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Thanksgiving Day

a.k.a. enjoy spending time with Matt because it's the last time you'll see him 'till Christmas. {okay, not really. but it feels like it!}

As I mentioned before, we enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Eve feast ala Snoopy. The kids thought it was the greatest thing ever to eat jelly beans for dinner. They laughed through the whole meal!

Thanksgiving morning was spent decorating the house for Christmas {and making some yummy dishes for dinner}. The kids' favorite part is always decorating the tree.

After all the tree decorating was done, they made a fort with the Christmas boxes and left the rest to me.

Since that day, Jackson has been UN-decorating the tree for me. SUPER helpful! Whenever I hear "ball" I know that he's got another treasure for me, which usually means I spend the next 15 minutes on my hands and knees searching for a missing hook. A fence around the Christmas tree isn't sounding so ridiculous at the moment.

We stopped by the May's {after some confusion about when dinner would be served at the Young's} & had fun visiting with Matt's fam and playing with the "cousins". Then we were off to my parents house for a fabulous dinner & some great company!

After dinner Kensie performed a puppet show. She wrote her own Thanksgiving story {which we left there so I'll post later} and read it while I held up the puppets. Then we sang a few songs that Lincoln learned in preschool. The kids' had so much fun!

The day after Thanksgiving we avoided Black Friday like the plague {while Matt went to work at 4 am}. We finished decorating, read Christmas books, worked on Christmas presents, and of course did a lot of dancing to Christmas music!

Christmas Time Is Here!

Nippon

Last night while at my parents house my dad informed me that we were having Tonkatsu for dinner. YUM! I said.

Then I got thinking.....is it weird that words like Tonkatsu sound as normal to me as, say, butter? {that's a normal word, right?}


See, I grew up hearing things like "Daniel-san", "o denwa des", "ichi, ni, san....", "sukiyaki for dinner tonight", "moshi moshi", "Jan ken po". I could go on and on.


My Dad served an LDS mission to Japan & has been somehow involved with Japan ever since. I could count to 10 and name most of my body parts in Japanese before I turned 2. I don't remember a year of my life that we didn't have Japanese friends {and strangers} staying at our house while visiting America, or going to school. I wore kimono's and played with Japanese toys {which were always much cooler than American toys, by the way}.


My Dad taught Japanese at the University of Utah. I even went to his class one semester with my friend when we were young {still can't speak it, however!}. Every summer of my childhood my Dad was in charge of an exchange program with NBN {Nagoya Broadcasting Network} that brought a group of college-aged guys {never any girls....i wonder why?} to Utah to study, tour, and stay with host families. As a result, I got to travel with them to the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Bryce Canyon & Zion's National Park. Every. Single. Year. I loved it! Usually I got to bring a friend, and we'd huddle in the back of one of the big-A University vans and giggle about one or more of the cute return missionary boys that my dad had recruited to come along & help translate, etc. I ALWAYS had a crush on one. Time was also spent trying to get the Japanese guys to sing Michael Jackson's "Thriller" {think Christmas Story...."fa ra ra ra ra"} and say other English words that made them look and sound ridiculous! Ah, good times. I loved these summers.


I got to go to Japan with my parents when I was in Jr. High, which was an amazing experience and another post altogether.....


Japanese culture has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. And I'm glad. I've learned different customs, how to communicate with someone you can't understand, how to appreciate "western" toilets, and covet the deluxe toilets from Bro. Ono's house in Japan {how do I love thee? Let me count the ways....heated seat, remote lid lift, radio, turbo flush...}.


To this day, the Hotel Young-u is still going strong. There's always someone coming to stay, usually without much notice {my mom's a saint}. My twin brothers both served missions to Japan. The torch has been passed {though I hope for Andrea & Leah's sake there aren't alot of Japanese visitors in their future!!}.

Thanksgiving Eve

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

We celebrate Christmas Eve, why not celebrate Thanksgiving Eve, too?! Well, we've decided to at our house. Tonight we'll celebrate "Snoopy Style" by watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie and having a feast inspired by Snoopy's spread.....Buttered toast...check. Popcorn....check. Jelly beans....check. Sherbet....check. Pretzels....check.

{of course, we may add something a bit more substantial as well. maybe some grilled cheese...}

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Twilight, Bolt, and Demo's oh my!

Things have been a bit crazy around here! I've been doing lots of KitchenAid stuff lately {'tis the season!}. I've mostly been doing demos at the Dillards stores, so if you're ever out shopping on a Saturday come see me :) I'm a people-watcher, so I love doing demos. I get to watch people interacting with each other {"ooh, put that on my Christmas list"}, their kids {"if you touch one more thing so help me...."}, employees {customers can be so grumpy}, and me of course. I find it fascinating.

Anyhoo....
Despite all the demo'ing I found time to see a few movies {for the record, I saw 2 movies in one day which trumps my previous record of seeing one movie a year in the theatre}.


My mom & I went to Twilight at 11:45 a.m. & I'm glad we did. No teenie-boppers squealing throughout the movie or texting their friends, although {of course} a mom HAD to bring her two year old and sit right behind me. Who brings their kid to a movie like this??? And who repeatedly tells their kid "Look. Watch what they're doing. Look at that!" to try to keep them quiet......all at moments that I would NOT want my child watching {making out scene, ripping limbs off of vampire bodies, etc. etc.}. Nonetheless, I have to say that I enjoyed it. Obviously the movie can never live up to the book, but I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn't too keen on Edward at first, but by the end I thought he was perfect. Loved Bella. Loved the chemistry. Loved the Cullen's. Loved Charlie & Jacob. Can't wait to see it again!



