A White Thanksgiving

We had an untraditional Thanksgiving this year. First, we spent it camping/hunting in the mountains, second, we had none of our family with us, and third, it snowed!

What a sight to wake up to on Thanksgiving morning. Beautiful!

Sterling carving the deep fried turkey.

We did have all the traditional food though and it was delicious!

The women after stuffing themselves. We were a little bummed thinking about all the sales we would miss on black friday!

Ron and I by the newest addition to our family. One of the things we were definitely thankful for this year. It sure made camping nice!

The Leavitts, Knights and Holyoaks enjoying the campfire.

Hoke just being himself. He sure kept us laughing!

Putting the fire out after packing up everything to leave.

Sterling doing his part to help!

Ron couldn't miss out on the fun.

Thanks to the Leavitts and the Holyoaks for the fun time we had and for filling in as our family this year. Better luck next time with the hunting!

Even though we were not with our family we sure did miss them and we are very thankful for each and every one of them!

Last Utah trip?

I just returned from spending a week in Utah with Melanie and the boys. Depending on how fast (or slow) their house sells, this may have been my last trip. Although I am super excited to have them move to Arizona, I will miss getting to visit Utah often. Some of the things I have grown to love:
Scenery, seasons and shopping! I love the mountains (especially with snow on the tops), the canyons, and the lake that Melanie lives by. I love that they have different seasons, the leaves in the fall are beautiful and even the snow is fun for a little while. And the tulips in the spring are gorgeous! The mosquitos in the summer are definitely not my favorite but the cooler weather is nice. I will miss shopping at Tai Pan, Gardner Village, Rodworks, Roberts crafts, the Wood Connection, Lehi roller mills, and many other cool places. (maybe that's a good thing!) And I will miss the hot springs heated pool and spas that are right across the street. But I will not miss the freezing cold!

While I was there Melanie celebrated her 31st birthday. We took the kids and went out to dinner and later that evening I made crepes and she had some friends over for dessert. She is such a special person, an amazing woman, a fabulous daughter and I love her so much! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Time Out for Women

On Saturday I was able to attend Time Out for Women with my sis-in-law Cindy and our two cousins Debbie and Pam. We didn't realize it was also for girls so the format was a little different. But it was fun, upbeat and very uplifting with lots of great music. We didn't want to pay their price of $17 for lunch so we had our own parking lot picnic.
Cindy and I looked like twins with our haircut, brown tops and skirts. We even got asked if we were sisters. What a compliment!You can't go anywhere with these women and not have fun. Thanks for taking me with you!

Homemade bread

Awhile ago Stephanie had gotten into bread making. She borrowed my old bosch and since she was getting more use out of it than I had been I decided to give it to her for her birthday. But then I realized that I missed having one and so for my birthday last month Ron surprised me and got me the new version. It had been awhile since I had made bread so we got together today at Steph's house so she could show me how she does it with her recipe. It wasn't that hard and if I do say so myself it turned out fabulous!

Grinding the wheat into flour

My new bosch in action

Steph and I in our cute mother's day aprons

Weighing the dough Kim stopped by to check out our work

The finished product, yum oh!
Did I actually make that?!!!!!

Halloween

We have never gotten many trick-or-treaters at our house and this year was no exception. Only the cutest ones bothered to come by and they were adorable!

Anaston as Minnie Mouse

Kinsley as a bumble bee

Matthew and Emma as Lightning McQueen and Sleeping Beauty

And you know Grandmas house always has the best candy!

Arizona State Fair

We went with the family to the AZ State Fair on Oct. 22. I love the fair! The sights, sounds, smells, food, etc. After the usual dinner of San Tan Indian fry bread (yum!) we hit the kiddie rides. They had a blast! Emma and Matthew were the perfect age for the rides, Anaston and Kinsley will enjoy it more next year. We missed the Rojas family but they will be able to join us in 2009. Woo hoo!

I'm a Blogger now!

Well I have succumbed to peer pressure and started a blog. My life is so entertaining and exciting that I just had to share it with the world. So check it out when you get bored and need to be livened up!