WE GATHER TOGETHER

Happy Thanksgiving!  We are so blessed!  And I love taking time to think about the things I am thankful for!  It sounds cliche, but I am truly grateful for Heavenly Father and His Son.  I truly appreciate my incredible, wonderful, talented and creative husband.  I'm thankful for my amazing family (near and far).  And I'm grateful for friends who have "become" family!

Our Kentucky Family!!!!

(I love how our table looks so pretty!)

Our celebrations included a lot of traditions (and first time's for Fig Newton!)  Check it out:

So... thanksgiving begins the day before...

We break bread for the stuffing....

And Fig Newton created the most beautiful place cards!

Each card has their name in English and Thai.

She drew and painted them....

I've learned that everyone has different talents in life.  Mine is not cooking.  But I LOVE crafting and kids.... So I entertained These awesome kids with a Christmas craft before dinner.  And yes, they learned the right way to use a glue gun.  When they burn themselves (and don't we all burn ourselves with glue guns once in awhile?) I've taught them to say, "Ouch.  I'm a true crafter."  No tears and no screaming allowed.  

Apple Pie caught on quickly.

Marmalade decides to use blue instead of traditional red and green.

Nuts made 3 ornaments!

Juice made very un-traditional ornaments including a Dr. Who dalek?!

Fig Newton's ornaments were works of art.

Kotten Kandy takes her crafting very seriously.

They turned out GREAT!

Dinner was DELICIOUS!

Amy and Scott are magic in the kitchen!

And Amy even helped me clean up afterwards so it wasn't hard....

And I'm sooooo grateful that Kiara Lea got to celebrate the season with family too... even is she is 23 hours away.  Thanks, mom, dad and sister for making her feel wanted and loved!

Scott said, "It's not every day you see a Kia and 3 Hondas together!"

I love these girls!

Ken, GJ, Dad and Mom

These girls are AWESOME!

And I LOVE this picture!

And then... today... this happened:

Decorating....

Kotten Kandy and her father suffer from P.O.P.D. (Perfect Ornament Placement Disorder)

The symptoms also include P.N.P.D. (Perfect Nativity Placement Disorder)

Fig Newton has never decorated a Christmas tree.  She's never celebrated Christmas.

So this is extra fun!  We are getting ready.... for the next celebration!

OK - This might sound hokey, but I'm also grateful to my readers of my silly blog  It makes me happy when I know someone is actually reading.  Thank you!  And Happy Thanksgiving!

DANCES AND CIRCUSES

While we were in Colorado, Kotten Kandy and Fig Newton went to a dance!  They had so much fun!  I am soooooooooooooooo glad that my baby girl took pictures and shared them with me!  She knows that I love blogging and sharing!  So it means a lot to this mom, that my daughter got pictures for me!  (Thanks, Kotten Kandy!)

I love this crazy bunch of kids!

Guarana, Fig Newton, Kotten Kandy and Chex

(Apple Jacks was cut out of the picture on accident - she was sitting down....)

On the trip, I finished another book.  To say I had conflicting thoughts about this book would be an understatement.

I began reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern because it came highly recommended.  I had high expectations, which probably contributes to the disappointment I felt when 20 pages before the end, there was a highly inappropriate scene (2 paragraphs) that I found pornographic.  The rest of the story was innocent and clean.  There is also ONE F-word.  No other foul language at all.

The imagery was breathtaking.  I loved the descriptions and imagery.  I enjoyed the mysterious characters and the magic sprinkled throughout.  But I couldn't relate to the protagonists.  They were not developed well and very shallow.  I did like a few of the characters better: Poppet, Widget and Bailey (spoiler alert:  He becomes Bailey - from Barnum and Bailey!)  I also thought that the story itself moved REALLY slowly.  I did like the ending.  It was appropriate for these characters.
I guess, when I read a book, I would rather have a gripping story with thought provoking ideas and interesting characters than a book that just creates a pretty picture - even if the pretty picture is a picture of a magical, beautiful circus.

50 YEAR JUBILEE

Mom and Dad!

