Two Thanksgivings

I love Thanksgiving. I love what it stands for - Gratitude (for making it through another year). I love being with family. And I love the food.

Since, we got married, Chris and I have started a tradition of doing our own Thanksgiving meal either the Sunday before or after Thanksgiving. This year we did it before. It's fun because I like to cook, and I am trying to find the best recipes to our favorite holiday dishes. I think I have found my favorite apple pie recipe (I actually got it off "Take Home Chef" - very yummy) and my favorite yam recipe. I'm still working on finding a really delicious stuffing recipe, though. Chris mainly just loves the turkey and potatoes. He kept wanting to go home from church early, because he was so excited. It was worth the wait. And the leftovers are wonderful, too.

We went to my mom's for Thanksgiving. This year it was just us, Mike's family, Becca, and my mom. For some that may sound big, but it was small for us since it was an off year for the rest of the family. It was a nice, quaint group for a wonderful meal.

Now, it's time for Christmas festivities to start. Woohoo!

Ma'am???

Yesterday, as I was walking home from church, a man passing by said, "Hello, Ma'am." Ma'am???...Ma'am??? I didn't realize I had become a Ma'am. What happened to the days when I was called "young lady"? I can't figure out why something so simple bothers me so much. For some reason, Ma'am seems so old to me (and proper). I don't feel like a Ma'am. Unfortunately, I can't think of a better way to be addressed. But, surely, there must be a better way.

Anyway, if you pass me on the street, please don't call me Ma'am. I prefer "young lady" or something younger sounding.

Happy 6th Birthday, Mom!

Even though she is our mom, she still seems like a young lady to us kids. This year was a, let's just say a "notable" birthday for her, so we kids decided to through her a special birthday party to celebrate. We went with the theme of a Six Year-Old Birthday Party. It was a surprise, so we sent out our invitations hoping no one would spill the beans.
My job was to get her to the church where the party was being held without her finding out why we were going there. At 4:00 p.m. on a Saturday, there aren't many convincing ideas to get her to a church without any suspicion. How about telling her I need to go to a wedding reception??? At 4:00 p.m.??? No, that would never work. What about inviting her to Jennifer's ward's Super Saturday (since it was at a church Jen's stake)??? Again, at 4:00 p.m.?? Too suspicions and unbelievable. What about a craft fair? At a church??? Needless to say, ideas were sparse. We finally ended up settling on making Jennifer tell my mom her kids were in a ward roadshow. It took some coaxing, because we Sego's are terrible liars, bu Jennifer pulled it off. Chris pretended he didnt' want to go, because that is very believable (he went to the church by himself and met us there). Then Tyler and I went with her to the church. It was a surprise for her, even though she did recognize some of the cars in the parking lot.
Our party was filled with fun kids games and mom dressed as a princess (sparkling tiara, wand, cape and all). We played musical chairs, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, pinata, and all. We handed out prizes to the winners just like you would at a kid party. We even had a craft table to make our own wands if we wanted. For dinner, we had pizza, breadsticks, and a kid birthday staple--cupcakes! It was fun to see my mom and our adult relatives playing kids games and just have a good time. I think everyone who came had a good time....being a kid.
Happy 6th birthday, young lady, MOM! We love you!!!

Little Sherlock

I have been very excited for Tyler's first real Halloween experience. Although I did dress him up for Halloween last year, well, due to some unfortunate events we don't talk about around our house, no one actually saw him last year. So, I have been excited to dress him up and take him trick or treating. This year he went as Little Sherlock Holmes (and believe me he was even more adorable than these pictures show).

We had a rough start............meaning Tyler didn't want to wear his hat or costume. He cried when I kept putting on his hat for one little picture. Please just one little picture to share with Grandma. Pleeeaaaasse!

Pllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssse. I'll give you a treat.

We almost gave up, but, as most excited parents, we decided to go along with our plans. We started out at the Red Cliffs Mall (since our ward didn't do a trunk-or-treat). He was tugging at his hat as we walked in. He was mad at me for making him wear the costume, so he would only hold daddy's hand as we walked. (I tried not to take this personally).

The first store we came to..........what? Tyler was stunned........and stared while the lady dropped some candy into his pail. She gave him two pieces since she felt bad since he looked so cute and didn't have any candy.

Next store, again he was bewildered - why were people giving me candy? By the third store, he had understood that his costume was helping his cause. He was getting candy for wearing his costume. The rest of the time, he walked proudly through the mall, holding tight onto his pail. And not to mention, a little proud of his costume.

We finished the night off by going trick-or-treating to a few of our neighbors houses. Tyler had a blast. Daddy gleamed with pride (and I mean gleamed). Mommy was happy, too, to share this first Halloween experience with her little buddy.And, this morning, he put his costume on again. Apparently, he had so much fun, he wanted to do it again. So he put on his coat and even put on his hat, and came up to me gesturing me toward to the door. Then he went up to daddy, grabbed his hand, and pointed to the door to go out. Mr. Wonderful and I have been laughing about this all day. What a cutie!

This was last year! For those of you who missed out (which is everyone).

???Halloween Tradition???

Ever since we got married, Mr. Wonderful and I have wanted to start a tradition of carving pumpkins. Last year we bought the carving kits, but never got the pumpkins. But this year we were really serious about starting our tradition. We have talked about it for weeks and even planned what each of us was going to carve. I even bought a baby pumpkin for Tyler to paint.

Last Monday, I suggested that we carve our pumpkins for Family Home Evening, but Mr. Wonderful said the pumpkins would wilt before Halloween. I disagreed! He felt Halloween day would be the perfect time to carve them, since he would be home and we'd have all day for Halloween fun. So, Halloween day came, and we became very busy running errands, getting ready for the trick-or-treating, cleaning the house, and who knows what else.

........And here are our pumpkins.......still uncarved. We still haven't started our "tradition"....., but I guess we're getting closer since we at least got the pumpkins this year.