Sunday, November 28, 2010

Thanksgiving 2010

I have been counting down the days to Thanksgiving this year. I have wanted all of the foods that you have for Thanksgiving since Halloween. We had so much fun with all of our friends. We got together with our child swap group, the same as last year, except this year, we hosted it. It was so much fun and Eric even found place holders on line that he wanted me to make. So this is our table that mostly fit everyone since all the kids didn't sit down at the same time.


This is what the little place holders looked like. I thought they would take WAY less time than they actually did. So I was still working on them when people started showing up. But it was ok, our friends are pretty lax. And they were fun anyway, but don't put them at the kids seats. They want to eat them first and we had a lot of fights and tears over having to eat turkey before they ate their "turkey". It is humorous to think about now. Anyway, I thought they turned out pretty good.


This was our buffet line. Everyone brought two or three things and it was great. Just to list off our food (there was a lot, the perfect THanksgiving feast) we had: tukey, stuffing from the bird, stuffing from a box, and cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, wonton salad, green bean casserole, candied yams, rolls, cheese and crackers, a veggie tray, and pickle-olive-cheese spears.


Then we come to the pie. Pumpkin pie (which no one really ate and I thought was funny), mini cherry pies, apple crumble pie, pumpkin cheesecake, coconut cream pie, a brownie peanut butter pie, and blueberry custard pie. THen of course I made the little pie cinnamon rolls with my left over pie dough, that was the kids favoites.


What a wonderful day it was of completely overeating. I think everyone snacked until bedtime. It was so fun. Eric had set up the basement like a "man cave" with a foos ball table, and the wii ready to go.
I think the funniest part of the night was finding Adie in the kitchen up on a chair picking all of the meringue off of the blueberry custard pie. The look on her face was hilarious and oh so guilty. So our left over pie had NO meringue, but that is ok, I am glad she liked it.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Adie's Birthday

I can't believe she is already two. It just blows my mind and makes me a little sad. She is getting so big and doing so much. Here are some things about her that show her little personality.
  • She has an opinion about everything from cereal to how to layer her blankies to who can touch her and when.
  • She loves both monkeys (and acts like one on a regular basis), and princesses (which I don't think she has ever acted like one)
  • She has been potty trained for almost a month now and doing great
  • She loves babies and almost always has one close by even if she is playing rocket ship with her brother.
  • She absolutely adores her brother and will do almost anything that he says, which sometimes gets her into trouble.
  • She loves to help cook even if all she can do is hold a spoon and taste test the end product.
  • Her dada is her hero. She talks about him all day and is the only person that she will really snuggle with. She is more devestated when he leaves than she has ever been with me.

We sure love that little girl. She amazes us every day. If you have talked to her recently I am sure that she has mentioned to you about her monkey birthday. She has been so excited about it for months, not that she really knew what a birthday was. But let me tell you, her party was a lot of fun except for her crying. Here are some pictures of her family party and with her friends. It was a wild time.

Thanks to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Stevenson for the tea party set and princess shoes.

This was her monkey cake. I have to say having cocoa krispies on a cake is one of the best ideas anyone ever came up with. It was SO delicious.

All her little buddies that she loves and talks about regularly minus one. There's Tyson, Brielle, and Valorie couldn't make it but we thought about her. Along with Kaleb, and baby Lexi. It was fun.

Then this is what I found them doing this morning, so of course I had to get out some snacks so they could have a REAL tea party.....well, they had water, pretzles, marshmellows, and ritz crackers, but it might as well have been a real tea party with the way they were acting.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Reflection

As many here in Buffalo already know. We recieved some very sad news Monday morning as we got up to get ready for the day. A wonderful friend of ours had passed away.


Megan came here to Buffalo (from Hawaii) so her husband could join our class in dental school. How much fun it was to spend time with them. This summer while giving birth to her first child, she was diagnosed with leukemia. It has been a long battle for her with many ups and downs, the pain, being away from her new born child, not being at home with her wonderful husband, etc. She is one of the strongest people that I know. I have always admired her attitude. She was always smiling, always making new friends. Everyone that knew her loved her. Even in the hospital she just smiled as best she could. We loved her dearly. Very earlly Monday morning, Megans poor body just couldn't fight anymore. She slipped away from this mortal life to enter into the open and loving arms of our Savior.


There are so many times I have asked "why? It's not fair, her baby needs her, her husband needs her! Why does it have to be her?" I have really had to dig into my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to find peace. And when thinking about her beautiful daughter that will never know in this life the amazing mother that she has, I have been reminded that this is also of trial for her. But you can bet that the spirit in that little girl is just as amazing and strong as that of her mother. As I have had the opportunity over the last two days to reflect on life and death I have learned a lot of things.

I know that the plan of salvation is true. I know that this life is not the end. My faith in my Savior is not questioned by trials that come our way. Unfortunately for us here still on this earth we lose some of the best people first. I have known quite a few good, amazing people that have passed away all too young from this life. But I also know that there is a work for them to do on the other side, and since they have accomplished what they needed to on this earth, they are called home to do a greater work. I am so grateful for the beautiful temples that we have on this earth that dot the land to make it so that we can be with our families not just "til death do we part", but for all eternity. Her wonderful loving husband and beautiful daughter will see her again and will be with her forever. The peace of that knowledge is undenyable and unexplainable. I know that the Savior love us, and I know He has a plan for each of us with different trials, but if we turn to Him, he will guide us home.

We love you Megan, and will miss you dearly. And we love you Ryan, and Rylee.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Halloween and a few of my favorite things...updated

So it wasn't me, there is something wrong with my computer. So while my wonderful husband tries to fix it, I am using his to post the pictures.

Here was halloween. Their costumes aren't perfect due to the fact that 1)they are costumes, 2) I made them, and 3) I only got the idea a week before Halloween. But they are ok and everyone understood their costumes. I didn't get a pic of Eric and my costumes, which I kind of regret, which no one understood.

Porter was Mario from MarioKart (64 if you ask Eric) and he loved the hat and car the most. He even let me draw his mustache on several times, then he would lick it off. Makeup must tastes good.

Adie was Princess Peach, also from MarioKart and she loved her crown the most unless I stabbed her in the head. And she definitely did like being a princess, since that is what she thinks that she is.

I think that Eric did an absolutely awesome job on the cars. I was REALLY impressed by them.


SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

My kids of course. We were just trying on coats to make sure they fit and they would not take them off all morning. They even put their boots on. They love them now, but come January/February they might think a little differently about them.

Adie absolutely loves her dollies. She is constantly telling me that her dollies love her. It is so cute and she really does try to take care of them, wrap them in blankets, feed them, etc. It is fun to watch.

I woke up to this the other morning. Dark clouds, bright sun on the horizon shining on golden trees.

Porter just being silly

Adie playing under the table

One weekend we were babysitting some friends kids so they could go on a date and we went apple picking with Eric's class. It was a lot of fun and the kids were definitely well behaved. But I definitely do not want 5 kids under the age of 4. That would be too hard. These are Porter and Adie's good friends so they had fun. The oldest ,Megan, was 4, then Katie and Porter are 2 months apart, then Adie is 2 years younger, then the youngest, Laura, is 9 months younger than Adie. We were busy, but it was definitely fun.
I hope Natalie doesn't hate me for putting this picture up, but it was one of the funnest nights that we have had recently. A whole bunch of friends over (I can't remember what for) and we played this cookie game where you start with the cookie on your forehead and without hands move it down your face into your mouth. Carl Fricke was the best at it by far. I have a video of it with all the finalists but for some reason they are not working. So you will just have to ask Carl about it if you want to know. But it was a blast. One of my favorite things to do.