Thankful

Friday, November 21

Olive's cute Thanksgiving play at school. I'm glad we still got to be in it. It was going to be on Tuesday, but since so many of the kids, us included, would be gone, they changed it to Friday!

Saturday, November 22

We stopped at a Children's museum and played. It made the drive to Wisconsin so much more fun!

Sunday, November 23

We so rarely get to spend a Sunday with family, it was a lot of fun to be up here in Wisconsin with Seth and Julie and their kids. My kids are absolutely loving having cousins to play with.

Monday, November 24

Trains and snow. They would have closed school in Morristown for this much snow. My kids, however woke up absolutely enchanted with the blanket of white. Later in the day we took the train to Chicago.

Tuesday, November 25

The Jelly Belly factory. We got to try different kinds of jelly beans. Aspen and I tried skunk spray and spit it out before gagging. Olive wanted to try it too. She put it in her mouth and with the grossest expresssion said mmm, it's good. Then finished the entire thing.

Wednesday, November 26

Uncle Seth took us to the Kenosha museum. The museum was really great, especially considering that it is free. After that we rode the trolly to "Trolly Dogs" for lunch. It was this fun little hot dog place. The owner kept giving us stuff for free. That's him in the hat with I assume his little grandson.

Thursday, November 27

Family.

Friday, November 28

Special time with Grandma.

Saturday, November 29

Children's museums. If you have little kids and you are going to be driving across several states, I highly recomend getting a membership to ASTC museums and science centers. Membership to your local museum (I paid $50.00) gets you in to (almost) all of the museums around the world. It breaks up the drive and gives the kids a fun place to run around after being cooped up all day.

Sunday, November 30

Good memories of our cousins!

Thankful

Monday, November 17

Jonathon put the shelves up in our room!!!

Tuesday, November 18

I don't have a picture, but the Visiting teaching lunch we did turned out really well.

Wednesday, November 19

Sleeping children

Thurdsay, November 20

It FINALLY came out!

The Big Read

I found this on My cousin's blog, and thought I'd do it too.
The Big Read, an initiative by the National Endowment for the Arts, has estimated that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they’ve printed. How do you do?

1) Look at the list and color those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Remark on the books you LOVE.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen Ohhh yea!
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte I keep starting this one too!
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling Everyone knows I love these books! And shouldn't this count as at Least 7 books!
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee This one was Jonathon's favorite of the list
6 The Bible. Jonathon and I spent about 2 1/2 years and read EVERY SINGLE WORD!
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte I keep starting this one and can't get past the first few chapters...
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare-I've read most of them.
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot .
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams This one was wierd, but it kept me reading.
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh.
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis I really do love this series!
34 Emma - Jane Austen My favorites!!!
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen My favorites!!!
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis I think this is wierd, because this is part of #33
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi -Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen More of my favorite!
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens I think I've read this, but I can't remember...
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas Jonathon wants to read this one
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville I think I've read 70 & 71 too, but again, I can't remember!
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce Someday.
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince- Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams.
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo I've seen the musical

So I got 29 out of 100. Now I can't say that I can't find anything to read.
ps One that I think they left off is The Yearling byMarjorie Kinnan Rawlings. If you want to experience the south, that is true, true, true! I read it a few years ago, when we'd been here for a few years and I couldn't believe how much the sayings, accents and mannerisms that I read about helped me understand the people who are from here. Not to mention that it is an incrediably touching story of life and growing up. Can you think of any other books that are missing? What is/are your favorites on this list?

Thankful

Sunday, November 9

Today I am thankful for Primary. Mostly I am thankful that the strength of this program doesn't lie in the strength of those that are asked to lead it, but that it is the kids and the Lord that make this a truly amazing place for children to go to learn about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Monday, November 10

I am thankful for fall and fall leaves

Tuesday, November 11

At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 the war to end all wars ended. Though I wish that it really did end all wars, I am thankful for the men and women and their families who give so much so that my family and I can enjoy a life of security and freedom.

