Thanksgiving in Review

1. From the time we began the Turkey Countdown William asked DAILY if he could go to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. Then Grandma told him she was going to give him a new bulldozer for going in the potty. The daily discussion evolved from just going to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving to going to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving Toys. Grandma did not disappoint. William is one happy camper with his new bulldozer, tractors, and monster trucks.

2. We ate well. Yummy. Yummy. I am proud to say that I only gained 1.5 pounds this year, as opposed to the 5 pounds I gained last year. I attribute that to the fact that this year I was chasing Marie (and William for that matter) around the house all weekend long. Last year Marie was 5 weeks old. All I did all day long was sit and feed her, sit and hold her, and sit and eat. It's not hard to gain weight that way. I do not attribute the lack of weight gain to the fact that I ate any more healthfully. Heavens no. That did not happen.

3. Speaking of Marie. She decided to take a flying leap from the top of Grandma and Grandpa's stairs, with no one there to catch her. The girl just walked right off the stairs. Brilliant. I was right behind her, moving to pick her up so we could both go downstairs together. There is nothing worse than seeing something like that happen to your child and knowing you can't help them. That was definitely a very scary mommy moment for me; and it was definitely a blonde moment for her. The upside, she has finally decided to learn how to crawl down the stairs. After we had unsuccessfully been trying to teach her since she learned to crawl up them, which was about 6 months ago, last night she just did it. I guess the tumble knocked some sense into her.  Thankfully it is the only thing that got knocked. No injuries to report.

 

  4.  This moment is absolutely precious for two reasons. First, the obvious reason, it’s William cuddling with Grandpa. Second, it was a source of bribery for several meals. “William, you better finish your dinner or you won’t be able to watch “The Incredibles” with Grandpa. It worked. I love it.

 

5.  Somehow, whenever we go on a hike or something with Jeff, Brandon ’s brother, the two of them  always end up throwing rocks. Boys. This time, Marc and Brett joined in on the fun as well.

 

6. We stole William away to the park for a bit while Grandma stayed home with Marie. William gets so wound up when he is with other people and especially when he is inside all day. He needed a bit of time on his own driving his newly acquired toys in the sand and running out his energy and Brandon and I took advantage of the time, too .

It was a great weekend. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for letting us come and stay!

Delish!

As much as I would like to, I cannot take credit for this picture. I googled "candied yams" and this is what I found. Mine did look a lot like this though, minus the gorgeous casserole dish and the fabulous photography skills.

Brandon will tell you that my Thanksgiving isn't complete without some good sweet potatoes (forgot the turkey, this sweet tooth wants the sugary stuff!) and these were definitely some good sweet potatoes! After researching recipes on allrecipes.com I used this as my base recipe and made a few changes.

Ingredients
4 sweet potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups marshmallows (I didn't actually measure these out. I bough a regular sized bag and almost used the entire thing, I think it was about 3 cups)

Directions
Peel and cut sweet potatoes. Boil until tender (but not mushy), about 10 minutes.

In a sauce pan, melt the butter and brown sugar together until bubbly. Add the orange juice and stir until smooth. Let simmer on low until the sweet potatoes are done.

Drain sweet potatoes and add them to a 9X13 casserole dish. Pour syrup over them and gently mix until coated. Sprinkle about 1 cup of marshmallows over the top. Cover with foil.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Uncover and add remaining marshmallows. Broil the marshmallows until they are golden brown. (Stay right by the oven this happens fast!)

My mouth is watering. I want some right now. The only change I will make next year? Double the recipe! We didn't have any leftovers.

It is Thanksgiving evening. My stomach is full. My heart is full. How does one manage to thank everyone and everything that they are thankful for? I only made it through my family and even that, somehow, doesn't seem like enough.

President Hinckley said, "Walk with gratitude in your hearts, my dear friends. Be thankful for the wonderful blessings which are yours. Be grateful for the tremendous opportunities that you have. Be thankful to your parents, who care so very much about you and who have worked so very hard to provide for you. Let them know that you are grateful. Say thank you to your mother and your father. Say thank you to your friends. Say thank you to your teachers. Express appreciation to everyone who does you a favor or assists you in any way. Thank the Lord for His goodness to you."

