Thanksgiving

y.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We went to Pine Valley and celebrated with the Gardners. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed eating delicious food, playing football (guess who), crawling up and down the stairs, and searching the ads for day after Thanksgiving sales. In the morning we even got out for the annual Turkey Trot. Justin ran the full four miles full throttle and I took a leisurely stroll with Justin's sisters (interspersed with a little running).
The day after Thanksgiving I went to see Enchanted and loved it. It's the first movie I've seen in awhile that I would actually like to own. I've also been enjoying Christmas shopping and have even surprised myself and started some Christmas crafts.

I AM THANKFUL

So, I've decided that I am either way slow at posting new things or I think of 3 new things I could post in one day. Problem is, when you post lots of new stuff it takes awhile to read all the new stuff. Oh well. I guess those of you who waste too much time checking blogs (which I know I do) will be grateful for some new reading material. I read a blog yesterday that had a list of ten things the blogger was grateful for. I invite anyone and everyone to participate on your own blogs. Here are mine:

#1) The atonement of Jesus Christ. The other day I was listening to Christmas music and the song "Joy to the World" came on. It really made me think of the despair that would have filled the Earth if we didn't have a way to be redeemed from our sins or a way to return to our Father in Heaven.

#2) The love of my life. I am so grateful for Justin. He brings me so much happiness and I love spending time with him. He is the best daddy to Gracie and he is always making us laugh.

#3) Gracie. I am so grateful to have a sweet little cherub to play with all day long. I love to kiss her little cheeks, listen to her jabber, and watch her explore.

#4) A wonderful family. On this one, I am including both my family and Justin's family. We've both been blessed with great families and I love spending time with both of our families. I just went up North for a few days for the funeral of a cousin. It was a sad loss for our family and especially his wife and two children. It was amazing though how much I was filled with an increase of love for all of the important people in my life.

#4) Wonderful Friends. I have been really blessed to have incredibly supportive friends and I am grateful for these relationships which enrich my life

#5) A great new ward. We've only been in this ward for 2 weeks and we have felt so loved and welcome. We have been surprised at the almost daily contact and both received callings on Sunday. I am a new primary teacher (CTR5) and Justin has the coveted calling of Sports Official. We are hoping that he'll be able to make some friends in spite of the calling- ward basketball can get pretty intense. We're excited.

#6) Good health. I almost didn't write this because I don't want to jinx (sp?) our family but we are blessed to be in good health and to be able to do most of the things we want to do.

#7)Warm Weather. I kind of thought I might miss the Salt Lake/ Provo weather just a little but am loving the extended summer/Fall in St. George. Just this morning I took Gracie out for a walk and we were wearing long sleeves instead of coats... glorious.

#8) Sacrifices. I am grateful for the sacrifices of others so that I can live in the comfort that I do- the founding fathers, the pioneers, the millitary, and most importantly my parents and grandparents.

#9) My toothbrush. What is it about brushing your teeth that makes everything seem so much better?

#10) Food. I'm first of all grateful to have food in my cupboard but I also can't wait for the Thanksgiving meal. I heard today that the average person eats about 5,000 calories on Thanksgiving Day. I was thinking about what I could skip to make it less. Probably nothing. I might have to run a little harder at the annual Turkey Trot this year.

The Six Things

It seems that every blog I turn to these days includes the six little known facts. Here are mine
#1) Every time I go to a rodeo, I firmly believe that I have missed my calling in life as a rodeo queen. I have the same feeling when I see Barrel racers but there still might be time. Looking back, I also wish I would have been in beauty pageants (not because I think I'm so beautiful, more because I love the cheesiness of it all and think I could have given a really great speech if I had ever won)


#2) I've never been much of a dog person but ever since our dog, Oscar, died this summer I have been wanting a new little puppy. I really can't wait until we are a little more settled and can get a little border collie. Gracie, Justin and I would all love it.

