An Untraditional Thanksgiving

A couple of weeks ago Mike dropped a bombshell on his family. He told them he had never liked Thanksgiving dinner. His Mom looked so shocked and everyone else looked at him like he was from another planet. He went on to explain that what we usually do for Sunday dinners is always way better than the traditional Thanksgiving dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. Good thing we weren't doing Thanksgiving with the Stakers this year. :)

We ended up having Thanksgiving with my family and we all agreed to nix the turkey and go with a more untraditional route. We broke out the grill and grilled up some chicken and steak. Wow, it was so much better than a turkey! Our menu also consisted of loaded mashed potatoes, rolls, my raspberry jello (you can't go without the jello), green salad, 7 layer dip and a little Martinelli's to wash it all down with.

My brother said we had enough food there to feed the Salvation Army. Ha, Ha,...

And for dessert there was pumpkin pie, but I think the other desserts were the favorites though. Banana Cream Pie, pumpkin cookies and the famous Frozen Lemon Pie. Thanks to Tiff for our favorite Hunt family dessert. Yum!

It was nice having a very small and casual Thanksgiving dinner. It was just my brother Brian, his wife Steph, their son Kyle (their other son Marcus is on a mission) and my sister Tiffany who joined us.

We played outside in the beautiful weather. The kids threw around the football with Mike and Aria dragged Brian around to do her bidding, like push her in the swing until his arms fell off. :)

After dinner we watched the new Star Trek movie. That movie was a lot of fun, it had humor, action, romance and some serious spaceship warfare. Brian even got in a little nap during the movie.

What a fun day we had together. Now our new tradition will be the untraditional, how fantastic is that?!

A Week of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here and I've been thinking about what I'm thankful for.

1. My Sweet Husband. I've been feeling so lousy lately and he has really stepped up his game. Getting the kids up in the morning, making them breakfast, taking Chase to school, doing the dishes, bringing home dinner a few nights a week, putting Aria to bed at night and just being very sweet and understanding with me. I appreciate him so much!

2. My Kids. On Sunday in Primary I was asking the kids what they were grateful for and Chase raised his hand and said, "I'm thankful for you!" Ah, melts the heart doesn't it. And of course I started crying right there in front of the whole Jr. Primary. I'm such a big baby. Aria keeps me in good spirits every day. Her cute little face and antics keep me smiling and laughing a good part of the day. Hunter, bless his little heart, is just the sweetest kid in the world and Michela has been so helpful. And I'm finally starting to feel grateful for the one on the way. That's right, I'm pregnant, if you haven't already heard. Big surprise to us all and it's taken me a while to get over the shock, but I'm starting to get excited about a new little baby in our house.

3. My Family. What would I do without my weekly, sometimes daily, pep talks with my Mom? I know she can always make me laugh and make me feel better by the end of our conversation. I constantly feel my Dad nearby and know that he is looking out for me. I miss you Dad! My sister is my bestest friend in the whole world and makes sure I have lots of fun in life. What would I do without her?! My brothers, I love the whole lot of them. They each warm my heart in their own special way. And all my wonderful in-laws! It's amazing how lucky I've been in the in-law department, they truly are all my family.

4. Our Home. We are so lucky to be living in this beautiful home that Mike built for us. And the best part is we get to live in a fabulous neighborhood with some of the best people in the world for neighbors. It's also pretty darn awesome having one of my best friends across the street. She's always there when I need her.

5. The Gospel. Where would I be without the gospel in my life? How thankful I am to have been born into a good family who already belonged to the church. My knowledge of the gospel has been such a great blessing in my life. I am so thankful for temples and for eternal families. I am so thankful to have been able to find a righteous young man to love and who loved me in return.

6. And most of all I am thankful for My Savior. His love for me is what has helped me through the rough times in my life. His example is inspiring and makes me want to try harder every day. What a joy it is to have a strong testimony of my Savior and for all that he has done for me.

Let the Festivities Begin!

My sister Tiffany suggested we should go to Riverwoods on Friday night for the Lighting of the Trees. It actually ended up being a fun evening. We had a yummy dinner at Bajio's and then ventured out to the streets. Our first stop was Santa. Michela, Hunter and Chase took turns sitting on "Santa's" knee, unfortunately Chase refused to smile. The kids were cracking me up going around saying "Santa" with quotation marks. They know the real Santa is the one at the mall. ;)

Aria wouldn't go near "Santa" with a ten foot pole.

