Table for Eight

Dave and I: Thanksgiving 2013. (And finally, a pic with my darker hair. LOL!) We are so glad it's December. This is probably our favorite month of them all: we have a few birthdays, school is out for part of the month, Hanukkah is this month ... and we get to celebrate the birth of Baby Jesus. Woooooohooooo! But before I get ahead of myself, I wanted to thank my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and their kiddos for making the 12-hour trek to our home for Thanksgiving. It was SO good to spend Thanksgiving with you (though we sure did miss Elder Meehan). We love you so much and had a great time visiting, eating, and spending time together. (Did I mention eating? I think we did that a lot!) My brother and his beautiful wife.   Our kids playing at the park (it was about mid-50s--which is warm for November in Utah!). Lu and Papaya at the park. My niece on the slide. Cousins at the lake. Two Jrs and Zu. (Literally, my nephew...

Thanksgiving Day, 2010. Me. (Throwback Thursday) I was thinking this morning that I really love Thanksgiving; I have so much to be grateful for this year. Now I'm not sayin' my life is perfect. (I know, until now you thought it was--hahaha.) Like many of you, our family has had our share of "hard" this year: Saying goodbye to our oldest son for 2 years as he left to serve a service mission ; health problems ; hospital stays ; loved ones w/ mental health "things" to face ; tragedy in our neighborhood ; the suicide of a dear friend; my own experience being WAY humbled after Survivor Caramoan aired--and the anxiety and sadness that accompanied it ; theft . . . and the list goes on an on.  And on. But despite all of these hard experiences, I still feel super grateful today. Because I have a really strong belief/faith that God is good, life is beautiful, and people are kind (so kind). So today I want to make sure and let my family (especially my ...

Lu and her new specks. About a year ago Lu got her first pair of glasses ... and she didn't like them at all . Or I should say, she didn't like wearing them at all. But that all changed about a week ago when we were driving and had this conversation: Lu: "Do you think I'm getting headaches because I don't wear my glasses and everything is blurry." Me: [Slam on brakes.] "BLEEPITY BLEEP. What in the honk? What do you 'mean everything is blurry?' Honk yes, I think there's a REALLY good chance your headaches have something to do with not wearing your glasses and straining your eyes to see. Eeek!" So thankfully after a few eye exams, some fun eye dilation, and a few trips to Costco with her dad, Lu got her new and improved glasses yesterday. And now she can SEE! And the best part: she actually likes her glasses this time.  Why? Because they aren't from the kid's sect...

Elder Meehan and other service missionaries in his area. (At dinner with some people from their ward. So kind--they are often provided dinner.)  Reasons I'm Excited For Thanksgiving 1. My family is coming to dinner. (From out of state!) 2. Even though it's our first Thanksgiving without Elder Meehan, he told us he'd been invited to SEVEN different homes for dinner that day. (We love Indiana peeps!) 3. I have a reason to bake a lot of bread--and cook some of my favorite things.  4. Thanksgiving reminds me of some of my most favorite Survivor friends. (It's an interesting phenomenon, but when people "starve" for a period of time, one coping mechanism is to talk about food. A lot. And both times I played Survivor that was the case; I always ended up talking about "Your Ideal Thanksgiving" with the other players. I think Sophie, Whitney and I bonded over some Thanksgiving menus in the South Pacific. And Michael and I definitely talked t...

Lu and Zin playing with snow ... inside the bathtub, in 2010. (Much warmer than playing IN the snow outside.) I've been down with the flu this week, so I haven't been able to blog (or eat, PS). But I think I've turned a corner. Phew. And now I'm excited because I realize that it's almost Thanksgiving! (And Hannukah--which is unusual. First time in 125 years that they overlap.) The holidays are almost here and I am loving it. PS: CBS is participating in the American Red Cross fundraiser for the Philippines tonight. Several Survivors in the LA-area are going to be part of the phone-manning: Cochran, Phillip Sheppard, Malcolm, etc.  I am so happy they are helping raise funds for the people impacted by Typhoon Yolanda. We filmed our season of Survivor Caramoan there, and Survivor has filmed 4 seasons there total, so we love the Filipino people and their beautiful country/islands.  I love the Philippines and pray for their healing.