We {the kids & I} also got to see Bolt in 3-D with Aunt Teresa. The kids thought it was great! They loved their 3-D glasses {and are still wearing them}. I took some great pics of them with my cell phone but can't transfer to my computer {curses, Vista!}.
Thanks, Teresa!!!

12-0 baby!

I don't like to rub it in, but.......

Wait! YES I DO!!!

The Nuclear Crayon Strikes Again

This time in a load of MY clothes! Seriously, how is this happening?! This time it totally stained our new dryer. Blue streaks galore. More clothes to add to the "work clothes" category. Crayons are now being banished to the top shelf of my closet, and can only be used under adult supervision........

Things

7 things I can do:
1 – Dance
2 – Cook
3 – Change a messy diaper with only one wipe. It's a gift.
4 – Flare my nostrils really fast (i used to have a secret language with my neighbor who had the same talent)
5 – Listen
6 – cry & laugh at the same time (usually starts with the crying, then the laughing commences because i realize {or matt points out} how silly the thing is that i'm crying about {usually a commercial or some reality tv show).
7 – Sing


7 things I can't do:
1 – Keep my house free of clutter
2 – Get through a phone conversation without my kids interrupting me.
3 – Resist carbs and sweets! (I’m really trying!)
4 – Keep my utensil drawer organized
5 – Wink
6 – Stay up to watch Jay Leno
7 – Floss

7 things I always say:
1 – Holy Smokes!
2 – not again
3 – Please stop (hitting, yelling, fighting, etc.)
4 – Sweet!
5- Love you!
6- I’m tired
7- ONE.....TWO....


7 things I always eat:
1 – Oatmeal
2 - Cheese
3 - Apples
4 – Café Rio pork tostadas
5 – Granola bars
6 - Life cereal
7 - Pasta


Tagging 7
1 – Erin
2 - Josie
3 - April
4 - Angie
5 - Brooke H.
6 - Brooke A.
7 – Megan

Elder Neal A. Maxwell, BYU Devotional 1978

"Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.' "This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

"Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.... Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

Cherish the Moments

Yesterday Jackson woke up from his nap crying {teething....gotta love it}. I went in to get him & he actually let me hold and rock him for about 15 minutes. It's been way too long since I got to do that!! It was so quiet and peaceful. I found myself thinking. You know- actually using brain cells. I can't remember the last time I've had a quiet moment to just sit and THINK! It was great. Not to mention snuggling with my buddy.

You gotta cherish these moments.......

Along with others. Like when {15 minutes later} Jackson spent 10 minutes putting magnets down my cleavage and taking them out. Good times.

12 Days of Junkie

Hey You!


Tip Junkie's having some sweet giveaways to promote the Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon.






Check it out!!

Happenings

A few things we've been up to this week.......

1) Sporting some Jazz gear

{we got to meet Bear & he gave us some cool Jazz stuff}

2) Playing Hide & Seek

{the kid's got some sweet hiding places!}

3) Eating Apples

{give him an apple & he's good to go for hours. He'll just walk around the house all day munching on the thing!}

4) Being Thankful

{we all get to take turns writing something until Thanksgiving. Guess who's thankful for apples?}

5) Making posters

{the wish one is my fav!}

6) Hosting Gourmet Night

{a blast, as usual!}

Clickity-Click for the recipes

Two Things:

1) I cannot wait for all this election business to become old news. I am sick of hearing about B.O.'s new dog, Oprah crying on mystery man's shoulder during B.O.'s acceptance speech, etc. etc. etc. Let's get back to the real news. You know, like what in the heck is Britney up to lately?

2) I find it ridiculous that there is a huge protest going on right now outside the Salt Lake LDS Temple.........
a: Latter-Day Saints are not the only ones who voted to pass Prop. 8 {amazing, I know}. I haven't heard of any protests outside Catholic churches, some of which have come out in support of Prop. 8, too, as well as in support of the LDS church.
b: they're protesting in Utah. we didn't even vote on Prop. 8 for heaven's sake. i guess they ran out of places to protest in Cali....
c: matt is downtown & is stuck in traffic because all of the roads are blocked off.

i'm done.

I Love John Williams....

....but not as much as he does {i am somewhat jealous of the amazingness of it all}

Got tickets?

I do!

{thanks mom!!}

A Light....

IT PASSED!!
{in California, Florida, AND Arizona I might add}



I'm glad to have something to celebrate today......{NO, I am NOT celebrating B.O. (as alayna calls him) as Pres.}. Proposition 8 passing has restored a little of my faith in the citizens of this great country. We'll see how the next 4 yrs. go. I'm praying it's not a total disaster. We shall see......

One Word....

AMAZING.

VOTE!!

Is it so wrong?

Is it wrong that Lincoln wants to play this every day?

And that I let him?

And that he's good at it?!

*note to self: next time we're at the library, get Lincoln his own game.

Stories

Here are a few stories that Kensie has written lately:

Halloween Fun

We had a fun Halloween this year! Kensie was a Japanese girl, Lincoln was a Japanese boy, and Jackson was both a Japanese boy & a monkey {he was just so cute that he had to wear both}. I had fun helping at both Lincoln & Kensie's school parties where we made eyeballs, witches brew, and caramel apples to eat, played fun Halloween games, and made crafts. The kids made a fort in the backyard {I was praising the dreamy weather....finally a Halloween without frigid temps!......little did I know.....} before feasting on ghostly pizza {with glowing eyeballs, of course. They can't get enough!} and cupcakes. Daddy took the kids trick-or-treating. Just as they stepped out the door it started pouring rain! They grabbed some umbrellas & were off. Luckily it wasn't cold, just raining. They came back with quite a haul!!