Mom's Wedding

Our family flew to Salt Lake City last Thursday to attend my Mother's wedding on Saturday. The night before we had a large family dinner where we were introduced to our new step family. We gained two new step-brothers and two new step-sisters as well as Dexter's mother and sister. We had fun getting to know them all. Everything was beautiful and all went well. The best thing about it (aside from her happiness of course) was that I was reunited with my whole family for a few short days. I was asked to make the cake and the rest of my sisters all gathered to make and design the bouquets. (There is a reason I do the food and they do all the creative stuff!) Here are a few of the many pictures that were taken. (Somewhere there was a bit of confusion and 4 different people were thinking they were the photographer?????) After the wedding we came back to my sister's house and all laughed and talked and played games. We especially enjoyed all the fun honeymoon essentials that my sisters and their husband provided to the wedding couple. I will spare you the details, however we did have a good laugh about it. We were so happy to be a part of this and wish them joy and happiness.

First Snow of the Season

We woke to white this morning with our first snow of the season. We are expecting a big storm this weekend and cold temperatures. Here is a shot of the boys watching the neighborhood kids playing in the snow and wishing they were joining them. Joseph very sweetly told Sam that today was Sunday and that we don't play outside today because we go to church to learn about God. He then reminded Sam that we were going to Utah in a few days and that there would be lots more snow that we could go sledding in! Its a good thing the kids will be getting snow pants for Christmas.

On the down side the weather is only supposed to get worse tomorrow which means there is a good chance that school will be canceled. This will make getting all those last minute errands done that much harder as I will more than likely have to take all 4 kids with me. At least we still have power! This means I get one more chance to practice for the big wedding cake, we are making a small version of it today. I'm sure the kids will not complain.

Book Review

Our book club this month is reading "The Memory-Keeper's Daughter". Usually I don't review books online as I attend a book club for that. However, this book has stirred some emotions in me that I'm not quite sure about. Maybe its because the book is soooo sad (which I didn't know about before I started it!), or maybe its because my own parents divorce is still something I am coming to terms with, or maybe it was watching a family literally torn apart in such a distructive way when things could have been resolved so many times over. My heart broke for all the characters in this story, for a time when health problems like Down Syndrome and mental health problems in general were something people didn't deal with pretty much at all. I still don't know if our society deals with mental health problems "well". I still get teary just thinking about this book.

Don't get me wrong, this is a good book, rivetting I would say! However, its a tissue box book. Be prepared! Its a book that has made me re-evaluate people and things in many ways. It has certainly made me think about lots of things in my life. However, now I need to read something that is happy and upbeat, something that leaves a bounce in your step, especailly going into the holidays and preparing for my mother's upcoming wedding. Any suggestions????????

New Duds

So I decided I was tired of our generic blog and wanted to spoof things up a bit. What do you think. I'm not sure I'm done with it yet but we'll see what else I can come up with.

Turkey Day

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. I meant to take a picture of the yummy spread we had but I forgot. Shocking I konw! We usually don't travel for this holiday as we don't really have family close enough to get to in a reasonable time frame and I really like to cook all the goodies. We do however love to have family and friends join us. Sorry, I guess I'm a little selfish that way. My father Blane took us up on our offer this year and drove up from California. We had a great time with Grandpa and he is looking good. The kids really enjoyed making belts with him. We also visited a model train show, the movie theater, and the donut shop. Like I said, the kids loved having him here!