Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope that everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving! I've been so busy today! It's hard to remember what Thanksgiving is all about when you are running around the kitchen all day! I had so much fun this year being the hostess!! I have to say that it was a success! My turkey turned out fabulously!! I only got one picture and yes it is upside down! I did it on purpose. I guess if you do it that way all the juices run down to the breast making it DIVINE. I also tried homemade stuffing. It turned out pretty good - but my favorite thing was the mashed potatoes. That has always been my favorite part of the Thanksgiving feast! Mashed potatoes, gravy and corn all piled on top of eachother. YU - UMM! Then for dessert I made a apple crisp pie, a pumpkin pie and a coconut cream pie. I was quite proud of my apple crisp pie. It was so pretty and tasted great! Anyway - I'm not meaning to toot my own horn - I've just had so much fun doing all of this!! Things have slowed down now and I have a little time to reflect and think about my MANY blessings. I have so many things to be grateful for! My biggest blessings are my family & the gospel. I am so thankful to be married to such a wonderful person. Someone who loves me and takes care of me and is fun to be with and who has ambition and works SO hard but still manages to be a GREAT daddy. I have a very happy marriage and for that I am SO SO thankful. Anika and Keslie are my little angels. I am so thankful that they are happy and healthy! I am grateful for each day that I wake up and get to be a mom to these sweet girls. I am so thankful to be member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints. The gospel helps me to be a better wife, mom, friend, and person in general. I am grateful for the peace and happiness it brings to my life and for the MANY questions I am able to find answers to. I am also grateful to be having this fun adventure in Connecticut and for the great friends I've found out here.
Anyway - I hope you'll forgive my cheesiness! Happy Thanksgiving!! Hugs all around and we miss you all!!!!

Today Nathan and I finally got to go to the Boston, MA Temple and we had such a great experience! The temple truly is the Lord's house and I feel spiritually revived having been there. This past week has been so BLAH for me and it was like a weight was lifted today. I'm so grateful for the peace and love that is felt there and for the knowledge that I have a Father in Heaven who loves me no matter what and in spite of me.




Afterwards we ran into our friends, Jenn and Jaska and went to lunch at the RED ROBIN. I always like that place but on days when I am having a serious craving for a hamburger I REALLY love it! Nathan tried their Gingerbread shake and it is fabulous! It tastes just like a gingerbread cookie! Anyway - that was tons of fun.

Whenever we have to get cross with Anika her new thing to say is "Don't be mad for me!" It's hard to stay mad! Keslie is starting to get good at pretending. She feeds her baby a bottle and she pretends to eat from the play kitchen set in her room - she makes the smacking sounds and everything! And she is totally into dancing right now. She turns in circles and jumps. Nathan got her to say PLEASE on Thursday - but we haven't gotten anything since.

I'm getting SO excited for Thanksgiving! This will be my first time making a turkey and I think I've found what should be an absolutely FABULOUS roast turkey recipe. I'll let you know how it goes! We are having our friends Jim and Rachel over for dinner. Since we don't have family close by we have to adopt friends. =)

Well - see ya!

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

What's the big deal with eating the crust anyway?! I was trying to force feed Anika her peanut butter and jelly crust (I usually don't make her because I don't like it either) and I found myself saying things like "it's the best part!!" and "the crust has all the important nutrients!" - you know the sayings. Anyway - I listened to myself say it and then realized how totally ABSURD it was! It's definitely NOT the best part. Everybody knows that the best bite of a sandwich does not include even a portion of the crust! AND I don't know for sure - but I doubt that when the bread is baking all the nutrients just head on over to the crust. I'm thinking that my kids are going to get plenty of the good for you stuff just by eating the middle. It is 100% whole wheat after all! I guess I'm not a very good example. I eat the crust on my meat sandwiches - but NEVER on a PB&J. I can't be a hypocrite, so just so you know my kids will never be forced to eat the crust again.

We've had a pretty good day. I watched my friends boys this morning and Anika had a ball. Keslie wasn't very pleased when I paid attention to George, but I guess that's the life of a one year old. I'm really excited for when our church gets moved to 9:00. This 2:00 thing is for the birds! By the time we get home we have a couple of tired, hungry girls. In Primary we worked on the program that we will be doing next week. It should be fun! Everyone I talk to says that it magically comes together on the actual day of the program. I'll let you know how it goes.

On Saturday we had Anika's friend Riley over for the day. They had SOO much fun! Then later that night I took Anika and Keslie to the Puppy Center to look at the puppies. Anika picked one for each of us. The whole time Keslie sat there squealing and Uff uffing. Then we picked Nathan up from school and went to a pottery auction. We have a friend that is in the art school at the University of Hartford, so she invited us. There were some really neat things. I wish that we could have afforded to buy some! Then we went to Petco and they have these mini carts for little kids and they are so cute! Anika pushed Keslie around for about an hour. We want to get Anika a little pet - we were thinking about getting a guinnea pig. We've heard that they are nice. Quick! Someone talk me out of it!!

Keslie says "nigh night" now! She's getting quite the vocabulary! If she keeps it up she'll be saying 10 words by the weekend! =) Anika says so many funny things that I can't even begin to type them all up so I will just share one. The other day Anika was getting in her pj's and Nathan told her that Grammy had made them for her. She said "OHHHH. That was so sweet of her!" She is just so nice! =) The pictures are of Anika and Riley. In the first on I said "Raise your hand if your cute!" and so that is why Anika's hand is raised.

Anyway - I'm just ever so curious to know who actually visits my blog so leave a comment for pete's sake! haha!! See ya!

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A HOT DAY!!

