Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving was loads of fun this year. Jameson and I went for walk early in morning around Murray Park. It was good to go out and think about all the things that we are grateful for. We make wild plans for the future, and pretty much solved the world's problems. I think the thing that we are most grateful for right now is our health. I know that sounds silly, but most of the top things on our minds that we were grateful for boiled down to that. So we definitely have to give thanks for that.

Jameson walking in front of me (we had some snow the night before)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood . . .

Then we went to Thanksgiving dinner at Jameson's Aunt ReNae's house. It was great to see ALL of Jameson's family. We also had our friends Jeff and Kelly come up from Provo, since they were far away from their families in California. Kelly is pretty sick right now having just had her gall bladder out. Everyone was great, and it is always nice to spend time with family.

Jameson playing 'My Debbie' with Cloie

Kelly and Jeff Hume -- I promise that Jeff doesn't have any disabilities that I know of

This is Debbie and all her siblings, Len, Deirdre, Ian, Mum, Dad, and Debbie

Then in Jackson family tradition, we went bowling, and it was oh so fun. I even bowled a few strikes (more luck than any kind of skill). I haven't been bowling in almost a year . . . so I didn't have the best showing. I didn't even break 100. My best score was 90-ish. Yeah . . .

Jameson -- always so happy and good at bowling . . . let's face it, there is little that Jameson DOESN'T excel at.

Game face. I am out to win.

Anyway, now I can give all of myself to Christmas. Yay!! If anyone has any Christmas movies that they absolutely love, please let me know as I would love to watch some christmas movies this year to get me in the mood. For Christmas.

Still reading Alligator Bayou by donna jo napoli, but I also read Zombie Haiku by Roger Mecum and it was one of the funniest zombie things that I have read. Jameson and I are also hip deep in The Walking Dead (both the graphic novel series and the TV series). In case any of you don't know, I have developed an irrational fear of zombies. If something bad DOES happen in 2012, it will have to do with a zombie virus outbreak.

10 Things I Hate About Sledding

1. Caused a concussion when I was roughly 16.

2. Sitting on a slippery object to cruise down a hill just seems like poor planning.

3. Cold

4. While I love Hot Chocolate, the reward that it represents for the work simply isn't enough.

5. I look fat in snow pants

6. We can't find our tube we bought last year.

7. Climbing up the hill

8. Snow gets on your skin and makes it wet AND cold

9. Jumps = Injuries

10. Hayrides are more rewarding.

More Grizzlies, More Wedding, and More Flu

So today I realized that I have had the flu this last week. I was wondering why I was having trouble running and why I was so achy and so tired. I blamed my thyroid (as I haven't taken my meds for like 3 months), but today, when I was nauseous, I realized that I probably have the flu. If anyone at Parker and Beth's Wedding, you may be infected.

Friday, after a trying night at work, we went to the Grizzly game (they occasionally have tickets for five a piece, and our friend Shaun has some hookups to get seats right on the ice. Unfortunately, I didn't get there until the last period (there are three). At which point, the Grizzlies lost their 2 point lead and lost in over-time. Then we went to RedRock to eat and they had fried green tomatoes. I was so excited, I ordered them. They were great, unfortunately, while we were at the wedding, Jameson's anxious dog jumped on the table while we were at the wedding and ate them. Including the Styrofoam. So far she seems to be okay.

Now on to the main event: Parker and Beth's wedding this weekend. The wedding began at 4, and we were setting up since noon. Then at about 3:50, we found out that you can't play the wedding march in the church for a wedding. It was then that I was asked to play the piano. So not fun. I am simply not talented enough to comfortably play hymns for everyone at a wedding. After that, things went well. Parker and Beth both seemed happy and excited, and are starting to make some great choices together in their lives!

Here is a picture of the food table (sans food)

Parker and Beth exchanging nuptials (they didn't write their own . . . knowing Parker, I can only say thank goodness!

All the bridesmaids (minus me -- who was at the piano)

Jay and Debbie -- Cloie was away from Debbie for all of five seconds so they could take the picture.

That's right, I got ReNae out from behind the camera. Len wasn't too thrilled.

Nanny and Preston enjoying the festivities

Next week, I will probably have some photos of Thanksgiving and hopefully I will finally be healthy!!

Good Book to Read: Alligator Bayou by Donna Jo Napoli

Disney,Hospitals, Karaoke and oh so much more

So -- as of yet, the big news is that my mother's surgery went very well. She was in town all this last week with my father. Sadly, I think that my father was in a much worse state than my mother --even the day of the surgery. My mother was pretty upbeat and happy while my father was an anxious wreck the whole week.

