Giving thanks never tasted so good!

This year, we spent Thanksgiving at G&G Shaw's. I think this might be the last year Grandma hosts this at her house. Everyone was there, except W. She gave thanks in the beautiful states of Connecticut and New York with her J man. We missed her TERRIBLY.

A couple of things to take notice of:

A) All my GORGEOUS cousins. Love them.
B) The delicious-looking pie on the left. I made it. Yep, believe it. Grandma taught me the day before. Yummy.
C) Can you tell people have a little "turkey coma" in the bottom picture? It even took over little baby Boston.

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It's Christmastime!!!!

B had 4 DAYS OFF from work over Thanksgiving holiday!!!! 4 DAYS. We had Parker do our Black Friday shopping for us. He picked us up a little christmas tree and we decorated it that night. 

It makes me so happy inside. 

Don't pay attention to the bare walls or the lame tree skirt. I am going to make THIS. In the meantime, a plain sheet will have to do. 

Fun with Family and Surgery

Wednesday was spent at Same Day Surgery with momma. You can imagine that she was ultra excited to be there.  Well, not really. But, we went there together and I waited in the waiting room and ate a weird salad at the hospital cafeteria and bought a Martha magazine and talked to the surgeon and sat in post op while the little nurse with a strong spanish accent repeated and repeated instructions to me for momma.

"Come here. I want to show you her bress. See her bress. Eez blue because dat is where they marked her bress. Okay, she can not take more pain pill until she eat some breafus. You make sure she eat some breafus before she take pills. We want her to keep breathing...no sleeper pills because we want her to keep breathing." speak in a strong Spanish accent


So, we celebrated another surgical adventure for our mother with:

That's been the highlight of my week. Also, I have 2 more piano students. It rocks.

A Beautiful Life

It's Sunday morning. I'm looking out my window at the clear blue sky and the rays of sunshine that reflect off the white snow, thinking how beautiful snow can be when it's not touching me. This leads me to thoughts of yesterday...our snow day. We spent the morning cleaning. B never complains about helping me. In his words, it's more time to spend time with his love. In his words, spending time with his love is the best thing in the world. I thought about this as he stood bent over, scrubbing our toilet. I thought about this again when he was willing to strip down and rinse out the disinfectant I lathered over our shower. I thought about it again, and again, and again throughout the day. I made a mental note of all the tiny moments he's thoughtful, considerate, and loving towards me. I lost count. I woke up this morning to beautiful blue eyes watching me and snuggling me. I thought about the conversation we had last night about our future children. He's certain our children will be amazing. I love it when he talks about our family. I am grateful for his faith. Sometimes, all I need is to hear his reassurance to be comforted and at peace.

I decided to get out my camera this morning, because I liked the light. I took pictures of him. Because I'm totally loving this new hair-do he's rocking. The past couple of days, I've thought about my Beautiful Life. I know I spend too much time worrying about what I don't have, what could be better, or wasting so much energy on picking myself apart and focusing on my weaknesses. But, what's the point? Spending this weekend opening up to the beauty in my life has led to pure happiness, fulfillment, and never-ending love. I like this. I love this. I want this. And I have this. November is the month of Thanksgiving. I am Thankful for my Beautiful Life...and all it entails (trials, triumphs, ups, and downs). I am Thankful for the Gift of love, because it is a Gift. I am Thankful for Brandon. I love him...and I know he loves me.

A day inside.

No grocery shopping + cold, snowy weather =

May you keep all your toes, as the weather gets cold.
And may you do your grocery shopping early, so there is food to feed your family.

Halloween Happenings.

I love Halloween. So, it's no surprise that this weekend was spent doing festive, fun Halloween-y things. Such as:

1. Trunk-or-Treat with our ward. We won 3rd place in the costume contest. Yeah baby.

2. Eating candy. Lot's of candy. Lot's and lot's of candy. And in case we didn't have enough candy, W made home-made Twix bars. They were awesome. She also made Halloween croutons for a salad. So festive. Looooove it!

3. When we were little, our parents would have us "trade in" our bag of candy for a surprise gift from the Great Pumpkin. We thought it would be so funny if all 4 kids told them we had made a decision to "pool" our gifts this year, so T could get Just Dance 3. To our surprise, they got the game. Hilarious. So, last night we spent the last hour dancing it up in my parent's living room.

4. Breakfast with my family Saturday morning. Dinner with B's family tonight. We played games, laughed, talked, and....of course, ate candy.

(B's parents celebrated their 28th wedding anniversary.)

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May you eat lot's of candy. And run 100 miles to burn off the extra calories.

That's what I plan on doing.

What? You don't think I will?

That's it. I'm doing it. 

Just let me finish this Snickers first. 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

Date Night Out

Today, my new shoes came in the mail. I was really excited, because I got to wear them tonight on our DATE NIGHT. I love date nights. I support them with all my heart. I don't know what it is about getting out with the love of your life, but it makes me giddy and I find myself crushing on my husband like the days we were two dating kids.

Big News: I started teaching piano today. I have 2 students. I absolutely loved it!

This is Halloween...

We hosted our first annual Halloween Costume party on Friday. Here are some highlights:

(Food included: home-made chili, cornbread, apples and cream cheese caramel dip, ghoul green slime drink, candy, more candy, and donuts.)

(We had a great turnout of family and friends. Everybody dressed up, which was awesome. 

It made me so happy!)

Costume Winners

Custest Costume:

Scariest Costume:
It was a tie between

and

Most Creative/Original Costume:

Best Overall Costume:

We ate good food, played some fun games, and laughed and laughed!
I LOVE Halloween! I especially love Halloween decorations:

(I got this idea from Martha Stewart. The flowers are from my garden.)

(I loved how this wreath turned out. Momma and I picked dead branches, flowers, etc. and spray painted them black/purple. We took a basic branch wreath I already had and created a new wreath with the dead plants. It turned out awesome.)

May you have a lovely, haunting Halloween week!
To close, I wish my father-in-law Carl a Happy Birthday today!

Quote of the Day:

"Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold."
Judith Olney