giving thanks

 Thanksgiving this year involved a lot of travel time.  We were good with that.

 

First stop early morning was to Grandma & Grandpa Ladanye.  They were going to come

down to SLC, until my dad fell and broke

his back.  A long car ride was too painful.

We had an enjoyable morning with them, then hopped in our car for the drive 1 1/2 hours

south.  

Lunch was a quick one with both of my sisters. 

The Pearsons had to leave for Vegas by 2 pm-

so we ate fast and said goodbye.

 

Home again for a quick minute, then off

to Kyle's family for "dessert" and games.

 

We managed to squeeze everyone in this

year and it was nice to see as many

people as we could.

We are thankful for all the blessings in

our life.

The short list would include:

 

Family

Loved ones/friends

 

a job for kyle

a home

 

a great neighborhood in which

to live and raise our children

 

great leaders in our church who

help "raise our kids"

health 

It was great to spend time with my kids

this weekend.  We had some "fire and

movie" nights and just hung out.

Kyle did his usual "Black Friday" run (he

started at 2:30 AM this year.)  I did my

usual "sleep while he shopped" run this

year.  We both loved time well spent.

His youngest sister braved the crowds with

him and they had fun.  

Happy Thanksgiving--I guess we're

now moving swiftly toward Christmas.

 

100% full dork mode

grace went to the Harry Potter midnight showing of "the deathly hallows" thursday night. 

i love harry potter.  if i could only stay awake at midnight and enjoy myself i would have considered going.

but i have to admit it, i like my sleep.  after years of staying awake for way too many hours in the night with babies, toddlers and sick kids, i feel as if i am still playing catch up.  (and now i have teens eating into the "going to sleep" end of it...so basically let's just say i have not slept well for 17+ years.)

i digress.  where was i?

oh yes, harry potter. 

i have read the books too many times to count.

j.k. rowling is a genius, pure and simple.
few, in my opinion match her attention to details and the weaving of a story (7 of them to be exact) quite so brilliantly.  (although j.r.r. tolkien and c.s. lewis are CLOSE)

maybe it's all about having lots of initials for a name?  how does d.g.l. nielson sound?

anyhoo--i REALLY wanted to see the movie!

if not at midnight, then the FIRST SHOWING of friday morning.

i walked my kids to school, ran home and started calling friends.

did anyone want to come? 

it appeared no one could. 

(do i have no life?)

don't answer that.

i was feeling apprehensive...i HAD TO go see
the movie.

since no one could go with me, that meant i had to overcome one of my biggest fears/quirks...

GOING TO THE MOVIES ALONE.

seriously, ALONE?

only loosers/dorks/people with no friends go
to the movies alone.

it appeared that i was to induct myself into
that group of people and FAST!

i grabbed my purse, girded up my loins and
drove to the theater.

i walked in, hat pulled down low and picked
the seat of my choice.

i then giggled as i looked around me and saw
at least 20 OTHER PEOPLE (adults!) sitting
ALL ALONE at the movies.

apparently you CAN go the movies alone. 

and NOT be a dork/looser/person with no friends.

it was a whole new experience for me and although i missed chatting with friends before the movie started i DID get to eavesdrop on the conversation of 3 ladies behind me.

they were dishing on the new LDS "church handbook" and expressing their taste (and distaste) at how some things had been changed.

NOTE TO SELF: be aware of what you say to your friends next time you go to the movies NOT alone--you never know who may be listening to
your conversations.  it MAY just be that lady sitting all alone in the black hat in front of you.

i really loved the movie and can't wait for Part 2, next July.

Who knows, i may even go see it alone.

What are YOU Thankful for?

CLICK PLAY BUTTON TO WATCH

The Fam....

Here is our effort at Family Photos 2010.  I think I took 300 pictures...the last one actually had ALL FOUR kids looking at the camera and smiling at the same time.

Here's to next year!

new york...winter garden, walking & wicked.

