Thanksgiving

This month to celebrate Thanksgiving, we did things a little different.  Instead of doing lots of projects, games, crafts, etc...I decided to do 1 thing throughout the month.  We took these printables with a "Thanks" and a "Giving" tree, leaves, and every Sunday filled out leaves to dress our trees. 

We had the girls do two things for each tree, each week. (us also) 1 of our "Thanks" had to be something spiritual, and the other could be anything you wanted.  Here's what some of ours were:

Dave:

Family

heat

Me:

sleep

temple

Aubs:

squishies

primary teachers

Soph:

Jesus

Guy

 And our Giving tree.

It was a great way to think throughout the month of all we have, and how blessed we are.  I read a quote on pintrest that said something to the effect of,  What if all we had in the morning was all we gave thanks for the night before? And since reading it I have really tried to express sincere gratitude for as many things as I could recognize.  Obviously it would be impossible to make a laundry list of everything physical, spiritual, temporal, worldly, etc..that we are individually blessed with.  But it put my heart in the right place.  

On Thanksgiving day we celebrated in the normal way.  We went up to his parents for dinner.  It was delicious, fun, and good to see his sister and family who drove in from California.  It's a Callister family tradition to play bingo, with prizes.  This year was no exception. It was fun, the kids got some cute things, and we got a nice gift card to Pei Wei (can't wait to use that) After spending the better part of the day with them, we took the kids and headed up to my Granni's, where my family was.  We had dessert with everyone, and basically just hung out.  My older sister had just flown in from Tennessee, and it was the first time I got to see her little boy, Bradley.  He's pretty much the cutest guy ever.  And he's HUGE.  But not grossly huge.  He just looks like a 3yr old with a cute little baby face.  Everyone took off kind of early to go set up the church for the luncheon tomorrow.  So, we went home early to put the kids to bed in anticipation for the Wedding.  It was a fun, good, family time, Thanksgiving.  

The Temple

Kelsey was endowed tonight.  It was special, amazing and sometimes words just can't describe..
We left the kids with their uncle Ben, and all went with Kels.  She has been looking forward to this day for a long time, and I was so excited to see her experience it.  A lot of family was there, along with a close friend.  I had a couple of first experiences, which is kind of fun since I've been going to the temple for 8.5 years.  I obviously can't go into detail, but I don't want to forget, so I'll briefly mention and it may only make sense to me.  It was the first time I had ever changed rooms.  The first time I had ever been given the wrong name, and when I used it, had to be pulled aside and corrected.  (same with Carlee and Guy's older sister :) Apparently a cute temple worker had been misinformed.  And it was the first time some of the symbolism really hit me. Like a ton of bricks, hit me.  It was amazing.
The celestial room was awesome, as always.  And it's fun to be in their with my family, watching it grow.  It was real emotional being there with my two little sisters.  I was not always the best example to them...only later in life, and I'm glad we all have found our way.  It's not always easy, but as I am in the temple I ALWAYS,  ALWAYS know it is worth it.

I am grateful for these experiences, for the recharge they give me, and affirmation of the choices I am making. (And try to make)

Of course as soon as we're out of the Temple and back in the world, chaos comes crashing down....but that's the way it goes.  My poor brother didn't get the kids down until later in the evening, and he pretty much was cracked.  He had my two and their cousin Kilee.  Not the easiest bunch.  I felt bad, but what do you do?  And when we went to get food at Wing Nutz, one of Guy's favorite; we basically had a server from Hades.  Who flat out refused to help me with my order until SHE was good and ready.  Even after being reminded by my Mom and Dad, and another worker...(and she wasn't doing anything but not helping me...) it was weird, rude, annoying and a little detracting of what I had just experienced.  (obviously there's more, but I don't want to go into detail for the sake of gossiping, and it's just not that important :)

All in all it was an amazing night and one I'm glad I could share with my family and Kelsey's new family.

Kelsey's bridal shower

Kelsey has been married now for about two months!  But I wanted to wait until I could get some pictures  to post about her celebrations.  I unusually, didn't take ANY pictures and kept forgetting to get copies from Carlee and Jenni.   

So, for the wedding shower:

I really wanted to give Kels a nice shower.  It's her only one, so we invited everyone she wanted from both families, to friends, to old wards, etc...I decorated in white's, cream's and black's.  And I added touches of her colors, in green and yellow.  On my island I did the desserts. 

I added some cute pom pom's to the ceiling.

Along the bar we had an assembly line to build your own Cafe Rio style salad.  But SO much better, thanks to my Mom and her amazing recipes.

