A lot of things happen in December

This week has involved a few busy days.
Monday: decided to finally make some Christmas cookies to share with others. Went to the band concert at the high school to support one of the young women I work with. Oliver was in charge of the lights so the boys spent time in the hallway.
Tuesday: Volleyball was cancelled & the phone & internet weren't working, so I went and bothered Oliver at school for a little while before picking the boys up from school. We played for a little while and then I took them to swim practice where Oliver picked them up. After practice I ran home to get food for the boys and then ran to the church.  The Young Men & Young Women were meeting to go see the lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. We got home around 10pm. I found out that Oliver and the boys had done well at the concessions stand at the high school while I was gone. Ryan got "lost" (Oliver went to the office and Ryan went to his classroom to wait, but Oliver was a little too long in getting back). They had walkie talkies and Ryan pushed Evan around.
Wednesday: A relaxed day. I got Ryan a donut for being such a good helper the day before for Daddy. Another batch of cookies down.
Thursday: Volleyball. Yay! Quick lunch/cleanup/etc before a friend came to watch the boys. I drove to the high school, left a quick note on Oliver's desk, saw him again in the hallway where I got to kiss him before getting on a bus with the swim team. The swim team drove up to Garland, Utah, to compete against Bear River High School. They did great! Its a longer pool: meters vs. yards, but they did well and won. Unfortunately, we ran into a bit of an emergency situation that we weren't completely prepared for, but it all worked out in the end. I again, got home at 10pm. The boys had a fun night. Ryan went with Becky & Jaxson to see some karate while Oliver & Evan stayed at the school to help set up concessions. Then pizza, a bit of the ward Christmas party where they saw Santa, and back to help clean up concessions.
Today: Oliver will be at the school all day to help with a dance concert, I think I'm going to work on some more Christmas cookies. :)

Thanksgiving 2013

For the first time in all of our family years, we celebrated Thanksgiving in our own home with just our immediate family members.

I cooked our first Thanksgiving turkey plus a handful of side dishes requested by those who know what's going on. Oliver requested rolls, & sweet potatoes. I wanted 7 layer salad & fudge. Ryan wanted turkey & rolls. I also made some stuffing from a box and some gravy from a package.

Ollie likes to take pictures of food.

It was good food, but it was also a good day. We just relaxed in our home with each other. I got in a game of bingo with Ryan-a throw back to my family's Thanksgivings. During our meal, Oliver suggested we play the alphabet thankful game which is much like any other alphabet game, where we take turns sharing what we are thankful for in alphabetical order. So we shared important things like our family members & our home. We also were thankful for snakes & zippers among other things.

Ryan immediately requested that we put Christmas up in the house which ended up taking the whole weekend. On Friday, we figured out that we wanted to put the tree up in our guest room, but Oliver wanted to make some shelves in the closet to put the "stuff" that had been strewn across the room. The shelves were finally made on Saturday and the tree was put up. After church on Sunday, we put the ornaments on it.

I am so blessed. We are all so blessed.