Thanksgiving 2007

Its been a busy week. James' parents drove from Murrietta (2 speedy hours away) for Thanksgiving. James' oldest brother Steve and his girlfriend Kathleen also joined us for dinner. Excellent holiday! I'd do it all over again, but maybe not with two turkeys. James and I have liked to have a turkey ready before all other side dishes need to be cooked. That way it can be cooled and carved and pretty for presentation. We also like our guests to return to their homes with their own supply of meat. We overdid it this year with a 20 pounder and an 18 pounder. Nothing will be wasted, I assure you. I love, love, love turkey. Here are some highlights of our week so far.

The girls baked and painted cookies.
















The girls and I at a beach house in Ventura. Gorgeous house!!








James' parents Paul and Marian.









Have you ever used egg wash to paint cookies? I remember doing this as a little girl. My mom basically rocked in the kitchen! I scrambled to find a sugar cookie recipe, but it was not tasty. However, the (almost inedible) cookies were vibrant! I tried a recipe from the ward cookbook. Generally they are the tried and true, generations-proven recipes. I actually had to scratch a big X on this page. Oh well, we doctored up a few with cream cheese frosting....everything is good with cream cheese frosting!

Our friends from Utah, the Cranmers, visited us and invited us to play at their beach house. Leslie and Ken have been our friends for almost 15 years. They brought 2 of their sons, Kyle (15) and Luke (9), and Kyle's friend Ty (15). Kyle and Ty are extremely cute and so my girls were sure not to miss out on the beach house with the Cranmers. Monica brought her friend Anna.

Last night, 10 of us went to see the movie "Enchanted". I had the best seat between Jenna and Brielle! We giggled and laughed throughout this movie. Even James isn't holding back on how cute--and yet enjoyable this movie is. We took his parents and our friends Allison and Anna.

Sunday Catch Up

I've missed you, my friends! Wow, this blogging world is SO addictive! Most times Blogs have more cliff-hangers than a favorite novel.

My week in a jif:

Monday I started my new position as an aide in a local elementary school. I work in a classroom of autistic (and stuff lumped in with autism) children. Its just what I had expected...if you've been around autistic kids before..stop laughing at me, Aprilyn! I expected calm and chaos. I love it!

Whining pays off! After complaining that my house was under decorated for the holidays, my sweetest-sister-ever sent a gorgeous quilt to my home. I'm sure she wants me to decorate a wall with it. I just can't do that yet. I am still snuggling with it while I read scriptures in the morning.






Halloween almost didn't happen here. After all---can you really have a successful Halloween without Jack-O-Lanterns adorning your place? James and I had pumpkins lounging around the home...but without faces. He rapidly carved them with and without the girls help just in time to use as decorations that Halloween night. He also sifted thru the 'guts' of the pumpkins to salvage the seeds for toasting later. What a guy! Funny thing is...at 5:30 pm we locked up the house and sped away to the other side of the city for Trunk Or Treating with our friends on the other side of the city. That is where all of James' hard work of carving pumpkins is displayed for about 30 minutes. We then closed up the car and sped away to our friends' gated neighborhood for the serious art of Trick Or Treating. You know you get the full-sized candy bars at gated communities---right Audrey?
This is a photo of sleepy Brielle (Hillbilly) and Jenna (Minnie Mouse), Me-the Nerd, friend Anna in a vintage 20's flapper dress, Monica as the LadyBug, and Amanda as--well, we don't really know. It was supposed to be Super Preppy Girl...but evolved into Random Red Outfit.




I got a new pet. The last Betta fish croaked, and despite my family's utter distaste of the helpless little guy I hurriedly shopped for another before they noticed "The Fish" sleeping on the bottom of the fish bowl. It worked. They have another pet to despise.