Thanksgiving OVERVIEW ~

Since it was my very First Thanksgiving, my mother asked me to take pictures of everything for her to see... We had a GREAT Thanksgiving, and everything tasted SO good! THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT EVERYONE! :)
Here are the pictures mom...

 The KID FRIENDLY table setting ~

 TURKEY MEAT!!

 The Roaster we cooked the Turkey in ~

 Matt cutting up the Turkey ~

 The Sweet Potatoes/Yams... the marshmallows were old, and they did not melt very well, but they TASTED OH SO GOOD!!

 Mashed Potatoes! YUMMMMM

 Green Bean Casserole

 Stuffing ~

 Rolls ~

 And you can see the Strawberry Jello Pretzel Dish here. We just lined up the food on the counter and helped ourselves ~

We all ate VERY well! What a wonderful Thanksgiving treat! :) And we have leftovers for DAYS!!

THANKFUL ~

My heart is FULL...
Full of Thankfulness for ALL my blessings.
I am Thankful for so many things...
~ My Husband
~ My Children
~ My Parents
~ My Siblings
~ My Friends
~ My New House
I could go on forever...
~ My Kitchen
~ My new Oven that cooks everything SO perfectly
~ My new Microwave that makes my life SO easy
~ My washer and dryer AND the fact that they are INSIDE my house
~ My Vacuum ( if you had the Dyson Ball you would feel the same way too)
~ My cars that are PAID off and RUN
~ My DVR... it makes me a better mother...
MAN we are SO lucky. We don't even know.
I don't think it is a bad thing to be Thankful for "worldly things" as long as you know WHY that is something to be thankful for... all these things and MODERN conveniences make my life just that much easier and give me more time with my little family.
But one of the things I am MOST thankful for is the Gospel in my Life. Cliche I know, but really...
Without the Gospel I would not know the true happiness of all these things.
Thank You Heavenly Father for EVERYTHING!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

The First Thanksgiving ~

Sorry, this is not a post on the Pilgrims and Indians... this is a post about MY first Thanksgiving Day...

As in I am going to be making my very first Thanksgiving Meal ALL BY MYSELF...

Some of you are probably wondering WHY I have not done my own Thanksgiving Spread in the past. Thanks to parents being SO close we have always been covered when it came to Thanksgiving Dinner. Matt and I decided a few years back once we get OUR HOUSE that we are going to celebrate the Holidays HERE. We are SO glad to have a home and our little Family, and that is what I am MOST Thankful for this year. So here is what we will be celebrating with...

 Turkey ~ I opted to cook it in the oven after a conversation I had with a very nice African American couple at Win Co... as long as I put enough butter and baste that baby I will be fine they said...

 Stuffing ~ Matt requested his mothers recipe... I hope it tastes as good as when she makes it!!

 Mashed Potatoes and Gravy ~ Thank goodness I have made THIS one before!

 Green Bean Casserole ~ I hear I can not really mess this one up...

 Yams ~ my mom makes the BEST yams. And I did not get canned yams... I am making them from SCRATCH! AHHHHH...

 Sparkling Cider ~ Martinelli's to be exact... yeah I got a 4 pack!!

Rolls ~ I have seen my mom make them for years... hopefully that helps... AHHHH

 Strawberry Pretzel Jello ~ Have you HAD this?? Google it. Make it. Then THANK me later...

Apple Pie ~ And to END our Feast Matt requested Apple Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream... I can do that too. So there is a little hope we will have some food on the table!
I LOVE Thanksgiving. Family. Fun. Love.
I am excited to have my first Thanksgiving at our new home.
(PLEASE PRAY FOR ME TOMORROW!!!)

Baby Baker Shower ~

Two of my FAVORITE people are having a little lady in just a few short weeks...

I went to her Baby Shower this last Saturday and had LOTS of fun, and took LOTS of pictures.

Congrats to Spencer and Lauren Baker...

Morgan is ONE lucky little girl.

 A collage of most of my pictures... Oh, but there are MORE on her sisters camera...

 Here she is READY to open some Presents ~

 Me holding an ADORABLE Plush Baby Blanket ~ I think Spencer's Aunt made it!

 And this is what you get when you leave Megan and me in charge of taking pictures! :)

When I found out they were having a December Baby I saw this onsie and I could not pass it up! Landon gave it to his future bride... (Landon and Morgan are betrothed as long as they both turn out OK... Landon is a month short of being two years older than Morgan, so it will be PERFECT... he'll get home from his mission and she'll graduate and then they will get married!) ~ You think I am kidding don't you....

