Thanksgiving 2010

I always feel a bit of relief when we don’t have to travel for the Holidays.  As much as I love our family in Utah, it is so incredibly stressful to leave.  Worth it, but stressful to say the least.  So we were able to enjoy a relaxing day at my Mom and Dad’s house this year for Thanksgiving.  My mom and dad made every single thing and did a perfect job (well, except for the Turkey finishing an hour after everything else…poor Dad worked so hard on that!).  I asked my mom how long I’ll get to be the lazy daughter because they orchestrated the entire meal so beautifully.  She said until they are too old to cook.  So hopefully I have a LOT more years ;-)

 

I brought a little craft for the kids.  They made these cute apple-turkeys.

 

 

Uncle Ryan isn’t around too terribly much.  But he hung around for part of the day.  He sure loves his little nieces and nephew.  Here he is with baby Kylee.

 

I was gonna make rolls…and then we realize Rhodes sounded lots easier and still yummy.  They look so pretty!

 

 

The hostess/host and chefs!  Cute picture.  They shared a special bond this year when they both accidentally burned their hands on the same exact pan within about 30 minutes of each other.  Ouch!

 

Lindy got the opportunity to pull out another tooth.  Lyric lost her second front tooth so she is toothless this year…just like Lexi was the year before…and Jordyn was the year before that! So cute.

 

Yummy candied yams.  Totally satisfy my need for dessert (but don’t be fooled, I still fit in lots of dessert!)

Baby Kylee with her “My 1st Thanksgiving” Bib.  Such a sweet girl.  Hard for me to believe she is almost 6 months old!

 

Paxton and Peyton…engaged deeply in some sort of conversation.  These two have their own little dynamic.  Almost like twins.

 

 

And of course…what would Thanksgiving be without some cupcakes, right? :-)   Lexi got birthday cupcakes for all to decorate.

 

Kylee with her “cousin” Bernice.

 

 

Jordyn put on a show for us all.  She and Lyric did a little play that Tucker helped Jordyn write.  She loved performing for us all. 

 

 

Her audience…and after that, we all passed around a microphone and shared what we were thankful for this Thanksgiving.

 

 

Pey Pey with Grandma :-)

 

 

I like this picture

 

Tucker’s eyes are bulging at his huge delicious plate of food!

 

 

I feel blessed to have yet another Thanksgiving go by that I was able to spend with my loved ones.

Lexi’s Birthday Fun

 

Lexi’s birthday is usually the day before, day of, or the day after Thanksgiving.  This year, celebration continued throughout the week.  We kicked it off with a two day trip to Disneyland (separate post, after I recover) and then it continued through Thanksgiving day.  Lucky girl.

 

She got a special outing with Grandma and Grandpa ON her actual birthday and they let her pick out a bike!

 

On the morning of her birthday, Lindy and kids came over for a spontaneous mini-party with birthday donuts.

Lindy was even kind enough to pull out Lexi’s 7th loose tooth (because you couldn’t pay me enough money to even touch a loose tooth…makes me gag).  Thanks Aunt Lindy!

 

All Lexi wanted was an American Girl Doll.  So I did some research and found a good deal on one….so …introducing Taylor (although Lexi claims she wants it spelled Taler…I’ll have to confirm).

 

 

And finally, on Thanksgiving Day, my mom had cupcakes and frosting all ready for the kids to decorate to their hearts’ content!  She then proceeded to light ALL the candles, probably to spite my Dad since he said she couldn’t/shouldn’t do it LOL, and Lexi had a mini-bonfire to blow out!  It was beautiful!

We love you sooooooooo much Lexi.  I cannot imagine life without you.  You are a joy to our entire family.  Happy 7th Birthday…(and now, can you please slow down all upcoming birthdays?) 

Lexi's 7th Birthday Questionnaire

· What was the last chore you did? Take out the trash.
· What is your favorite song? Forever and Always by Taylor Swift
· What's your favorite food? Peanut butter and Honey Sandwich
· What's the nicest thing you've done for someone in your family lately? Made Jordyn's bed
· What makes you mad? When Peyton pulls my hair
· Where would you like to go on vacation next year? Sea World
· Who's the smartest person in your family? Grandpa Why? Because he's good at measuring
· How are you like your dad? We both don't have red hair
· How are you like your mom? We both have green eyes and some blonde in our hair
· What's one thing that Dad always says to you? "Bye Poopsie Woopsie" when he's dropping us off at school
· If you had a million dollars, what's the first thing you'd buy? 50 webkins and one horse
· How do you know that I (mom) love you? you say "I love you"
· What's your favorite cereal? Lucky Charms
· What's your favorite show? Another Cinderella Story (movie)
· What's your favorite vegetable? green beans
· What is a personal item that you would never give away? My American Girl Doll
· What's your favorite game? Bingo
· What's your favorite book? The Three Little Pigs
· If you could choose a different name, what would it be? Alisa
· What's the scariest thing you've ever done? Fall on the treadmill and get burned all over
· What's your favorite candy? Skittles
· What's your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving (because my birthday is so close)
· What's your favorite color? Turquoise blue and lime green and black
· Who are your best friends? Jordyn, Lyric, Paxton, Peyton and Emma & Ava
· What's the best age to be? 8

All I wanna say right now

is that Blogger hosts all the pictures from our blogs on Picasa. If your blog every won't post pictures because it's "maxed your memory", don't do what I did and go to Picasa and delete the hugest folder there (with 1,000 pics in it) because what they don't tell you is IT DELETES THEM OFF YOUR STUPID BLOG!

I'm just frustrated that 1,000 pics are taken off my blog. That is possibly a whole year worth of pics. Just plain ridiculous :-(

All Things O&M

 

This is what I did all night in my second class last night.  If it looks like we were playing around and having fun…we sort of were!  A big part of learning orientation & mobility training is TRYING to understand all the MYRIAD of visual impairments.  So our teacher passed around several simulators for us to try on.  Simulated cataract, glaucoma, amblyopia, myopia, central visual field, peripheral visual fields, low contrast sensitivity, scotomas, and so much more.

 

I truly love my classes and love my teachers.  They are vessels of wisdom and compassion and I feel like I am truly learning from the best of the best!