Bowling with the Boys

This Weekend we took the boys bowling at Jack & Jill's Bowling Alley. It was a lot of fun. Christian bowled a 95 & Andrew got a 94. I guess it really does help if you have the bumpers and a ramp. Here are a few pictures from our fun family outing. Hope you guys enjoyed your weekend together. I loved having Steve home with us. It is going to be sad when he goes back to work tomorrow!

Thanksgiving Craft

This year I was in charge of the Thanksgiving craft & was at a loss of ideas until. . . . I looked in my scrapbook magazine. I found the cutest homemade advent calander. It is made out of matchboxes, scrapbook paper & magnets. I recreated it & added a few things. Each day I added a scripture/story about Christmas, and holiday M&M's as a treat. It was a little time consuming but hopefully my kids love it & it was all worth it.

An attitude of Grattitude

1. The things I give thanks for this Thanksgiving:
my family
an evergrowing testimony of the gospel
good health
great friends, and a husband that supports my desire for "girls nights out"
the necessities of life (house, jobs, food, etc).
my calling in the Relief Society
parents that love me
a temple down the road
2. My Thanksgiving traditions include:
cooking lots of good food--Thanksgiving gets me in the cooking mood, and it continues clear throughout New Years
getting together with family not that this is any different from our weekly Sunday Dinners. . . but it is still fun

Making fun turkey crafts with the boys

Since all the guys are either playing football or watching it, my sister-in-laws & i decided that we will make a craft before dinner. This year it is my turn to be in charge of it & i still don't have an idea. . . . . We will see what I come up with.

Thanksgiving night we usually all sit around and watch Surviving Christmas. It is one of those dumb funny movies. It has Ben Affleck & is pretty funny, it didn't get good ratings but neither did Dumb & Dumber so I suggest you give it a try this Christmas Season!!

After the movie we pack up & go home, at this point all the wives put their children to bed & then head back over to Steve's parents and that is when the real party starts. We have a sleepover, & pour over all the ads getting ready for our early shopping day. . . This year we got to be out the door at 3:45. The stores open at 4:00am this year!

3. My favorite Thanksgiving food is: Whipped Sweet Potatoes (they have to be done just right, I have an awesome recipe if you want it)

4. My funniest Thanksgiving memory: The first Thanksgiving I spent with Steve's family was before we were even engaged & I was just getting to know the family & during dinner Steve's brother looks at me and says their tradition is to bear their testimony at the table starting with the newest member of the family, so I looked at Steve & he went along with it & then his dad started asking me to. I was honestly about to do it and then they stopped me. I have never lived that one down!!!

5. Tom the Turkey with the Terrible Temper. On Sunday we read this story to the kids & then made the cutest Turkey I ever did see. . . i thought I would share a picture of Christian with his turkey his is itching to eat. . . I am surprise it still has all its feathers!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Thanks for sharing your "thankful lists" on your blogs. It's been really fun to read.
**What are your Thanksgiving traditions?**
**What are the Thanksgiving foods that you couldn't live without?**
**Has anything exciting ever happened to you on Thanksgiving day? Or embarrassing?**

Lets Try This Again

I can't believe Thanksgiving is in a Week. I am proud to say I have quite a bit of my shopping done. All I have left are my boys & Steve. I am going with my Sister-in-laws Shopping the day after Thanksgiving. It is so much fun. We sleep at Steve's parents house & wake up at 4:30 in the morning to hit Kohls at 5:00 when it opens, Target at 6:00 & Old Navy at 7:00. Usually we then go to Ihop for breakfast. It is a fun tradition that we started. I don't have my assignment yet for Thanksgiving dinner, but I hope I get to make the Raspberry Pretzel Salad. It is so good & I only make it once a year on Thanksgiving. It is a lot of work to just randomly make. I will post the recipe.

So yesterday I thought I was having a bad day dealing with a little family drama. Well come to find out this lady that I visit teach was at the hospital delivering her 20 week old stillborn baby. My VT companion came & got me saying we need to go right now. As we got to the hospital and walked in her room to see tears rolling down her eyes, I felt very humbled. I was crying over spilled milk when I didn't need to. It helped me put things in perspective. I realized that yesterday was only a speck in the eternal scheme of things. My heart is breaking for Amberlynn. She has 3 boys and this was her little girl, but thanks to the gospel she knows Heavenly Father has a plan.

Hope you have a great day today. Enjoy this recipe!!

Raspberry Pretzel Salad

¾ cup butter or margarine
2 ½ cups thing pretzel sticks
1 (8 oz) cream cheese
1 (8 oz) tub Cool whip
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 large pkg raspberry flavored jello
2 (10 oz) packages frozen raspberries, undrained & slightly thawed

Melt butter & pour into a 9 X 13 inch pan. Break pretzels in half & pat evenly into the pan. Bake 10 minutes at 400. Remove from oven & cool.
In large bowl combine cream cheese, cool whip & sugar. Dab on top of pretzels & spread to edges of pan. Refrigerate fro about 1 hour.
Bring water to a boil. Completely dissolve jello in boiling water & cool in fridge until syrupy. Add slightly thawed raspberries & stir. Pour carefully over top of cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate overnight or several hours until firm.