Black Friday

In keeping with tradition, that Bill and I haven't been able to keep for the past 2 years due to job restrictions, the two of us headed out at 'O dark 30 on the day after Thanksgiving. We weren't hugely impressed with the deals out there but we were able to score on some pretty good deals, one of my favorites was the 99 cent poinsettias from Home Depot. (We got six. Although I wanted more, I couldn't convince Bill of where I would put them.) We were able to find a "preowned" Nintendo DS for Livi for 70 bucks, thanks Grandma. We heard that Santa was able to take advantage of the sales for some Razor scooters and the much anticipated Batman Cave that was topping Aaron's list. (It only started to top Aaron's list after he won the aforementioned scooter at a Candlelighter's Christmas party... go figure. Go figure, Olivia gets the cancer, Aaron gets the huge basket of toys! I suppose it all equals out in the end. She handled it without any ruffled feathers.)

The two of us had a good time together, even if my line cutting experience was suppressed by the presence of Metro cops on duty! Thank goodness Bill has that sense of human decency to wait in line like everyone else... I do vaguely remember him saying to me, "Go do that line thing that you're so good at."

All of our shopping bliss was made possible by my cousin, Sarah who had come in to town with her daughter, Samantha and Sam's friend Ally. The two girls had a weekend soccer tournament that enveloped most their time but it was nice to have family visiting! (That was for all you who secretly read our blog and haven't yet got the guts to come see life here first hand. If you come you can sign a waiver for me to leave your picture off of the blog... yea, probably not.)

One last splurge of the day: as we pulled into our community there were window washers at the model homes. I talked them down from $80. to 30 or $40, I don't remember. But it was fantastic. (There's no way we could do what they did especially as quickly as they did it.)

Thanksgiving

This was the first Thanksgiving we've officially had away from family. (Last year's festivities were celebrated in a diner in Chicago, so that didn't really count.) Being that it was our first time I was excited to have our neighbors, the Bustillos' over to share in the fun. I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase some pretty fall table linens and Livi and I made great place card holders and even pretty napkin holders. Bill made his delicious spinach dip and along with other goodies that our neighbors brought, we had a great food to munch on during the football game. (The Cowboys played the Raiders, the two teams that our neighbor and his son LOVE!)

I was excited to be able to make all the traditional foods that I grew up with. Mashed potatoes and gravy (mashed potatoes that morning kept well in the crockpot), sweet potatoes (cooked the night before), and Mom's stuffing. YUMM-O!

Livi tore the bread on Wednesday and while I mixed the ingredients Thursday morning I caught myself inhaling deeply over and over again. I actually said out loud, to no one in particular because Bill was out playing with the kids and Annie, "Ahhh, this smells like Mom." Not that my mom smelled like stuffing, but the smells reminded me of her. I even added some craisins to the out of the bird mix and LOVED it. It all turned out so perfect (Thanks to the no less than 10 phone calls to Gretchen). Even the gravy was yummy. All was so good except perhaps the turkey that never fully cooked. Some parts cooked and some didn't. The dang popper thingy never popped and my thermometer said it was good! AHHH! We were able to carve parts and stick it back in. All in all good stuff. Thanks to Terry and Alex for bringing the rolls, cider and pie. Along with the fun game we all played afterwards (Cranium), what a fantastic holiday!

Happy Birthday!!!

Bill turned 31 today!!! We are so happy that we were able to celebrate with him.

When he came down stairs this morning he found this "X" box on the table with a note inside. I told him the kids had wanted to get him an X-box for his birthday.

The note read: "You're going on a treasure hunt. The X will mark the spot. Follow the clues so you don't get lost."

He was led to the back yard, out the front door and around the downstairs.

Finally he ended up in our linen closet.

The anticipation was great.

The outcome was wonderful!

(Already enjoying his new Modern Warfare Limited Edition X-box 360.)

Bill, we love you. We love that you love your job, and we love that you love your family. Thank you for being you! May all your wishes come true.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Babe!

