Thanks

Thanksgiving is (almost) here!
I am ready to eat. But more importantly, I have so much to be thankful for. I won't bore you with the entire list, but I will say that I am thankful to be a mother and a wife and to have an AMAZING family that gives me so much support and love.
I am thankful for all the men and women who have left their families and their comfortable homes to serve as missionaries and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ all over the world, and to those who are also away serving in our military and keeping us safe. We are writing letters to missionaries tonight for the youth activity at church. If you want to say thank you to our troops, there is a cool website called Let's Say Thanks where you can send a post card to military personnel stationed overseas. It takes about two minutes, and you don't have to give them any personal information like your email or anything. It's a small gesture, but I'm sure it will make someone's day.
I am grateful for this time of year when we are reminded to really focus not on the problems and challenges that we all face daily, but on the things we have been given. I feel so blessed to have the life that I do and I hope I can remember that every day.

Family Photos

I am thinking about taking some family photos and decided to look around to get some ideas for poses. I found some great ideas! Which one should we do?

We could put cats in our pockets

Straw Hats are always a nice touch.

We could do an environmentally friendly pose

Tie Dye Anyone?

How about a theme photo, a little Happy Days?

or A Christmas Surprise!

These are all priceless. Hopefully our family photos will turn out as great.

Giggles

Ella loooves her daddy and always smiles for him when he gets home.

Litter bugs

Has your foot ever been baptized in orange soda? If not, you are lucky. It is not so fun to get out of your car in the Vons parking lot and step on a full cup of sticky orange nastiness... in sandals. I was unfortunate enough to have this experience yesterday and it got me thinking about how lazy people are that they can't even walk to the trash can (which was only 10 feet away max!) or at least hold their trash in their car until they get home.



I have to admit that I was once guilty of this crime, but I was just a kid, so I can say I didn't know any better. I learned at a young age that littering is a no-no. One fine day as a youngster, I was happily enjoying my pudding snack in the parking lot while mom quickly ran into the store. When I was done, I of course didn't want to hold the trash all the way home, so I carefully placed it on the ground outside the door of our car (sweet dodge caravan). We were a good distance from the store when my mom realized I no longer had my snack and asked what I had done with the trash. I casually admitted it's new location, thinking it was no big deal. I had seen other people do this, so isn't it okay? Needless to say mom was shocked. I learned my lesson when she turned the car around and drove back to the store so I could properly dispose of my garbage.

I am glad I had a mother who taught me this lesson. Why is it that some people, adults even, feel it is okay to use the parking lot as a trash can? Did their parents never teach them this lesson? Do they just have no respect for their community? Do they not mind walking around in a sea of trash? Don't even get me started about cigarette butts thrown out the window or dropped on the ground... I may not be the most "green" person, but I at least put my garbage (half empty soda cups included) where it belongs. And that place is not in my shoe!

Some Firsts

This month Ella had a few firsts.

She experienced her first time in a swimming pool. Luckily it was heated so it felt like bath water. Daddy took her around and she would kick her little legs like crazy. She loved it!

She met her cousins the Higbees for the first time who were visiting from Provo.

She also had her first Halloween. We went over to Grams' house and passed out candy. Ella had so much fun she fell asleep with all her toys.

Ella laughed out loud for the first time this month too. Our attempts to get this on video have been unsuccessful. She always stops when the camera comes on, but hopefully we can catch it soon.