There were also some girls performing from Center Stage and Aria couldn't take her eyes off of them. Every time Mike would turn or try to put her down she would start yelling, "I wanna watch the Princesses dance!"

She is so getting enrolled in a dance class as soon as possible.

The kids, Mike, and Tiff enjoyed some yummy treats from Utah Kernels. Carmel popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels and chocolate covered cinnamon bears. The Chocolate Avalanche popcorn is the best!

We thought about taking a carriage ride but the line was way too long. Instead we enjoyed the lights and then headed home.

Thanks Tiff for the great idea!

The Opera

Last night we went to Hunter's 3rd grade Opera. Every year his teacher has her class make up an opera about anything they want to. They were studying the moon and the class decided that would be a fun thing to do the opera on. The whole class came up with the story, the characters and the songs. They had someone come in and listen to the songs and then go and write up the music for them. Pretty cool!

Here are the cast of characters- Astronauts, Aliens, Police Officers, Surfers and Ninjas. Only a bunch of 8 year olds could come up with a cast like that. The astronauts were stranded on the moon because their rocket blew up and the surfers had ridden a big wave to come and find the sea of tranquility, sadly they found that there is no water on the moon. The ninjas had been banished to the moon by the police officers because of their fighting and the police officers were there to keep the peace. The aliens were from Mars and they were searching for some humans to teach them how to make fire because they were cold on their planet. Talk about imagination! In the end they all helped each other and the aliens took them all back to earth in their rocket but took the ninjas with them to Mars so they could be the aliens' "ultimate fighting machine". Ha, Ha, Ha, ...

It was super cute and they all did such a good job with the songs and choreography. I got to be in charge of the costumes and had some great Moms who helped me out. We kept it really simple and the kids loved their outfits. Here's a picture of Hunter as a Ninja and his best friend Adam as an Alien.

Here's another one of Hunter sitting with some of the surfers before the show started.

Hunter is showing me some of his Ninja moves in front of the earth he helped paint for part of the scenery.

Can I tell you how much I am loving his new school and class! I've really enjoyed how his teacher is making learning so much fun and giving them so many creative opportunities.

What a fun night we had watching Hunter participate in something I never would have dreamed he would want to do. And the best part was hearing all the dads say how much they had enjoyed The Opera.

For The Big Bucks

While Mike was gone golfing in California, the kids and I tackled the leaves in the yard. I sent the boys and Michela out by themselves, but after a half an hour they were all back inside claiming they were done. Michela gave up altogether but I convinced the boys to go back out. With some help from Mom, they were able to fill the entire garbage can plus two huge garbage bags. There are still a few bags worth of leaves out there but after 3 hours we were all ready to be done.

Here are some pictures of Chase and Hunter working together.

Chase was sweeping while Hunter was doing the "heavy" lifting. :)

Hunter was the only one who was in it till the end. I told him I would pay him good money if he stuck with it. Whenever he seemed to be running out of steam he would tell me, "I'm doing it for the Big Bucks Mom" and he would return with renewed gusto. It was a beautiful day and it was a lot of fun being out there with the boys, working hard together. Thanks to the Peterson boys and Mary for helping us at the end!

The Handmade Dress Patterns GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Handmade Dress Patterns GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

I adore these cute little dress patterns by The Handmade Dress. Aria would look so cute in them! Here's hoping I win!

Braces

Michela got braces put on her top teeth last week. This is phase 1 of her braces experience. She's had an expander in to help give some space to her top teeth. Now the braces were put on to help pull the teeth into the right spots so her other permanent teeth have a place to come in. After they get this all done they will take everything out and wait a year or two before they put braces on all of her teeth.

When I first heard about putting braces on younger kids I thought it was a scam to get some extra money. :) But now I see the logic behind it all. They are trying to get things widened out while their mouths are still flexible and things are still growing and moving around. I had to have two permanent teeth pulled from my little mouth when I was a teenager. They tried the headgear, retainers, put my jaw was already set. What they are doing with Michela right now might mean they can prevent any permanent tooth removal.

I love her teal bands. Don't you think they bring out the turquoise in her eyes? :) I can't wait to see her beautiful smile when they come off!