This Is For My Sistas!

When Duff and I were dating, we thought it was a good 'sign' that our sisters had the same birthday!

November 30th.

So to Lisa, Jan, and Ann:

We LOVE you!

Have a Beautiful Birthday!

The Monday After

School started again.
Holiday aftermath cleanup.
Laundry.
Christmas Shopping.
Men's Wearhouse.
Lacrosse Practice.
Cold.
Grateful for bun warmers in the car!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRISTINE!

Happy Birthday, to our beautiful daughter!

Those 16 years have gone fast and we have loved them all.

 Her cake choice:  Angel Food with Auntie Coy's Creamy Glaze.

 Flowers from her YW leaders and a scarf from a friend.

 Karley came by with a cake and present for the birthday girl.

 A shield and light and gift card for her kindle from Duff and I and Shaun.

 A dress from Josh and Mere.  Headband from Mike and Adrianne.  Necklace and earrings from Natalie and Robert and John.

Be sure you click on this to enlarge.  Adrianne did this on her computer.  Isn't it awesome?

It is in a shadow box frame so when she gets her medallion and other jewelry she can eventually included them with the values.  

Natalie and Robert left after Sacrament meeting so they could get on the road and try and avoid holiday traffic since they knew about teh adot bridge work that would take the highway down to one lane again.  Duff saw them off and I stayed to substitute in Primary.  We celebrated Chris's bday with a pork chop dinner.  Her YW leaders, Sister Koelliker and Sister Drasso came over to welcome her to Laurels.  Wow, Laurels.  You go Chrissy girl!

Deseret Duel, as it is Called

Today was the day.

Deseret Duel.  Holy War. Rivalry.  It has Lots of titles.

It's the BYU vs. utah football game.

We were all ready.

 "Helaman Hall" Hoagies.

 "Seventh Heaven" 7 layer dip.

 "V.V.Victory" vegetable platter.

 "Holy War" hot dogs.

And our BYU mint brownies tinted blue.

They carried us all the way through to the last second when our field goal to win the game was blocked.

It was a good game, and we clearly out-played them, but in the end they got the block and that is how games go.  Who is ahead when the clock runs out.

The end of an era. With them going to the Pac 10 and us going independent, it will all be kind of different.

So, Cheers to the U and the best of luck, and Cheers to the Y and ditto.

We went over to Melissa Hobbins wedding reception.  She was beautiful and it was very nice.  I'm so happy for her.

Par-Tay!

Christine will be 16 on Sunday and her friend, Addy, turned 16 last week, so they had a party.

We held it at Addy's house.  These two have been friends since they were born while Julia and I visited in the 'Mother's Room' at church.  They got baptized on the same day (along with Sarah Hurlbert, who was born the week before Addy), nursery, ballet lessons, soccer, etc.  So it was only fitting that they celebrate together with some other friends.

 The Birthday Girls

 Pizza dinner, Muddy Buddies, Chex Mix, Vege Platter, Fruit Platter, Water, and Soda.

 They decided to have a girl-friend party and have a Bunco tournament.

It was a big success!

(They decided no boys-no pressure this time.  Interestingly I heard some of the other girls comment that they were glad there weren't boys.  One even said,  "I'm so glad because now I can eat!"  I've noticed that.  Why don't girls eat around boys these days?  That just wasn't an issue when I was a teen...)

 With a mutual friend, Sarah B.

 Singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  No cake.  Just a big ole sheet pan of warm gooey chocolate chip cookie and everyone made their own Pizookie.  It was a hit!  Sometimes it's good to break with tradition.

After Bunco, they watched She's The Man, and had old fashioned movie popcorn in popcorn containers. 

The girls did such a good job planning and shopping and executing their party.  Julia and I monitored and visited in the living room, and.......

......the dads and Ben watached Friday night football. (of course!)



HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Happy Thanksgiving

from our home to yours!

We began with a very cold morning.  Getting a fire going was one of the first things we did.  Living in socal, we take advantage of every opportunity to have a fire in the fireplace!

 Meredith went for a brisk walk with a bundled up John.  He was asleep by the time they got back.

 So instead of taking the chance of him waking up to put him in the pack and play, we moved the stroller to the living room and covered it up with a throw.  Our little guy had a good nap!

