My Cute Kids

This is kinda blurry, but cute. With Gram.

Thanksgiving in a nut shell...or an ace bandage

Pineapple Pie

Pumpkin Pie

We had a great Thanksgiving with the best food ever. Seriously it was so sad how I was giggling with excitement to eat the food. I love food. We had every traditional Thanksgiving thing and then some. The night before Me, Gram and Kelly made some homemade pies. Gram taught us how to make home made pie crust and her famous pineapple pie. We also made pumpkin (yuck). We had good company and Kelly, as always, was a good host. Rans had to go to work around 4:00pm so me and the kiddos stayed a little to visit. As I was going to leave, I realized I would have to make several trips out to my car because I had so much crap. Well, with it being Utah and freezing I tried to take as few as trips as possible. So I loaded up my arms with the diaper bag, two grocery bags, pie leftovers in my left and and green bean casserole in my right. I walked outside shivering briefly as the chill hit the back of my neck and headed down the stairs. Unfortunately, the light that is normally outside of my aunt's house was burned out. Therefore a shadow was cast on the step causing me to not see it and miss it completely. (I have used her steps a thousand times. I must have been distracted by the ridiculousness of the Christmas decor across the street.) Anyway, my foot hit the 90 degree angle of the step and rolled my ankle on one side. I knew I was going down. It all happened in slow motion. I threw the food out a little farther so the glass wouldn't shatter in my face causing me to go blind. (OK, so that is a little dramatic.) I laid there for a moment wondering if any one could hear me, suffering in silence. Jay ran out and said, "Mom, are you alright?" At this point I was crying and he was looking worried so I said, "Go get Aunt Kelly!" So, Kel came out and hoisted my whale like body off the ground. I tried to stop crying at that point so Jay wouldn't get scared. Kel put ice on it and bandaged me up. Then they followed me home and unloaded my car for me and got me all set up for bed. What great family I have. It has been a few days now and I can say that it is healing nicely. I can walk pretty well now. I keep wishing I had it all on video. I think it would have been hilarious to watch, of course I can say that now...

Jamison helping make food in the kitchen

This Morning...

Jay wakes me up with, "Mom did you know that there are Transformers under your bed?" To which I don't even open my eyes before yelling at him that he is not supposed to look under my bed. (I hid some of his Christmas presents/Santa gifts under there way far back so he couldn't see. He must have climbed his whole body under my bed to pull it out.) Another side note is that he has already found the other Christmas present we were giving him which I insisted he not get excited about because it was for someone else. So furiously I turn around and open my eyes to scold him when I see his face is covered in something and he has his shirt off. Did he have a "Lord of the flies dream?" I mean really what had happened in the night that would cause this boy to look that way? So he says, "Oh, I threw up in the night." He had slept on the floor, beside my bed all night without waking me up. I go into his room horrified at the fact that I have to clean up his little "picnic" on his bed that has sat all night to be even more appealing. I think the only thing he didn't get it on was the ceiling. Needless to say this wasn't my best morning. I will be scrubbing for hours and Santa is probably going to have to bring Jamison socks this year because he can't afford to buy him another gift he is going to find! AHHHHHH!

Jay's New Talent

I am so proud of him and how fast he learns things.

The Past Few Days...

I got a screaming deal at Albertsons this week. Got everything here for 18 bucks. And...I didn't even have all of my coupons with me or I really could have gone to town. Normally I would not buy so many sweets, (I mean openly where people can see my addiction) but it is Thanksgiving in a few days...

Jay was so impressed that he looked just like Steve from Blue's Clues

Jensen asleep while holding on to her fishy. She does this all the time.

Great Grandma Carpenter in town for a bit...Jensen sucking her fingers in an all too familiar way.

Free Stuff

*UPDATE.....THESE CODES MAY LONGER BE VALID. IT MIGHT BE TOO LATE FOR SOME OF YOU. THE WEBSITE IS DOWN NOW. KEEP CHECKING BACK....

Lately I have been getting a ton of free stuff. I just scored free: christmas cards/photos, address labels, 100 prints, 50 addtional prints, and a christmas ornament. If you want all that too go here. And here, and here and here . I want to tell you this is legit NO STRINGS attached!!! I got my stuff in the mail and LOVE it! The Christmas cards were $39.99 and got everything free including shipping. If you have any questions just ask. Just follow what the blog says.

See I just did all the work for you...no excuse not to send me a picture of your family for Christmas!

My feelings in Short

I am realizing that my kids are getting older. Therefore, I am getting older. I have never been scared or uncomfortable with that fact, it is a part of life. I am still not scared. (Yes, you have heard me complain about my wrinkles...I'm learning to accept them.) The one thing that worries me the most is not appreciating every moment with my kids. I am not sure why I have been extra tender about them this week. It may be the season with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, or it just may be that I am really grateful for all of the blessings I have been given lately. The Lord gives us trials for many reasons. For me, I believe he gives them to me solely to humble me.

-I constantly live in my own little world with my own little rules. Some examples of this are things that have to happen or I go crazy: Nothing can be on the counter tops, the house must be picked up before bedtime, there can not be 1 toy on the floor unless it is being played with, everything needs a scrub down all the time, even the soap bottles need cleaned. I could go on for hours with my list. My point is, I think that Heavenly Father's way of blessing me is making me not care about those things as much so I can spend more time with my kids. I am trying harder to get everything done while they are asleep or not here. That way, they don't get half of my attention. I think Jay is starting to need more one on one time. It is not always easy, but I notice such a difference when he does get it. He wants to have these "talks" all the time. I need to cherish those moments. What parent wouldn't love the fact that their children want to talk to them?

-I feel so grateful for the power of prayer. Nothing in the world feels better then knowing that we have a loving Heavenly Father we can turn to for anything. Even if we haven't gotten the answer yet, it feels good to know that we are not alone.

-I love the Temple and the covenants that are made there. I think about them constantly. It helps me in trying times to endure to the end. It is the place I feel closest to Heaven.

-Really I am just grateful for the Gospel in general. I feel my testimony growing everyday.I could literally write pages and pages on how grateful I am for the gospel.

-I feel eternally blessed to have found my true love. I knew how much I loved him then, but really I had no idea. It still amazes me that we make each other laugh, have our inside jokes and know exactly what each other are thinking with one look. The fact that we don't always agree on things or when we have completely different views, makes me love him more. Two imperfects make a perfect, right?

Well I could ramble on, but I'll keep my feelings semi-short. Got to get back to my kiddos...times a wasting.

Project

I have been saving these peanut butter jars for a little bit, knowing that I would use them for some sort of project. It became clear to me that my craft stuff was getting out of hand. So I modge podged some labels on and now I can be more organized. Because we go through ridiculous amounts of peanut butter, I should fill my closet with these in no time!

Halloween

I decided that masks would never be allowed for Halloween again. All I heard all night was, "Mom, I can't see! Where are you Mom? Mom? Are you there....anyone...?" On Friday we went to our ward's Trunk or treat. We had a dinner of potatoes and chili. (I brought Chili.) Then, the kids had a little parade where they had them go up on stage and announce what they were like the miss america pageant. Of course Jay loved the spotlight. I think he stood there the longest of any kid. For actual Halloween night we went to my Aunt Kelly's ward trunk or treat. It was a good showing. It is such an easier way to get candy without going molester door to door. In case you don't know, a trunk or treat is where a bunch of cars line up in the parking lot and decorate their trunks and give out candy. It is much safer and you get way more candy!

Jay was spidey and Jensen was a cat

Spidey watching TV...creepy

My little Halloween Dolly