Perhaps if I walk with more gratitude in my heart and express it more readily each day, I won't feel, at the end of Thanksgiving day, like I haven't said enough, or shown enough, or that I've forgotten someone important.

So, to anyone out there that has been a part of my life, I thank you for making it more wonderful. That, my dear friends is what I am most thankful for this year. The tremendous support that I feel from family and friends is what keeps me going each day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you C.S. Lewis for this quote. It is exactly what I was thinking ...

"In friendship, we think we have chosen our peers. In reality, a few years difference in the dates of our births, a few more miles between certain houses, the choice of one university instead of another...any of these chances might have kept us apart. But, strictly speaking, there are no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples 'ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you' can truly say to every group of Christian friends 'you have not chosen one another, but I have chosen you for one another.'" -C.S. Lewis

And who wouldn’t be grateful for …

…brothers? Dave, Dan, and Stephen, I know you have been sitting on the edge of your seats for this, I didn’t forget you. I love you all, even if you do tease me a bit too much.

Gratitude continued ...

Aren't sisters fabulous? Sara is here this weekend. Love it. We have fun together. If you can't tell.

Gratitude Part 2

Daddy. He is always there to offer words of wisdom and to show his love. He loves and adores my mother, of which I am eternally grateful. I love my dad and all that he does for me. Thanks for your phone call this week, Dad!

Gratitude

This past week has been tough for many reasons. Some I’ve shared, some I haven’t. Those things that have made life tough have caused for much reflection on my part. I found myself looking for things I am grateful for so that I could keep my chin up. The hymn, "Count Your Many Blessings" played in my mind. I often repeated to myself, "This is my dream. This is my dream. This is my dream!" And daily I became increasingly aware and grateful for the support system that I have been blessed with. In honor of the season, I have to express my gratitude and one post isn’t going to be nearly enough. We’ll start with a couple, but stay tuned. There is lots of gratitude headed this way!

This handsome, wonderful, loving, patient man. I love this man. He keeps me going. He keeps me sane. He dries my tears and helps me laugh. Love. Love. Love. Him.

 

My mother. I am reminded of a song from an old, believe it or not, chipmunk movie.

Hard to remember,
Summer or winter,
When she hasn't been there for me...
A friend and companion,
I can always depend on,
My mother, that's who I need...

If I can learn to my half the mother that my mom is, I will be doing pretty good.

Once Upon a Time

Sir William off to fight the dragons

Princess Marie, "Someday my prince will come."

Apparently she had a different prince in mind.

Halloween Flashback

Our first Halloween as a married couple do you want to know what Brandon and I did? Nothing. We didn't even buy candy. Or pumpkins. Trick-or-treaters came to our door and all I had for them was Nature Valley granola bars that were, like, a year old. And if I'd known they were trick-or-treaters I wouldn't have even answered the door because I knew I didn't have any candy. It wasn't like we were consciously ignoring Halloween, we just didn't think about it.

The next year we semi-dressed up because we had a birthing class that night and our instructor threatened the class with old costumes from her dog if we didn't come in something. We went to WalMart and each found something under $5. Oh, and we bought some candy, since we were all out of those delicious granola bars.

Halloween #3. William's first Halloween. I'm not sure what came over me. We bought candy. We bought pumpkins. I even planned a Halloween concert for my K-2 kids. William was a sheep. I was Little Bo Peep. We had a grand time.

That was the beginning of the end for me, in regards to Halloween Scrooge-ness.

Last year I started planning William and Marie's costumes around the time I found out that Marie was going to be a girl, and that was in May. This year's costumes have been planned since last November 1st. We carve pumpkins now too. And, of course, we buy candy.

And I can't wait to get the kids in their costumes and take pictures tonight. If it is anything like last Halloween William will be a mess. A colossal temper tantrum will ensue right as we pull out the camera and ask him to say, "cheese." Heck, if it is anything like this morning when I needed to try on a piece of his costume, it is going to be dreadful. Kids. Who told them they could have opinions? Oh, and Marie decided to keep up with the tradition of Halloween injuries. Last year William provided her with a lovely gash on her forehead. This year she got in a fight with the stairs and lost. Her nose has a battle scar.