#3) I love beets. I like them plain but love them on salads when I go to a salad bar. The other accompanying fact is that I like most foods. Meaning- the only food I've ever had that I would not try again was the lining of cow stomach (I think it was called Menudo, I tried it in Mexico). I bet if I didn't like it then you wouldn't either. The other thing I don't believe I have tried and don't plan to is Liver. #4) I've already had my dream job and it was in college. I was a camp counselor for inner city youth. Every day we went swimming, played games, taught classes and object lessons, and sang around the campfire. I loved it so much and don't know that I would ever really get sick of it. The fact that I had a comfy bed to sleep in and warm showers just added to the whole excitement of it. Too bad that it's just not that practical for every day. #5) I can't whistle very well and I especially can't whistle very loud. My whistle is kind of shrill and breathy. Way ugly. It just isn't as pleasant to whistle a merry tune when it doesn't sound very good. I hope that someday I can learn to whistle with my fingers so that I can a) find my kids in stores b) be a hit at ball games when I cheer and whistle for my team c) get a Taxi or a horse in a hurry if I need it. Maybe I'll have to google it and see if I can find better whistling instructions. #6)I am super sappy and cry at least bi-weekly (If not weekly) when I hear, read, or see something sad. I have been sucked in by extra sad or extra happy country songs, over-emotional emails, the biggest loser and other success stories, touching blogs, the brady bunch, Saturday's Warrior, and sweet commercials. Yes, I am pathetic. Justin is still trying to figure me out.

Growing up

This is Gracie outside of our apartment. She was having fun crawling around and exploring her new space. Some good news in the crawling department- Gracie has finally graduated to walking. She has been standing on her own since August and I've been thinking for two and half months that she was ready to walk. Even a month ago, she had taken steps but I didn't really count it as walking. This last week, everything changed and Gracie has been walking all over. We are so proud of her and I'm amazed how quickly she is picking up speed, bending over and standing back up, and how grown up she suddenly seems.This is the view outside of our little condo. I love looking out our window and seeing the temple. We are really close, so I have also loved taking Gracie on walks by the temple and through our beautiful neighborhood.
This is our new bedroom. It feels nice to have our furniture back and our pictures out- we didn't bother unpacking them this summer because we had enough closet space and we didn't want to go through the hassle of packing and unpacking all of our stuff multiple times. For those who don't really know, we moved from Provo to Pine Valley in April, we stayed at Justin's parents' place in Pine Valley for a month and then moved to another home in Pine Valley for 5 months and have just recently moved to St. George proper. Does it make you as tired as it makes me?
Here is the living/dining area. I like that it is really open. The kitchen is just to the left of our table.
I've decided that as a blogger I've become a sick person. I'm heading to Wal-Mart to get supplies to make Gracie's Christmas stocking and I thought about bringing my camera along so I can get a good picture of the tantrums she has been throwing lately every time we go to the store. The other thing I was going to take a picture of was our TV remote because Gracie has been hitting herself in the head with it (on purpose, a couple times in a row) until she does it too hard and she cries. I try to catch her in time and take the remote away but I'm still trying to figure out why she would do such a silly thing. Well, in the interest of not being a sick person maybe I'll just have to describe her next tantrum in vivid detail and forget the pics.

Dishwasher of my dreams

Last Thursday, Justin and I signed a lease for a new apartment in St. George. We have been here since Saturday. We love it and will post pictures soon. I thought I would spare you the pictures of boxes stacked and bare walls. (by the way, I'm not sure why this is staying underlined and I can't figure it out, so I'm leaving it this way). Anyway, this apartment has a dishwasher (not the one pictured) and I am totally loving it.
Justin and I have been married for almost 2 and a half years and we have never yet had a dishwasher. My life is so much easier, my kitchen seems a lot cleaner- as do my dishes (or at least if they aren't I can blame it on the dishwasher instead of myself), and I have a new appreciation for cooking when I know I won't have to handwash every item that I use. What a relief!

I heart Halloween!

So, my family had an awesome Halloween party last weekend and we went up to Salt Lake for the festivities.
I have to say, that I totally love Halloween and am the biggest sucker for dressing up. I try to beat the drama geek stigma, but I am really just a drama queen at heart and always have been

Gracie was a lion for Halloween this year (thanks for letting us borrow your costume, Tillie). She was so dang cute and I loved her little padded body. Justin was a dad for the party- it was actually good that he wasn't dressed up because Gracie suddenly got really scared of me when she saw me with a head full of brown curly hair, which brings me to my costume. I was my sister Flori for this family party. It was a big hit. For those of you who don't know, my sister Flori is 8 years older than I am and I have always really looked up to her style, homemaking abilities, her beauty and especially her gorgeous dark curly hair. My sister Mary was going to show up as me but I'm glad she didn't because it would have involved ugly glasses, knit pants and other way ugly accessories. Too funny.
The party included fun food, a fishing pond for the kids, a pumpkin dance, and pumpkin decorating. Gracie enjoyed having all her cousins around and I hope that next year she will be able to participate a little more. She just crawled around and did her own stuff but she still had a good time. Thanks again everyone for the fun party.