when it rains it pours

We have all heard this saying, I am sure. Well, it surely happened here!

We purchased our car and then it all happened. Here’s a bit of the bus that hit us -

• My hard drive died
• I burnt a huge chunk of my hair off – it was awful!
• The vacuum broke
• Then I went to register the car and the taxes for the car were not put on our loan and we were so not ready for that payment!
• We haven’t sold our other car yet and that was paying for the new car – bye bye to the Christmas budget!
• Then my sewing machine died while working on Christmas presents! AHH!!! (This was the hardest one crazily enough!)

To top it all off, Brooklyn, Dan, and I all got sick. Like hurling, achy, feverish dying! Not all at once, but all in the same week. Thankfully every one and everything is getting back on their feet again, except my tummy – I am still working on getting a full meal in.

I am still afraid to touch anything!

I felt like this in a lightning storm-

It is going to be a tough recovery with it being the Christmas season and all… but we are doing well and in good spirits while eating our food storage! :)

Brooklyn - big girl

Check out this big girl who now eats on a stool instead of in her booster. In fact, B refuses to sit in it most of the time now. She can pull up a chair and use it to get on and off the stools too.

our thankful tree

We had a fun Thanksgiving family night last month. I prepared a canvas with a tree trunk and branches and then for FHE we put all the leaves on it. Each time we put a leaf on we were supposed to say something we were thankful for. It was the most fun activity we have ever done. I loved watching the girls and the more imperfect the canvas became, the more I loved it. I will cherish this canvas forever!

 

a new family member

It is amazing how attached we become to material things when they have protected us, housed our memories, and been with us for a long time. Our Durango “Tinkerbelle” has been just that for us. Dan bought her before we even dated. But she is getting old and we felt the need to get a more reliable and gas friendly car.

Check out “funder” or “twinkle” or “wanda” ---

It makes me happy!

We purchased the car kind of on a whim – we were looking but didn’t think that it would be the first car that we tried out and even sat in. We got a steal of a deal on it-

So these names-

- Funder – Have you ever heard Bryan Reagan? Well he has a line in one of his sketches that he says, “Where we goin’ Thunder?” We say it often when Abi asks us where we are going. One night she said the whole line but said “Funder” instead. So it kind of stuck- but we are torn…

- Twinkle – This is Abi’s deemed name because of the Subaru logo with “twinkle stars” on it

- Wanda – my mom’s name for our car… although I dislike it, she calls the car that. She is just trying out her wanted name when she gets an outback.

One more thing-

You know how most people have “punch bug” contests. Well, in our car, we have “smack – back” contests. And, if you see an outback that is black – it is even more points! I am good at the game and Dan will forever hate the day he created the game.

November Joys

I have been writing things on my white board in my kitchen when I think of something I am grateful for or want to remember and blog about. Here are some of my joys from November:

• Basking at the top of each climb
• Temple night
• The view from below
• Holding B while she slept in my arms
• Love at first sight
• 4 pairs of shoes by the stairs
• fish kisses
• night filled with laughter and Abi telling us we were too loud
• carrying precious cargo
• trust
• “smack-backs”
• staining in Santa’s shop
• people watching on our date
• hopes for the future

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We started off spending the morning with my family in Park City and then headed over to spend the rest of the day with Dan’s family.

Dan’s cousin and his family came. They have four of the cutest boys. They loved Abi and she got a long well with them.

We had a wonderful dinner with each person saying what they were thankful for. Then we played the Candy Bar game. It is a game that my mom’s family would play every time we got together and is a great group game. I wanted to pass it on and share it. My favorite parts of the game were that Great Grandpa Walter Thomas had so many candy bars behind his back, Brock rolled a winning roll every time, and I only rolled once in which my candy bar was stolen before I could even touch it. Hilarious!

Jocie and I snuck out to go see Lincoln in the evening with baby Torino and some of my family. He was a champ and slept the whole time – and it’s a long movie! We loved the movie. I came away feeling so grateful for their inspiration in creating our nation and feeling a sense of pride for our nation that I haven’t felt before. However, it was such a harsh reality realizing where we are today and I couldn’t help but feeling sorrow at the same time.

We left the girls in Park City to play with their cousins for a day while we stayed home and worked on a big project for Santa… Abi will be so excited! We were so grateful for the good weather for us to be able to work in Santa’s shop and not freeze.

a crazy chain of events

has led us to being almost a month behind on this blog! AHH!!! Here’s to hopefully catching up this week and sharing all our ups and downs!