In order to bring my parents some fun, I brought them some chocolates from Hatch's Family Chocolates (featured on TLC the little chocolatiers), as well as some delicious donuts from Beyond Glaze. These are two of my favorite treat spots in Salt Lake City. The funnest thing that I did to cheer up my folks was to take my Dad and my Husband to see Disney on Ice: Mickey and Minnie's Adventure. It featured Ariel (my absolute favorite-- seriously, I almost cried when she skated on stage), Lilo and Stitch, Peter Pan, and the Lion King. I can't believe how much I love Disney stuff. I even bought an overpriced snowcone.

My Daddy and I at the beginning of the Disney on Ice extravaganza

Jameson Drinking some of my over priced light up snow cone

Jameson and I watching the show . . . along with all the other children

Here is the stage during an intermission (I couldn't get any of the dancers because it was dark during the actual performance . . . I know, disappointing)

In other news, I hosted Beth's Bridal shower -- which was loads of fun. Bread and soup and gifts . . . nothing better! I also went and sung some Karaoke at the Karaoke cafe (a coffee shop) til late in the evening last night. I sung True Blue by Madonna, If I Had a Million Dollars by Barenaked Ladies, Livin on a Prayer by Bon Jovi, and last, but definitely not least, One More Time by Britney Spears. I think that my performance that really made the greatest impression was Britney Spears as we were the only group left by the time I sang that. And I sang it with my friend Nikki. We were awesome. Epic, one might say.

Great Books to Read: The Reformed Vampire Support Group by Catherine Jinks

If Wishes and Buts were Candy and Nuts . . .

I have never understood that phrase, but I have heard it floating around quite a bit lately, "If wishes and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a merry christmas". Yeah -- I know. Who wants nuts? Especially if they were peanuts.

Anyway -- This week hasn't been too thrilling. Both Jamie and I have colds. Rather untimely since my mother is coming for her knee replacement surgery. We have been waiting for this for almost a year, so I don't want her catch our cold, and make her delay the surgery. Again.

Our big news is that we are moving into our own apartment! I know . . . it's about time. We are really excited. It's in Murray and is 500 per month for the cutest little two bedroom EVER!! Sorry for all the exclamation points, but we are super excited. We will be moving in hopefully on December 1. We heard about it from my friend Sydney, whom I work with.

Good Book to read: The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong

Halloween Fun

We have done many a Halloween thing this year, and I am just about Halloween-ed out. Here is a list of all the awesome fun things that we have done:

1. Carved Pumpkins (more to follow on that)

2. Watched innumerable scary movies

3. Saw the Odyssey Dance Company's Production of Thriller

4. Went to the Haunted House Nightmare on 13th

5. Visited the Haunted Village at This is the Place Monument

6. Ran in the Highway to Hale 5k -- many runners were in costume, but not I.

7. Dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood.

Thriller was so much fun to go to, and also had the best zombie costumes that I have seen in some time. They wandered about before and after the show. We tried to snag a picture, but just didn't have the chops for it. Nightmare on 13th was okay -- it was a very classic haunted house. However, my favorite was the Haunted Village. It was amazing and so much fun!! It was at This is the Place Monument and they had statues of headless horsemen and whatnot instead of pioneer women playing with children. You had to walk through the village of pioneer homes and they were all very haunted. Our friend Taylor was kind enough to inform a few of the ghouls of my name, so they called it out quite a bit as we wandered through. We were the last to go through and it was very dark and lonely.

For me, though, it just isn't Halloween unless you get to carve a pumpkin. I happily blame my father for this. So for FHE on Monday night we invited over some friends (Taylor, Hannah and Nikki) and we all carved pumpkins and watched a scary movie. I also roasted some pumpkin seeds, which took me right back to some very fond memories of my childhood.

Here is Nikki and Hannah discussing their works of art

Here is Taylor, quite proud of his werewolf pumpkin -- he was sure that his limited art skills would simply not allow him to succeed at pumpkin carving. I daresay that he was pleasantly surprised.

Last but not least, here is Jameson, with his awesome bat that looks great! He is my pumpkin carving man!

Anyway, I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday! Happy Halloween and know that we wish you all the best and as much love as we can give!

Workin Hard for the Money

There are four things that dominate my life right now.

1. Work

2. Veronica Mars

3. The Library

4. Exercising

I don't really feel the need to discuss anything but the library. I was looking up book lists online and the best ones that are findable are generated by YALSA (an offshoot of the ALA). I was working at one time on the book list Outstanding Books for the College Bound book list made by them. Instead, I chose the top ten books for Young Adults for 2010. And so far it has proved pretty good. I really enjoy young adult fiction as the format allows for a wider range of creativity. For me the genre generally feels like a cross between a short story and a novel. Anyway, I have already devoured one of the books and am definitely excited to work my way through the rest. However, there are some sweet potatoes about the make their debut on the dinner table, and I want to be there for the event.

Good Book to Read: Demon Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan