Gobble, Gobble!

We had a fabulous Turkey Day! We started out with a scrumptious feast with James' family... check out my yummy pecan pie! (don't mind our bro-in-law acting crazy in the background)

Next stop was my family's house for round two of feasting!

Dad carving the bird!

It's my family's tradition to hit the movies after our Thanksgiving dinner and this year we saw the much anticipated Harry Potter 7! It was awesome and we can't wait for the final movie!

After the movie, we all went back to my parents house for turkey sandwiches... and it wouldn't be Turkey Day in our family without putting olives on our fingers!

The final activity of Thanksgiving was "Psycho Shopping" as James calls it! Black Friday shopping is a tradition in James' family so we donned our winter gear, braved the freezing temperatures, and scored some major holiday deals!



Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without expressing our gratitude! Here is a list of the TOP 10 things we are thankful for:

1. Our Awesome Families
2. A Warm Home - especially in this blizzard!
3. Friends
4. James' Job
5. Our Health (except for the mighty cold I have right now!)
6. Freedom - thanks to all of the men and women who serve our country!
7. Our Faith
8. The Miracle of Adoption
9. Our Sweet Kitty
10. TiVo (what would we do without it?)

Blog Challenge #1

20 of my favorite things...

James:

In no particular order

1. Pepsi
2. My beautiful wife
3. My cute kitty
4. My gorgeous house
5. My new hot tub
6. Friday nights at 6:00
7. Playing games with my family
8. Hanging out with friends
9. Clearance sales at Kohl’s
10. My cozy bed
11. Music
12. Autumn
13. October 1 - January 1
14. Cruises
15. Vacations
16. Genealogy
17. Hiking
18. My nursery kids
19. My ward
20. My neighborhood

Heather:

In no particular order

1. Lake Powell
2. My nephews
3. Shopping… for anything!
4. My sweet hubby
5. Old School Nintendo
6. The Weekend
7. My fun kitty
8. Interior Design
9. Slippers
10. My family
11. Pedicures
12. My pillow
13. Pepperoni Pizza
14. Going to the movies
15. Otis Redding - he rocks my socks!
16. Wintertime (I know, I’m crazy!)
17. My friends
18. Playing Settlers of Catan with my buds
19. Cooking and Baking
20. Vacations - especially cruises!

The Blog Challenge

I found this idea off of another person's blog and I thought it was an awesome idea! The Blog Challenge is 30 blog topics that are designed as kind of a "getting to know us" thing! The idea is to get through them in 30 days, but that's next to impossible for me during this crazy time of year. Our goal is to knock a couple of topics off per week. The coolest part is that James wants to do this challenge too, so for each topic, I'll do a post containing both of our answers! By the end of this thing, you may end up knowing way more about us than you'd like to!!!

The Blog Challenge Topics:

(we'll complete them in no particular order!)

#1 - your favorite song
#2 - your favorite movie
#3 - your favorite television program
#4 - your favorite book
#5 - your favorite quote
#6 - 20 of my favorite things
#7 - a photo that makes you happy
#8 - a photo that makes you angry/sad
#9 - a photo you took
#10 - a photo taken over 10 years ago of you
#11 - a photo of you recently
#12 - something you are OCD about
#13 - a fictional book
#14 - a non-fictional book
#15 - your dream house
#16 - a song that makes you cry (or nearly)
#17 - an art piece (drawing, sculpture, painting, etc)
#18 - your wedding
#19 - a talent of yours
#20 - a hobby of yours
#21 - a recipe
#22 - a website
#23 - a youtube video
#24 - where you live
#25 - your day, in great detail
#26 - your week, in great detail
#27 - your worst habit
#28 - what's in your handbag/wallet
#29 - hopes, dreams, and plans for the next 365 days
#30 - a dream for the future

♪ Here Comes the Bride ♪

My little brother Chris was married this past week... YAY! They were sealed in the beautiful Draper Temple.

Her dress was absolutely gorgeous!

