My Birthday Boy

24 years ago my biggest baby was born weighing in at 9 lbs. 11 oz.

23 years ago:

20 years ago:

16 years ago:

11 years ago:

3 years ago:

Happy Birthday Tom Tom! Why did you have to grow up so fast???

Our Shiny New Toy

That's right!  It's a new kitchen faucet.  Who thinks I should get a new kitchen to go with it?  Our practice Thanksgiving was a big hit.  The brined turkey turned out pretty good, but the deep fried one was even better!  Two sets of elders joined us to taste our new recipes.  Like a carrot souffle and a chocolate pecan chess pie.  They were my two favorite dishes of the night!  Thanks Nancy and Marilyn!  Can't wait til next year;)

Crazy Week!

This past week was basketball tryouts.  MK went in feeling so so about it.  She has been struggling with Algebra II which has been overwhelming to say the least.  She also had a killer headache on day two which I'm sure affected her play, but after trying out, she still felt pretty good about her chances of making the team.  I was pretty shocked when she got in the car and told me that she got cut. How could they not want her?  MK is awesome. She is also super positive which is probably why she is taking it way better than I am. Ever since Wednesday night, I have been boiling over with righteous indignation, but I realize that I need to get over it.  It's just a silly JV team that in the long run, nobody really cares about.  A small bump in the road of life that she's already driven over.

And I mean that literally-- she got her learner's permit on Tuesday and has taken to driving like a duck to water.  She's a natural behind the wheel and on her second lesson she was driving through what I like the to call, the bowels of Oakton.  (Vale, Fox Mill, Lawyers etc...).  MK Rocks!  And so what if she has to sit on a cushion to see over the dashboard, she still rocks.

Tomorrow we are having our annual practice Thanksgiving at the Copans.  Every year we get together and force ourselves to try out new recipes.  Today MK helped me make the brine (from the Pioneer Woman's website) that I'm going to soak the turkey in overnight.

In other news, I just finished this very cute quilt (with minkie on the back) for my first grandchild who will be born in Feb in Texas and will be spoiled beyond belief:

I couldn't help myself and had to go with the little cowboy theme.  Now onto the next project....

Guess who's 22 today?

Happy Birthday, Laura!

Our Trip West

10 reasons why our trip to Utah and AZ was awesome:

1. Hanging out with cool peeps like Laura and Jordan.  And Tom. And his friend, Leslie.

2. Eating at J-Dawgs 

3. Doing jig saw puzzles at Grandma's

4. Taking walks in Lynndyl

5. Bombay House

6. BYU bookstore fudge

7. The Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa

8. Caves

9. Planes

10. My first double double from In and Out.  Insanely fattening, but kicked the trash out of Five Guys.  Sorry, it was just that good.

Oh, and one more for good measure:  

11.We missed the crappy weather:)

 Dad's chili!

Lynndyl's number?

 Justin!

 Jill & Walker joined us:)

Bombay House.  Get the Lamb.

 The hostess with the mostest.

 Lynndyl Cemetery with GRASS!

 Doing what the G-Parents do.

at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum

The B-17 Bomber Flying Fortress.  

Lest we forget.  

JMHS JVFH

I'm going to miss this.  I went to all 11 games + 2 tournament games in which the James Madison High School JV Field Hockey Team scored at least 22 points and only allowed 1 point scored against them.   I'll miss the excitement of waiting to see who emerged from the goal carrying the ball after scoring.  I'll miss the great parents I've sat with on hot days, cold days and mostly wet days.  Heck, I'll even miss putting in my shift at the snack bar talking weddings with our assistant athletic director who just got married.  To make it to all the games, I've given up other things I should have probably attended, but MK will be out the door before I know it.  I'm so glad I didn't miss a single minute.

Some Sharma Memories

I am lucky to have had a friend like Sharma Sleight.  She was too sick to come to Laura's wedding, but wanted me to come over with some pictures of it.  We sat and visited for a couple of hours back in July as we shared photos with each other. We had a great time.  Family was everything to her.  During that visit she told me that someone once commented that it was selfish of her to use up the world's resources by having 6 kids.  We could only shake our heads and feel sorry for that person.  I have always been impressed by her knowledge of the scriptures.  It seems like she taught seminary forever and had at least 2 of my kids in her class.  I don't believe I've ever seen a more used set of scriptures.  They seriously looked like a book that accidentally fell in the bathtub, but no, they were just overly loved.  As I recall there were no thumb tabs either.  She didn't need them because she knew them backwards and forwards.  Back in the spring, my friend Connie and I both had the impression that we needed to collaborate on a quilt for Sharma and this is the result.  

The front is pretty awesome, but it was the Sleight family reunion pictures on the back that got us all teared up. Nicole was there and I brought along Laura and MK.  It was a day I will never forget.