Turkey Day

Now that the dishes are done, the table is cleaned off, and the leftover food is put away, I would like to take a quick moment to express my "thanks" for all of the wonderful things with which I have been blessed.

I am thankful for family; for the one in which I was raised, for the one that I married into, and for the one that I am now trying to raise. I am thankful for the many examples of patience, forgiveness, diligence, honesty, independence, and unconditional love that I have to look up to. I am thankful for my faith; for the personal motivation it gives me to be a better and stronger person. I am thankful for education and learning, and for the opportunities that I have to begin teaching my own children. I am thankful for friends who understand my severe handicap in maintaining consistent communication and who accept me anyway. I am thankful for hugs and kisses and the giggles and laughter from my two beautiful girls. I am thankful for a husband who loves me enough to put up with my shortcomings and quick temper, and who can remind me (in his own special way) to loosen up and to look at the lighter side of things. I am thankful to be me.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

On the Road to Utah

We will be leaving - in just a few hours - for Utah. Doug's cousin is getting married, and it will be a great chance to see friends and family who we haven't seen for quite some time. This trip will be interesting...the girls are a little older and much more vocal about their car-riding limits. AK is still on antibiotics and breathing treatments for a sinus infection, and Roo hasn't wanted to sleep for the past few nights. Despite the fact that we have had this trip planned for quite some time, I still managed to leave everything for the last minute...laundry, dishes, packing, cleaning out and then loading the car, housework (I hate coming home to a messy house)....you name it, and I have procrastinated about as long as I can.

The seconds are ticking away, and I am not any closer to getting to bed than I was an hour ago when I first logged into the computer in an attempt to get bills paid and get a headstart on homework. On that note, I should probably log of our blog and get cracking...I'll need to focus all my energy on the drive ahead of us. Let's just hope the lightening and thunder and rain that have been raging in Chandler all day do not navigate towards Utah. I'll keep my fingers crossed we have good weather for our trip up.

Halloween Recap

Halloween was a lot of fun. We had most of Doug's family in town, so it was great for all the cousins to get together and tackle the neighborhood. We had a potluck dinner of chili, Halloween pasta salad (the noodles were in the shape of ghosts and bats - very cute and tasty), homemade salsa, veggies, cupcakes, Mother's famous sugar cookies, and all sorts of delicious goodies.

AK was dressed as a lion, and Roo was dressed as a zebra. Not too original, but we thought the theme was appropriate since AK still enjoys biting everything and everyone - especially her sister. I admit I am biased, but I think my little girls were the cutest pair of jungle animals out there. I will get pictures posted once I receive some from Doug's family - once again, Doug and I were without a camera since our charger is MIA and I completely spaced on going out to buy one. Since Doug's sister is now working in a photo studio, I may even take the girls in and get professional pics in their Halloween digs...we'll see how that goes...maybe I'll just settle for 2-year birthday pictures instead (yes, the days are quickly counting down until my babies turn two...YIKES!)

This week has been a blast, in spite of the flu bug that we have all seemed to contract. I guess I should have heeded my own advice and taken my entire family in for flu shots a few weeks ago. Roo got the bug first, then AK, and now Doug and I are battling the nasty little pest. We are trying to keep our spirits high - hopefully we can conquer this thing early in the flu season, and not be affected by it during the holidays. Again...we'll see how that goes. :0)

I Stand Corrected

I just wanted to clarify something that I previously wrote - in one of the posts I compiled on the Southern California fires, I put that my brother-in-law's brother had lost his home. It turns out I should have been more optimistic. Although homes on the same street were lost, Brandon's brother's home was not touched by the fire. There is a gully that runs behind the house, and if that had caught fire, then a loss of the home would have probably been inevitable. Fortunately, some very brave neighbors ignored that evacuation notice and stayed behind to fight the fires on their street. Thanks to these real-live heroes, many homes were saved.