Counting my blessings...naming them one by one!

1) A beautiful sunrise to set the tone for a perfect day.


2) Boys who helped all day, making stuffing, chopping wood for a widow,
cleaning the house, taking down Christmas boxes for Grandma,
hauling tables and chairs for mom
and happily sitting at their own "special" table.


3) Lots of family to celebrate the holiday with.

4) A wonderful feast of problably my most favorite foods.

5) Pretty china to serve the yummy food on.

6) Richard and Diana sharing their "Bohnanza" game.
Devin and Richard tied for the win!

7) A husband who helped me all day in the kitchen (see picture above)

and worked hard in the days before getting honey do's done around the house.

Thank you Honey!

8) Grandma and her great-grandson...so precious!

9) Talking with Diane and Katie, and hearing that their

Thanksgiving feast was wonderful too.

10) And best of all...Josh finished his last round of chemotherapy

on this day. That news officially makes this day...

THE BEST THANKSGIVING DAY EVER!

And now for the side stories of the day:

Keith, trying to make points with the little one, puts the traditional olive on the finger.

But alas, Baby is prevented from gobbling it up.

And, of course, very disappointed. Oops, didn't make too many points with that move!


What a sweetheart little Michael is!

The boys were rewarded in their efforts today with a some ping pong. Thanks for loaning us the table Mom!

Devin's Birthday

Happy Birthday Devin!

That's quite a blaze atop the cake, there.

OK, now kids, before you try this at home, make sure your mom

is cool with candle wax being blown clear to the the wall!

Devin handled the challenge of 20 candles easily.

Just one big puff did the trick!

Now, about the cake, it hasn't been my best year for

cake making, and this is the perfect example. If you look

closely, you'll notice it appears to be floating in a sea of fudge!

Wow, a sweater!

And a new tie for the growing collection!


The opening of the birthday card from Diane:

Speaking of the Pilgrims...

I had some interesting thoughts about the Pilgrims last Sunday. At church we were reminded about the great sacrifices of the Pilgrims as they sailed to this land in search of religious freedom. They had not been allowed to worship as they desired, so they were driven from their native land into the wild and vast unknown.
Contrast that thought with a talk I'd heard given earlier on BYU TV about the moral degeneration occurring at an increasingly rapid pace in our society. We are at the point where our own ability to worship as we desire may be in jeopardy because of the new laws which are now being passed. Yet we do not have the luxury of leaving this society behind and sailing off with our brothers and sisters in the gospel to start anew. We, instead, are asked to build zion where we are. I'm of the opinion that this is a much more difficult position to be in. We need to stand strong and bold for what is true and what it right in the midst of opposition.
We can do it, but we need to band together and bear one another up.