Leftovers?

Ah! We'll be eating like Kings for days!

This is what we caught Grandpa doing with the grandbabies while waiting for that turkey to cook!


Jeff and Halie, checking out the ads for the big day on Friday.

Brooke, the boy and the babygirl.

A rare photo of Shane smiling and cute Becca.

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. It was a fabulous day, but by no means "perfect". For one thing, I have a temperamental oven and about 2 hours after I had put the turkey in, I realized that I wasn't smelling anything cooking. Sure enough, the oven had turned off and the turkey was as white and raw as ever! So, we started it back up (said a prayer) and just kept checking it. We were supposed to eat at 2 p.m., but it was getting close to 3 and everything else was ready and I needed to put the rolls in (one oven over here!), so we pulled the turkey out, even though it wasn't quite done and popped the rolls in. Stacy started checking out the bird and it was still a little pinky down deep. He also got the tongs and pulled the NECK out of the inside cavity, which was disgusting! (I swear, I thought I had gotten some sort of neck off that bird, there was a 'giblet' packet, some 'gravy packet' and some sort of frozen-y chunk of something I pulled off it - I thought that was the neck!) Well, he sliced off the breast meat (all white meat family at our house) and we put it in the microwave for several minutes to finish up the cooking process while we called everyone to the table for dinner (keeping them out of the kitchen where the slightly bloody carcass was), and had the prayer, etc. The meat turned out fine, (thank goodness for the microwave) and everything was delicious.

We were all digging in and Doug, who hasn't been here for the past 2 years was saying how good everything was and said "Let's go around the table and say what we're thankful for". Amanda pipes up, "I hate that damn game and I have to do it every Thanksgiving!"

It was really nice to have our entire family there and it made me very grateful. We have lots of fabulous leftovers - yummy!

P.S. Last year, I cooked the turkey UPSIDE-DOWN and couldn't figure out why it didn't look nice like the pictures of Thanksgiving turkeys - maybe I should just admit I'm not so good with turkeys!

Straight Hair?

This is me with straight hair - you'll probably never see it again. My kids said I looked 10 years younger (What do they know?). This was on Halloween, before Amanda sprayed it for my witch get up. This is actually the second time in my 45 years that I've had my hair straightened. My sis-in-law, Jen, did it at our SIL retreat a few years back and she pulled my hair (can you tell I'm a total wimp!), so I was loath to let someone do it again, but Amanda talked me into it. When she was about to get started, she reminded me of all of the times I had pulled her hair while combing it when she was a child - not an auspicious beginning. However, she was actually quite gentle and she kept telling me that even though she was getting "close" to my ear, neck, face, etc., she wasn't going to burn me. I trusted her. Today, Stacy burned himself while BBQ-ing, and she was advising him on how to treat a burn, she said she gets them about 3 times a week, FROM STRAIGHTENING HER HAIR! So, as I said, you'll probably never see my hair straight again!

Lazy Sunday Mornings...

(Amanda, Shane and Me, reading the Sunday paper)

Babygirl spent the night on Saturday night, much to The Boy's dismay (He was not invited). She enjoyed having a long evening with Grandpa and Grandma. She went to the store with Grandpa to purchase breakfast for Sunday morning. When they got back from the store, she wanted the donuts right away, she didn't want to wait for Sunday morning. So, of course, Grandpa gave her some Saturday night AND Sunday morning. She is quite pleased with herself. Our leisurely Sunday mornings are going to be coming to an end in a month or so, when we switch to 9 a.m. church. Then we are looking forward to leisurely Sunday afternoons, hurray for naps!

The Skinny...

My newspaper publishes a little skinny column called, what else - "The Skinny". It is usually about random observations about life and such. Well, here's mine:

Fat people love it when winter is coming, because the weather gets cold, especially here in Utah, compared to California, where I lived the first 40 years of my life. Skinny people just think about how cold they are going to be, since they don't have much fat to insulate them. Old people generally don't like the winter either, I think it's partly because they are usually pretty skinny too. I love the winter, it is nice and cold and if you are somewhere that the heat is on too high, you can just step outside and enjoy the brisk air, until you have cooled down sufficiently to head back inside. My kids, being rather skinny, are always complaining that my house is too cold in the winter. Stacy and I just smile and pass them a quilt (or tell them to 'get to work', so they won't be so cold). Their friends are skinny too, so we make sure to have lots of quilts on hand and plenty of hot chocolate too. We don't want to appear unwelcoming. Skinny people are so excited about summer time - they just love to be extra warm and not cold anymore. I am not a big fan of summer, it is nice for a little while, but then, I am just tired of being hot, hot, hot! For now I am just going to enjoy sleeping with my window open at night, so I can enjoy the cold cold air.

What I've been up to...

I've been sewing away on these babies. My snowflake one is not happy with the borders I put on, so I will probably change them. I finished Amanda's giant one, with all of the colors she likes.

The simple square one is one I finished last month. The "Luck of the Irish" with all of the millions of tiny squares is the one I spent many hours on at the Aspen Grove Retreat. I am going to add another light border to it, I am waiting for the fabric in the mail, I couldn't get any more from the store I bought it at. I will be quilting them soon, but not tonight, I'm off to read a book now...

I'm Back...

I'm just back from the fabulous Aspen Grove Quilt Retreat! It was super duper great, as usual (this is my second year). I went up with my quilting buddies, Judie, Kathy and Louise. There were lots of other great, creative, fun gals up there too. We had a great time! We went up on Wednesday and it snowed all day up there, it was so beautiful!!! We all quilt/sew in a big room with huge windows so we can enjoy the view all day long (and late into the night too!). There were about 60 women up there sewing our little hearts out and chatting (and eating) up a storm. My kids would call it a "fancy sweatshop", since we sewed for 12 plus hours a day! We laughed until we cried (and ALMOST wet our large white panties) and just generally had a wonderful time! Seriously, when was the last time you heard the word "bosomy" in a sentence?? Or saw 60+ year old women hula hooping or running around with balloons tied to their ankles trying to stomp on the balloon of the little old lady next to you? I will post pics of what I got done this week, I just need to lay them out and photograph them!

P.S. My friend, Kathy, in the hula hoop picture, is not 60+ years old!

Quirks - Ugh!

My quirks:

1. I hate to get in the shower - mind you, I quite enjoy it, once I'm in, but I am always putting it off until the very last minute, thus, I show up everywhere with wet hair! (Far be it from me to "waste time" blow drying it!)

2. I love love love the sound of the dishwasher running when I go to bed, I just love knowing that the kitchen is "all clean" and will be fab in the morning when I wake up. (Although, Stacy has a way of hearing it too and runs in for a snack every time!!!)

3. I must say, I think Brooke got the "no naked toenails" from me - I hate mine naked too - even a pale color disturbs me - I like them dark red or dark pink - I do have pretty cute toes too!

4. I hate to have too many quilting projects "hanging over my head", this is weird, according to my quilting friends who like to have oodles and oodles of started/half completed projects (not to mention yards and yards of fabric that they just had to buy!).

5. I'm sort of OCD - I hate having a messy car (I sometimes do, but I hate it), I like things to look very neat, when I leave the house, a room, etc. I love to have things planned out - I am not a very impulsive person. This makes me hard to live with sometimes, just ask my family.

6. I don't like to "mix" my food. I usually eat one thing at a time on my plate, I don't like the different foods to touch each other, although mashed potatoes can touch meat.

It's Official!

Doug and Tricia got engaged tonight! I couldn't get the video loaded, but it was very sweet. Shane was the spy/cameraman - here are a few 'after' pics - once we got Tricia off the phone to all of her friends!