 Some of the table decorations.  Pilgrims and Indians and Turkeys and Pumpkins and berries and leaves.  I made the speckled turkey napkin rings in 1988 and they grace our table every year.

 Duff offered a beautiful blessing and as soon as the Amen was repeated, no one needed to be asked to dig in!  Mashed potatoes making the rounds and Griffin getting Shaun some turkey.  (Note to self:  put an extra leaf in next year.)

 Around the table:  Shaun, Griffin, Katrina, Adrianne, Mike, Duff, Josh, Meredith, Christine, Robert, Natalie, John, and Me. 

Our Menu:  Turkey, Potatoes, Stuffing, Gravy (by us), Creamed Corn, Brussel Sprouts(Mike and Nie), Cranberry Sauce (by Mere and Josh), Rolls, Butter, and Raspberry,Peach, and Strawberry jams.  Appetizers:  Shrimp and coctail sauce, stuffed mushrooms, wrapped coctail smokies (by Natalie and Robert), Shirley Temple Punch, and a crudite platter with dip (by Griffin and Katrina).  Desserts:  Banana Cream and Pecan Pie (by us), Frozen Yogurt pumpkin and chocolate and pnut butter pie (the first dessert gone.  hmmm,maybe a new favorite?), and Pumpkin Pie Cake (by Josh and Meredith).

After we were done eating, Duff had us go around the table and say what we were grateful for.  Usually we do that before we eat, but I liked it after because the food didn't get cold and we were able to talk about our blessings.  Oh, and there was a lot of laughing too.  It is good for the soul!  Haha!

 He wasn't too sure what was going on, but enjoyed his dinner!

Last Thanksgiving it was cold and snowy and I sat on Natalie and Robert's couch holding a newborn and a very hormonal new mother.  Robert brought us a plate of dinner back from his brother's.  I lit some candles.  Everyone at the cabin was sick.  They managed to get out of bed to put a turkey on and crawled back out to eat. What a difference from year to year.

 Pass the rolls, please!

 Clean up.

Griffin washed every single goblet, dish, pot, pan, and piece of silverware!  He joked that he would need a chiropractor tomorrow!  Josh, Robert, and Griff hung in there to the bitter end drying and the three of them must have been having a good time because there was a lot of discussion and laughing going on.

Katrina headed up putting food away.

 Football, relaxing by the fire, playing with the baby, and then laughing our guts out watching the Big Bang Theory.  Oh, Sheldon Cooper.

Everyone left late, around 10pm.

I sat quietly in the family room with a cup of hot chamomile tea and all the mini lights and candles on and waited for the fire to go out.

It was a wonderful day.

Check, Check

---I got the rolls made.  My go-to recipe is from the Mormon Country Cookbook that I got almost 3 decades ago as a birthday gift from my friend, Terry Miller.  It is the 12 hour Butterhorns.  You can't beat it.  Well, maybe with the Lion House rolls that are frozen now.  Rhodes are pretty dang good, but if you want a homemade roll for a special occasion or holiday, this is it.  You can make it up to 2 weeks prior and after you shape them, flash freeze them on the sheet tray and then put them in a freezer ziploc bag.  Take them out 6 hours before you sit down for dinner, leave them undisturbed on the cookie sheet and pop them in the oven for hot scrumptiousness.

---My two pies are done.  Banana Cream and Pecan.
---The stuffing is done and also in ziploc bags until we stuff that Turkey Bird!  We are a cornbread stuffing family.  And we like to use the Mrs. Cubbisons mix, and I use all the veges for the regular recipe, and cut the liquid and butter in half.
---Mr Turkey is brining away.  I've never done that before, but everyone keeps saying it is the best.  I'm using the brine from Williams Sonoma and just followed the directions.  He is in our 5 gallon water cooler out on the patio table.  I'm not too worried.  It is freezing here by our standards and you use ice water, so I think it will be fine.
---The only thing I didn't get to was setting my table.  I did want that to be completed already.  Oh well.  It's okay.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I'm excited!

