November Happenings

Right after Halloween we have Anthony's Birthday.  This year Anthony turned 12 which is a big year.  Anthony was super excited to be receiving the priesthood and to be able to pass the sacrament.  For me it was hard to believe that I had a 12 year old.  It is another one of the many milestones that I was going to be able to experience as a mother.  Anthony is an awesome kid and in my eyes he is perfect just like his dad.  Anthony's birthday is simple, camping with daddy.  My only job is to reserve the campsite.  Anthony enjoys these father and son campouts where they stay up late playing risk and eating lots of junk food.  In the mornings they go canoeing and hiking usually after they play another round of risk.  This year I wanted to do something more, something for the whole family.  On his birthday I did the usual tradition of eating lunch with Anthony at school and that evening we went to Golden Corral (Anthony's choice).  After dinner my family came over for birthday song and treat.  Anthony loves cookie dough and I found this cookie dough ice cream pie recipe on Pintrest and knew that would be perfect for Anthony.  Everything turned out well and Anthony was spoiled with presents that reflected him and his personality. 

The week after Grant's family came from Utah, Wisconsin, and Texas (Burleson) to witness Anthony receiving the Aaronic Priesthood.  We were able to have a couple of family get togethers and to be able to spend time with Grant's family.  It was nice to having several family members gathered in the circle in love and support of Anthony.  I always enjoy hearing Grant give blessings to our children and to hear what Heavenly Father has in store for them.  While others closes their eyes during the blessing, I admit I kept my eyes opened and watched.  What I saw was amazing.  I saw righteous priesthood holders gathered around my son, a son who strives to follow our Savior and to be a light and example to those around him.  For those few minutes I was reminded of what I am fighting for, and the blessings of diligently striving to do the little things in the gospel.  I was able to see how the little things really do add up and they really do matter.  I was able to see that the mundane things of motherhood really do add up and they are really important.  It is these milestones in my children's lives that make everything I do worth it!

My family was present, but had to leave before church was over.

Of course when you think of November you think of Thanksgiving.  This year we had a simple Thanksgiving at home with out little family.  Later on in the day my sister and her family came over for pies and a good ole' sugar rush.  Even though it was going to be our little family, I still wanted to have a big feast, with Turkey and all.  I compiled a menu with the help of Pintrest as well as traditional recipes.  The day was simple and we all worked together as a family to put together our feast.  The kids kept the dishwasher going so that there were plenty of dishes to help cook the various dishes, and there were plenty of hands to put everything together.  It was one of those moments where everyone worked together to get the job done.  I need to remember those moments to get through the times when working together doesn't go as planned.

We also spent the Thanksgiving week building Jonathan's closet and getting the rest of the spaced ready for building the room during Christmas Break.  We did stop to enjoy the beautiful weather and take a day trip to Fort Richardson State Park.  The Fort was used during the Civil War and they have some of the original buildings as well as some that have been reconstructed to look like the originals.  Anthony is a huge history buff and loves to go on these kind of excursions.  Some of the building were opened for you to go and look through.  They set them up to look like what they would have during the Civil War times.  On weekends they don't have anyone on staff to give tours so they are self guided tours which are what we like.  It was fun to go and look and pretend that we were there living on the fort during the Civil War.  There were also lots of nice trails to go and explore.  The kids enjoyed running around and Grant and I enjoyed being able to enjoy the outdoors as well as nice weather.