Whatever the case, I have begun to love Halloween. Temper tantrums, scratches, and all. Thanks to my kids. About three more hours and the fun begins!

The End.

Chapter 5. Easter Egg Hunt at Home

After a much needed nap it was time to celebrate Easter at home with William. During his nap Brandon hid some eggs and his new toys in the backyard. Since we had done the Easter egg hunt the day before he new just what to do and was even more excited to find that there weren't just eggs hiding!




Don't you just love this pictures. My little boy and his cars. If you ever want to win his heart, give him a car.

Checking out the goods. He did pretty well. New sand toys and cars. Now he just needs a sandbox.

Chapter 4. The Outfits.

MARIE

The little coat was a gift from a dear friend of mine when Marie was born. At the time I couldn't believe that she would fit in it for Easter. What do you know. Babies grow. I thought of buying a new dress, but I just wasn't feeling it because she has so many dresses that she only gets to wear them 2 or 3 times before she grows out of them. I was so excited to see that her blessing dress still fits that I had to have her wear it again. And the shoes. Don't you just love the shoes? They, of course, didn't stay on much longer than it took to take the pictures, which is why they are the only shoes she owns. But I had to have shoes for the Easter outfit.


I took the pictures of Marie in the bunny coat before church, but didn't have time to get any pictures of her and William together. And, as luck would have it, she spit-up all over everything while at church. So, I got to pull out a new dress and hat that Grandma S. gave her. What a lucky baby girl she is, two Easter outfits in one day! That would have been my dream come true.


It was so cute the way she grabbed on to her dress. It looked like she was showing it off to us. My little princess. Takes after her Mama.

WILLIAM

Thanks Grandma P. for helping out with this outfit. William loves his hat and with his new belt his shirt even stayed tucked in through all of church! Now that is a miracle.

Happy Easter!

Chapter 3. Saturday Evening with the Bro and Fam.

The last time we saw my brother Dan and his family, William was Marie's age. It has been a while! They have three kids. Josh, Emma, and Mary. Mary is just 2 months older than William. Genni (Dan's wife) has 4 sisters that all live in Utah and Genni's parents bought a house in Highland before they took off to Australia for 3 years (her Dad is a Mission President). I am so glad that is the case because it means that Dan will bring his family this way a lot more often than he did when Genni's parent lived in the Bay Area. So, this weekend was one such occasion for us to get together and it was so fun to see the cousins interact together.

Mary and Emma absolutely adored Marie. They sat and played with her for a long time and every time she smiled at them they would giggle and then come tell me. Marie looks so fat and happy in this picture, doesn't she?

Marie loves to sit up on the couch and see what is going on around her. Emma sat right next to her and just adored her.

William followed Josh around most of the time that we were there. It was good because it kept him and Mary away from each other. Two-year-olds have a way with each other and sure do love to fight. We were glad that they survived the whole evening with only one or two little incidents.

Josh is in first grade and he is the highest reader in his class. He is so smart. He was so excited when William wanted him to read a book.

We took off for home when the kids were headed to bed. William didn't want to go. He wanted to have a sleepover with his cousins. We looked in Josh's room and there was William, tucked in right next to Josh, the both of them giggling like crazy. Of course, our little ham Emma wanted in on the picture, too.

Mary wanted a turn holding Marie. Phew what a tongue twister! We all kept mixing up their names all night. Mary Ella and Marie Noelle. Try saying that 10 times fast.

Emma wanted in on the reading action and I was happy to oblige. "A Kiss For Little Bear" is one of my favorite books.

Chapter 2. Easter Egg Huntin'

On Saturday morning we took William up to the Base for the Easter egg hunt. It was our first Easter egg hunt with William and it may be the last public one we do. Imagine all the work it takes... Get two kids in the car. Drive to the location. Pull out the stroller for the bambino. Get William out of the car. Run to the softball fields because it is about to start. 3-2-1-GO! Flocks of toddlers and adults are now swarming the field picking up the eggs scattered all over. Thirty seconds later . . . the end. Call me a Scrooge, but it just doesn't seem worth it. Still, it brought a smile to William's face and afterwards we went over to the park. That is where the real fun took place! After the park we went home to get ready for our trip down to Highland to see my brother Dan and his family . . . stay tuned!

