Thanksgiving Sandwich

This sandwich is amazing.  Just amazing.  Roast turkey, homemade stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, I think some gravy, all on homemade wheat bread and toasted on the panini press.  It's worth roasting an entire turkey just for this sandwich.

Hot Rolls

I think heaven is going to smell like hot rolls coming out of the oven.  Or maybe chocolate chip cookies.

December

There are so many things to be thankful for this month - here's a roundup of just a few

Good friends - its fun to laugh and play! 

The pixie program - we have a family to be a "Christmas Pixie" for and we bought doughnuts.  (Although I think these were actually the ones I bought for us.  I think we got all snowmen for the other family!) It's fun secret santa program.  Even though we actually got busted!

Christmas traditions - the Nutcracker is one of my favorite new traditions.  Rachael is always on the edge of her seat she likes it so much.

Running into friends - turns out our bishop and his sweet wife were one of the couples in the performance this year! 

Good kitchen help - we sometimes do a ginger bread house for Christmas but this year we did a cookie tree instead.  Rachael lovingly placed each sprinkle on by hand.

 Rachael danced in another version of the Nutcracker this year! It was a lot of hard work but overall I think she enjoyed the experience. 

Letters to Santa - this is a fun tradition we got from Uncle Declan's family.  After you write it, you burn it! I love sharing everyone's traditions as our families grow and change.  

Our beach trip this year was at low tide at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve.  I have never seen so many urchins and anemones  - this is only a small sliver of the thousands out there.  It was beautiful.

Temple Weddings

We knew Michael when we lived in Kentucky, so when he married a girl from California we were thrilled just to be able to attend the reception and see the Arntz Family.  Then Michael asked us if Ryan and I would attend their temple sealing and I was so touched and so pleased to be able to share that milestone with their family.  What a blessing to have eternal families.

Strawberry pie

It was my sister-in-law's birthday today and I bought her this cute purple pie dish.  It looked kind of empty so I made a strawberry pie to go in it.

Piano lessons

Today was our first day of piano lessons at home.  So far, so good!

Family fun

For family night we made caramel apples.  So much fun!

New furniture

Last year I sold our bedroom furniture (except the bed) because it was so bulky and it didn't make sense to move it across the country again.  So for my birthday this year Ryan let me re-do the bedroom.  (Yes, my birthday was weeks ago.  It takes a girl a long time to commit!) We have been using the most pathetic collection of dressers and cabinets for our bedroom - it was so lovely to get a new dresser and two new nightstands delivered.  It feels like a read bedroom again!

Halloween costumes

I do have a tendency to go overboard at Halloween...

The White House

Sausalito

Supermoon

When Rachael and I drove to Utah, we had a chance to see the "super moon." It did actually look larger and brighter than average, although the picture doesn't really show that.  We stopped at a rest area somewhere across the salt flats to take this picture.

Family

Lorie came down to see Rachael in her 2nd grade musical.  It's so great to have a little family close for fun things like this!

Shoes

In this picture, you can see Rachael's favorite pink shoes.  We bought them last October to go with her Pinkalicious costume.

And here they are today, slightly worn.  She was genuinely disappointed when I told her they were no longer suitable for wearing.

2013

Dear little gratitude blog...

I didn't mean to be so long in posting.  You have been in my mind since July - like when we drove across the country and stopped at Mt Rushmore, when I took my last sunrise picture in Kentucky, when I took way too many baptism pictures of Rachael, two weeks ago in Yosemite, and anytime I take a quick picture of something that strikes me.  (Usually with my camera phone these days.)

So I have a new purpose for you, little blog.  Last year a got a sweet new MacBook Air and it is awesome.  Except I have used PCs my whole life.  Which is a long, long era in computer time.  Anyway, I need to figure out importing, organizing, editing and posting my pictures with my MacBook (and only my MacBook) so you are just the blog to do it.  Because now I can freely admit I have posted a lot on the family blog from my old laptop.  Ryan is rather embarrassed for us. But I'm determined to learn this system.

Let's start with a picture of Yosemite. It's currently the lock screen on my iPhone.

And I'll be back, gratitude blog.  I'm going to try to fill in one or two posts since last July.  I know there are plenty of pictures.

love,
me.

Mount Rushmore

On our driving trip from Kentucky to California, we took a 300 mile detour to see Mt Rushmore.  It was great to have something fun to do in the middle of that four day journey.  None of us had ever been there before and it was really something to see.

 Rachael at Mt Rushmore

They have flags from all 50 states on either side of the walkway 

Family picture 

We stayed for the lighting ceremony.  This picture doesn't really do it justice; it looks spectacular lit up at night.  

Peace Roses

I planted a peace rose when we moved to Kentucky.  I love them because they remind me of my Grandpa Page.  It has produced three or four good blooms a year, until this year, when it has bloomed like gangbusters, one lovely bloom after another.  I'll miss this beautiful plant!

Second Grade

Rachael's second grade portraits.  Because I knew we would be moving and I wasn't sure we would get a school picture this year, I made sure to get quite a few.  I love the giraffe print dress - giraffe is her favorite animal. We took these in our usual fashion: a few of my poses, a few of hers.  These are all my poses that I liked.

(This totally looks like a fake background to me.  But it's really the fence between our house and the neighbors.) 

(Same picture as above, cropped) 

Can you tell she's done for the day?

Hong Kong Day 3 (and then home)

We slept through breakfast (some of us don't do well on transcontinental trips) so we went for an early lunch at Yorkshire Pudding.

The menu.  I have no idea what any of the prices translate to.  It's kind of like play money.

Then we rode a double decker bus to Stanley Market.  It was more scary than any thrill ride I have ever been on.  Winding, narrow roads, large busses, yeah.

Stanley Market.  It's a gigantic flea market.

And at the end there is a beach!

We went back to the city and rode the ferry over to Kowloon.  These monks rode on the ferry with us.

Our fancy anniversary dinner!

The view of Hong Kong at the beginning of our meal.

And at the end.

Happy 18th Anniversary to us!

The next day we went to the Hong Kong airport for the 15 hour flight home.  We stopped in the Disney store in the airport, mostly for fun.

Each of the seats on the plane is kind of it's own cubicle, but we got two where our heads were kind of close together.

Rachael was glad to see us! (But not happy to hear we would be going home the next day.) A huge thank you to Lesley and Chad for keeping her for us for the week.

Hong Kong Day 2

We stopped for a healthy breakfast.  We both had egg McMuffins, but fish sandwiches and pasta with chicken were choices. For breakfast.

And then we took the train to Disneyland! Isn't it cool? Disney built their own MTR line. Even the handles inside are Mickey Mouse shaped.

The castle at Disneyland Hong Kong.

Us on main street.  Having a great time!

The newest attraction at Hong Kong Disneyland.  (See the train on the hill?) It was so fun - we went on it at least a half dozen times.

The moving trash can.  The man in the hat on the right is actually a Disney employee with the remote, and he walked a few feet from the can.  Those little girls were mesmerized! (No one does magic better than Disney).

Mickey's Philharmagic. It was positively claustrophobic waiting in line - people in Hong Kong have no personal space.  (I hear this is true in Tokyo too).  However, the show was awesome.  I've never seen so many people try to reach out and grab 3D items.  And they were a great crowd - totally into the show.

We met these girls while waiting in line for a ride.  They would say "hello" in English, so I would say hello, and they would giggle like crazy.  So fun.

We had a great day!