The Queen of Everything

Olivia has some magic wands and Coleman likes to cast spells. Tonight just before we knelt down for family prayers he told me he had turned me into a queen. I told him I liked being a queen and asked him what I was the queen of--he said "Everything!" and then Ryan and Olivia filled in that I am the queen of treats and candy and cookies and the Queen of the House. Then Coleman added an important disclaimer and said, "Sometimes you're not the queen." I said, "Like when I get mad and yell?" and he nodded. Olivia said, "Yeah, then you're a DRAGON!" We all decided that I could then be the Dragon Queen, so at least I can still be the Queen of Everything.

"I Think I Can" Festival of Trees 2007

Today I got to go decorate a tree with Megan for the Festival of Trees. Unfortunately I was too busy this year to help Megan much with the project, so I just contributed the tree skirt. She did so much work and put together quite a collection of train toys and ornaments! Lots of people contributed money and items so that she could do it and it turned out great! She had a ride-on Thomas train that went around the tree and a table with a wooden train set. She made the cutest toy box that looked like a box car and had it filled with quilts and toys of all kinds. There were books and puzzles and blocks and stickers and trains of all kinds. Chance loved trains and Megan had a great picture of him on a Thomas train (to the right). Megan has done a tree each year since Chance died, partly for us all to remember Chance and partly to pay back in a small way all that the great folks at Primary Children's Medical Center did for Chance while he was there. If you live near the Salt Lake area, the Festival is at the South Towne Expo Center and runs Wednesday, November 28th through Saturday, December 1st. Your small entrance fee goes to Primary Children's Medical Center--it's a great cause and you can look for Chance's tree in Aisle F (#5).

Meg, I know I promised I wouldn't post this picture of us, but it was too cute. Here is me with my Mom and Megan after we spent a few good hours decorating the tree. Missing is our other sister Lindsey who also decorated with us!

Candy, Candy, Candy

So today we had a shower for my brother's wife Ashley--their baby Samuel was born on September 30th and they were here from Connecticut for Thanksgiving. He is such a darling boy, and very mellow. Two weeks ago I was at a baby shower for my cousin's wife who will have twin girls and they had the neatest candy bar with pink, green, and white candies. The first time I saw anything like this was at my cute cousin Katie's wedding reception and when I saw it with a baby theme, I knew I had to copy it! After many trips to various stores to find the right kinds of candies in various shades of green, yellow, white, and blue and glass containers of all sizes (the dollar store and the For Every Body warehouse in Lindon are great for cute, cheap containers), I created quite the cute candy bar if I do say so myself. We even had little footprint tags to seal up the bags. The only downside (if you can call it a downside) is that we have so much candy left over and not another shower in the near future, so we might be having a selection of sour apples, laffy taffy, life savers, caramel apple sugar babies, jelly bellies, sour apple rings, York peppermint pattties, lemonheads, buttermints, and hershey kishes for the next few days. I think I can live with that. Remember how I said I'm not a very good dietitian? This is one of the many reasons--I love candy!

Coleman's List of Thankful Things

1. Candy

2. Friends

3. Mommy

4. Daddy

5. Olivia

6. Beds (so we don't have to sleep on the floor)

7. Pillows (so we can have pillow fights)

8. Adam and Eve

9. Heavenly Father

10. Jesus

11. Walls (so we don't go through stuff)

12. That we could have a family

13. That we have a TV

14. That we could watch movies.

The Ghosts of Thanksgiving Past

There is so much to be thankful for. Some of the things I am thankful for include great holiday memories, including past Thanksgivings. There was the year when I was in college and I went to a drag queen breakfast in San Diego with my dad (none of us participated, just observed). Later that day I sat down to eat Thanksgiving dinner with my dad, my dad's boyfriend, my dad's boyfriend's wife, and my dad's boyfriend's wife's boyfriend. Wrap your brain around that--and there is even a somewhat logical explanation for it. There was 1996, in the MTC, when I was brimming with joy and excitement about sharing the gospel. I just read in my journal how humbled I felt that day and realized how much I had to rely on the Lord to succeed and grow--what a good reminder for me now. The next year I was in Valparaiso, Chile and the missionaries in our zone decided to have Thanksgiving dinner together. There was not a turkey to be found, but we made do with some rotisserie chickens. I was in charge of the stuffing--and wouldn't you know it, apio (celery) is very hard to come by in Chile in November--not to mention the stark lack of Stovetop. The stuffing wasn't so good, but it was nice to recognize the holiday while sitting on the basketball court at the Edwards Stake Center. In 1999, just a few months after Ryan and I got married, I woke up on Thanksgiving morning to my very first kidney stone and quickly learned how very much I like morphine. That year, I was very thankful for the people who miss holidays with their family to administer drugs to people in need. Years since then have been mostly uneventful, yet full of family craziness and adjustments. Last year we started a fun tradition of eating pie for breakfast. Who can turn down pie on an empty stomach? Every year that we are at my mom's house we get to write down something we are thankful for and then everyone guesses who wrote it. We all roll our eyes that we have to do it, but I for one appreciate the opportunity to contemplate and share what I am thankful for. This year, I am grateful that I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful, intelligent children. We have a great home, Ryan's got a good secure job, we all have our health, and we are members of the true Church of Jesus Christ. We have wonderful friends, extended family, and so many opportunities to do good things. What more can we ask for?

Olivia's List of Thankful Things

Olivia made a list of the things she is thankful for:
1. Family
2. World
3. Jesus
4. Friends
5. Food
6. House
7. Trees
8. Pet (we don't have one, she's hoping!!!)
9. Money
10. Teachers
11. Me
12. Sun
13. Water
14. Brother (Coleman :))
15. Freedom
16. Thanksgiving
17. Grandmas
18. Grandpas
19. Aunts
20. Uncles

Boys and Boogers

What is it about boys and boogers? Last night I caught Coleman digging in his nose with his thumb, then sticking his thumb in his mouth. I reminded him that we don't do that and he nodded that he understood. Shortly after we knelt down for family prayers and I admit, I peeked at him to make sure his eyes were closed (something we've been working on). There he was, with his thumb in his nose again, he snuck a peek at me to make sure MY eyes were closed and when he discovered he was home free, it went straight to his mouth! A couple of seconds later, he repeated the process while watching me to make sure he wouldn't get caught. After we said "amen" he closed his eyes and non-chalantly went on his way as if he hadn't just consumed his nasal waste. I repeat the question, what is it about boys and boogers???