JUBILEE

My parents are celebrating a jubilee year!  They have been married for 50 years!  And they are planning on eternity!
We celebrated with them!  It was the "perfect" day!  I'm so grateful for their examples and love!  I'm also kinda glad they got married so I could be born!  They are  WONDERFUL!
(I didn't get a lot of pictures - because we hired a professional to take them!  I'll share those pictures in a couple of weeks when I get them on CD!)
But here's a peek into our fun festivities:

Flying to Grand Jct.

Who photo bombed?! ...

Those crazy McCallisters!

I love my brother and his wife!

We went for a walk downtown.

This is the famous buffalo!

The whole gang at Famous Dave's BBQ!

YUM!

Ben ordered the HOTTEST chicken wings there were - Wilbur's Revenge!

He was sweating and quiet during the entire meal...  So...

Zane and Scott tried them too...

Notice how red they are...

Their tongues were BURNING!

So ice-cream cooled them off.

Delicious shared dessert!

I LOVE these parents of mine!

WHAT DO SHOOTING, REVENGE, TEMPLES AND PEACE HAVE IN COMMON?

What a crazy, fun week.  And it is all so random.  Let's get started....
We went to see Dr. Strange.  It was a fun movie.  And I'm glad we all took the time to hang out together...  I found it funny that all four of us had SIX eyes to watch the 3-D movie.

6-Eyed Dr. Strange fans!

Scott and I double dated to the temple TWICE this week!!!  We went with Amy and Mark.  We LOVE the temple!  It is truly a wonderful, peaceful, happy place.  And going with BFs makes it even more fun!  And Qdoba after?!  Can you say, a "perfect" date?!

I love US!

Amy and Mark

Asparagus is 17!  (Can you believe it?  In one year he'll be headed off on his mission!  Where did the time go?)  Kotten Kandy and Fig Newton got him a shirt that "fits" his personality.

Asparagus with his adopted sisters!

The gang played Laser Tag to celebrate.  It was really fun!

LOVE these kids!

I laughed so hard to watch Teresa Pina and Kotten Kandy shooting each other.

Sneaking around....

Time to reload....

I was the guardian of the phones and jackets!

These girls are armed and dangerous!

Maple, Rice Krispie, Kotten Kandy, Apple Jacks, Guarana, Chex and Fig Newton

This amazing young woman is going on a mission to Pittsburgh, PA.  She leaves Wednesday.  Thanks for being such a role model for my daughters, Emily!

Fig Newton, Sister Pina (in 3 days) and Kotten Kandy

Kiara and Shanae retaliated by wrapping Billy's car in plastic.  Apparently he TPed her car earlier this week.

"Revenge is Sweet!"
That's what Kiara and Shanae said....

Here's Billy's reaction.

And Kiara and Mariah dyed their hair again....  (Thanks, Lollipop, for teaching Kiara the art of hair dye.)

My beautiful niece!

My beautiful daughter!

I read a book that I didn't finish.  I chose not to finish.  But I'm still reviewing it because I thought I'd let you know my opinion and why I didn't finish it.  The book is called Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman.  The premise of this book piqued my interest.  It is about a kid who is mentored, spiritually and physically to become the best he could be.  I thought that my husband would enjoy the  book because he loves bettering himself and mentoring.  The main character is not relate-able.  He's very "of the world."  (His worldliness is one of the main reasons I stopped reading.)  And the mentor was a bit Mr. Miagi-esc.  And if you want to truly become more spiritual and better - read the scriptures!  I don't usually quit books.  I did this one.  Unfortunately, I do NOT recommend this book.

FUN AND GAMES

I LOVE these kids!  They know how to have fun and stay true to the gospel standards!  How cool are these teenagers?!  I am soooooooo glad that I get to be a part of their lives!

Almond and Kotten Kandy searching for their nighttime scavenger hunt...

Iceberg Lettuce found a nest!

See-sawing in America - Fig Newton and Guarana

Maple and her many facial expressions....  :-)

Rice Krispie?!  What's with the wig?!

Juice and Nuts in an intense game of Chess.

Apple learning to jam from Tony!  (Yes, she's wearing a wig too!)

Skittles can sing!

Iceberg Lettuce can really fiddle!

An impromptu sing-a-long, jam session!

It was AWESOME listening to them!

These two caused mischief....  But had lots of fun doing it!

The car was filled with balloons, and had song lyrics written on it!

Cousins ROCK!

Key Lime Pie and Shaved Ice