Thanksgiving Break

Due to the aforementioned problems with our camera (which now looks like a problem with our software?), this will be a photoless post. However, thanks to good people and modern technology like cameras on cell phones, I may be able to post pictures of the events discussed in this post at a later date. Thank you for your patience as I try to resolve this issue.

So, for now I just wanted to be able to get down everything we did, before I forget : ).

Wednesday: After doing some final preparations at the house, we set out to celebrate Eliza's birthday as a family. She chose to go to Hometown Buffet for lunch, and then on to roller skating. We had a lot of fun skating, and Andy and Alesha joined us with their family for the last little bit. That evening Rick and I went out to dinner with Andy and Alesha, to celebrate Alesha's birthday. Later that night, Wendy and Brian pulled in after their drive from Missouri.

Thursday: Rick, Dallin, Andy and Spencer enjoyed our Ward's Turkey Bowl at Detweiler Park, while Wendy, Alesha and I got to work in the kitchen. We spent A LOT of time in the kitchen, which was actually very enjoyable for me. We made lots of yummy food. Andy and Dallin (Rick helped out some too) deep fried the turkey in the backyard, following Alton Brown's directions. It was quite the set up. Somewhere around 2:30 we sat down to a lovely dinner in a house full of love, food and people : ). Just a side note to say how grateful I am for the many blessings in my life. I feel so blessed to live the life I lead.

Friday: I did not go out shopping this year. I have enjoyed going for several years, but had too much else going on this year. In the morning, we headed downtown for the Santa Claus parade. It was beautiful weather for it. This was our first year to go to it since moving to Peoria, and I'm so glad that Dallin was in it, finally giving us an excuse to go. It was a lot of fun. David and Julia and family, Rachael and her kids (minus Kailee, Darren had to work), and Nanny and G'pa joined us at the parade. As Dallin passed by us, we all cheered so loudly that we could see Dallin crack a smile behind his trumpet mouthpiece : ). With 32 people cheering for him, he may have had one of the largest group of fans at the parade. We hurried back to the house to get lunch on the table. I was so appreciative of all the help I had. We ate, quickly changed our clothes and went to the Church for Eliza's baptism. It was a beautiful day for a beautiful girl. My SIL Julia got some great pictures, and once I get them from her, I'll be sure to post them. It was so nice to have so much family participation in the program. Andy conducted, Wendy spoke, Brittany spoke, Nanny played the piano, and there were many musical numbers shared by the cousins. Thank you to all my family who came and helped make the moment special for Eliza. I know there were many more that would have like to be there, and your thoughts are appreciated too. Nanny and G'pa and the Jensens left for Indiana after the baptism, but David and Julia came back to our house for a little while longer. We enjoyed just hanging out.

Saturday: Andy and Alesha hit the road to head back to Wisconsin. Wendy and Brian joined us in enjoying the unseasonable warm weather. We took a picnic to the park and played a little football. It was a riot to see little Daniel playing. We really have a little football player on our hands. I'll have to look into that JFL....Wendy and Brian left a little later in the afternoon, and we settled down to enjoy the BYU/Utah game. As always, it was a nail biter, but the Cougs were able to pull it off, 26-23

It's hard to face the reality of Monday morning after a break like that, and yet it is here. The kids went back to school, Rick went back to work, and I'm trying to pick up the pieces at home. I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving as well!!

Way to Go Cougars!!!

What a great way to end a fantastic holiday break!! BYU pulls off a win against Utah!!!!!!!!!!
More about the rest of the weekend later.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Eliza!!

My baby girl turned 8 years old on Sunday!!! She will be baptized Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. Last Friday night, Rick and I returned home from a date to discover that the oven was not working. So, Eliza had to settle with a cake from the store. I thought she picked out a great one!! We had a fun party with just us on Sunday afternoon. She also chose to go roller skating as a family, which we'll be doing Wednesday afternoon. Eliza is a happy, exuberant child. We like to say that she loves life at full volume!! So, we got her a CD player and a Taylor Swift CD for her birthday so she can listen loud in her room : ). She adds sparkle and spunk to our family, and I am so happy that she is my daughter.

Gobble Gobble

Sunday is Eliza's 8th birthday. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. So, for her school birthday treat she requested cookies frosted like turkeys. I decided to search the web for a cute idea, and found these fun little guys.
Everybody worked on them last night, and we now have 24 little turkeys ready to be gobbled up by Mrs. Foulk's 2nd grade class.

The funny thing is that I asked Eliza if she wanted these, thinking they would be easier to do than frosting sugar cookies. Obviously I'd never done a mass production of Oreo turkeys before : ).

Happy Veteran's Day

Wednesday the kids had school off for Veteran's Day. We dropped Dallin off at Richwoods HS, in his band uniform with his trumpet and headed downtown to watch the parade he was to march in. The buses never showed up to pick them up. So, he didn't march in the parade. That's right 4 buses did not show up to pick up the entire Richwoods High School marching band. What's worse is that Richwoods is right next to the bus barn where the 100s (or so it seems) of buses for the District are parked!! The students stood there next to all the buses waiting for someone to pick them up in one. Anyway, somebody dropped the ball, and it was a bummer, but the kids and I enjoyed the parade nonetheless, we just would have enjoyed it more if we had been able to see Dallin in it.
This is a picture of my favorite part of the parade. We ended up standing next to this family. The dad, obviously a soldier himself, stood at attention everytime anyone came by in a military uniform. It really touched me, seeing the respect he had. In spite of all that is going on in our nation today, this is still the land of the free and the home of the brave. Just look at that young dad, one of thousands just like him, and tell me it's not.

God Bless America!

