things I am thankful for

Here is a list of things I am thankful for. This list seems to mean a lot more to me this year than it has any other year.

Prayer to my Heavenly Father
My thoughtful husband David
my wonderful kids
a car that can take you from point A to point B protected from the weather
root beer
heated showers
towel racks
big garbage cans
groceries that can be delivered
my stroller
David in Medschool
my loving supportive family... (I love you)
long warm beautiful summer days
play groups
my English friends
America (so many things to say)
Costco
drive thru's restaurants
tv's that can use cable
DVD players that play region 1
fake fireplaces
real fireplaces
Idaho
Boxing day (it is an awesome English holiday)
The restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Temples
Doctors
good medicine
computers
skype
technology
sleeping in (I don't ever do that but I would be thankful for it)
David's dedication
my mission
the grocery store across the street
the big window in our apartment
good music
This list is a bit different than what I usually have but it is the time and the place that allows you to be greatful for certain things.
I hope everyone has a safe a happy Thanksgiving!

Our Thanksgiving

Though we live in a country now that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, we have some friends that so generously hosted a Thanksgiving dinner for us and another American. We had the dinner last Sunday and it was great.
We arrived several hours early so we could help with the cooking. We were all shredding, chopping, mixing or eating fudge. We had a great time getting the dinner ready.
We had the traditional food with a little flare of England added. We had turkey, stuffing, potatoes, pumpkin pie, and fudge, with Yorkshire pudding, brussel sprouts, and parsnips. It was quite a spread.
We stayed later and played games. Eliza and Fenton had a great time playing with Evie, their little girl.
Thanks Cave's for keeping our traditions alive.

trying to accessorize

David had a Gala for his program in school so we had an opportunity to get dressed up and have an evening out.

It has been noticed that I don't have the best fashion sense, and it is true, so for this Gala I wanted to try to be fashionable. I went shopping for several days to find the dress, shoes and accessories and this is what I came up with.

We got a babysitter and had a great evening. We had dinner, there was 3 speakers, and then a slide show. There was dancing at the end, but everything else was finished at 11:30 so we had to hurry home to our babysitter. We barely caught the last train to our house. We wish we could have stayed for dancing but it was still nice to see David amongst his piers and to get dressed up and go to a Gala.

random things

Here are some random things going on in my life...
Fenton knows how to open the fridge, now remember that the fridge is only about 2 1/2 feet tall, so that is entertaining for us.
He just tried ketchup for the first time... he loved it,,, he loves dipping, but what little kid doesn't?
Eliza has a little English accent, it is not as cute as it sounds,, a little whiny
They call ladybugs "ladybirds" ...weird
The cold water out of the tap is so cold it hurts my hands to wash them, it is that cold of water.
All baby wipes are not created equal. I tried to get the cheap brand and I hated them. They wouldn't even wipe with my hand, without any more details, I didn't like them so much that I started mopping with them just so I could go through them quickly. I learned that I spend the little extra money to not dread changing a diaper any more that one would already dread to change poo. I actually am excited now because I will be able to use my new, brand names wipes. (if there are mothers out there, they know what I am talking about) I am not one to buy name brand things normaly, but these wipes were that bad, like the size of 2 toilet paper squares. How am I supposed to wipe off poo effectively and efficiently with that???

Rainbow

The weather was crazy yesterday with really big dark storm clouds but you could still see the sun streaming through the clouds. It was perfect conditions for a rainbow and there was a beautifully full one right outside our window. I felt like I could have walked to the end of it. It was beautiful. I told Eliza that it was the way Heavenly Father tells us he loves us. She just kept saying "mom I need to sit on the rainbow, I need to slide down the rainbow" "Can I touch it" It was really cute.

I have the most thoughtful husband

There was a scheduled Stake Temple trip last week. There was a bus that was booked so David and I were planning on going with the kids and swap at the temple. We asked the HPGL and he said it was for adults only so we couldn't take the kids. We needed to make a decision on who was able to go. The decision was made that David would go and I would stay home with the kids. He could study on the way up and so his Saturday was still productive.
Friday night David came home and we talked and talked and we/he decided that it would be best if I went up to the temple. I am the one that needed a break from the kids for a day so he graciously let/made me go and he stayed home and took care of the kids and didn't get much studying done.
I left Saturday morning and the bus didn't have any heat so it was freezing. We stayed at the temple for 6 hours. It was so great to not have any other agenda or any other place to be. I was not in a hurry, no other place to go. I loved to just sit in the House of the Lord and have the Spirit near. It was so peaceful and relaxing. This life is to experience life, the ups and downs, but eternal life with our family is our goal, no matter the many different lives we live, we want to live eternally together. I was able to do several names for some of the members of the church that had done their own family history. The high light was when I was sitting in the sealing room and a couple came in with their family names and the woman was sealing her mother and he sister to her. It was such a touching and close experience that I was able to witness.
Thank you David for allowing me a truly great and needed day at the temple.

Happy Halloween

So this has been our real first Halloween trick or treating with Eliza. when she was only 10 months we went to a little party, last year we were all sick and moving into our new house so we didn't do anything so this year we all dressed up and went trick or treating.
Our friends had a little party with chili and treats and we had all of the kids party together.
Eliza already had her Tinkerbell outfit, with a little embellishment she loved it. So we went with that theme. David bought some green tights and a Peter Pan hat and it was awesome, but we still needed a shirt for him and I needed a "Wendy" outfit. Not easy to find. So I bought a bright green blanket for 2 pounds and a blue sheet for 2 pounds and I went home to get sewing..... yes without a sewing machine. I did it all by hand and within about 2 hours. David's looked pretty good but it was really hard to try to make a dress out of a sheet, sewing by hand... so you have to use your imagination. Fenton was a lost boy... we were the whole Peter Pan Movie.
The evening was very fun. Eliza loved it and wanted to go to every door. She would knock on the door and want to walk in to every home... she thought they were all her friends because they were giving her candy.
Halloween is a bit different here. We were in a great neighborhood that several doors ready for us, but generally they say not many people trick or treat here. Most costumes are scary and not so much cute. They generally celebrate bonfire night which is 6 days after Halloween. It is celebrated because some time ago, someone tried to bomb the Parliament and failed, but they now remember that day by doing fireworks and having big bonfires... nice things to celebrate.....????
Surprisingly Eliza hasn't asked for the treats that she got on Halloween.
By the way...yes David LOVED the tights....