Provo Parade

So it's not the Rose Parade.  Some of us So Caler's forget that.  We arrived at the Provo parade more that 2 hours before it started, to get a good spot, and see the pre-parade 5K.  After parking practically on the route and seeing no other 'parade onlookers' in sight, we had to check with a policeman if there indeed was a parade tonight.  Oh the crowds did come, kinda... about 5 minutes before it started.  And it was SUPER cold.  Brrrr.  We were well dressed and had blankets to sit on as well as cover up with, but it was still bitter cold.  It gives me chills just thinking about it.

The girls really liked the Chipmunks, as well as all the Royalty, and the Grinch who drove the famous 'Provo Recliner with a Motor' (hopefully some of you have seen that on CJane's blog or on the news. Very funny looking.)

We also got to see one of our old neighbors, Mike Hoffman, driving the lit up lawnmower for Provo Parks and Rec.  It was a night.  A fun night to be together.  Not sure if we'll be doing that again, but once was good.   

Races not Run

The fam was scheduled to run 2 races this weekend, but due to way-Way below freezing temps, we decided to pass.  Thursday morning we stayed warm in bed while the 'true blue' runners ran the Human Race and Friday afternoon we drove down to Provo to support our fellow 'true red' Santa runners.  This looked like such a fun race.  Each participant receives a full Santa suit to run in.

The aid station at the half way point featured milk and cookies as well as the long thick candy cane sticks.  It was fun to see all the runners and watch the winners finish.  After the race we staked out a spot for the Provo Light the Night Parade. 

Tooth ??

Yeah, not quite sure what to say about this one.  This is one of those pics I find on the memory card when I down load it.  I recognize this mouth to be Kayla's.  Though I'm wondering who took the picture.  Kayla is the 'tooth person' in our house.  She has no problem with blood and wants to pull everyone's teeth out.  Obviously she'd been working on this one and was just about done when she decided to have someone photograph her work.  I hope that tooth brings in lots of money from the tooth fairy.

Good Life

This year we were looking for a way to serve on Thanksgiving. The girls love to connect with people and we felt like they were all old enough to serve dinner to others. We weren't sure we were ready to take them down to the huge dinner at the Salt Lake Mission, but a friend mentioned something about a dinner at the Good Life Foundation. It was for elderly people who might otherwise be alone for the holiday. This was a good fit for us.

We set tables, danced, filled glasses, talked, carved the turkey, laughed and sang Christmas songs under the disco light, and even read books from the 'lost and found' basket.

We were ready. As 5:00 came and went, we had only 3 guest. The girls were visibly disappointed. All that work and only 3 people? Robert and I immediately had the same thought come to our minds (that happens alot when you've spent as much time together as we have) and told them we had a story we wanted to share with them. We eventually bundled back up and headed home.

We told them about an experience President Eyring had shared about his Dad, Henry Eyring. He was fulfilling a welfare assignment to weed an onion field. He was 80 years old and had bone cancer, which caused him great pain. He pulled himself along on his stomach as he weeded up and down the rows. At the end of the day another worker approached he and another man who had been working in that area. He said, "Henry, you haven't been picking those weeds all day, have you? Those weeds were just sprayed and would have died in the next day or two. His father just laughed. President Eyring asked him years later, "Dad how could you laugh at that?" He replied, "Son, I wasn't there for the weeds."

This month in Primary we have been learning about service and have memorized a scripture from the book of Mosiah in the Book of Mormon, which reads, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings, ye are only in the service of your God" (Mosiah 2:17) What a marvelous way for our family to better understand this important scripture. We were not there for the crowds of people, we were there for the Savior.

This Thanksgiving we are especially grateful for our knowledge of our Saviour Jesus Christ. We know that He lives and loves each one of us individually and unconditionally. He gave His life for us and we are striving each day to become more like Him and know that we can return to live in His presence again. It has been a great day of Thanksgiving and Gratitude.

Turkey Dinner

Time for Turkey.  Robert is the official carver and cook for that matter on Thanksgiving.  He loves to cook but doesn't usually have time to, so he enjoys being able to cook up some fun creations when he can.

He got this years mashed potato recipe from American Test Kitchen show on PBS.  So good. And he mixes the whole cranberries with chunky salsa, something we picked up from our Tucson day. Love it! Thanks babe!

Thankful 4 Sledding

On this frigid Thanksgiving morning, the girls decided to go sledding while Dad and I cooked.  I was glad to catch some of the fun with my camera.

Miss Aubs is looking so grown up.

B no longer has to be pulled up the hill in her little red sled, she's got this sledding thing down.

1st Snow

It's the first snow of the season - soooo beautiful. We love living here!

Snow Dog

Odie might have loved this 1st storm even more than we did. When we let him out this morning he just starting burrowing through the snow, making paths and tracks.

You've got to click on this one to see his face and ears in action.

Though he eventually gets tired of the cold temperatures outside, he is heaven with all the snow.