While Daddy traveled abroad...

Bill left on Sunday, Nov 8th for a trip to Tokyo and Beijing. Yeah, lucky guy! (I was thrilled for him, to say the least.)

While he flew in this...

C-17

with this view...

had 2 mid air re-fuelings

Partook a little of this...

... and plenty of this...

Bill LOVES sushi. Fortunately he found some other guys that did too. They were brave and ate at a few restaurants where english was non-existent.

See this...

Meiji Jingu Shrine

(Japanese Shinto shrine)

Moat around the Imperial Palace

U.S. Embassy in Tokyo

Witnessed this...

traditional Japanese wedding.

And after 5 days of that, he saw this...

And did this...

Yes, he actually got to stand post on the Great Wall of China!

And went here...

Tianamen Square, Beijing, China

And here...

The Forbidden City

We did this...

Took Annie to Aaron's class for show and tell.

Tues. 11/10: Took Olivia in for her chemotherapy and a week of steroids.

(Thankfully, a rather uneventful week, as far as the steroids go.)

Had a Thanksgiving party at our friends' house on Veterans Day(11/11).

Had our first experience with the tooth-fairy.

(The tooth came loose eating a sandwich on Oct. 26th and

came out on the first bite of our "Thanksgiving lunch".)

That night I got a sitter for the kids, one night and went to the temple with our ward

and then to U-Swirl afterwards.

Friday 11/13: Met up with our friends the Chipmans from Summerlin

and had a great evening at Chuck E. Cheese's.

Brea spent the night. She and Livi were just having too much fun.

Aaron and Annie helped eachother make it through Dad's absence.

Annie discovered a love of mud.

And we discovered that Daddy is the only one who loves this...

(We've been doing a Thanksgiving countdown. Today, 11/17, we were thankful for food. and tried something new. I already had my opinion of the stuff, but the kids formed their own.)

I discovered a great ability to do Olivia's hair!

And last but not least... what a fabulous treat to have Uncle Adam visit.

The kids loved Adam's new car!

Livi's Choice

With the obedience jars being filled with brightly colored stones Olivia chose "to go to the casino". (Aaron, remember, had picked the go carts.) At first I could not figure out what she was talking about. Maybe Red Rock Casino and go bowling? "No, the casino on the strip." ??? She finally decided to expand her thoughts and explained, "You know, the one with the waterfalls and ice cream and all the flowers?!" OHHHH, the Belagio. Okay.

They had once again changed the scene at the conservatory. It was remarkable! The trees were breathtaking, with their faces and the one behind Livi even moved and "spoke"!

We thought the Asian/Polynesian inspired model of the Belagio was fun. Complete with the water show in front.

As always the colors were GORGEOUS, but perhaps my most favorite was this picture. My favorite colors and people all at once... priceless.

THANK YOU "Aunt" Cathy!

A big thanks to our friend Cathy from Chicago. She sent each of the kids some "dessert" money for Halloween. (Does she know me and the kids well or what?!) Anyway, the kids each got to pick a dessert of their choice from the Crepe shoppe. Aaron got his favorite, Gelato. This time he chose chocolate. He couldn't eat it fast enough... and hardly had any damage! (It reminded me of the chocolate of Rocky Road, very thick and fudgy. AKA very yummy.

Olivia decided to go all "Fancy Nancy" (that's for your mom Cathy) and get the "Tootie Fruiti" torte. Bill and I were both worried she wouldn't like it, but she LOVED it! We thought it was pretty dang good too. (Thanks for the nibbles kids. And thanks Cathy for the treat.)

The water show outside was fantastic. Aaron kept reminding us to not sit him on the speaker, "It's scary." (He's not a big fan of loud noise, which is strange to me considering the only volume he has is LOUD!)

It was a great day. Thankfully, all the extra time Bill put in while Clinton was here gave him an extra day off of work. So we got to do all this on Monday after Halloween which the kids had no school on because of Staff Development. Doesn't get much better than that.