Gobble Gobble!

Last Thanksgiving Cathy called and invited us to her house for Thanksgiving this year.  Now that is planning ahead.  If she had told us that it would be 10 degrees when we arrived at her house, we might have had second thoughts.

Renato and I flew in on Wednesday night.  We had great luck with the traffic up to the airport, and we even got a free upgrade for parking at the terminal instead of way out in long term parking.  Cathy and David picked us up after their anniversary date.

We got up on Thursday and started cooking.  Yummy food, great smells, working and talking with sisters and Mom.  A great morning.  We had a wonderful dinner along with a Thankful hunt (a new twist on the what are you thankful for).  We even had a Thanksgiving walk in 10 degree weather.  It was much shorter than other years, but we still followed tradition.

Friday morning, Renato and I slept in and stayed warm while Grandma went out with Laurie Todd and the kids to go shopping.  Later in the day Cathy and I went over to WalMart and found plenty to buy.  David and Renato took a trip together and are still rather tight lipped about what they bought.  We all joined up in the afternoon and took in a matinee of Tangled.  A great movie.  And really good popcorn!  Cathy and David's theater has free seasoning in the popcorn.  We had the parmesan and garlic.


We celebrated Scott and Anna's birthdays.  It is interesting to have a 22 year old and a 6 year old party, but they were both good sports.  The big hit was Anna's Hungry Hungry Hippos.  Renato and I decided to introduce Anna to our family's favorite cereal....Reeses Puff's.  :)  Scott, Todd, David and I stayed up to watch the end of the Boise game.  Oh how sad.

The snow slowed down and the roads warmed up just enough for Laurie Todd et al to drive back and get the kids on their flights in the morning.  Renato made his black beans and rice for lunch to give us all a brazilian treat.  They were a big hit and we shared the recipe.


Cathy, Renato, Mom and I decided to get in a little more shopping on Saturday.  There were hardly and crowds at all and we had a great time wandering around Target.  You have just got to love those 1$ bins!

Anna called and told us we had been gone WAY too long.  So we headed back to play some more games and do so puzzles.  We have had a great evening making cookies, eating leftovers, watching football and belaxing.

Hope your thankgiving was as thankful as ours.

Temple Trip with Drew

It was the youth temple trip today and Renato signed us up to help.  Really then only needed Renato to help, but I got to go along too.  We asked one of the YW to take our picture, but we forgot to mention to get some of the temple in the back.  Trust me, it is a lovely temple.  We had a wonderful time.  Renato did confirmations the whole time, and I helped out in the locker room.  I got to come out at the end just in time to watch Drew do his baptisms. 

Of course, we went to In-n-Out on the way home.  Isn't that part of the requirements for a temple trip with in a 10 min drive of an In-n-Out?  Did you know you can get a Neapolitan shake? They layer vanilla, strawberry and chocolate.  Drew says it is great, but I will just take his word for it.  I did test taste Renato's vanilla shake just to make sure it was safe for him.  I am just that kinda wife.  I have to make sure he is OK.

Two Devils and Two Clowns

I think Halloween should always be on a weekend. It makes the fun that much longer. We had a great weekend. The girls had Friday off from school, and Dad had the afternoon off so they were off to see Toy Story 3 again. Saturday morning Elise woke up and jumped in our bed and announced "I am going on a hay ride today!" It was a busy day getting ready for the big ward party. We made corn bread and homemade chili for the party, and Dad and Drew went out to set up tables. Later Dad went back to drop Drew off to set up the Haunted Forest.

Finally we were ready and we all headed out to the party - complete with dinner, a bounce slide, face painting, cupcake walk, trampoline, hay ride, haunted forest, trick-or-treating, jack-o-lanterns and more people than you could imagine! In the middle of the party Audrey and her friends had been invited to their teachers house to trick-or-treat (since they would not be going out on Sunday). So Dad drove back to town to take them, and then back to the party. He figured he clocked 47 miles that day just going back and forth to the property!

Audrey and Elise were really excited about their costumes. I was worried about them being too cold, but I did manage to add all of the warm clothing underneath so as to maintain the integrity of the ensemble. When Renato and I came out in our clown outfits, Audrey said "I have to be embarrassed by BOTH of my parents?!?" We were clearly absurd. By the way, we did not plan our matching costumes. We both happened to pick clown last year, so we thought why pass up on a good costume just sitting in the closet?

While we were at the party it dawned on me that I did not see Elise eat dinner. I said - hey did you eat dinner Elise? "What, here? Naw." I said, just a cupcake? "I won it!" was her response. Well how can I fight with that logic? Sunday morning, Audrey was up and eating her candy before we even got out of bed. I did manage to make dinner and get everyone to eat some real food after church.

I had to hide our candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters until Sunday night. I was really hiding it from Renato (who has the worst sweat-tooth I have ever seen!) I tortured him all day. I would go get a piece of candy from its hiding place and then wander in the room and show it to him and say - I know where the candy is. Then I would give Drew the candy. Renato tried to torture me but I held strong. His torture is what Elise calls tackling.  He holds you down and tickles you.  Elise will run up to Daddy and yell - tackle me Daddy tackle me!

We never did get around to carving our pumpkins. The kids had already done it with their Mom, so they were not that excited to do it again. The other day Elise saw the pumpkins in the front hall and could not figure out why we would have them. I guess now I am going to have to cook them.

It was a great holiday, and the best part was by Sunday night we did not have one piece of candy left in our house!

We are now trying to loose our Halloween lbs in time for the Thanksgiving feast!  I took down all of the Halloween decorations and got them back out to the garage before I thought about taking pictures.   Next year.

Here are our pictures.  Two adorable devils.  And two very embarrassing clowns.

Audrey is not mad, she is trying to look tough.

He has big clown shoes too, they really make the outfit. I think it is his hair that makes him so embarrassing. I can't imagine what makes me embarrassing. I am adorable!

Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?

There have been rumbilings that I have been slacking off on my posting duties.  Rest assured that we are all alive and well.  I am not allowed much use of the computer, but I did get a short turn last night and started uploading some pictures.  Let's hope I get another turn soon and I will let you all in on our daily routines and other exciting happenings.

In the mean time - here are a few items heard around the house.

Drew to Audrey - Have you ever considered a non violent solution?
Elise to Daddy - I am glad I am here today, so I don't have to miss you.
Elise to Cyndi when asked where she got the dollar from - Let's not talk about that right now.
Audrey whenever asked what she wants for dinner - Stake and mashed potatoes.  (She would live on Stake and mashed potates and Reeses Puffs if allowed).
Drew to Dad and Cyndi - You guys keep yelling at me until I get my homework done, that really helps.  (apparently we have the green light from Drew to nagg all we want).
Elise to Cyndi and Daddy - Move over, I want to be married with you. (then jumed in bed with us)

Other highlights.

Audrey was named student of the Quarter in her 6th grade class and was on the honor roll.
Drew continues to maintain his 4.0 during his Freshman year.
Jared is getting ready to be ordained an Elder.
Sarah is looking at which nursing programs to apply to.
Ryan was home for a visit in September, and is now back in Iraq.
Elise reads reads reads everyday with her current favorite being "Chewy Louie"