Thanksgiving Day

So I didn't do that great with "things I am grateful for list". I got behind and never caught up. Hopefully I will do better next year.

Thanksgiving day was great! We started the day by running in the Erda 5K Turkey Trot. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I agreed to run in it. Oh wait...it was two weeks earlier when we had highs in the fifties and lows in the thirties. I wasn't expecting to be running my first 5K when it is only 10 degrees outside.

Lets just say that is is painful to run and breath at the same time when it is that cold and you can smell a skunk nearby. But we still had a blast!! And my amazing husband ran back to join me after he had already finished.


Top: Stephanie, Holly, Me, Luke. Bottom: Abigail, Sara

Then later that day we were off to enjoy two wonderful thanksgiving dinners.

The Bet

Luke and I are always betting on things...how much a box of ice cream bars costs, how long it takes to drive somewhere, the first thing Claire will say when she walks into the room. Stupid stuff, I know. The latest bet was whether or not Luke could eat 5 double doubles from In-N-Out in an hour.


So saturday for date night we headed to In-N-Out so Luke could prove he could do it.

So who won the bet???

Depends on who you ask...

Did he eat five double doubles???


YES


Did he do it in under an hour???


NOPE....but close


Will we be going to In-N-Out anytime soon??


NO WAY!

He was in pain by the time he got to the fourth burger. He doesn't want to see another burger in a VERY long time.

Was it a good date??


DEFINATELY


Think you could do it???


Give it a try and then let us know the results.

Oh what to do when it is cold outside??

I love living somewhere that is cold in the winter. Although I am not sure why since I don't care much for the cold. Lately Claire and I have been thinking of ways to spend our days since we are stuck inside.


So this is what we did the other day....

If only the picture could show how thick she got the polish on my nails. I thought we would be done within a few minutes. Ha Ha!! What was I thinking? I kept hearing "Don't move mom! I'm not done yet". I am actually quite impressed with how well she did my nails.


And this is how Luke and Claire have kept busy at night lately...

Here is the tower


and the castle


and the skunk. (she has been on this skunk kick for awhile now)



And we have spent alot of time doing the other thing that in now Claire's favorite thing to do...

Vacuuming


She will literally go from room to room with the vacuum. And she is getting really good at it!! Ha ha....the crazy girl will be vacuuming and then start yelling at me to move this couch or that couch, the table, the bed...anything that is in her way. She will seriously go for at least twenty minutes until I make her turn if off because I am afraid the vacuum will overheat. My floors have never been so clean!! Now if I can get her to like cleaning toilets :)

Time to make some pies

Yesterday was pie making day. It was great fun with lots of extra little hands that were more than willing to help. I think we ended up with about eight pies which is definately the least amount of pies we have ever made. But I guess we don't need that many this year since we aren't with my cousins and their pie eating contest until next year again. My mom and I both went home completely exhausted but we had a good time. Even Claire was sound asleep before bedtime came around.

Grateful Day 18
Nursery - We love hearing about the things that Claire learns in her nursery class each week. She has the best nursery leaders too. Claire is constantly talking about her teachers and all her friends in class. The last couple of weeks when I am reading a book she will come up to me to show me her scriptures (her hands put together to look like a book). She will come home singing primary songs that I haven't taught her.

Grateful Day 19
Family - I am so grateful for my parents, step-parents, brothers and sisters. And Luke's family as well. I am glad that we all live near each other. It seems like we have all grown a lot closer the past few years and I am happy that we have.

Grateful Day 20
Traditions - My grandparents had many traditions that I grew up with and I am grateful that a lot of them still continue. Some are big traditions and others are pretty simple but they are all important. One tradition that I have been able to participate in the past couple of years is that of getting together and making pies the day before Thanksgiving with my mom and sister and anybody else that happens to want to join us. I am really looking forward to doing this again in a few days.

Grateful Day 21
Snow - It started snowing last night and normally it doesn't stick much so I was surprised when Luke woke me up early this morning saying that the power was out and there was a lot of snow on the ground. Of course, Claire is instantly asking for Nick to come play with her and build her a snowman. Instead she headed outside to help Luke shovel snow. I am grateful for how beautiful and clean the snow makes everything look. I especially love the trees covered in snow. I love seeing Claire all bundled up in a snowsuit that is several sizes too small and wearing mismatched gloves. (I guess I will be searching for new snow stuff this week) And I love watching Luke teach Claire about serving others as they headed out to shovel more driveways. It was one of those pure happiness, heart overflowing moments.

