entertaining! And even better that my hubby kept it a surprise from me until last night too! Thanks to Grandma, and the other Chick, for handling my kids to facilitate it.

5. Grateful that I was finally able to finish my book, the Son of Neptune. Oh wow, how I love this author and this series! I can't believe I have to wait a whole year for the next one to come out, ugh, that means I'll have to re-read all of the Percy Jackson series and these two Heroes of Olympus books again before I read a new one.

6. Grateful for food storage. I got up this morning and made minestrone, all from cans in my pantry, and homemade bread. Both were awesome, if I do say so myself! Will definitely be repeating that meal!

7. Speaking of food storage, I just recently bought and put in a huge can-rotator system in my pantry. Jackie, you'd be so proud. I'm not saying I'm OCD or anything, but it's just SO COOL to have everything perfectly organized! Now I need 5 more cans of Ranch beans, 9 more of tomato sauce, etc, etc. Ha Ha! Grateful for organization and the calm it brings me.

8. Grateful that my house is ALMOST FINISHED being painted. I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel, the big picture, whatever, and it's starting to look so good! Grateful that my husband and his friend have put so many hours into it.

9. Grateful that our winter grass got planted, though I'm NOT grateful for the hundreds of pigeons that have been eating it every day since.

10. Grateful that Halloween is over. I'm in full Thanksgiving/fall mode. Bring on the soup recipes and gratitude vinyl ideas!

11. I am so grateful for our house and neighborhood, and the weather. My kids get home every day from school and immediately jump on their bikes to ride around. Grateful that they've got some healthy habits for a change!

Oh Photo Shoot!

Can't wait to see the rest if this one turned out so well!

ALWAYS. MY WAY.

Yes, your majesty. You know, being the Queen of Hearts isn't that much of a stretch for me.

The girls loved their playing card costumes. Jackie's idea for foam heart headpieces worked perfectly!

And in honor of the Alice in Wonderland character-theme, this was the pumpkin I decorated for a contest at our orthodontist's office. Seriously, I can't believe I didn't win.

This was another one of out entries. "THE PUMPKIN ATE MY BABY!'"

We also hit a pumpkin patch for a little bit last week, but with no camera and a mostly dead battery on my phone. This will be the place we will never forget being LOST IN THE CORN MAZE for forever.

The rest of the last couple of weeks have been filled with painting, including my husband playing around on this contraption.

No, we're not done painting yet... but hopefully pictures of the finished product will be forthcoming in the next week or so...

Update:

Whew. What a month.

Things we've accomplished around here:
Trip to DC and Maryland without kids. (Thanks Grandma!) M turned 8. My big toe broken. M's bike fixed. M's birthday party. A turned 10. Piano lessons started by A & M. New teeth for me! Huge amounts of chicken prepped/canned/frozen. M baptized. Huge amounts of ice cream eaten. Staycation in Scottsdale for three days. Two orthodontist appointments. Three kids' dentist appointments with ZERO cavities found. (YEAH!) State fair visited. Fall break survived. Several books read. Teeth sensitivity finally gone. House pressure-washed. Cars 2 finally seen. Yard sale items eliminated from garage. Several Halloween decorations added to the collection. Getting "Boo'd" more than once. Progress made on costumes for the kids. N's car starter died. Goldilox towed to Tempe. 39 gallons of paint mixed and picked up from Home Depot.

Things on the horizon:
Making pumpkin bread. Trip to the pumpkin patch. Finishing costumes. Entering orthodontist pumpkin-decorating contest. PAINTING THE HOUSE. Service project. Fixing J's bike tire. Fixing A's bike (it looks like it got run over???? I hope it can be fixed!) Chili cookoff next weekend. Running booth with activity day girls. Selling stuff on ebay/craigslist. Family pictures. Our 13th anniversary.

Things wanting my wallet's attention:
Goldilox needs a new timing belt. A mixer. Countertops for my craft room. Shutters. A new office chair. A leaf blower. A functioning microwave, with a handle. Our home depot credit card. New sunscreens for the house. Paying off the water softener. POOL REMODEL before next summer. Ugh.

East Coast.

SIGH. And Double Sigh. Why, why did I ever move away from Maryland? I totally forgot how absolutely beautiful everything is, how lush and green it is everywhere, how stuff just grows by itself, how charming and detailed all of the architecture is, so not stucco and tracty....
We drove on roads like this...

and this...

and went by our old house, which is still as shabby and in need of a paint job as ever...

but there are plenty of beautiful houses everywhere, including this awesome one... I know it's not the best camera angle, but you can still see the gray wood siding, white trim, red door, brick path, and wrought iron gate... Are you kidding me?? SWOON.

If my husband dies before me, I get to make the choice on where we're buried, right? So here it is, an adorable little church and cemetary on the side of the road in New Market. I love this.

Come on, don't you want to lay your body to rest here too? Awesome.

And of course, we went to our favorite restaurant while we were in Maryland too. You know there's some places you build up in your mind, thinking they can't possibly be as good as you remember? Yeah, this isn't one of those. As excellent as ever.

Here's our half-eaten pile of seafood... oh, those scallops were delightful.

Try as I might, I'd never be able to take a picture of the decor in this place and do it justice. Beautiful. I could stare at the woodwork all day.

I can't even describe how amazing this cream of crab soup is. Seriously. This most assuredly will be served in my mansion in heaven.

This is the super cute family we stayed with for a couple of days. It was great to finally meet Amanda's kids and go to Mt. Airy ward again. Still have lots of great friends and memories there, even though the ward has changed a lot.

Me and my peep, Amanda.