Thanksgiving in January

In November, I searched all of our local grocery and drugstores for Brach's chocolate stars – a necessary ingredient for our chocolate Thanksgiving turkeys. Alas, I searched in vain, and my kids were quite disappointed (as was I).

Imagine my surprise when I spotted some on the shelves at Target recently. On the baking aisle. So weird. Of course I bought them.

Tonight it was Lucas's turn to plan Family Home Evening. Making turkeys was the central focus of the night. He gave us a brief message about Thanksgiving not being the only time we should be grateful. We can just as easily express gratitude in January. And so we did.


Thankfully, it turned Eva's day around. A day fraught with emotion and tantrums. It didn't get turned around until 7:00 p.m., but I was grateful nonetheless.

After we ran out of chocolate stars, Marc fashioned this malted milk ball caterpillar. A first.

Lucas always has to make one with a smiley face. It's a tradition.

Especially on a busy day filled with bill paying, physical therapy, chauffeuring, dance class, helping with a science fair project, calming over-the-top emotions, and making dinner, I was happy to take time out for this gathering, talking, and laughing. It was definitely a good thing.

momentous day

Yesterday would have been my grandmother's 84th birthday. I thought about her even more yesterday than usual, which is quite a lot. So many things remind me of her, whether they be physical gifts she gave me, recipes she passed on and/or taught me how to make, or the wisdom she freely shared. I sure do miss her.

Emily and Denise came up with the idea to start a tradition of baking one of her cakes on her birthday. I think it's brilliant. I couldn't squeeze it into my day this time, but I'm definitely planning to participate in the future. (The German chocolate cake she is holding in the above photo is my very favorite.)

The newest addition to our family was also born! My brother Ryan's baby Collin was born yesterday. I'm so happy for Ryan and Sam.

My emotions are so close to the surface. I just can't help thinking that Grandma is up there helping us along...

better than last year!

This morning we went to watch the hot air balloon festival in Provo. Last year, when Jessie was in town, we all got up early and drove down there, only to discover that we had missed the whole thing! @$%! I left myself a note on my blog to leave at 6:00 a.m. this year (1/2 hour earlier than last year), so that is what we did. Imagine my surprise when the balloon inflation hadn't even begun! It was too weird.

We made the obligatory stop at McDonald's on our way to the field. We get plain biscuits, hash browns, and o.j. (Lucas opted for milk). He also shocked me by announcing that he prefers the hash browns to the biscuits. What the? I thought my little starchatarian favored bread above all else!

I found it interesting that the balloons look so massive when they are spread out on the ground and filling up, and then when they are fully inflated, they suddenly don't look nearly as big anymore.

Jill was violently opposed to my picture-taking.

Eva was cold, so Max obliged her with some snuggling inside his cozy blanket. For the record, it was not cold at all, even though most years it is chilly before the sun comes up.

We were positioned right next to the Smokey the Bear balloon and got a close-up view of its inflation. It's really quite a process! It takes a whole lot of people to lift and shift the balloon around, and it looks even harder to deflate it and pack it up.

I'm not sure what Whitney was saying here, but I love that I caught her in this dramatic moment.

While it was fun to watch the balloons inflate, it was a bit of a disappointment when they announced that, due to rain in the forecast, they would not actually be taking off. That's my favorite part. And if I were a balloonist, I don't think I'd be too keen on getting it all set up and filled, only to deflate it and pack it all away...

Eva was so tired from the 5:45 wake-up that she spent most of the time crying. She didn't like the smell of the gas (I couldn't smell anything), she didn't like the sound of the balloons filling, she was cold, she wanted to go home and go back to bed. Such a delight. (She did, however, take a 3-hour nap today, woohoo!!)

Jill & Randy's relaxed feet. I'm not sure how they were able to relax with all the crying, but I have to assume it's because it was not their child doing all the crying. Still.

Landon & Lucas. These guys have been great friends for as long as I can remember. I love that.

(Incidentally, I felt like I needed to make a disclaimer on Lucas's long, out of control hair. Jill said the same thing about Landon. I didn't even notice Landon's hair because I was so focused on how much I want Lucas to get a haircut! Too funny.)

Who knew there was a balloonist prayer??

Early morning sp: complete with bedhead, yesterday's makeup, and cold sores. And a completely uncooperative Eva. But it had to be done!

to sum up: It wasn't our best-ever balloon launch experience, but it was still fun, and I'm glad we kept with our tradition. Check!

Welcome, Mr. President!

Last night we wrote letters to our new president for Family Home Evening. I downloaded the cards from 2cleverblog.com's eavesdropper email (sign up to receive it on their blog). Thanks, Kristi & Stacy for the great idea and darling graphic! (They have cards you can send to the outgoing president and the new president, but I rightly guessed that it would be enough of a struggle for my family to do just one!)

It was so fun to see what the kids wrote in their cards -- I scanned them to have as keepsakes. A wonderful new tradition!

**Edited to add:

Lucas's letter and a selection of Max's. (Eva's was a drawing of Randall from Monsters, Inc. She signed the back and scribbled all over the White House...)

little red box

Last year, we started a Christmas Eve tradition of giving gifts to the Savior. I bought some little red jewelry boxes and just put a letter sticker on the top of each one. (Since we have three people in our family whose names start with "m", I wrote the names on the stickers.)

Marc's parents were with us on that Christmas Eve, so they participated as well. I gave a very brief lesson about how much the Savior has given us, and how the only things we can really give back to Him are: increased obedience, service to others, and improving ourselves and our relationships.

Everyone wrote down one gift they would give to the Savior during 2007 on a little slip of paper and put it inside their red box.

I have just been amazed at how many times I have thought of that little red box throughout this year. Many of my decisions have been guided by what I wrote down on that slip of paper. I have tried countless times in the past to change something about my behavior that needed improvement, but never with this much success. I don't know why, but somehow, putting it to paper and placing it in that box seems to have made it a stronger commitment. Marc's mom told me that she had a similar experience. I was even tempted at one point to get out the box mid-year and add another piece of paper! (I couldn't find it.) I contemplated my gift to the Savior all through December, and I was so looking forward to Christmas Eve so that I could put it in the box and start working on a new change, an improved me.

So this year, on Christmas Eve, we all got out our boxes. My boys weren't quite sure if they remembered what they had written down last year. (Evidently it didn't work equally well for all of us...) I emphasized how this small act had had a great impact on my life during the past year, and encouraged the rest of my family to give it more focus this time around. (I chose one for Eva since she couldn't do it for herself -- to cut back on screaming -- do you think it will have any effect??)

The gift that I chose to give this year is more difficult for me than last year's. In fact, it's something I've tried to work on many, many times over the years, with limited improvement. But I'm counting on the power of the little red box to help me make this happen.