Grateful Day 14
Books - I would probably choose a good book any day over watching tv. Funny thing is that Luke would choose the tv. Last week Claire and I were bored so we headed up to the library to check out some new books for her. I have never checked out books for Claire at the library because I have always just bought them at the store. But she thought it was pretty cool getting new books there so we will definitely be back. The place was totally silent and Claire yells out, "I just pooped" and every person in there started laughing. So much for being quiet in the library!


Grateful Day 15
SLEEP!! - The last two days Claire has been sleeping odd hours. Yesterday I woke up at 4:00 in the morning to a little munchkin knocking on the door saying "I'm hungry mom." and "I want to color." Seriously...4:00 IN THE MORNING!! And she was up the rest of the day and I couldn't even get her to take a nap.

Grateful Day 16
Blogs - I really enjoy blogging. I also enjoy being able to see what all my friends and family are doing when we don't get to see them very often. I recently found the blog of my college roommate and it was great seeing what she has been doing the last 10 years. And as much as I love it all, I will love it more when we go private. Don't worry, it probably won't be anytime soon and as long as we know you, you will definitely be invited to view it. It is just all the other crazies that we want to keep out.

Grateful Day 17
Singing - Luke and I couldn't sing on key if our lives depended on it. But we love listening to our little munchkin singing. She loves singing and it is not uncommon for her to listen to what we are talking about and then start singing anything that she can relate to it. For example, I was talking about what was going to be happening tomorrow and Claire instantly started singing "Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I love ya tomorow, You're only a day away" and then started singing "Daddy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow". Yesterday I started to break out the Christmas decor. Claire found a Santa hat and a little snowman ornament and this is what happened next....

Grateful Day Nine

Missionaries & Missions - My aunt and uncle just got back from serving a mission in Ghana. They have been a great example to our family. We have loved getting emails from them and hearing about their experiences. I am so grateful that I was able to serve a mission when I turned 21. I learned so much during that time and had so many great experiences sharing the gospel with others. It made me a better person. I look forward to follow my aunt and uncle's example by going on another mission with Luke someday.




Grateful Day Ten

A Wonderful Ward - Today was Super Saturday and even though I was not able to stay the entire time, I am so grateful that we have such a wonderful ward.




Grateful Day Eleven

Good Food - Mmmm....I can smell papa murphy's pizza cooking in the oven. So much for the diet. :( But I do love it when it is Luke's night to cook dinner. :)




Grateful Day Twelve
Great Bargains - I seriously love it when we get a great deal on something. So we got a trampoline at the D.I. several weeks ago for a whopping 20 bucks. Luke and I were so exciting. More excited than Claire I must say. Which is funny since she loves trampolines. Then last week we got a call from my mother-in-law and she found us the net that goes around the tramp (Luke is paranoid about his little girl getting hurt and wanted the net) at the D.I. for twenty bucks. WaHoo!!! Looks like the original owners bought the whole set and took out the tramp and pads and sent the rest to the D.I. because the net is brand new and the hardware for it has yet to be opened.

I was waiting in the backyard with the camera ready to take a picture of Claire when Luke brought her out to see the trampoline. We wanted to capture her excitement when she saw it. This is all we got.....CONFUSION!! She just stared at it for almost a minute wondering why there was a trampoline in our backyard.





Grateful Day Thirteen

My Family - I am grateful for all my family but today I am particularly grateful for Luke and Claire. They mean the world to me. They make me so happy. They make me want to be a better wife and mother. We desperately want our family to grow and are doing what we can to find the little person that our family is missing. And when this little baby comes along, we will welcome him or her into our family and share all the love we have in our hearts.

Feeling loved

In Claire's own words, this is how much she loves me today.

"Twice and a half, and a dump truck.....a BIIIIGGG one."

Sounds like a lot to me!!

Gratitude Day Seven
The Changing Seasons - This may sound odd since I don't necessarily like the snow. Actually, the snow I like, the cold I don't. But still I love the first big snowfall. I love the spring flowers, the hot summer nights, the falling leaves. It is all just so beautiful. One of my favorite things is being at home while it is snowing outside, with the fireplace going and homemade soup on the stove.

