"I've got plenty to be thankful for"

That song line comes from Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn. This is a month of pondering on blessings and gratitude.

We had a beautiful Primary program this month -- it really is my favorite Sunday. James and Millie practiced in the microphone at Church and practiced at home and I was proud of how they spoke clearly and slowly. I also loved their messages of Jesus Christ.

I helped one night with the Activity Days activity for the boys (ages 8-11). James and the other boys took flowers to several older women in our neighborhood. They were very brave as they knocked on doors and looked the women in the eyes and explained how they wanted to give them flowers because they were thinking of them.

We had two great meals with the Richards side of the family for Thanksgiving week. Turkey and mashed potatoes, etc, on Sunday (DELICIOUS), and smoked brisket and mac n cheese, etc, on Thursday (ALSO DELICIOUS). Max got to call on Thanksgiving day and talk to cousins and grandparents who were all around.

The kids table on Sunday:

Playing with Lou on Thursday:

Sewing a new Christmas hanging together:

Pretty soon I will have to stand on the front row as the short one!

Facetiming with Max. He and the other missionaries wore JustServe shirts as they helped clean up after the El Paso parade.

We raked up a lot of leaves this month.

The day after Thanksgiving it snowed and these kids scraped up every bit of snow from the front yard and the backyard to make a snowman that is still standing in the backyard even though we are back to grass.

This was for a sad occasion but I was able to see one of my five freshman year roommates this week. She came to Utah for her mother-in-law's funeral. We lived in the dorms together 1997-1998 and they had such a profound influence on my life for good!

At this time of year, I'm trying to remember from where all good things flow: I'm not only grateful for my blessings, I'm grateful to God for my blessings. I recognize His hand in my life. I'm also grateful to others for their influence, love, kindness, and gifts of time and service.

20 years together

 November 14 marked our 20th anniversary. Two decades together! 

I was reading Anne of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery out loud to the kids the week before and love this scene with Anne and Gilbert, on their 16th wedding anniversary:

“You do love me, Gilbert? You haven’t said you love me for so long.” 

“My dear dear love! I didn’t think you needed words to know that. I couldn’t live without you. Always you give me strength. There’s a verse somewhere in the Bible that is meant for you… ‘She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.’”

(I looked it up. It's Proverbs 31:12).

Twenty years ago, we entered the House of the Lord and made a covenant with God and with each other. I know that as we stay faithful to that covenant, we are sealed together for eternity.

To celebrate our anniversary, we did some proxy sealings in the Jordan River temple.

And we went to lunch together while the children were in school. JB was right, that spot did have good lighting! 

Running errands is also a fun thing to do together, and watching sports and movies, and taking walks where we hammer out all the world's difficulties. He makes me laugh every day.

My favorite thing I wrote was on our tenth anniversary:

"...seconds/years fly by of laughter, tears, joy, contentment and normalcy, and the next thing you know, it's evening, you are sitting on the couch ... and you look over and see him. And your heart swells with the goodness of it all."

Max in Texas

As he waits for his Bolivian visa, Max was reassigned to the New Mexico Albuquerque Mission -- which includes El Paso, Texas, where Max is serving in his first area. 

He is right on the U.S.-Mexico border. 

People often ask us how he is doing, and I think he is doing really well! He's practicing some Spanish, he gets fed by the local ward members almost every night, and has a nice apartment with a washer/dryer and nice kitchen. Seems like a really smooth way to start a mission.

We miss him around the house and though I thought I was used to it, sometimes it hits me with a pang that he is far away. Just last night when turning off lights and checking door locks before bed, I was thinking "But Max isn't home yet" and of course remembered in the same moment that he is in Texas.

I love talking to him every week. He sends pictures of some of the cool things he has seen. 

I jokingly apologized to a family in our ward that I should have asked them more often about their missionaries when they were serving. You don't know what it's like until your own baby is out there.

Halloween

 After many days (weeks?) of asking when they could carve pumpkins, we allowed it on Saturday Oct. 28 so they wouldn't rot before Halloween. 

JB spotted a new technique of carving the circle in the bottom of the pumpkin and then placing it over the candle. I think it worked well.

On Sunday, the Richards-side grandkids who could go to Sunday dinner came in their costumes. Millie had wanted to be Maleficent for weeks (months?) and I ordered horns for her. But then she found her Dorothy dress in her dress-up drawer and decided to do Dorothy before she grew out of it. Plus, she has been watching The Wizard of Oz more than Sleeping Beauty in her life. She may be Maleficent next year.

Cousin Spencer was a scarecrow and a perfect partner for a picture.

JB and I went to the Halloween parade and I helped in the classroom parties on Tuesday.

Killing time before trick or treating in the afternoon with picking up leaves on a beautiful afternoon.

I ordered James's Spiderman costume online, but if there is a next time I think I won't make it all one zip-up suit with the gloves attached. It made it a little difficult to do things. But he still loved it. And Andrew made his Mario hat here in this picture. They were ready to hit the streets!

I took James and Millie around, and they loved/feared this huge skeleton in our neighborhood.

Andrew was with his friend Jackson and we met them halfway. By then, Millie had ditched her shoes as they hurt her feet.

They still had a lot of candy left by the weekend and munched while watching a movie. But if I have to pick one more wrapper up from under the couch . . . 

September and October happenings

I am behind! On Friday, Sept. 8, before Max started Home MTC, my parent company held a Bees night and we had dinner at the stadium and watched some of the baseball game.

Some day, we won't have any kids riding the train in the outfield any more.

While I took James and Millie to the train, JB took this photo with the others. Gosh we miss Max being with us!

On Saturday, Sept. 10, we took part in the 9/11 National Day of Service and packaged snack kits for the Granite Education Foundation.

On Saturday, Oct. 7, we took a quick visit to Frightmares at Lagoon.

 I love watching Ben hold Millie's hand in a crowd.

James was surprised at this carousel selfie to see he somehow got blue on his face.

Lagoon jail.

For fall break Oct. 12-13, we went swimming one day and to Tracy Aviary the next day. Millie is pointing out her favorite duck below.

James loves anything with dinosaurs.

James wanted to point out this owl.

Millie is doing a face like the owl behind her.

The bird show was amazing. The birds flew over our heads.

Then on Monday for the last day of fall break JB took the kids on a hike in Mueller Park Canyon.

This year was the best for flu shots -- nobody cried or even winced. So we got Kong Kones afterward. 

Every week we got to talk to Max from the MTC laundry room.

The Church News staff got a tour of the new Orem Utah Temple before the open house.

I went to the BYU home game on Sept. 29 with my friend Cindy Thornton and the Parrys.

Ben had some basketball tournaments.

I spoke on a panel at FanX about Christmas movies. My brother Joe came to see it.

JB and I were invited to a dinner downtown on one of the same nights as FanX and walked through a lot of INTERESTING crowds before reaching the banquet. 

We also went to the temple in October together.

The school moveathon/jogathon was Friday Sept. 23 and James avoided all the chalk stations but Millie went right to them.

On Oct. 9, JB hiked Coyote Gulch with Jeff and Kim and cousins Greg and Ryan. They stayed at the cabin overnight with his parents.

The view looks amazing but I think my fear of heights would be a problem on this one.