Thanksgiving

Heading out for the Turkey Bowl at the church.

I'm thankful for many things this Thanksgiving, but one of the things I'm most thankful for this year is tithing. I'm grateful for this sacred principle and for the many ways we've been blessed this year because of our faithfulness in paying our tithes and offerings. Adam was laid off this week and, yes, we've been feeling stressed and a little nervous, but overall we feel peace in knowing that the Lord will provide for us if we continue to pay our tithing. We don't know what will happen but we do know that we'll always have food for our babies and a warm home for them to sleep in.

More pics

Didn't realize some of these were blurry and haven't figured out how to delete yet.

Cheap, but not that Cheap

Little Ruby Rube is getting so big! I wish I could slow down her growth just a little. She's already in 3-6 month clothes.

Here are some pictures of James' home haircut courtesy of Dad. Yeah, we'll never do that again. Poor kid.

YWIE

Last week for Young Women's we had our annual Young Women in Excellence night. It was very successful and I think the young women really enjoyed it. Many of the parents came as well as two members of our stake presidency and all of the YW stake presidency. We had the girls vote beforehand what they wanted the theme for the evening to be and half of them wanted a temple theme and the other half wanted a garden/flower theme. We decided to compromise and do them both- a temple garden. Besides, what goes together better than temples and flowers? It was held in the RS room and we filled the room with various pictures of temples and flowers and a few fresh flowers. Our special guest speaker was a sister who does landscaping at the temple. I think the girls enjoyed hearing from her and not from their boring leaders AGAIN. I had each of the girls tell me their favorite temple and then I ordered 5x7 pictures from LDS distribution and bought some frames from the dollar store. Unfortunately, the pictures did not arrive in time for our special evening. I finally got them just the other day. The YW were really excited when I told them I had a picture of their favorite temple to hang in their room. There was a nice spirit at our meeting and it helped reenforce Sister Dalton's emphasis on temples. Her talk in the last General Conference "A Return to Virtue" was powerful and went along with our theme perfectly. My young women are strong and steadfast. Most of them have strong testimonies and try their best to live virtuously in the face of so much sleaze and filth that encompasses them on a daily basis. It's comforting to know that, in spite of the world becoming increasingly more wicked, if I teach my children correct principles and point them towards the temple then I don't need to worry or live in fear.

Shots

Last week I took the kids in to get some shots. I had butterflies in my stomach the entire drive to the doctor. Ruby was first. I held her on my lap while James watched the two nurses inject Ruby's thighs with needles. He didn't seem too bothered by her screaming. James was next. I thought he would resist but he just calmly climbed onto my lap and watched the nurses give him three shots. I was expecting him to flip out especially since he's been extra sensitive lately. His little lip turned downward into a frown for a second and then he was fine. No crying, no screaming, no wimpering. I almost started crying for him because he was such a brave, strong boy. As I put his pants back on he said, "I'm ready to go home now. I had fun at the doctor." Who is this kid? Who says they had fun at the doctor after getting three shots in the leg? That's my boy for ya.

There's a Clumsy Lover in all of Us

Last Saturday night, we put the kids to bed and headed downtown for some fiddlin', bluegrass, and celtic-rockin' good time. The Clumsy Lovers is one of my favorite bands. Their music is fun and upbeat and you can't keep yourself from dancing to it. The guy on the left can really wail on the banjo and mandolin. The crowd was lively and everyone was dancing and having so much fun. My brother and his wife met us at the show and they were hooked! They loved it and can't wait for them to come back. I've turned many friends into fans since their music appeals to all types. I must be getting old because I was exhausted by the time we got home at midnight. We haven't stayed out that late since before we got married I think. Anyway, you can check out some of their music at www.clumsylovers.com or you can check them out on facebook. I highly recommend them. It's definitely feel-good music and who can't use a little of that these days?

Halloween

I love Halloween! It was so fun this year and James was THE cutest little Dumbo I've ever seen. Ok, he was the only Dumbo. He had a blast trick or treating and stayed out almost as long as his older cousins. He took a couple of spills due to his very large ears blocking his vision. The magic of Halloween was recaptured watching James run from house to house and saying "Thank you! Halloween!" It was a great night.