Wednesday, November 12

I am thankful for my washer and drier. When I was on my mission in the Philippines we had to wash our underclothes by hand. All the way by hand. First we pumped the water. We had running water inside, but outside where we washed there was only a "pumba." You had to pour a little water down it to get it started and then pump. The harder and faster you pumped, the more water came out at once. (I must admit though, this picture we did have running water outside. It was not the norm though!) As soon as you had filled up two big round tubs, you put your clothes in to get wet. Then you used a bar of laundry detergent. It looked like a bar of regular shower soap, but grittier. You rub it all over one thing and then rub it and do some sort of twist and rub. Next you rinse that item out in the first tub then the second tub, then hang to dry. Then you start all over again with the next item. We only had 14 items to do a week, and it still took around 2 hours a week to do laundry. We paid someone from the branch to do our dresses and linens. I was thinking about this today when I went to do the mountain of laundry that has piled up. I would never do anything but laundry if I had to do it all by hand. According to WikiAnswers, I have James King to thank for his 1797 invention of the washing machine. Thank You Mr King!

Thursday, November 13
I am thankful for the new play room. After everyone left and I had it pretty much empty, waiting to be filled, I had a hard time putting the toys and food storage down there that I had made the room for. It looked so nice, so new, so pretty that it was hard for me to think of how ugly open shelves of food storage would look, or how I it would get messed up as a play room. I went back and forth with this for the entire week up until today. Then I just decided that the room IS beautiful, but I really did want it to be a play room. It's a guest room when we have guests, but the other 355 days of the year no one would notice what a nice shade the walls turned out to be, or how un-basement like it is. But those 355 days that we don't have guest, almost every one of them would find my kids enjoying their own little spot in the house. One that is dedicated to bringing them closer together as siblings, one that they want to invite their friends to and one that still feels like they are at the heart of our home. I don't think that I will have it quite how I like it for a year or so, that seems to be about how long it takes for me to figure it out, but Thursday was the first play date and the kids didn't get bored!

Friday, November 14

I am thankful for the rain. I actually wasn't that thankful today for the rain, but I am trying to convince myself that I am. It has been drizzly for the past few days. Overcast skies, and misty moisty rain. It doesn't get fully light until noon. (At least it seems like it to me.) I have to turn on every light in the house so I don't feel like it's the middle of the night. But, then there are the really beautiful things about the rain, aside from the obvious. Like driving the kids to school and them being in total awe at how blue the sky is in one little patch that has broken through the clouds.

Saturday, November 15

I am thankful for those few minutes of quiet after the kids go to bed that I get to sit and talk to Jonathon. Don't get me wrong, we talk constantly through the day, but there is something really nice about those few minutes of calm before the rest of the things that need to be done for the rest of the night are thought about and before the TV or computer grabs our attention.

Sunday, November 16

I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father.

My perfect day

Perfect is one of those words that is absolutely subject to the environment around it. For example, the perfect mess, the perfect person, the perfect day...

I thought about this all day yesterday, though no one would know it because I didn't post a word. I thought, would my perfect day be a day when I didn't have to do anything? I could sleep all day and only eat chocolate? NO! Although sometimes I think it might be, but to be honest, I think I would be bored to death and go searching for some kids to play with or some laundry to do! So, this is what I came up with as my perfect day (for now, I'm sure it will change next week...)

I will have had a really restful night's sleep. All of us are healthy and it rained in the night until around 4am. ( I love sleeping in the rain-as long as I am comfortable in a house, in a bed! I love the sound) I wake up rested, before the kids. They get up after a little bit and whatever it is we do that day, the kids get along the whole time! On my perfect day I get to reconnect with someone I haven't seen for a while, I find something I forgot I'd even lost, the meals I cook turn out great and everyone is excited that I made it and asks for more. Somewhere in there is our extended family. We play a few games with the kids before bedtime, and then everyone willingly and happily go off to bed on time and Jonathon and I have a quiet evening. Oh yea, I almost forgot. The dishes are magically done by the dish fairy, the house is kept picked up all day without me reminding anyone and the laundry fairy has washed, dried, folded, hung up and put away every piece of clothing that we are not wearing and the cleaning fairy had deep cleaned all of the nooks and crannies while the garage fairy magically cleaned and organized my unsightly garage! Yep, that would be a perfect day!

