Zane's birthday and Thanksgiving...

This week the kids only had school Monday and Tuesday so that was nice! Monday I went and helped out in Zane and Micah's classes. I went and got Gwen afterward. I picked her up from my moms and we went to Hobby Lobby to look for something I was doing for Christmas. I had no luck with that but it was worth the trip since Gwen made me stop in front their large ceramic Nativity they have on display. The pieces are around her size. She just loved looking at the Nativity. It touched my heart. She didn't care about anything else in the whole store. She said, “Mommy, maybe some day we can get one of those.” I said,” That would be cool.” The pieces range from $150 dollars to $400 each. So that day won't be too soon. I had scouts that afternoon and the Zane and Micah had piano. That night for family night we tried to take the kids "yearly pictures". We haven't had time to see how they actually turned out. Hopefully some will work!

Tuesday I suppose to watch Zoe so Stephanie could go to the temple but there was a huge storm coming and they were headed to Idaho so they decided to leave that morning and beat the storm. So Gwen and I were able to do some shopping and go to the post office. We were home in time for lunch! That night Tim and Emily went to the Music Man at the high school and they both enjoyed it. Tim and Timo went to the church and played basketball. Taran and his friends were doing weird things with dress ups. Izak and Micah had their friends Jack and Blake come over for a little movie night and they watched Shaun The Sheep episodes. It was fun to hear them laughing! Later that night Tim and I were putting up a sign for Zane's birthday and the power went out. Tim turned on our gas fireplace in the basement and made sure all the kids had enough blankets. He called the power company and they said it would be back on by 3 AM—it was almost 4 AM because it woke up Tim and he had to go around turning off lights. BTW the huge storm they predicted was a bust here in the valley but north of us got it pretty good.

Wednesday was Zane's 7th birthday! WOW! How did that happening? My little boy is a kid and almost a big kid! He loved his batmobile and extra batman and bad guys, he also got How to Train Your Dragon on DVD and a How to Train Your Dragon t-shirt. Not much but he wanted to go to build a bear for that birthday so we had to be frugal. Granny took him to Target to pick his present and he wanted lunch there as well—Pizza Hut Pizza! He got a couple more Batman toys. In the afternoon, he played with his friend Brian. Emily and her friend Tiffany went and saw HP 7 part 1. Yes, Emily had already seen it but Tiffany couldn't go the other time so I dropped them off and picked them up later. Then we took him to the mall to Build a Bear, he chose a black bear and a Broncos football uniform. It'd in the collage. Then he wanted to go to McDonald's and play and eat a Happy Meal. That was fun. I ran to Blockbuster right by it and got Toy Story 3, The Prince of Persia and Barbie in A Christmas Carol. I didn't really see the Barbie show. But Gwen liked it. I cried in Toy Story, what a cute show! The Prince of Persia was interesting, I think I might have been too tired to watch it. But I liked it more than AVATAR.

Thursday was Thanksgiving but the neighborhood annual Turkey Bowl was canceled since it was very cold. They ended up in the gym at the church. My college friend Dwayne Achee and his family came by for a visit—they came here from California, rough week to be here! We had a great visit, we love their family! His wife Janis and I have the same aunt and uncle but we are not blood related! Small world! Their oldest son and Taran hit off, Benji plays songs by Muse on the piano and Taran played the bass. That's pretty much what they did the whole visit! After they left we went to my mom's for dinner. The food was great and we had a lot of fun. Some played guitar hero, rampage, Lego star wars, watched football, A Muppet Christmas Carol and sang carols around the piano.

Friday I helped my mom with a wedding luncheon for a girl in her ward whose mother died when she was younger and the dad needed help with all the wedding stuff so my mom helped organize the neighbors—this girl is graduating in December so she is super busy! I left in time to get home and help get to Amy's for our Pew family Thanksgiving dinner! Taran had to do some work on the Madrigal stuff and left early to be able to come to Amy's. That was lots of fun. Erick and Liz were down from Idaho so that made it extra special. The day was a little warmer so the kids played football at the park by Amy's. Then once it got dark they settled in. Later the adults minus Tim's parents and Nate went to a 10 year commemoration for Keith and Nancy Johnson who were Tim's cousin and his wife. They died in a car crash 10 years ago on Thanksgiving. It was great to see how their kids are doing. They have overcome many challenges to be where they are today! It was great to hear stories about Keith and Nancy. Nancy sister has done some amazing things for the kids by compiling all of Nancy's letters and things like that. It was a great evening and made me so grateful that I know life continues after this life and that if we are sealed in the temple and keep our covenants we can be together forever. It also made me feel grateful to be associated with so many awesome people in this extended family! We got back late. Poor Nate had to hold down the fort while we were gone so long. Tim and I watched Prince of Persia after we got home.

Saturday was the BYU vs Utah football game, rivals. Tim went to his parents' with Taran, Izak, Micah and Zane. My mom invited Emily, Gwen and I to see Tangled with her , my dad and sister. She took Timo suit shopping for his birthday and they found a nice suit he likes and then she took him to Iggy's sports grill which he enjoyed. We met my mom, dad and Teresa at the theater. The movie was fantastic! I would like to see it in 3D but Gwen won't wear the glasses so I felt it wasn't worth the money if she wouldn't be able to really see it. Afterward Emily, Gwen and I went to the mall to do some necessary shopping and a little Christmas shopping. We ate the eatery. On our way home we stopped at TJ Maxx and Ross. Emily almost fainted! I guess Gwen is used to shopping trips with me! She was a true trooper. When I got home I worked on laundry! Tim found out he was teaching Elder's Q the next day and was trying to get that done.

Today we woke up to a foot of snow. Tim got to try out the snowblower his parents passed onto us when they bought a new self propelled one! Tim, Timo and Gwen stayed home from church. Timo slept so Tim knew Gwen couldn't be left with him by herself! I came home after my Primary class. Tim went hometeaching today, our hometeachers came and Taran went hometeaching too. Last Sunday in November! Friday Tim got out the Christmas decor and so finally today the kids did the big tree in the living room, Gwen got her own tree decorated, the little boys got some of theirs done. Gwen started on the downstairs tree. I will decorate the top now and let her do the bottom tomorrow! We had our devotional on the Holy Ghost by Taran. He did a good job!

Crazy week ahead, Taran needs to finish applying for BYU—there has been trouble applying and because of Thanksgiving he had to wait until tomorrow to talk to someone about the problem. Taran is busy every night with Madrigal Feast starting Wednesday. I hope Timo gets feeling better his classes are so demanding he doesn't want to miss them. He feels a little better after sleeping most of the day.

Have a fabulous week and try to enjoy this holiday season! I really am in shock that it is upon us, I have been living some what in a daze since I have been sick most of November! Hopefully I can get totally better soon too so I can have that great feeling of love, joy and fulfillment that I get from the season! I do love it!