Thanksgiving Weekend

 

 

Siri, Taylor's sister and also the woman at the head of the table in the picture below, made Thanksgiving dinner this year and it was delicious! We had maple glazed turkey, basil cornbread, cranberry jelly, arugula salad with goat cheese and pickled beats, and the most amazing stuffing with cranberries and pecans in it.

 

All of Taylor's family met up at Siri's mother-in-law's house and enjoyed appetizers and talked while the food finished cooking. Ali brought the best artichoke dip and suggested I make a chocolate dip to go along with the fruit I was bringing -- what a great idea. It turned out tasting like room temperature ice-cream.

 

Jana brought the beautiful bouquet and I made the turkey place savers.  I think the turkeys are so cute and dorky.  They make me laugh whenever I look at them. :)

 

The trip out to Seattle was two-fold for Scott.  Ali commissioned him to build her shelves in her pantry, a workbench and a pegboard for garage organization.  On Friday, Scott got to work with Tyler and Taylor's help. He brought all the supplies and put it all together in the garage. 

Scott also took time to play with the grandkids. They saw him relaxing and couldn't resist pretending to sleep too, which is their new favorite game ... if only they loved going to sleep for real!

Grandma Jana took a lot of time to play with the kids.  In this picture she's stretching with them.

The boys took a nice bike ride from North Bend to Snoqualmie after all the work was done.  They crashed on a bridge, but luckily no real damage. Tay still has a sore wrist, but other than that they're fine.

 

We had an early Christmas at our house. Jana and Scott brought some presents for Nelli's birthday and Christmas because we probably won't see them until after the New Year. Nelli got a few new toys, a sleeping bag and Christmas PJs.  Grandpa also made her a stepstool, for washing her hands and helping me cook, and put up a pegboard to hang up her pink potty seat.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Jana brought some awesome caramel apples and showed us how to cut them to get the most apple goodness off the stick.  Scott, I don't know if you meant to or not, but you're saying "I love you" in sign language in this picture.... how apt.

I just love these pictures :

 

 

family photo shoot.

 

Siri was so great to come for a photo shoot at our house. These were our top 3 favorite. The first one illustrates Nelli's facial expression skills.  We had just taken her yellow lollipop away.

 

 

Tay doesn't like this one, but I think it's pretty great!

Mission Flashbacks

I've been thinking about my mission that I was so blessed to serve in South Carolina 5 years ago. I decided to make a book with pictures, journal entries, and emails from that sacred time.  I've been clearly urged to do this by a loving influence and I'm really enjoying reliving this time of my life while Nelli takes her afternoon naps.  I thought I'd share a few pictures here. These are some that are especially meaningful to me:

Summer.  She was with a group of BYU students who came to SC to sell security systems for the summer of 2008.  She was married to a member of the church, who was less active and pretty opposed to the church.  Summer made some awesome friends while the husbands were out selling. She was drawn to the gospel and her friends, the women in the picture below, taught her all they could then called us to teach her the rest.  What an experience!  She had so much support and love in her friends and decided to be baptized, in faith that her husband would come back to the church.



 

Debra, a very prepared lady. Sister Sturzenegger and I met her in our apartment complex's gym.

 

Oh, Elder Ford (our district leader)...we teased him so much and he took it like a champ.

When it rained, it poured (metaphorically and literally).

Nicole Dropla and her brother Michael.  Nicole wanted to be baptized for a long time. Her mom and brother were faithful members. Her dad, a member of a different church, said she could be baptized on her 15th birthday. Michael baptized her on her 14th :)  The little boy and girl in the picture love Michael and were investigating the church at the time.  Lemont, the boy, had a great spirit.  He was baptized shortly after I left Columbia for Irmo.

 

Imani Edwards, our little buddy. Sis. Thatcher and I were teaching Imani's grandma, Lilly, when we realized Imani was soaking it all up....woo hoo!  We had so much fun teaching her.

 

 

The Smiths. Sister Nelson and I taught them for months. Elisha's dad is a pastor, so she had a ton of insightful, thought provoking questions.  We had some heated and powerful discussions at the Smiths'.

So, there's a sneak peak at what I'm up to these days during Nelli's blessed afternoon nap. I'm making my book through an online book company called, blurb.com.  I can make it all online, then send it in to be printed.  I plan to put it on my bookshelf at home to easily refer to and share with Nelli (and my future children) the power and faith of that time.