Deceivingly blank...

It's not the first time I've skipped blogging for a whole month. But this time I hardly took any photos, which is unusual. 288 photos, on only eight days. Here's what I captured:

1st

Robbie had a persistant cough for months, and was treated for infection and walking pneumonia with no results before I finally made an appointment with an allergist. It turns out he's not allergic or asthmatic, but the appointment still did the trick...he stopped coughing.

5th

It wasn't the first snow of the year, but maybe the deepest. Ellie and Ainsley played outside for hours.

11th

The elementary school was out for the day, so we staged a photo on 11/11/11 at 11:11 a.m.

19th

We were able to attend the Draper Temple, where Davy and Emma were sealed. Oh, and the Utes beat Washington State in overtime. :)

20th

Ralph told us about our Marsh ancestors at the Backman Family History Night.

21st

Ainsley lost her first tooth! The slacker tooth fairy didn't make an appearance for four whole days though...

24th

Thanksgiving! Our favorite holiday. We had a fabulous day and dinner in St. George at Ralph and Judy's. We were grateful to enjoy the company of Jake, the Stringhams, Grandpa & Grandma Backman, the Rasmussens and the Knaubs. It was my first year ever making my Grandma's fabulous candied yams, and they were a success!

25th

We had a fun game of dodgeball with the family. The kids told me earlier in the month that their favorite Thanksgiving tradition is going to St. George. No wonder, they spent hours playing outside with their cousins.

28th

We put up the Christmas tree a little early this year, since I was hostessing a Relief Society dinner on December 1st.

So, why the lack of photos? No, it was not restraint on my part. I was pretty much overwhelmed with daily responsibilities.

Here's what doesn't show up on this calendar: carpools, ballet lessons, piano lessons, early mornings at the gym, volunteering at the school, chess club, helping kids with homework x4, Webelos den meetings, pack meeting, Young Men's, volleyball, Achievement days, church, bishopric meetings, two book group meetings, primary practice & program, Beehive books, babysitting, SEPs, chiropractor, eye doctor, two birthday parties, PTA movie day, assembling 80 gifts for OJH piano donors and making dessert for the piano concert. Not to mention packing, unpacking, cleaning and trying to keep everyone fed & in clean clothes. More than I could fit on this little calendar, and stuff I'm trying to repress at this point.

Rob tells me my only New Year's resolution should be to say no. Of course then he called me to be a gospel doctrine teacher. No time commitment there. My first lesson was on December 6th, on...the Book of Revelation! So I also spent a couple of weeks in November preparing for that. Hard to believe I didn't fit in some time for blogging or Christmas cards. Maybe next November.

Goodbye Thanksgiving, Hello Christmas

"Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of heaven and helps us feel God’s love."

~Thomas S. Monson (full talk here)

We've done a few things to encourage the kids to feel and express gratitude for the things we normally take for granted. We made a gratitude tree, and the kids filled in some of the things they appreciate.

Here are some of the things they wrote, in random order (I left their spelling):

Holladays * Books * Leafs * Friends * Soil * Candy * Parents * Clothes * Love * Jesus Crist * My dog * Presents * The Book of Mormon * Grandparents * Santa * Cars * Cousins * Computers * Food * Mom * Video Games * Trees * Christmas * My family * The air * Shoes * Piano * Dad * TV * Heavenly Father * School * My bed * Mommy & Daddy * DS * Home * Trips * My dog * Water * Pets * Music * Earth * Education * Turkey

Grandma Judy brought each of the kids a gratitude journal, and we encouraged them to make a list there too. Here's Ellie's:

I was pretty impressed that she knew who Ester was, until I got to #47 and realized she meant Easter.

And Ainsley's list:

She has prayer, music, scripture, lesson, treat and activity listed, because she was writing at my desk, right where she could copy the family home evening chart. :)

Rob told the kids whoever made it to 100 first could play Yahtzee on his iPad, which is a new family favorite. The boys didn't even start their lists, but here they are anyway at the end of the day, discovering the "battle" version of Yahtzee. So fun—you can download the app here.


Okay, and finally, November 26th seems WAY too early to start the Christmas season, but since I'm hosting a dinner group for our RS Christmas party next Tuesday, I figured I'd better get the decorating out of the way. Couldn't bring myself the play Christmas music like we usually do—we had everything from Bob Marley to U2 for this year's tree trimming.

I forgot my camera tonight when we went out to dinner with friends, but I am grateful for them. They, I'm sure, are grateful that I didn't embarrass them by taking a photo at the restaurant.

Very Thankful This Thanksgiving

I simply have too many blessing to enumerate. So this is just a recap.

This was our first year hosting the big dinner. We had sixteen: my mom and dad, my grandma, Chris, Christine & Mikey, and Cara and her kids. Cara took my favorite photo of the day—check out the view in the goblet.

Although I love this photo too, my favorite grandma with my favorite Thanksgiving food, candied yams. They have to be her candied yams though.

We couldn't all fit around the table, but the boys didn't seem to mind.

The food was amazing, and could easily be the focus of this post. But the gathering of family is what really makes this day. And there is no way I'd ever go to this much effort to eat a meal in solitude.

Here's Ainsley, attacking the poor turkey carcass after the meal.

She clearly gets her carnivore instincts from her dad.

#97 on my list of things to be grateful for today is a fridge full of yummy leftovers.

We went to Davy and Emma's for pie—I made a Tollhouse Pie and Pioneer Woman's Apple Pie, and they were both worth the hours of working out it'll take to erase.

Here we are in our post-feast comas.

I love this holiday. I am blessed and am truly grateful.