Thanks Meagan

If you read our blog, you may have noticed one of our side bar blogs is Meagans Meals. Meagan is a friend that I met through another friend. She cooks wonderful meals 4 nights a week which you are able to pre-order and pick up from her house hot and ready. No planning, no shopping, no preparing, no cleaning.

When i first started using her servicves, I felt like a cop-out (sp?) Like c'mon, you can cook dinner for your family every night just like everyone else. And yes, I can. But we have found this system to work better for us some nights of the week, so we go with it. And we love it! Dinner for 4-6, which feeds our whole family plus some leftovers is $15.00 and we can't feed our whole family at Wendy's for $15.00. On Fridays we place our order for the following week. I'll have to post pictures of some of our favorites. It has cut our grocery bills way back and we get more variety than I usually made. It has made dinner time much less stressful at our house, and for this particular season of our lives, it is GOOD.

AG

Can you guess what is going on in this picture? The girls will be circled around this curious form of entertainment for hours. Any guesses?

It is the American Girl Christmas Catalog. This catalog, magazine, practically framable piece of art, brings hours and hours of enjoyment to the girls. Though our girls have never had Barbie dolls, they have definitely grown up with American Girl Dolls. The oldest three have all gained much of their U.S. History knowledge through American Girl Books and they love to dress and play with them. From little glasses to little shoes and panties. Fancy dresses, casual outfits, jammies, slippers, they got it all, oh, and the matching outfits. I'm going to have to get some pictures of the girls with their dolls in their matching outfits. Oh the fun of being a girl, a true American Girl.

Chattin it Up

Robert travels a few days each month for work. We're all pretty use to it and have our own little routine when he's gone. Here we are, with the little black phone in the middle of us, chatting it up with him one night. Due to time differences in the places he goes, he is usually back in his room by the time we read scriputres at night, so we're still all able to finish off our day together. With today's technology, we could Skpe with him, but for now the phone thing seems to work fine, and we dont have everybody trying to jockey for position in front of the webcam.

Pumpkin Chip

Brenna's cool pumpkin shaped potato chip. She thought it was a special bonus double-chip. And no, she's not having chips for breakfast, just not getting out of her jammies today

Gingerbread Contest

Last year we went to several Gingerbread Displays throughout the holiday season. We saw some really amazing ones! The girls pledged to enter into the South Jordan Gingerbread Contest next year at the Gale Center. That seemed like a great idea and on with life we went. I got a flyer in a water bill awhile back about the contest and jotted the information down on the calendar, then moved it to the back burner of my brain, very back corner burner.
Then on Sunday one of the girls looked at the calendar and saw that the gingerbread house was the NEXT DAY. Aubrey and I had stayed home from church with the stomach flu (blah) and Dad had flown out that afternoon for New York. They were pretty much on their own and needed to work with whatever they could find alreadyin the house. Luckily, I had bought a gingerbread kit at Costco recently and they just went for it.

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The girls tell me that Kayla was the master of frosting and the entire project. At the beginning they kept having to check the box for instructions. Brenna said they got to use all the candy. Em said there was a lot of frustration involved. They just called me down when it was all done.

Voila! Monday afternoon I careful transported it to the car, while the girls chanted, "No pressure". Kayla rode in the trunk with it and I tried to drive very carefully. There were about 6 or 7 houses already there when we delivered ours. Upon leaving, Kayla said, "I think we got 3rd or maybe 2nd". Anyone who is interested can check out the displays at the Gale Center. It's a fun activity. Look for the 'Costco Kit House' done by the Miller Girls.

Photo Treasures

I don't know who took this picture or even when, but I love finding photo treasures on the memory card when I download it. This is our Em and we love her VERY MUCH!

Zucchini in Bikini

The girls have done their fair share of doorbell ditching lately. They have left a variety of items, usually edible ones, for people to find. Today they had the tables turned on them and found quite the delivery on our front porch.

Say hello to our new 'Zucchini in a Bikini'. Not sure who's wonderful creation this is, or if I should chop her up to make zucchini bread, but she has brought much laughter to our home. Thank you friends.

Dog Friends

Odie's friend Sammy (he actually has 2 friends named Sammy), but Sammy the Labradoodle came over to play today. Her owner drops her off periodically when she thinks she needs a playdate and Odie loves it. They run around the yard chasing each other, then stop for a minute, and then one will take off, and the chase begins again. Sammy especially likes to play on the pool cover. The water is not frozen so it probably feels kinda cool to run across it. It was hard to get their pictures today because everytime I went out there they would run towards me and try to come in. Look at the muddy, wet paws. No coming in for you guys yet. Sorry.

Leaf Raker

Kayla was our serious leaf raker today. She was raking up piles all over the yard. Lindz, Emi, and I then bagged the piles. Brenna got a splinter in her finger from one of the wood rakes, and that was pretty much the end of her raking for the day.

Thank you to our very good helpers today. Now on to the....backyard. Ugh!