Thanksgiving

The original plan was to go to my parents but we ended up doing our own thing this year.  I'm so glad that we did! I love having our own family traditions.

The Menu:

Roast Turkey with Apples and Oranges

Southern Cornbread Stuffing

Apple-Orange Cranberry Relish (Grandma Cohoon)

Green Bean Casserole (um, thank you Paula Deen!!)

Sweet Potato Bake

Pumpkin Pie

Cherry Pie

Frozen Cherry-Pineapple Dessert (Grandma Willardson)

Hawaiian Rolls

Spinach Dip

On Wednesday I prepared all the casseroles and made the desserts and appetizers. I also made up some monkey bread dough for the morning so we'd have something to snack on during the day.  Wednesday was a much more hectic cooking day for me, but I managed to get it all done fairly stress-free.

Thursday morning we woke up early (like every single morning since becoming parents) and I finished making the monkey bread. We chowed down on that while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with James. He jumped around and danced with each passing float.

After that Paul started on the Turkey and football commenced.  I started cleaning up in preparation for Christmas decorations--which by law in our house must go up the day after Thanksgiving. I got the boxes ready to put away the Fall decor and moved the Christmas boxes in the house. At this point we were starving. Smelling that turkey was killing us!  So we brought out the dip a bit earlier than expected, but whatever.

After the turkey exited the oven, my casseroles promptly entered. It was not as stressful as last year. Probably because it was just us.  I'm kind of sad that I didn't grow up having Thanksgiving dinner. I feel like I missed out! I love Thanksgiving and hope that James will grow up loving it, too.

Can I just say that Paul makes the best turkey EVER? Because he does. He really does. We have been eating Thanksgiving dinner for two whole days now and probably have another two days worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'm ok with that :)

First Taste

Yum!

I finally figured out how to get him to eat carrots: Spinach dip!

The spread.

Helping me check the lights.

We are so grateful for our many blessings this year and the many wonderful people in our lives.  I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Gratitude

This season I have been trying to be more grateful. I really do have so much to be thankful for. This year has been trying for us at times, but always in the background is the love of the Savior for us. We have felt His love on many occasions as we have traveled down the path of life.

I am thankful for my family. My husband works SO hard at school and work. I know that sometimes he is overwhelmed with all that is on his plate and yet he pushes through, not complaining so that I can be a stay-at-home mom.

I am so grateful that Heavenly Father has entrusted us with a precious child to raise and love and cherish. He brings so much happiness and joy to our lives.  I love that my home is filled with little laughter. I feel that I have much to learn from him and enjoy every moment of being his mother.

I am thankful that no matter where we live we can bring the spirit into our home. Moving around so much makes it difficult to feel "at home" but the spirit in our home is always the same.

I am grateful for eternal families. Having lost so many loved ones can be very difficult during the holidays, but the knowledge of the gospel and the special bonds we share make all the difference.

I am thankful that our Savior loved us so much that He volunteered to be a sacrifice for each of us.  I am so glad for the atonement and for it's application in our lives.

I am grateful for amazing friends.  We have been so blessed with friends who always seem to be in tune to our needs and are always giving of themselves. Through our friends we have been able to feel the love and compassion of the Savior and look forward to the day when we are in a position to help others in the way that we have been.

I am thankful for a plan in a bad economy. We have steady income with benefits and the prospect of moving up in Paul's current job.  Even though things are rough and I get antsy to be in a home of our own, we do have a plan and slowly but surely we will get there.

I am grateful for the scriptures and for the children's scripture stories from Distribution. I love walking past James' room and seeing him "reading" his favorite books (if you ask him he'll tell you that everyone with a beard is Jesus).

What are you thankful for?

Leukoria

Dorothy Jean

My grandmother was born in October of 1922. She died the day after I returned to school from Christmas break in January of 2006.  When Grandpa died in 1995 Grandma moved from her home in San Diego (now worth a TON of money) to the middle of nowhere to live with us. I'm so grateful that she moved to Aguanga. My life would have been very different had she not.