Gratitude Day Eight
Stay-at-home Mom - I don't know if I could handle leaving Claire all day to go to work. When Claire was about six months old I went back to work to fill in for a few months while a co-worker had surgery. It was only twice a week but it nearly drove me crazy being away from Claire. As much as I absolutely loved my job, I prefer staying at home and raising my daughter. I am so grateful that Luke and I took a leap of faith and trusted that things would work out and I quit my job once Claire was born.

Grateful Day Six

My Man - I love being married to my best friend. Some of my favorite things about him: He is always making me laugh, He can fix anything and he loves doing it - he seriously is the ultimate handyman, He works hard to support our family, He loves learning new things, He is the best father to Claire, He always puts me and Claire first. I could go on and on.

Gratitude Day Five

Yes I know I am falling behind on this gratitude thing but I am making myself promise to get caught up.

So now on to
Gratitude Day Five

New Callings - I know I grumbled quite a bit for the last few weeks about being released from my Young Women calling. But now that I have been in primary for two weeks now I can say that I am grateful that I am there. I still miss my last calling tremendously but I also realize that change is good. Why is it that I could teach the YW just fine but the thought of standing up in front of a bunch of primary kids is totally terrifying? But enough of my ramblings. I am grateful for my new calling, for the amazing people that I am working with, for the kids and people that I will get to know better, and for this opportunity to learn and grow.

Gratitude Day Four

Claire - I cannot even begin to express how much my daughter means to me. Some things that I absolutely love about her: sweet, funny, always happy, gives the best hugs, loves to smile and tease, outgoing, smart, and always willing to help.

Today she made my day by saying this.

Me: Claire do you love me?

Claire: Yes.

Me: How much?

Claire: Good and a half.

Gratitude Day Three

Adoption - I know I say this a lot but Claire has brought so much happiness to our lives. We couldn't imagine life without her. And it was all made possible through the miracle of adoption. I will forever be grateful for Claire's amazing birthmother and for all the other birthmothers out there that have blessed other families. We love you so much!!

Be More Specific

I So Love This Girl!!!!


Today I asked Claire to get me some toilet paper out of the store room. I waited and waited and waited, wondering what she was doing, and thinking she had become distracted and had forgot. I could occasionally hear her grunting but she never came back. Finally she appeared...with the whole 36 count pack of toilet paper that I had recently bought. No wonder I could hear her grunting. She had gone into the dark store room, managed to get this huge pack of toilet paper down from behind the door, drag it through the computer room that totally needs to be cleaned, through the kitchen and down the hall. I guess I should have been more specific and told her to get me ONE roll of toilet paper. I must say though that I am totally impressed with her dedication to get me some T.P.

Gratitude Day Two

Grateful for the best grandparents ever. I miss you both!!

1. Garden - To be more exact, I am so grateful for my amazing grandpa who instilled a love of gardening in most, if not all, of the grandkids. Today Claire and I were outside enjoying the wonderful fall weather and cleaning up the garden. I love that all summer long we can just go out to the garden and pick almost anything we need instead of having to go to the store. There is just something very satisfying in seeing a garden start from a bare patch of ground in the spring to overflowing with yummy fruits and vegetables several months later.

2. Sewing - As far back as I can remember all the girls in the family would get together at my grandparents home several times a year to make blankets. The blankets were for the new babies that would soon be welcomed into the family or for the cousins that were getting married. I have recently started picking up on this hobby and have started to love it. I am not good at sewing by any means and I don't think I could follow a pattern if my life depended on it, but one day I hope to be.

Gratitude

Awhile ago I decided that during the month of November I would make an extra effort to take note of the things for which I am grateful. Yes, I know I should do this everyday but ya got to start somewhere and this is where I am starting.

November 1st
1. Great friends - Earlier this summer I started going walking every morning with someone in my ward and ended up with a great friend. Now our walking group has grown to include even more people in the ward and I so look forward to our walks each day.

2. Good Entertainment - Im not one to watch alot of tv. In fact, it usually doesn't come on until after Claire goes to bed. But yesterday I sure was grateful for it when I got that nasty bug that has been going around and spent the day in bed. I would have gone crazy without entertainment from Dancing with the Stars and Criminal Minds.

3. A Great Guy - Marrying Luke was the best thing I ever did. Last night he did a great job of taking care of both me and Claire.