Thanks and Giving

Whew! It has been a super busy week! It started with last Saturday (a week and one day ago) where I started coughing. Sunday I did not feel great, but really didn't feel terrible. More just had an annoying cough that was keeping me up all night. By Wednesday I still felt okay, but started to feel the cough in my lungs. I never felt terrible the whole time I was sick, just more annoyed by the cough and since I wasn't sle4ping very well, I was extra tired. I decided to go into the doc and learned I had bronchitis. He gave me this great inhaler to help and medicine and off I was to prepare for Thanksgiving at MY HOUSE on Thursday. The house was spotless, the pies were made, the details were starting to come together- and FINALLY, I was feeling better!

Thanksgiving was great. We had my in-laws come over. My sis-in-law got sick and her family couldn't come, so it was a slight change in plans but everything still turned out nicely. We did not do a turkey (I know, gasp, but we just couldn't fathom having a turkey for such a small group of people, so we did a ham). We had ham, mashed potatos and gravy, rolls, pistachio salad, stuffing, deviled eggs, corn, delicious punch, pumpkin pie with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. All the food (minus the whipped cream and ice cream and the ham) was homeade and delicious!

If I do say so myself, not bragging or anything, but it turned out so yummy!

I even had some fun with the place settings and made place cards for everyone along with some "feathers" for each plate to make it turkey-ish. I think it looked nice! We also used our china!

I have so much to be Thankful for this year, but the few things at the top of my list are:

My family- My husband and all he does for me and the boys.

My boys- Naughty as they can be, I love them more than words can say.

My Mom, Dad, Brothers, Sisters, Aunts, Uncles, In-laws of all kinds. FAMILY is everything to me. I am so lucky to be part of such a large and loving family and am so blessed to have such great relationships with everyone.

My Friends- I need friends. I am just that kind of person. I have friends from everywhere- Arizona, Boise, Utah, and more! I am so lucky to be surrounded by great friends and truly feel blessed in my life for them!

My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father. I could not live my life without the knowledge I have. I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am grateful for the things that have happened in my life that have witnessed to me that my Savior is there for me.

I am just so grateful for my health and the health of my family. I am grateful, thankful and happy this year. I could go on and on, but these were just at the top of my list ;)

Thursday was fun, but we also love going through all the ads for the sales on Black Firday. We made out lists and I TRIED, reallllllly hard, to go to bed early Thursday to begin my shopping at 2:00am. But my body just can't take going to bed early sometimes- I am quite the night owl usually. So I went upstairs and got in bed at 8:30, but didn't fall asleep until 11:15ish. Then at 1:15 Cortney accidently woke me up and I couldn't fall back asleep knowing I was getting up soon. So I got up, got ready and headed to Kohls at 2 in the morning.

I wore: full length leggings with jeans over them. 3 shirts, a hoodie sweatshirt and a winter coat. I wore a headwrap (large thick warm headband covering my ears), two sets of gloves AND 4 pairs of socks with large boots. It was -2 degrees outside!! I met my mother in law at Kohls and we stood in line waiting for the doors to open. Once they did, we split up like mad and grabbed what we wanted/needed. 45 mins later, I was out of Kohls and on my way to my next stops: I hit, Walmart, Target, Sports Authority, Smiths, JcPenny and Macy's. I got everything on my list except ONE thing and was home by 8:30 in the morning. I took a 2 hour nap, then it was time to set up our Christmas Decorations, as per our yearly tradition.

Now, our house is fully deocrated, my Christmas shopping is 95% done and it's time to plan our trip to Arizona, finish the last minute Christmas things I need to get done (I do have several projects I need to focus on) and then plan my Christmas baking.

What a crazy busy week, that I can honestly say as fun as it was, I am glad it is over and now we can dive into the Christmas Season!