Can you believe it?!! It was in the 60's today and we went to a fun little park/farm and I felt OVER dressed! It was a short-sleeved day for sure. I'm hoping that the weather will hold - but my friend told me that it's supposed to be down in the 30's by Sunday. I guess we'll see! Anyway - we had a fun time at Westmoor Park today. Most of the time was spent throwing rocks into a little river. Keslie was determined to get in the water. She tried fooling me by laying down on her belly and then scooting backwards - it was so funny! She was pretty angry that she couldn't have her way. It was definitely time for naps by the time we left. Anika threw a big tantrum and she got in trouble. I hate getting after her and I esecially don't like it when it's in front of people. She's such a sweetie. I made an appt. for her to get a haircut. She's had a trim before - but this one is going to be the real thing! It isn't for a few weeks - but I'll share some pictures when it's done. Well - I've gotta run! I've got lots to do!

Here is a picture of one of our little busy bodies. Crazy little girl!!

I love this time of year! I was just at the mall returning something and all the Christmas stuff was up and the Christmas smells were everywhere and I LOVE it! We are so excited because we finally got our plane tickets taken care of. I was so worried that we weren't going to find anything, but it worked out so that we get to go to Idaho and then the girls and I get to go stay in AZ for a week. Happy day! Anyway, we haven't been the most exciting bunch this past week. My friend Hillary gave me a haircutting lesson last night and I feel like I'm ready to go solo! I don't think that Nathan is so sure - but I'll never learn unless I practice and he's the one that wants me to learn! The girls have had colds for the past week so we've been homebound. Luckily, they seem to be better so things should start to liven up! We are looking forward to Friday because we get to see Papa West! I hope that everyones week is off to a great start!

Anika and Keslie playing

Anika was having so much fun pushing Keslie around this morning! Keslie is a spaz and does a little bit of head bobbling and I love the way she says "WHOA!" Enjoy!

FIRST HAIRDO!!

Well, for the last couple of months Keslie has been boycotting the hairbow - which is my STAPLE for the first year. Today I decided to see what could be done with her hair. This is what I came up with!

I was in cleaning mode all day today and now I am taking a BREAK! The girls are in bed and Nathan is down in the basement drilling a hole into a glass block for me. What a guy!
Keslie has a huge blue spot on her gums! I think it's just her gums being stretched out - but it looks like a big bruise! She is HILARIOUS. She's our very own Keslie bobble head. It's her new thing. When she's excited she shakes her head all over the place and she really does look like a bobble head. It's so funny. Keslie started kissing today. She has never been a kisser - she never did that open mouth kiss that babies do. Whenever we would ask her for a kiss she would lean her head in for US to kiss her. Well - tonight after their baths, Nathan was getting Anika dressed and Keslie walked up to him and kissed him right on the cheek and then she kept doing it! It was so cute! She also loved on her baby doll which was another big accomplishment because usually she picks her babies up and then slams them to the floor.
Anika cracks me up - in the car yesterday she was totally singing along to Power Tunes. My mom would be so proud! I'll have to get her singing the attitude song on video - it's just too cute.
Nathan went and played basketball with the guys this morning. I think he had a good time but he said it was the most exercise he's done in a LONG time.
I've had a few people ask about my hair - so FYI - no I haven't chopped it off. My resolve to do it wore off and I will probably just be boring and keep it shoulder length.
A couple days ago I watched some music videos that I did with my sisters. I was DYING laughing the entire time - but I was also totally embarrassed of myself. At first I wanted to hide it away so that NOBODY would ever see it again - but then I decided I should embrace who I am. The truth is - I would do it again! SO - perhaps in the future you will GET (haha) to see a clip of one of our FABULOUS music videos. Who knows? Maybe we will become famous! Anyway - it got me thinking of other things I did back in the day and I defy anyone who says they are dorkier than me. I am president of the GOOF CLUB - if you want to join just let me know! Mandi - you've earned the right to be Vice-president if you'd like. =) I dearly love you and want to thank you for being right there with me for most of those goofy moments!
Well - back to work! I hope that everyone is having a fun weekend!

"What's going on here?"

That is Anika's phrase of the day. It's awfully cute and she asked me over and over. She is such a funny little thing. She's going through a funny stage where she can't make up her mind. I remember Joseph doing this when he was little. She says that she doesn't want something and I say okay, that's fine and then she FREAKS out that she wants it. It's driving me nuts! Hopefully it's a phase that won't last very long. She's also been waking up at least twice in the night and coming into our room and waking me up. Oh well, she's only this age once and it's going by way too fast!

Keslie learned two new things yesterday (11/1). She can tell us what the dog and the cow say! It's so cute! She is such a spaz! She does this goofy crawl now where she bounces her arms up and down and waves her head from side to side. It's so funny and she gets such a kick out of herself. She can also jump (!!) and climb out of the bathtub! It's so fun to watch her play peek a boo and pretend to talk on the phone. I try to keep my cell phone out of reach - but sometimes she gets to it. She's called Nathan a few times and she called Carol at 4 in the morning her time!! YIKES!

We've had a fun-filled week! It's been busy with Halloween stuff! We also had a Nacho Libre party the other night which was great! We love that movie. By the way, mom and dad, we are bringing it at Christmas time and forcing you to give it another go! It's hilarious! I got home from a Shade shirt party a little bit ago - that was loads of fun but I wish I could have bought a little bit more! Oh well! I am almost finished with season 4 of 24. I'm glad because then I can go back to being a productive person! I was thinking about it - if I've watched 4 seasons of 24 and there are 24 episodes per season and each one is about 45 minutes long - then I've almost spend 3 and a half days of my life watching this show. GOOD GRIEF!! I've got 3 more episodes to go then I'm taking a break! =) I'm off to bed!

Nacho Libre - Song for Encarnacion

This is one of our favorite clips out of the FUNNIEST movie ever!