 I LOVED this picture... Lauren you are a BEAUTIFUL pregnant woman!

 This is the Snugly Soft Blanket Lauren's mother made for sweet little Morgan!

 Thank You Lauren for the picture!

 And that was an overhead view of the Gifts... she was ALMOST done opening them...

And this picture I could not pass up... the BRAUN Sisters...

Lauren, Kim, Allison, Emily Staci and Kelli sitting on the floor.

It was a GREAT Shower. The food was FANTASTIC! There was a quiche that was SO yummy... as you can see by Megan's Picture... 

SO GOOD! Oh, and I won one of the games (I tied with Emily, Lauren's little sister)

They had us guess which body part for the baby we thought Lauren would want...

hers vs. her husbands...

I guess hanging out with them alot helped me out!

I am SO excited for this little one to come, I NEED a baby to hold!!

 

TRYING to take Family Pictures 2010 Edition ~

I have tried YEAR after YEAR to get a good Family Picture...

At first they were EASY it was just Matt and myself... how hard can that be??

Not hard at all, take a summer picture of us wake boarding and we are good to go.

But once you add children, there is ALMOST no hope...

I just pray that the people who get our lovely Holiday Card are proud that we were able to get a picture with all of us looking at the camera at the same time...

Here are the pictures that "turned out..." 

 Thanks Landon for HAVING to hold the leaf, and WHERE are you looking Hailey?

Oh goodness, I look like a deer stuck in a car's headlights...

 Thank you again Landon for having the leaf and the annoyed "What are we doing at this place when the park is over there?" look on your face. That is Hailey's look RIGHT before she is going to do something bad...

 Hailey LOOK AT THE CAMERA... LANDON SMILE, ACT like you like us PLEASE!!

 This is me saying " No kids the camera is over HERE, stop looking at the squirrel!!"

 Wait... WHAT... We are ALL looking at the camera... who cares that Hailey has a "stank face" look, I think we have a WINNER!!

 Me tickling Landon so he stops whinning...

 Oh, see what I was talking about... no kids... SO Much easier... should I just send this one??

 Daddy and Landon playing Patty Cake while Mommy runs after Hailey... why did I wear high heals again??

 Hailey found a stick... can't you tell? And she obviously found something else more important to look at than the silly little camera... Landon what a face, and check out my silly look...

HAHA! Landon is laughing and Hailey is VERY much more interested in her stick than making me happy and looking at the camera...

 This was the only time we got her to sit without a fight! :)

 I think our Backsides just might be our best picture of all...

Again, just the two of us... EASY... LOVE this picture!

Thank you Kresta for the AMAZING pictures! I really do love them because they will remind me of how our little family was in 2010. My advise for those with young ones that want that PERFECT family picture... You won't get it... but you will LOVE the pictures you do get!

Happy Holidays ALL!!

Oh... HAIL...

Thank You Lightning and Thunder for waking me up early this morning, and THANK YOU HAIL for waking up my children... MAN was it cold here! (And when I say COLD I know it snow's where most of you who read my blog live, but you CHOOSE that...)

THIS was NUTS ~

Can you see the little HAIL in my backyard...

 My front walk way... Hailey called the HAIL "Baby Snow"...

I have to admit I LOVED how clean and beautiful everything looked after getting a nice shower like that! HAHA! It Hailed and Poured rain for about 15 minutes in the morning. What a way to wake up!

Sunday Lunch at the Park

We had Stake Conference this last Sunday. It was SO nice to hear the people in our stake speak. My father is in the Stake Presidency in Sacramento, and ever since he became part of that I have looked at those men differently. My father is the most righteous person I personally know, yet he is so full of life and easy to get along with. I find now that when I just think they are regular everyday family men that I love them so much more. They are seriously in the service of men... anyways... I love my stake presidency...

So after the wonderful Stake Conference we decided not to waste the beautiful day and to head to the park for a nice Lunch... the kids LOVED that idea!

 Yes, Hailey has her rain boots on... she now dresses herself, and I have to say I wish her clothes came in my size, I just might try to pull a few of them off...

 Landon is all about climbing all over everything... he is such a happy little boy!

Love the tongue...

 Love this girl...

ALL smiles!! Love this boy too! We had a great time! It was neat walking home from this park knowing that this will be one of the parks we frequent often. We have our final resting place, and walking HOME has SUCH a different meaning when you know this is HOME and not just a rental... I hope one day you all know what I am talking about! Some of you already do!! :) HAPPY PARKING EVERYONE!