Thankful

November 8

Ahhh! Today I am thankful that it's Saturday! I promise not to use that one again, but it's really been a while since I've had an Ahhhh! Type of Saturday. Today Cedar's football game was at 9:30 am instead of the normal 8:30am so Jonathon had time to make crepes, which means I didn't have to do anything for breakfast except eat! Then at Cedar's game, I was actually paying attention to the first play and had my video camera ready as Cedar scored the 100 yd touchdown.

Then later in the game I was still paying attention and he scored another one!

This is much better than the game 2 weeks ago when he scored his first touch down ever on the opening play in the second half and I was chatting with another mom and didn't even see him until he was half way down the field and other parents are yelling, "Go Cedar!" So, that was my bad mom moment, and I'm thankful that I had the chance to make up for it today. I'm thankful that I can call the one lone load of wash that I did my big accomplishment for the day and feel good about it. Ahhh! Saturday! I am thankful that after a few games with my kids I get to put them to bed and since I accomplished my one load of laundry I will reward myself with a movie. (Jonathon is off to meetings tonight.) Ahhh! I am thankful for Saturday!

Thankful

I saw this idea on another blog. The idea is to take/find a picture every day this month of something that you are thankful for. I think that the original idea was going to take the pictures and make a collage, but I think I will just post them. I probably won't post every day but will post as often as I can. So here goes.

November 1

I am so thankful that my little girl decided to get baptized. We gave her the choice. She didn't have to. But she understood what it meant and wanted to do it.

November 2I am thankful for my mom today. For her understanding and love.

November 3

I am thankful for my in-law's, John and Marie. They came out and shared so much of themselves with us.

November 4

I am thankful that I live in America where I can have a say in who my leaders are. I can put my voice with the millions of others out there, and even if who I voted for doesn't get elected, I had a voice. A long time ago I wouldn't have had a voice, only my husbands voice would have counted. But today, I can make my own independent choice and cast my vote. And now that it is decided. I will put all of my effort, prayers and support behind the man that was elected. Because that is what an American does.

November 5I am thankful that we made it back to the car before the sun set completely.

November 6I am thankful for my Dad. He has found his own little way of connecting with my kids.

November 7

I went shopping today. I am so thankful that I have food to eat and feed my family with. I am thankful that I can cook and give my family things that are healthy. That when I go to the store I can get what I need and often what I want.

Bucket list

We just had our last guests leave this afternoon. It was very fun and wonderful to have them, but I find it hard to put my brain back into gear.

What do I want to do before I kick the bucket? Since I haven't seen the movie, I haven't been thinking about that one. I had a "things to do before I get married" list. I think that maybe I'll share that one and then maybe that will spark my memory, because I can only think of two right now, and I'm sure there is more.

Things to do before I get (got) married...

(I wonder if all of you knew this about me :0)

• Be a DJ--I was SAM (Sarah at the Mic) at Thunder 91.1 the SUU radio station.
• Be a ski instructor--I taught at Brian Head Resort near Cedar City
• Go on a Mission--to the Philippines
• Finish College--B.S. in Education
• There was one more, but I can't remember it right now. Luckily I have remembered a few more things I want to do before I die.

Things to do before I die

• Go to Egypt. I don't want to go now, for many reasons. I want to have a year to prepare, I want to go without young children, I want to go and not worry too much about a budget, I want to spend 10 days or more. Maybe a month.
• I want to publish a book. Hmm, probably a children's book or a young adult book. It seems to me that I should stick to the things I know and like.
• I want to get my masters degree.
• I want to teach college.
• I want to do some sort of business with Liz. (Em, were you wanting in on that too?) We have always talked about doing some sort of wedding reception business. We wanted to cater it to the LDS market of after the temple wedding there is a reception at the church. That's what we want to get into. Something for people who want something wonderful but have a budget to work with. We've always been good at fitting what we want into our budget and also at producing great things for a lot less cost than you'd imagine. I remember when we were both at Dad's house for a summer we would plan these great dinners and then figure out the price per serving. I think we must be really big nerds, but it was fun!

So, I'm sure that there are more, but I'll have to post them later! Lets hope I don't die soon, I haven't gotten very far on my list!

And what everyone likes more than what I write, here are a few pictures!

Olive as Tinkerbell and "The Stash!" 10 lbs!

The kids, and more kids...

Aspen and I after her baptism

Aspen's Baptism

Today was the day!

Aspen!

Aspen, Jonathon and I

The family