10 fingers, 1 toe!

She's eleven!! I told her to hold up eleven fingers and this is what she came up with.

Shari picked out a sweater for her birthday and Rebecca liked it so much we went back and got her one for her birthday. They were so cute going to school in matching sweaters!

She also got a bathrobe and she wants to wear it all the time like I wear mine all the time.

Here she is with her 11 candles on her cake. I can't believe it. Did I mention she's 11!!

New Addition

Here is a new addition to our family in preparation for our new addition coming June 24 or thereabouts. We bought it last Friday and it's really great to drive. Most importantly it has 8 seats.

If you're wondering why I didn't take a picture of our actual van let me just tell you it is too cold to stand outside long enough to take a picture.

Santa's Elves

Charlie had a Polar Express day at school where they got to do Christmas stuff all day. This is what he had to show for it.

I love his kindergarten teacher!

Christmas Decorations

Thanksgiving

We had a terrific Thanksgiving thanks to the head chef in our family. Dan is an expert at grilling so why not grill a turkey? He used a dry rub that seasoned the turkey like pastrami and then grilled it. It turned out so good. It made all my little side dish contributions seem pretty simple.

Donald loved the idea of grilling for Thanksgiving because he wants to be outside all the time. He especially loves a chance to be in the snow.

The boys had fun playing with our neighbor Logan although they stayed in their own respective yards.

Here is the feast. Everyone really enjoyed it, except Adrian and Charlie could have done without the green beans. Donald wasn't much in favor of any of the Thanksgiving fare. He wouldn't even taste the potatoes and the faces he made over the green beans and stuffing were less than thankful. He didn't even eat a roll.

Here is our little Cinderella. She was so thankful her Dad and I worked so hard making a nice dinner she didn't even mind doing the dishes. Shari loaded the dishwasher and the boys helped with wiping and sweeping. It was quite the family effort.

While the after dinner work was getting done Dan and I practiced for our Pie and Rock Band party at the Hunter's. It was so much fun to see everyone and enjoy my favorite thing about thanksgiving, PIE. Donald finally found a Thankgiving food he likes when he tried whip cream and chocolate pudding pie.

It was a great day and we have so much to be thankful for.

Our Contribution

Today was the Primary Program. It was so much fun to watch. It was really fun to sit with just Donald. He enjoyed waving at everyone on the stand too. We dolled him up today and boy did he know it. When I first put on his little outfit he said, "I don't like it." Apparently he got used to it and decided he looked good. I want to know who taught him to pose like this.

Everyone did a really good job on their parts. Rebecca gave a talk about father's. It was very sweet. Charlie said his part very clearly and then ended it with "Thank you Thank you Thank you." Of course everyone laughed which is exactly what he was going for. I guess we didn't warn him sternly enough about not being silly. We decided we're going to tell all future primary presidents that he's not allowed to be in the primary program! That'll teach him.

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We celebrated my birthday on Sunday because on this birthday night we are at an airport waiting to fly to DC. Dan made my Sunday celebration really wonderful. He made me a mosaic of our pictures in the form of a picture taken of the temple on our wedding day. It's really neat and the kids love finding pictures of themselves in it. In fact, you might find a picture of yourself in it if you look closely.

Dan got me Cold Stone cheese cake ice cream for both my ice cream and cake. I just wasn't in the mood for cake and with all the Halloween Candy in our house I didn't really want more sweet stuff around. We had some left over cupcakes from Shari's birthday so I did blow out some candles.

Here is my mosaic hanging on our living room wall. Dan also got me some warm slippers, earrings, and a new journal. It was a fun day.