Thanks Giving 2024

This was our first Thanks giving in our new house (new to us, newly built, but a rental).

 This was our second Thanks Giving living in Teton Valley. My parents came and it was lovely. Here are a few points to remember:

• Smallest turkey ever. With a gravy packet inside. 🤔 And.... No turkey legs. 🤯 I didn't know those existed. It was delicious (Alton browns turkey for the win) , but you know, weird. Since Derek's favorite part is the dark meat, to have none was pretty sad. However, he's the one who picked out the turkey so at least it wasn't on me 😅
• My dad teaching Jade some of his chess skills
• Banned words - it's a game we picked up somewhere no idea where, maybe a yard sale. It was a d teaching my parents was a hilarious struggle. At one point I asked my dad what he thought of this game "It's ridiculous", said in a soft laughing voice.
• Mom made the cranberry salad.
• The rolls were a failure 😅
• Everything else was delicious and I vividly remember Jordan and Derek commenting so.
• Jade made a Gluten Free sour cream lemon pie at my request and it was delicious. 
• Charcuterie board that I had made for us. Beautiful but not as tasty as we've done ourselves. Same with our I bought from her 
• Dad brought some cherry pies too. 

I know I'm forgetting important details! I'm glad I'm getting what I do remember down NOW because I'm sure when I read this in 10 years it will all be news to me.

I Blinked and 12 Years Flew by

 I forgot I had this Blog.

And oh how my heart is full. Joyful for the memories I preserved and sorrowful for all the years I didn't. I don't remember everythimg, and it kills me. I reread a few of these posts and some events escaped my mind completely. Others Stayed with me in a vague recollection but I was missing details. 

What a wonderful life I have had; packed full of all of the emotions one life can hold. 

My friend Julie has had a blog for as long as I. However,she still writes in hers intermittently. And for about every 20 intermittent posts she writes, I read one. Yes, she needs new friends ;) In all actuality once I finally make the long trek to the blog and remember how to log into my blogger account so I can comment, I read all the ones I missed. And many times I go, read, do not log in, and do not comment, but send an individual comment to her. The point - 1 million years later: I logged in and saw my old blog and I am overcome. I want to bask in the love for my littles. We made it through all of those years and they were glorious to behold. We will make it through these as well and there will be glory.

The view from my bed. And seconds later Derek appeared behind them giving them morning loves.

This is in attempt to capture more of my fleeting, possibly glorious moments.

Conquering the Sugar Cookie

I made sugar cookie dough last night. I don't do that very often. I've always had in my head that my dad does pies and my mom does sugar cookies. After my pie failures experiences at Thanksgiving it would be easy to continue thinking that way. I'm not one to always do it the easy way though. Plus, I like to stare my challenges in the face and if I do it right, make them run away in fear.

The last time we tried to make sugar cookies they were ... edible, which was a step up from the pumpkin pie. The time before that they were definitely inedible, but only because my sister shattered glass all over them and we never actually got to try them.

Today my kids, and Haleys kids, rolled out the cookie dough and turned it into a wonderful array of spring creations: santa clauses, wreathes, bats, stegasauruses, ginger bread men, and circles. During the rolling my son relented that his rolling pin just wasn't working very well. His 13 yr old cousin moved the rolling pin and started to use his hands. Jordan explained "yeah, steven, smash it with your big hand." He did it with such excitement and vigor that it still has me chuckling.

We haven't yet frosted our cookies. I do however think they were successful this time. They are thick and soft. A few of them were quite unattractive and volunteered to be the taste test cookies. I was the taste tester ... they passed. Maybe I'll try a pumpkin pie again. However I am in no hurry, next Thanksgiving seems like a fine enough time.

