Pre Thanksgiving

The boys had the day before Thanksgiving off of school. We knew we were going to be gone on Thanksgiving so we made this day a pajama day. It was SO NICE. I love those days, especially when it's cold and rainy outside. We made a yummy breakfast and watched movies.

Luke thought we needed to play some games. How many did he really think we would play?

These lovely ladies joined us in the afternoon - yes they wore their jamas to our jama day party - and we baked for several hours.

By the time we were done. We were so tired, making dinner sounded way to hard. I tried to convince the boys that we didn't need it, but they weren't buying it. So that's when you order pizza right? That's probably what I would have done. But of course I immediately heard the cries "No Mom we love your pizza, please make it for us." Thankfully, my sweet husband MADE THE PIZZA FOR US. Yep that was a first. I was shocked and so thankful, he did a great job and it taste yummy.

Thanksgiving

The day started with the annual turkey bowl. I think life might end (at least on turkey day) if we didn't have the football game. The thought of being tackled by the big guys still makes Josh a little nervous. So he and I stayed home, made hot chocolate and pancakes and watched the Thanksgiving parade. I loved it!

We went to our good friends the Harris's for dinner

There definitely wasn't a shortage of food.

Or helpers preparing the food.

In fact it took two mixers to get everything done


But all the help and hard work paid off, the dinner was fabulous!

Before and after dinner wasn't bad either. We shopped the adds - we were preparing for that 14 hour shopping day we ended up having the next day. Yep you read it right, Kelly and I shopped from 4am - 6 pm. Yes I know crazy, but for the first time ever I got 98% of my shopping done and it felt GOOD!

Hung out by the fire

and played A LOT of games.

It was such a nice day. I am truly humbled at how much I have to be thankful for. But on that day I was particularly grateful for good friends. We haven't ever lived by family. Unless traveled to their home on a special trip, we have never know what it's like to get all of the family together each year for the holidays and have a big celebration. But I haven't ever felt like we have gone without. Big thanks to so many wonderful people that we have crossed paths with over the years that have really made us feel like we always have family around us.

Family favorites

Pizza and movie night

When we moved here in January almost 5 years ago, it was cold and especially at night we found ourselves not wanting to go out much. So Friday and/or Saturday evening became movie night. Since movies can't go without pizza (and often popcorn, hot chocolate or a fire in the fireplace), I started making pizza. Overtime a tradition in our family began and the weekends became pizza and movie night. We all look forward to a night off each weekend.

1 3/4 cup of hot water
3/4 Tbsp of salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup of oil
4-5 cups of flour

Mix together water, salt, sugar and oil. Then add 2 cups of flour and 1 Tbsp of yeast. Mix well and add 3-4 more cups of flour or until you get a desired dough consistency. Grease your pizza pans and then sprinkle them with either corn meal or garlic powder. Divide the dough in half to make 2 regular to thick crust pizza crusts or divide the dough into 3 to make 3 thin crust pizzas. After though dough is rolled into a pizza shape add it to the pans. Add the sauce, cheese, pepporoni and whatever else you want. Another favorite variation : roll the crust so it goes over the pan. Then in the normal crust spot add string cheese halves, with the extra dough put it over the string cheese. Viola cheese stuffed crust.

Didn't their mother teach them it's bad manners to play with their food?

Photographer

When I grow up I'd like to be a photographer I know as many pictures as I generally take that's a shocker right?

My dear sweet hubby got me a new camera for my birthday and I LOVE it. I love taking pictures with it, I love learning how to use the camera and I love learning what it takes to take a good picture. I'm also learning that I have SO MUCH TO LEARN.

I have had the opportunity of taking friends pictures lately for various reasons. I love trying to capture "the picture" for them and I love watching their faces light up when they see their pictures, it is so fulfiling. Anyway, I'm rambling but you get the idea. I love it. Here are some of my favorite pictures that I've taken recently.

In the blink of an eye

This lady, Sheryl Nixon, wrote the book "In The Blink of an Eye," . 2 of her 6 children were in a serious car accident when they were teenagers and were left paralyzed. One from the waist down with limited movement of his upper body and the other boy was paralyzed from the neck down. This family dealt with this challenge with such strength and courage. The boys ended up graduating from high school and college. One is now married and the other owns an ebay business and is a motivational speaker.

Sheryl has written a book about their experiences. The book is a wonderful book and very inspirational. She recently had a book signing at a local bokstore. So we went and had her sign our book. It was a full house with long of lines! Click on the link above if you'd like to learn more or buy her book.

This is Reed. He is one of the boys in the accident.

Sheryl and her family were in our ward before our ward changes. We share many memories with their family and love them dearly.