OK, I guess this picture made all the work worth it. Isn't that just classic? What a cute boy.

Thank goodness for the sunshine! William has been begging for parks all winter long. I love Spring!

Chapter 1. Logan. Home Sweet Home.

We had a very busy weekend that included lots of pictures to be blogged. The first set of many are from our trip to Logan on Friday. Our very dear friends, Jeff and Amye, welcomed Deron Kent into their family last Monday so we had to go see him. Brandon knows Jeff and Amye from Vernal, where he grew up. When they moved to Logan, Brandon kept telling me that I needed to meet them because he knew I would like Amye. Well, he was right! When I was pregnant with William and Amye was pregnant with Stockton, we moved into the same ward. It was friendship at first sight! Despite all of us being busy with Jeff and Brandon going to school and Amye and I both working full-time we found time to develop a great friendship and watch a lot of Jazz games together. Anyway, it was really fun to see them and their two cute boys. We have decided that we are going to betrove Marie to either Stockton or Deron. We haven't decided which one yet.

After our visit with Jeff and Amye we spent the rest of the evening with Brandon's siblings that are up in Logan. First stop was dinner at Center Street Grill. Yum! A big juicy cheeseburger and a basket of fries is rare for us lately, and we sure did enjoy it! After dinner we went to Marc and Eliza's apartment to color some Easter eggs. One of my favorite Easter traditions. I always enjoy holidays better with lots of family so I was glad to kick start Easter weekend with the Stro-clan.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The majority of my posts are about my kids so I thought that Valentine's Day would be a perfect chance to give a bit of bandwidth space to my sweetheart, Brandon. Today is doubly special for us because it is our half-anniversary, or whatever you would call it. We were married 3 1/2 years ago today. So, in honor of this doubly special day, I thought I would share some of my favorite moments with him over the past 3 1/2 years. I love you with all of my heart, Brandon!

Just married! August 14, 2004. Los Angeles Temple.

Our first dance as a married couple. We danced to "Never Saw Blue Like That" by Shawn Colvin.

This was at a restaurant on our honeymoon. They had crayons at each table, so we took advantage of it. We are so cheesy. I love it.

January 2005. We built a rockin' fort outside our apartment in Aggie Village.

Good thing Brandon jumped into this picture, because I get the impression that Stephen wasn't ready for it anyway. Great face, Stephen.

Halloween 2005. We had a Birthing Class that night and our instructor told the class that if we didn't dress-up she would provide our costume. So we ran to WalMart and grabbed the hat, crown (which came with a wand, bonus!), and called it good.

Our second Christmas, 5 days before William was born. I love Christmas with my honey!

William Brandon makes his debut. December 30, 2005. Brandon was just glowing after William was born. He was such a proud daddy, and continues to be just that. I couldn't ask for a better father for my children.

My boys. Aren't they so cute?

Family photo. We took so many pictures before we finally got this one with William almost looking at the camera, thank goodness for digital cameras.

I was a very proud wife on this day. My honey became a college graduate. He worked so hard to finish his degree. Sometimes we wondered if this day would ever come, but it did!


Christmas 2006. Our first Christmas with my family and Brandon's first time making graham cracker houses AND William's first Christmas.

Brandon works so hard to take care of our new house. He is a great handy-man. Every once in a while, though, he has to get some advice from William. :)

Daddy holding his baby girl, Marie Noelle. October 12, 2007. This delivery was much harder for me, even though it was faster, because the epidural didn't work. I couldn't have done it without Brandon right by my side.

Our family. November 2007.

Once I started picking pictures I realized that I could post hundreds! I have so many wonderful memories since Brandon has been in my life. I will spare all of you the mushiness, but I did want the world to know that I love my man! I hope you enjoyed my trip down memory lane as much as I did.