Thanks Giving

T - Two turkeys, made by me and my siblings (Alton Brown style), one undercooked and one a little over cooked. oops. The undercooked one went back in the oven just fine and both ended up really good.
H - Having family and friends over for dinner and games: 19 of us in total (we've never had friends over before for Thanksgiving, but it was lovely!)
A - All Spice Berries: finally found at Fred Meyer and put in my turkey brine AND A new phone! well an old one from my dad, but new for me!!! so excited! my first cell phone in 9 years.
N - never ending dishes! I thought about doing plastic plates ... but I realy didn't want to. I did
do pretty plastic plates for dessert, but I got out my great grandmothers china for dinner. I loved it. I realy do still have a few pots that haven't been washed yet. Yes, 3 days later. :)
K - Kim is having a baby! and I found out a couple days before thanks giving.
S - Shopping with my sister Haley from 4am-4pm. It really was so fun. We were tired, and then we were speedy, and then we were giddy, and then we were tired, and giddy, and giddy, and tired. hahaha, my sister is the kind who is trying to make friends with random strangers at 5 in the morning in the shopping lines. Love her!
G - Grandma watching moveies, playing games, eating popcorn, and makies cookies with her grand children. Grandpa putting up Christmas lights and meetin his daughters in town for shopping and lunch!
I - It turns out that I'm not a very good pie maker! hahaha Not only did I leave out 1/3 brown sugar in my pumpkin pie, but I'm pretty sure that I accidentally substituted salt for the white sugar. Imagine a very salty, cinniman squash on a crust. ...with whipped cream.
V - Vampires - my husband took me to see Breaking dawn last night (Saturday) after all our
company had left. He's so cute and good. He leaned over to me and said "these movies invoke such an intersting array of emotions in me. I want to poke my eyes out and keep watching both at the same time" That is not verbatim - but you get the idea.
I - I like to cook, and I like to bake, and I like when it's all over. I'm also sad that I made mounds of mashed potatoes, hoping we would have some left over after everyone left -- and there was none. When I say mounds, I mean mounds! oh well, at least they were good, and my sister's gravy (made from our excelent alton brown drippings and giblet brother) was delicious!
N - Nice place for my kids and their cousins to play - My husband and I have worked tireslessly the past week to turn our unfinished family room from a storage room into a play room. Success! Jadelyn has thanked us many many times. - oh! and nieces and nephews that I love to pieces.
G - Gratitude! I am grateful for oh so many things. to name a few: breathing without pain, running, dancing, good and safe food to eat, warm home big enough for family gatherings, Jesus Christ, a patient - endearing - loving - handsome - good father husband, good job, talents, children, living and loving parents, knowledge that I have Heavenly parents who know me and love me ...etc...

Thanks Giving was a learning experience for me this year. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving, and continue to be grateful each and every day.

skipped a generation or 2

Derek and I went to a Murder Mystery Dinner Party.
We received our invitations several weeks in advance. They gave us Our character names & description and explained the event. The title of our dinner was called Lethal Luau (hmm, that second word doesn't seem right)

If you can't tell by the stunning picture below, I am a sexy swimming suit model named Nadia Seymore. Derek is a cocky and sauced up scuba instructor named Rip Tide. (he's SO cute, always)

It was fun. I'm tired so you will have to imagine all sorts of Hawaiian and murderous details.

Point of this post. I make a poor swimming suit model. I'm kind of a prude. This was as sexy swim-suit as I was gonna get.

My daughter on the other hand might be a natural.

Which is not too bad while she's eight, but in 4 or 5 years we might have to move to the woods and become hermits. One of you raise the perfect mate for her an we can arrange their marriage in 15 or so years. They can date via skype! hahaha, She's gonna read this some day and then she'll know I'm as crazy as she always expected ;)

Don't worry Jade. It skips a generation or 2.

Milestone

8 years ago today I was really tired. I was so exhausted from just being that even though I only had one last day of work before my maternity leave...I called in sick. I spent much of the day at my sister's house making baby shower invitations for my sweet girl who was expected to arrive in 2.5 weeks.
8 years ago tomorrow, my sweet girl arrived. I thought she was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, mainly after they washed her :) I had fallen in love with her much earlier, but Derek's first time telling her he loved her was June 17th 2003. My brother told me she kind of looked like an alien. I thought he was crazy. We recently looked at the pictures. I t turns out he was more right than I was. However, she was still beautiful. You should have seen her dome though. HUGE!
Today she is much less alien looking but just as beautiful as I thought she was then. It is the last day of her 8th year. I am so in awe of her. She is witty, incredibly tender hearted, a natural leader, a forward thinker, strong willed, loves to please, and loves to cuddle. She sometimes acts up for Derek and I, but I know I never have to worry about her at school or other similar situations. She's quite the know-it-all and loves to play play play. Stuffed animals are one of her favorite toys. Give her as stuffed animal and her imagination will create an elaborate story and game that can entertain her, and her brother for days. she knows the names of more animals than I do. The most recent addition to her stuffed animal collection is a sugar glider conny bought for her in the Lagoon gift shop. I had only recently heard of sugar glider a few weeks earlier from none other than jadelyn.
Tomorrow my first born, my only daughter, my teacher, my challenge, my joy, and my friend will turn 8 years old and begin her 9th year.
She is ending the little childhood phase and entering the next stage of life. I'm excited and sad. It's bitter sweet. She has chosen to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days saints on this coming Monday. Partially because our church building is under construction, and partially because she and her dad think it's cool ... and more like jesus ... he will be baptizing her in a river.
Every time I look at her I think, you will be 8 tomorrow. wow, she will be 8 tomorrow.
Happy 8th birthday Jadelyn Serenity Dean.