Isn't this a handsome bunch of boys?
Cutest wedding shoes ever!
My cute family
My little bro couldn't resist jumping into my arms for a photo op!
Didn't she make a beautiful bride?
Me and James after the sealing










I helped Karen make these activity booklets for the kids to keep them busy during the family luncheon that was held after the ceremony. At the end of the luncheon, Chris and Karen passed out these darling favors to the family... they included Chris' favorite food in the world - gummy frogs!
A wedding just isn't complete without a little trashing of the bride and grooms car! Chris' buddies from work did the honors!












After the wedding, Chris and Karen went off to start their honeymoon at our family's condo up in Midway. My mom and I left these little surprises for them! We love Chris' new bride Karen and we're all so excited for the happy couple!

Adoption Update

NOVEMBER:

National Adoption Month

National Adoption Month is all about spreading awareness of the incredible world of adoption. 19,430 children in Utah are adopted - about 2.9%! Of women age 15-44 who experience an unplanned pregnancy...

12% will marry and parent the child

37% will be single parents

50% will miscarry or abort the child

and ONLY

1% will place the child for adoption

When trying to think of an eloquent message to share regarding my feelings of birth parents, I came across a song written by Michael McLean that sums up perfectly what I wanted to say:

With so many wrong decisions in my past I'm not quite sure
If I can ever hope to trust my judgement anymore
But lately I've been thinking 'cause it's all I've had to do
And in my heart I feel that I should give this child to you

And maybe you can tell your baby
When you love him so, that he was loved before
By someone who delivered your son
From God's arms to my arms to yours

Now if you choose to tell him, or if he wants to know
How the one who gave him life could bear to let him go
Just tell him there were sleepless nights I prayed and paced the floors
And knew the only peace I'd find is if this child was yours

And maybe you can tell your baby
When you love him so, that he was loved before
By someone who delivered your son
From God's arms to my arms to yours

Now I Know you don't have to do this
But could you kiss him once for me
The first time that he ties his shoes
Or falls and skins his knee

And could you hold him twice as long
When he makes his mistakes
And tell him that he's not alone
Sometimes that's all it takes
I know how much he'll ache

Well this may not be the answer
For another girl like me
And I'm not on a soapbox saying
How we all should be
I'm just trusting in my feelings
And I'm trusting God above
And I'm trusting you can give this baby
Both his mothers' love

And maybe you can tell your baby
When you love him so, that he was loved before
By someone who delivered your precious one
From God's arms to my arms to yours

As an introduction to this song Michael McLean writes: "When you think about it, adoption is as much a miracle as birth itself. Maybe more so, when you consider that for everyone involved it starts from a place of impossible choices: nearly unbearable fear, haunting doubts, interspersed with glimpses of hope brought into partial focus only when seen through the lens of unselfishness. And at the moment of heartbreaking courage, when a selfless choice is made, there are absolutely no guarantees... well, maybe one: that every conceivable outcome of the journey had been imagined in sleepless nights and endless days. Still, in spite of all who would say it's beyond possibility that hope or peace or joy could be found, it is!"

Adoption truly is the most selfless gift! We're grateful for all of the birth mother's out there and for their incredible sacrifice!

Halloween - Part Two

On Halloween night, we had all of Heather's family over for a fun filled spooky party! The kids had a blast!

The Creepy Specimen Jars Our house was overtaken by mice on Halloween night!

Costumes - take 3!
Heather = cave woman / James = La-Z-Boy (aka... too lazy to wear a costume!)
Heather's Nephew's in their trick-or-treating get ups
A heated game of Bingo
Eating worm filled dirt cups
Musical Chairs set to "Monster Mash"
Decorating Pumpkins
The finished products
The party was super fun and afterward, the kids hit the streets of our neighborhood for some serious trick-or-treating! Same time, next year?




Costumes - Take 4!
Our last party of Halloween 2010 meant one last set of costumes and now our costume box is locked up and put away until 2011! See ya next year on All Hallows Eve!