I made this centerpiece as a wishing tree.

Only, Dave folded all the cranes :)

On one wall I had a vinyl cut out of Guy.  We were going to play pin the boutonnière on Guy, but ran out of time.  He was still cute just chillin' on the wall.

I used this cute ladder to display some fun pictures of them and cute quotes.

The present table.  I sewed these old vintage sheet music together, to make a runner.  And made cute little tissue, and sheet music flowers in a tiny vase.

The favors.

Vinyl on the front door.

I did more decorations, but since I didn't take any pictures, these are the ones I have :)  I also made a cute white pumpkin centerpiece for the dining room table, I had more pom pom's hanging from the archway, and made cute tiny pennant garlands that I hung in a few random places.  

It was fun, and good to see everyone that came.  The food was amazing, and we had uber leftovers. We played one game, which was "The Ultimate Draw" basically pictionary, but with words meaningful to Kelsey, Guy, or their relationship.  Some of the words were: Foxes, The Bell Choir, Tennessee, France, Music, Cheerleading, The Smoking Apple, Thanksgiving, Temple, BYU, Raccoons, etc..

After the correct word was guessed Kelsey explained why that word was significant.

Toward the end of the shower I was able to present Kelsey with a surprise from Guy.  He had made her the cutest little book.  He cut it to be the shape of a grand piano, and had it decorated all cute. Inside he had listed on each page a reason why he loved her.  I read a few to her, and as if we had planned it, Guy walked in right as I was finishing the last page and swooped her up for a kiss.  It was beautiful.  I think she had a great time with all her friends and family, and she got wonderful gifts from everyone.  Let the celebration begin! 

The first snow of the year

I guess technically it's the second!  But this is the first time it stuck.  The girls woke up and were SO excited to see snow.  My exact OPPOSITE reaction. They wanted to get dressed up in their snow clothes and play.   

And luckily they had some friends out to play with so I could sit back :)

It wasn't very deep, but they still had fun making snow balls, running around, and laying down on the soft layer.

I'm not quite ready for snow.  But I sure am glad it waited until after Halloween. 

CELEBRATE!!!!!

As of 2:00 today, Aubree is CAST FREE!  She has been SO excited all morning and kept asking me if it was time to get her cast off yet.  The time FINALLY came...she had the best nurse.  She was the same one who helped her into her cast, and Aubree loves her.

This is what I was afraid of...you can kind of see red skin and the wrap is sticking to her skin.  She had to rip it off..

I didn't want to bring attention to it, so for now we ignored it, and let her be happy as a clam.

When we got home, her pant leg was all bloody....and this was underneath.  Her poor exema did not react well to being in a cast.

 

We bathed her in medicine...and loosely wrapped her leg in gauze...just when you thought it was over...

We decided to celebrate and go anywhere she wanted.  She picked to go to dinner at Carl's Jr. and see a movie at the "big therator".  We saw Puss in Boots.  It was cute, and a fun night out with the Fam.

When it's quiet...

I'm usually a little scared, that means they're up to no good.  Aubree was at school, and I hadn't heard from Sophie.  I thought I'd better go investigate.  This is what I found.  

She had gone downstairs, got the princess potty insert, and went potty all by herself.  Now why does she have to REVOLT when I suggest it to her???  This would be SO nice if it was a usual sight in our house.

Here's hoping.

October Books

This month was a little crazy.  With Aubree breaking her leg on the fourth, Halloween, Kelsey getting engaged....I have been busy and SO tired.  Sadly reading wan't at the top of my list.  But I did get through a couple so....


FORD COUNTY by John Grisham
I started it last month and finished it this month.  I really liked it.  John Grisham is an amazing storyteller.  The only down side to this book, is that it was sad.  Good, but sad.  If your looking for a fun, or happy, or uplifting book...not the one.  But great stories none the less.

THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham
This wasn't my favorite.  It was a good story, written well...but it didn't captivate me.  Nothing I can really pin-point.  But not a waste of time.  It actually had a really good message...hmm..maybe I did like it better than I thought.

THE WRITING ON THE WALL by Dean Hughes
The first book in the series Hearts of the Children.  Liked it a lot.  I'm sad that the second book is checked out.  Especially if they're like me and renew the heck out of them...anyway, a lot of the stories parallel the first series.  Which was annoying at first, but if you think about it...that's how life is.  I can't wait to read the rest of them.

November to-do's
Hearts of the Children books 2-5 (however far I get)
The Children of Hamelin by Danny Lasko  (my friend in the ward...he's not published...but hopefully soon)