ABC Update in Honor of Speech Evaluations

Both Jordan and Conny have had speech Evaluations this week. Jordans test was fun, and he was adorable. The verdict was he's in the 7th something. He had at least one error in every word, but barely qualified for Speech Thereapy. If he had been a girl he would have been in the 4th something and would have over qualified. Boys get more leniency. Conny's speech evaluation was more frustrating. They couldn't really do a formal test. She did try though. The verdict for her is they think they can help her get more consonants. I'm supposed to come up with 10 words that would be helpful for her to use in her everyday life. They will focus on those 10 words. We'll give it 6 months and see if there's any progress.

In honor of this speech milestone in our lives, my blog update is going to be Alphabetical.

Acting - Jadleyn and I were recently in the musical Go Go Joseph -- stressful, but then super fun!
Babysitting - I frequently baby sit 2 girls and 2 boys. -- it's good birth control :) j/k
Cartwheels - I am now an expert at doing cartwheels on people's legs. ok, not an expert, but I don't fall anymore.
Dance competitions for Jadelyn in Pocatello, CSI, and Lagoon.
Eating too much pie - please don't make me pies. I'll probably eat the entire thing.
Fed Ex - Derek worked there for a couple of months. He looked hot in his uniform but we didn't love the job.
Giving it another try - Jadelyn and bikes do not get along. She had a melt down. Threw her bike, kicked it, and then tried again. She succeeded in petaling 4 whole rotations...twice. Go Jadelyn Go!
Horny Toad Lizard named Riptor. Jordan and Derek went to Wendover for a cousings graduation. My kiddos can't go there with rock climbing and lizard hunting. They brought Riptor home iwht them. He gets held proably too much for his liking, but so far so good.
I haven't read a book in almost 2 months. wow!
James, my brother is staying with us for a week. It's really nice having him here. My kids LOVE him.
Kiwi Loco - After our Saturday night show, several of us from the cast went to Kiwi Loco. We did a Go Go Joseph flash mob. ...and Caanan Days, Show People, and One more Angel in Heaven. It was really fun. Jade didn't want to go home.
Liking to watch Korean shows on hulu with English subtitles
Miracle Hot Springs
No weeds allowed - we weeded and started the garden. We need to finish it this week though.
O
Pneumonia - My dad was SUPER deathly ill sick. He's much better, huge miracle.
Quitting watching Korean shows with English subtitles on hulu :) too hard to multi task when I have to read it instead of listen. ... and I can't take it places with me like a book.
Road trip to Wyoming to visit my dad in the hospital for Easter.
Surprise party in May for my dad's 70th birthday. My sisters helped, but since I'm the only one who lives here...the planning mainly fell on my shoulders. It was fun.
Trampoline - I got it on black friday for an amazing price. We gave it to the kids during spring break. It's so nice to have one.
Unpacked the last of the dining room boxes in April. (finally) I also got a rug, and decorated the walls, added plants and such. We like it.
Valley Steam - this is where Derek chose to work instead of Fed ex. It's a much better arrangement. Thanks for working so hard Derek! I love you!!
Wicked - listened to the sound track for the first time. We like it.
X-cited! While on his Fed Ex route in Sun Valley Derek found someone who was throwing away a really nice wooden swing set with long bumpy slide. It is now in our back yard! It was a trial because there ere some missing bolts and such, but he persevered and now it's up! The kids think he's amazing....they're right.
Yellow cake batter is still one of my favorite colors. I hadn't made a yellow cake in a really long time. I helped a friend make one not too long ago, and that batter color still makes me happy and calm both at the same time.
Z puZZles - I'm breaking the first letter rule - I was given 2 very large pretty puzzles for Christmas. My Thomas Kincade one is FINISHED and on the wall. The second one is on my table. Disclaimer - puzzles are not my favorite, please don't confuse the fact that I have them on my wall with me loving to do them. I really don't need another big puzzle to do. At least for a year or so :)

I'm excited for the ABC work we will be doing in this house.

Jordan and Derek were watching Tv when a shoe commercial came on. Jordan said "daddy, I get those for you for your birthday" Derek responded "oh!...well thankyou son, that's very thoughtful of you"about 10 seconds later Jordan said "but you have to buy dem bedause I not big yet." It's the thought that counts, right? :) Derek came and told me that and we both thought it was so cute. #1, Derek collects Michael Jordan shoes and it's cute that Jordan realized that his daddy likes shoes #2, Derek's birthday is a long way a way so there hasn't been any focus on giving Derek presents. It was sweet that he saw something he thought his daddy would like and wanted to get. So funny that he also realized that he didn't have the recipient would have to fit the bill. I love these little kiddos.