Thanksgiving Column 11-26-08

Thanksgiving..such a beautiful holiday. Time to sit back and give thanks for all of the year's blessings. A chance to sit around the table with those that you love and be thankful for having them in your life. And even a day of mourning as we remember those that we've lost over the year and are not able to share our holiday traditions any longer.

As I reflect on the last year, and oh what a year it has been, I am so filled with thanksgiving. I conquered some major fears, including overcoming my fear of heights and going on a zip line and was blessed to still be alive at the end of it! I have been blessed with a new life, in a new home, in a new state. I have been given the opportunity to experience Autumn again and to watch my children experience it for the first time. I saw snow this year! I am in good health. I have been blessed with lots of laughter in my little world.

I am thankful for all of the new friends in my life. The friends that I’ve made with my new neighbors and the friends that my children have made with their children. We have been blessed with wonderful teachers for our children that have been really interested and involved in making sure that our whole family transitions well to our new home. I started a new bunco group and I am so thankful for the women that joined and all of the laughter they brought to my life last Thursday!

My table this year will be filled with those that I love so very much. My awesome husband of ten years who I love more than anything in this world by my side. My three beautiful children that I cherish with all of my heart. My wonderful and entire in-law family that I have been so blessed to have share in my life. And with my special new nephew, Camden, who is five months old and I will be meeting for the first time!

My family lost a friend this year to suicide. I am so sad for my best friend who's husband it was and my children's best friends whose father it was. This year is a sad year for them as they remember their whole family together. It's also a day of looking forward and setting new traditions as they remember the man they loved so much. My heart hurts as we all mourn him this Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for all of the wonderful experiences I've had this year. The joys and the sorrows. The laugher and the tears. The ups and the downs. I know that every bad situation has the potential and ability to help us grow in character. My life, and year, has had a lot of character building moments and I am thankful for the friends, family and even strangers who have had kind words to build me up to who I am. As I write this and finish my reflecting, I have to say I am truly thankful for the awesome year I've had and to all of you who have brightened my world.

The North Pole

Mom and Dad decided that they were not going to buy Christmas presents for us. Instead, they were going to "do" Christmas presents with us. Yesterday they surprised the kids and took all of us to the North Pole in Colorado Springs. There are a bazillion pictures but these are the only ones on my camera...so that's what you get.

Here is the official North Pole...and it's made out of ice.

What fun is an amusement park without a train??

I promised Jon that this picture would make it onto the blog!! xo

The boys checking out the map to see where we should head after our hot chocolate break.

Aunt Melissa on the Dive Bomb.

Jagger feeding Santa's reindeer.

James and Kaylee riding on a roller coaster together. Liz and I actually got on for the next ride. For a kiddie roller coaster it was very scary!! The kids loved laughing at us screaming!

Okay, if any of you remember the post from Family Camp then you will remember how scared I am of heights. Well, check out this next picture! I cried for the first part but then I got brave enough to raise both hands up into the air. So brave I am!! Lots of big hurdles this year.

Jagger on the Sky Ride.

James and Melissa on the Sky Ride.

And after four hours of fun would you believe that we didn't even go see Santa?! We were at the North Pole for goodness sakes!!

It was another perfect day. Thanks Mom and Dad. I know the kids loved every minute of the day and we had a blast too!

Jammers!

Since we are not going to be together for Christmas, I wanted to have a little gift for everyone while they are here (seriously, I'm cheap..I didn't want to pay shipping!). I bought jammies and books for all of the girls. We got matching jammies...different books though.

This is the funny picture. Instead of "say cheese" my idiot husband said "say Jenny Craig!" You can see how impressed we all were.

And here we are being sweet and snuggly.

Meeting Camden

There is nothing better than a baby....unless it's my nephew Camden!! I finally got to meet him when Jon, Liz and Camden arrived on Sunday. He is so precious! It's moments like these that I so wish that all of my family lived close by.

Here he is being his cute self....

The kids were so excited to have their cousin arrive. Kaylee had met him shortly after his birth when her and daddy had visited Maryland.

James and Jagger have been so gentle and sweet with the baby. They are wonderful big cousins.

I did not get my picture with Camden the first day but here we are enjoying a moment together on Day 2. I'm such a lucky aunt!

Touchdown!!

Jimmy took his dad to the Broncos game on Sunday for his Christmas present. They are never allowed to go again though because they DID NOT!! bring the Broncos any good luck. However, they did have a good time. And because they were one of the first whatever number to get there, they received free hats. Here they are giving them to the boys when they got home! So cute!

My Manly Men

Are words even necessary?? I'm sure they broke about a million rules of proper man behavior in this one setting alone!!

And surprising them with this picture on my blog....priceless!!

How NOT To Impress Your Mother-In-Law

I love my mother-in-law. She is a wonderful, caring and giving person. She loves me and my children so completely. Still, regardless of this unconditional love, I feel this need to impress and please her with my cleaning and culinary skills. Yesterday...I did not! Here is my embarrassing tale....

We got home from our very fun day of shopping and skating and we start preparing for dinner. Kaylee has asked for her Mamaw's famous steak fingers, mashed potatoes and gravy and some cornbread for dinner. My only job is to make the dessert; the best homemade-from-scratch chocolate birthday cake in the world.

I don't know where I went wrong. The cake cooked and puffed up on the outside but stayed flat in the middle. It overflowed in the oven and smoked and stunk the whole house with burnt cake smell. The sides burnt onto the pan and needed to be cut off. When I took the cake out of the pan the bottom stayed in the pan. The cake was falling apart. I had to put more milk in the icing to make it thin enough that I wouldn't make a bigger mess when trying to ice the cake.

And the most embarrassing part, the part I can't believe I'm about to type? I'm still on the South Beach Diet. And this said diet gives me major gas. I mean stinky boy gas. And while all of this smoking and burning cake is going on I am stinking the kitchen up with my noxious gasses.

My mother-in-law laughed a lot!!

And she still loves me!

My family was gracious enough to eat the crazy chocolate cake and surprisingly it was still delicious (yes, I cheated on my diet. It has to be some kind of really bad luck to not have a piece of your daughter's birthday cake..right?? Well, that's the story I'm going with!!).