I've been thinking about her a lot lately.  Grandma was more like a mom to me in so many ways. I've missed her terribly at all of the major milestones of my life, even though I receive so many confirmations that she is there.  I miss her. She would have loved Paul and adored James. I know she would have doted over him and I'm sad that he doesn't have that like I did.

As I get older I realize how much I am like her. I remember she used to try to teach me valuable homemaking skills that I really took for granted at the time.  She taught me how to make special family recipes and the basics of sewing machines. She would use every cleaning opportunity to try to teach me how to clean house. At the time I thought that this was really annoying, but am grateful that I know how to get any stain out of everything and have good organizational sense.

Grandma had a grand total of 4 cassette tapes and listened to them year round.  Andy Williams Christmas, Barbra Streisand Christmas, the 3 Tenors and a Motab tape. As I was putting together my Christmas playlist I made sure to include those songs that I listened to so many times (and made fun of her for :)).

Grandma was a clean freak. I can't say that I ever was as a teen. I was a slob. It bothered her and she would always tell me that that was no way to get a husband.  As I've grown up and have a place of my own I take pride in cleanliness. Sometimes I'm even a little anal about it. I'm sure Grandma would be proud.

When Paul and were picking a date to get married, the only day that worked was May 19th. After a few days I started thinking...Grandma and Grandpa were married in May. So I looked it up, and sure enough, they were married in the Salt Lake temple on May 19th, 1941-- 66 years to the day before I was married in the same place.  During our sealing it was made clear to us that she was there. My dad and I were so overwhelmed by this that we both started bawling....I hope Paul didn't think it was about him :)

James was born on what would have been Grandpa Willardson's 90th birthday.  I feel so close to them being able to share these seemingly coincidental experiences.

Some Random Memories:

• We used to make butterfly magnets from soda bottles and sell them at swap meets. 
• She would gather up all the cans and bottles and we'd go recycling and then spend the money on something fun.
• She liked to go to the movies, but never stayed awake.
• We went to the mall at least once a week.  
• She always made sure I had nice clothes to wear to dances and loved hearing every boring little detail of my day. 
• Grandma always encouraged me to get a good education and was always supportive of the decisions I made of what I would study and learn.  When I expressed interest in going to BYU, Grandma wasn't enthusiastic about me moving away.  Despite her not wanting me to move, she gladly paid the application fee and took me shopping to get me set up for moving out.
• She started up a wedding fund for me when I was 19. When I got married, my dad used that money to purchase my wedding dress.
• We used to go on random "adventures" when we were bored (which was often living out in the sticks).
• Every Friday Grandma got her hair done. She would always buy me lunch for taking her.
• Grandma provided me with opportunities to earn money and learn the value of work.  I never did like washing all the windows before Thanksgiving though.
• Every time I drink a Snapple I think of Grandma.
• When Grandma would say something funny she would say it at least twice for maximum laughs.

 She was an awesome lady and love and miss her dearly.  I am grateful for eternal families and the knowledge I have that when life gets rough, Grandma is still there for me. 

Me and Grandma. I got to rock James in this chair.

At my graduation from MSJC in 2005.

The day I left for school. Grandma passed away the next day.

Halloweekend

On Friday we attended Orem's Pumpkin Walk. We got to look at jack-o-lanterns that had been entered into a contest, so we got to see some pretty cool ones. James had so much fun running around the gardens and seeing all the other kids dressed up.

On Saturday we watched the first 4 Batman movies. We filled up the air mattress and put the couches up against it so it was like one huge couch. It was SO much fun. James loved it.  We are thinking of doing this for every movie night.  We didn't have any trick or treaters. Not one. So now we have a ton of candy which I wish we didn't.  We had such a great time though. We also got our pictures taken for our Christmas cards this weekends. I'll make sure to post them once I get them back.