The BEGINNING of the Brooklyn Bridge day started with breakfast at the "Kitchenette". Seriously the BEST food we ate here. It was like stepping into
an old fashioned southern ladies kitchen. The O.J. cups were old mason jars,
the menu consisted of things like "vanilla creme brulee' french toast", "lemon crepes",
"homemade biscuits and gravy", etc.. The furniture was a mixed up set of all cool
old quaint things gathered together in one spot. We recommend this place
HIGHLY to anyone travelling to NYC. The prices were great as well. We rolled
out of here for a marathon day of walking.First stop, a long subway from the "top" of manhattan to the very bottom was Ground Zero.
It has changed a lot since that last time we were here--construction of the new buildings
has begun and it is great to see them going up. It still brings tears to my eyes to think of
what transpired here those few short years ago. This is from the chapel (famous one, can't
remember the name) looking toward Ground Zero.

Construction on the towers....

More construction

The GORGEOUS blue sky--don't let it fool you though. The

wind was blowing like CRAZY and when the wind blows in NYC,

you had better be dressed warmly!

From inside Winter Garden looking out at construction.

Another view

This is how cold it was...Josh was FREEZING!

The view of Lady Liberty from Winter Garden/Ground Zero area.

Ellis Island from the same spot.

Trying to huddle for warmth...

After this, we raced off to see Wicked (again--I know, the Wilcox's

and Siddoways made fun of us for seeing it again!) But we LOVE

this show. Just Grace and I went, while the boys explored some more

of the city. We also did a quick turn through Forever 21 again!

I wasn't lying about hitting it a zillion times while we were there!

LOVE the show--it was STILL Great!!! Afterwards, we

met our friends for dinner and did the Brooklyn Bridge walk.

(see previous post)

I wasn't kidding about the walking part--this was a LONG (but

fun day!) It was such a great trip to take with the big kids--

some great memories were made and we feel blessed that

the financial stars all aligned so "cheaply" to make one more

trip here possible. The Wilcox's are wondering when

we are moving in with them permanently!

Thanks Adam & Amy for allowing us to visit!

brooklyn bridge & black and white cookies

This day will have to be done in TWO PARTS...here is the END
of our day. We met up w/the Wilcox's and the Siddoways (who
came in from PA. for the day) for dinner. Talk about a BIG
Utah crowd in NYC for dinner. It was a highlight of the trip!

It was so fun to get together with everyone and relax--I think
the pizza place was a little overwhelmed with ALL THOSE
people and kids in one spot! (and WE were down our two'
little kids!)

Great food, good friends and fun times.

After dinner, we HAD TO stop for a black and white cookie.

These are THE BEST! You can't go to NYC and not

eat one.

Gracie chowing down on a big, fat brownie!

The night was still young (8 or 9 pm) so we decided to go

and take the subway to Brooklyn and walk over the

Brooklyn Bridge back to Manhatten. It wasn't too cold

and only a little windy--which made it a gorgeous night.

You start down close to traffic on the bridge and end up

walking over the top of all the cars. It is a BEAUTIFUL

scene at night.

Statue of Liberty from the bridge...



Looking into Manhatten from the bridge....



We got done walking the bridge at about 10 PM and took

the subway home to the Wilcox's.

Stay tuned for the morning part of the day....

random nothingness

Both my "little" girls were home sick today.

Throwing up.

You know how much I LOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVE Throw Up!

I baked pumpkin chocolate chip 2 layer cheesecake for dessert tonight.

I'm also baking a turkey breast, stuffing, mashed & sweet potatoes for dinner.
I was feeling "thanks-giving-y", I guess.

Yup, I have too much time on my hands today.

(Sick kids=stuck here most of the day).

So I cooked. I baked. I tried to ignore the sounds of puking from the bathroom.

Puddy (Olivia) also reminded me of her FABULOUS quote this week.

We were flipping through the channels and the movie
"Jurassic Park" was on.

Her eyes got HUGE! and she exclaimed..."WOW! this must be a
REALLLLLLLLLLY old movie if they filmed it when the
dinosaurs were still around."

At least she knows that dinosaurs lived a LONG time ago.

And KUDOS to Steven Spielburg and his crew for such realistic dino's.

We will work on the whole "when film/cameras/photography was invented"
point at some yet to be determined time in the future.

She is only 7 after all.

Off to whip something else up in the kitchen. Or pray the kids
don't throw up again until Kyle gets home from work.