Meet Me in St. Louis

This past weekend, we decided it was time for a little getaway time for the whole family. The kids did great on their first report cards of the school year, so we thought this was perfect reason to celebrate. We left Friday at noon (the kids had the day off, Rick used a vacation day), and drove down. Our first stop was the arch. We have literally made several previous attempts (we're pretty sure we counted 3) to take the kids up in the arch, but have never been successful. Previous attempts have always been when "passing through". One time there was a computer glitch and the trams weren't running. Another time tickets were sold out. You get the point. So, we were happy to have a successful trip up the St. Louis Arch. As you can see, everyone had a great time peering out the windows. Daniel was great!! He climbed right up and loved looking out.

After the Arch, we headed to dinner at Fitz's American Grill and Bottling Works, where they make and bottle their own root beer. It was so yummy and fun. We even brought home some of the deliciousness to enjoy.

That night we stayed downtown in the Sheraton City Center, thanks to my big bro Todd. It was great, and the kids had fun experiencing more of the city. The next morning, we walked a few blocks to the City Museum. A special thanks to the Linehan family for giving us a heads up on this place. They may not even realize it, but we saw a post on their blog some time ago and knew we needed to experience this place at some point. I really don't know how to begin to describe this museum. It is like nothing I've ever seen before, and so much fun. We spent nearly 6 hours there without any boredom on ANYONE's part, and we didn't even do the "extra" aquarium and Roof Top. Here's a description from their website, and then I'll let our pictures do the rest of the explaining:

"Housed in the 600,000 square-foot former International Shoe Company, the museum is an eclectic mixture of children's playground, funhouse, surrealistic pavilion, and architectural marvel made out of unique, found objects. The brainchild of internationally acclaimed artist Bob Cassilly, a classically trained sculptor and serial entrepreneur, the museum opened for visitors in 1997 to the riotous approval of young and old alike. "

This portion is outside. Above you see Daniel, who again was fearless and super excited to climb everything. Below, you see me, climbing through a tunnel about 7 stories in the air.

Here's the crew, climbing one of the many staircases, and yes, that it an airplane suspended several stories (5) up. Remember, everything is made from found, or recycled items. We saw railroad spikes, gears, marbles, part of a firetruck, and so much more. Every corner we turned was some new great and totally random thing.

And the fun wasn't just outside. Here are a few inside shots. Look closely and you and see Daniel and Audri climbing this spiraling tunnel of fun.

This is what you see when you first walk in. The red thing to the right is a slide. There were several slides, inside and out.

We don't even have any pictures of the cave system, including a part that you climb to a 7 story circular slide, the human sized hamster wheel, the tree house system, the circus ring, the skate park (minus the skates, you just ran around in it), and so much more. In other words, if you are every in St. Louis, I HIGHLY recommend this place. It's not free, like so many other attractions in the city ($12 for anyone 3 and up), but well worth the money, in my opinion!!!

After the City Museum we had just a little bit of time to go to the Zoo. It was a beautiful November day, 70+ degrees. We quickly hit the high points of the Zoo, and piled in the van for the drive home. It was a great little break for our family. It was so much fun to spend time together without any of the worries and stresses of our daily lives. It made it easier to come back home and put our noses to the grindstone again.

Happy Birthday, Mom!!

Sixty-five years ago, an angel was sent to the Earth. Her parents named her Ruthanne. Those who love her today refer to her as Nanny. I call her Mom.

It's difficult to explain all the wonderful things I have learned from my mother. As I pondered what to write in this post, one word kept coming back to me. STRENGTH. My mom's family moved many times when she was young, because of her Dad's work. She didn't let this weaken who she was, but it has added to her strength. As a young college student, together with her fiance, she had the strength and courage to find out what was different about the German professor they both admired so much. They discovered that he was a Mormon, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Intrigued, they began to learn more. Shortly after they were married, they were baptized into this Church, setting their feet upon a path they knew was right. They could never have comprehended at that moment what that would mean for those who came after them.
And, talk about strength. She had 7 children in 9 1/2 years, and then raised them too : ). These were not your average quiet wallflowers either. These were seven strong-willed, opinionated, intelligent, involved children. They all call her blessed, as she has been a strength to everyone of us throughout our lives. We are all who we were today in large part because of who she is, and the dedication that she had/has as a mother. This photo shows her at about the age and stage of motherhood that I am in now. My kids are not quite as close, and there are only 5, but at this time she had little ones, and older ones. She made it through beautifully, and I can too, especially having her example to look to.

Today she is the most amazing Nanny to her 34 grandkids!!! She buys and ships each of them (as well as their parents)individually selected birthday presents (and can tell you without looking at the calendar when those birthdays are). She loves each of them, and knows them as individuals, in spite of the miles between her and so many of them. I am so happy that my children have her in their life.

In reality, I've only touched on a few of the wonderful attributes of my mother. I haven't even discussed her love of learning, or gift of music. As I continue in my journey of motherhood, my understanding of all she has done for me and my family expands, and in the process my love and admiration for her increases.

Happy Birthday, Mom.

Halloween!!

Our camera is on the fritz. Some pictures turn out, others do not. Because of that, I didn't make a very good effort to get Halloween pictures. I am now kicking myself. This picture, is Prince Edmund of Narnia. Daniel has been telling us for awhile that he wanted to be Edmund. He loves the movie Prince Caspian. So, we took an old Robin Hood tunic, added the Lion to the front, Rick made the shield (you can kind of see the Lion painted on the front of it as well), added some pieces from a knight costume Dallin once wore, and Rick fashioned some shoulder armor out of cardboard. And there you go- Edmund.

We also had Eliza as Dorothy, Audri as the Wicked Witch of the West, Dailie as Glenda, and Dallin as a Mariachi trumpet player. I'm going to see if anyone got pictures of my kids at the Ward party. If I'm successful, maybe I'll get them on here. In the meantime, we'll see what we can do about this camera....