Thanksgiving at Bev's

For Thanksgiving this year we traveled to Bev's house in Herriman, Utah and enjoyed a true feast with some of Steve's family and some of Beverli's friends.

Our pretty paper plates- so festive!

   

 

Ninja is growing up but still has plenty of puppy in her.

Eva beginning to set tables.

Making meal preparations

Tron peeling spuds

Steve sporting his fauxhawk.

James with his friend.

The girls playing with Ninja through the sliding glass door.

Talking history with Bev's neighbors.

Getting hungry.

 The feast was ready only an hour late and it was worth the wait.  Everyone prepared a little something to add to the massive spread of turkey, potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, stuffing, yams, rolls, corn, peas, green salad, dixie fruit salad, christmas jello salad, fruit salad, veggie crossaint pizza, BBQ bacon-wrapped waterchestnuts, brussell sprouts, and pies of all kinds- pumpkin, sugarless pumpkin, cheesecakes, key lime yogurt, lemon meringue, apple, with maple whipped cream or traditional whipped cream.  I may be missing some items, but as you can tell, we were not short on food.

It was good times with our loving family.  I'm thankful for Thanksgiving!  God blessed us with so much bounty especially the opportunity to spend time with our loved ones.

Christmas Card and Family Newsletter

I know I still have a lot of  "catching up" to do on this blog, but it's fitting to post a Christmas Card during the Christmas season, so here that's what I'm doing.  I'll still work on getting more posted from the past few months, but until then, enjoy the smilebox I made.
  

This free newsletter customized with Smilebox

President Ron Paul... almost... sorta...

 Ron Paul, former presidential candidate, came to UVU and we made the trip to see him.  The election came and went, and no, he didn't win, and as I predicted from the get-go, Obama got reelected.  It is very rare in U.S. history that a president is not elected for a second term, especially a war-time president.  That's a tidbit of information that I retained from my honor's U.S. history class in high school.  Ron Paul may not be president of the U.S.of A., but he's still president in our hearts.  Okay, that sounds mega-cheesy, but who cares.  It was a fun rally and a nice change to be around other people who love his message of liberty.

 There was much clapping and support.

 We got to get pretty close as Ron Paul left the premises. 

 And yes, he waved directly at me.  No joke. See ya next election Dr. Paul~ what ya say~ third time's a charm?

My First Field Trip As A Mom (October 2012)

 Amara's teacher asked me to join them on a field trip to the corn maze back in October.  I love field trips so of course I said YES!  I've always wanted to go on a field trip with one of my daughters, but never could arrange it... and now that both my kids are in school I can join the fun!!!

 Amara liked the bus ride and luckily my car-sickness didn't come on the field trip with us.

 Amara's teacher assigned 5 kids to me and we all had matching nametags.

The corn maze was fun, especially since it only took about 15 minutes to get through and we didn't get lost (I hate being lost!).

 We also went on a tractor ride to a pumpkin patch and got to pick our own mini pumpkin.

 Here the class getting instructed by the corn-maze employees about all things made of corn- marshmallows, makeup, soft drinks, etc..  We learned some fun new things!

Going Deaf?

Back in August, shortly after the start of school, Steve hadn't been hearing so well for a couple of days.  He actually couldn't hear at all out of his left ear.  You can imagine what a second-grader could get away with when the teacher can't hear what is going on behind his turned back.  So, after school we went to get it checked out. 

Growing up, Steve was no stranger to partial deafness.  He punctured a hole into his eardrum on several occasions, at least 4 times in his life.  You see, something would happen- a lit firecracker housed in a pop can would explode right by his ear before he threw it, a kick to his head in mid-air from a flying companion riding a water banana, an unintentional head-butt during a friendly basketball game-  you know, the usual knocks of growing up, and each time his ear drum would rupture, he could inhale a deep breath and blow air out his damaged ear.  Then he would be deaf in that ear until it healed up. 

Well, this time around was different.  He could not blow air out of his ear.  The doctor took a look in his ear and took a step back, looked Steve in the eye and said, "wax-maker."  His nurse came in shortly after to clean out his waxed-up ear.  With warm water and a syringe, and with me as an assistant, we got that ear hearing again. 

Leaving the doctor's office, Steve could hear better than he had in a long time and he noticed that his other ear (the one that had a lot of scar tissue from past eardrum ruptures) couldn't hear as well.  That's something he hadn't noticed in a while.