New Braces

I've spent all day getting back on track from being gone.
I returned all the phone calls on the message machine.  That can take a while.  Some were from friends wanting some recipes for their Thanksgiving dinners.  For the record:  I AM A RECIPE SHARER.   If it has helped us and/or brings enjoyment and tradition to our family I am happy to let someone else enjoy and foster the same thing.  One day I will pen a post on to share or not to share.

Spent the entire afternoon at the new orthodontist.  Christine was re-bracketed correctly this time, and rewired.  All things now are to get things moved to the best possible position they can be so the surgery will be as minimally invasive as it can be.  She is kind of sore, and for sure will be tomorrow.  We are hoping it will be better by Turkey Day.

She went to a bday party over at the courtyard and then back here with some friends to watch a movie after the DWTStars results show.  Yay.  Jennifer won.  But really, I would have been very happy with any of the 3 finalists.  It was a very interesting season.  In the end it was about what they represented, not their dancing ability.  Jennifer:  sentimentality, Kyle:  Joy, Bristol:  hope.  I hope producers got the message the viewers/public were sending.

Here, There, And Everywhere

Quite a bit of snow fell yesterday and during the night again.  The tractor made it's way back up the mountain to clear out the driveways and street.  We decided we had better leave earlier than we had thought before to allow for slower travel time because of the snow.  Funny thing, Mr. Weather.  By the time we got down the canyon, there was blue sky, white puffy clouds, and not a flake of snow on the streets anywhere.  How does that happen?

 One of our goals this trip was to get to the Tribal West Lacrosse store.  One of our coaches found it while on a business trip to SLC, and told us that since we come to Utah we might want to check it out.  He thinks it has a much better selection for girl's lacrosse than South Swell offers down our way.  Christine is at a point where she needs her own equipment now.  They were really helpful.  But we didn't buy a thing because they didn't want to fit her in men's gear.  Nike has come out with gear for GIRLS lacrosse that is for a woman's body protection and movement.  They are the first to do that.  YAY!  It will be delivered mid-December to TWest so we will go back during our next trip and have her fitted.  It is a really big deal for a goalie!  She has had to wear men's gear for the last 2 years.  Ahhh, nothing like when something fits right, huh.

 Not having to make a purchase at TWest, we had a little bit of extra time before we had to go to the airport.  We went to the cemetery.  It was cozy, actually, with a heavy blanket of snow as if it was protecting it's precious contents.  We went and found Duff's parents gravesite and wished them a Happy Holiday. We wondered what they might be doing in Heaven....

 James, Jacob, Chris, Josh

 (Elizabeth's friend (forgot her name), William, Abby, Jacob, Christine, Josh, James, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth and her friend were excited to realize that they were 'related' to Leah B. (who lives in their ward, just the street above them!)  They are all in Beehives together,and they think she is a really nice, cool girl.

The little bit of extra time prompted a whirlwind last minute trip up 33rd south to the new 5 Guys Burger and Fries.  We felt like traitors driving past Shivers.  We still think they have the best shakes this side of Dairy Keen in Heber.  But it looked old, tired, and forlorn as we drove past it's empty parking lot and drive thru and pulled into the shiny new 5 Guys. At first we thought the kids couldn't eat the fries because they are fried in peanut oil, but Ann got a hold of the allergist and he said go for it.   I don't know if they had any reactions later on, but while we were there, they didn't.  I do have to say:  their fries are amazing.  I got the cajun and yum-o.  We hadn't been too impressed with their burgers when we ate in Orem, but these were really good this time.

Mike took us to the airport in The Black Pearl and Shaun will pick it up on Monday.  The kids like sitting in the back seat and feeling the rumble of the stereo bass.  Haha!

Brianna H. and Lacey G. were on our flight, so they called their families and told them not to come to pick them up and drove home with us.  No need since we all live in the same neighborhood!  We also had Elaine B. who was coming for the holiday with Ben and Lindsey.  She sings in the TabChoir and we got to ask her lots of questions about it.  It was really pretty fascinating to hear the behind the scenes things.  We had luggage piled everywhere and it was drizzly and cold but it felt very festive with Thanksgiving just a couple of days away!

Mike and Adrianne had dinner waiting for us.  Lasagne with Adrianne's signature garlic bread. I'm feeling excited for this time of year.  It's been a rough one and we have learned a lot and we have each other and the gospel.  So much to be thankful for.