Thanksgiving and First Snow

Thanksgiving dinner was a huge success! I can't take all of the credit though, my friend Becky and I took on the task of cooking our first Thanksgiving dinner from scratch and I'm glad we did it together. I made the stuffing, cranberry sauce, broccoli, mash potatoes and together we did the turkey. Becky was in charge of the rolls, pies, and sweet potatoes. It was our first time cooking the turkey and it was delicious. Thanks to a recipe I found in Rachael Ray's magazine, the turkey was really moist and flavorful, but my favorite part was the stuffing and cranberry sauce. I made my grandma hall's recipe and it brought me back to the younger years of just showing up for dinner and stuffing myself. There will definitely be a second annual Thanksgiving dinner with the Anderson's next year. The only sad part of the day was ASU loosing to USC. We will always be Sun Devil fans through and through, plus Nebraska stunk this year.
The day before Thanksgiving we had our first snow here. We came out of the gym and there were the snow flurries. We even had snow on the ground and roof tops. It didn't snow much, but because it stayed so cold days after, the snow stayed on the ground for several days. Just in case any of you were wondering, my first time driving in the snow was safe and uneventful. Hope it stays that way. My driving skills are not that great under normal circumstances. I forgot to take a picture of the beautiful turkey, but here's some of the yummy food we enjoyed.









A little side note. Hollyn and I went to see Enchanted today with our friends and we loved it! Hollyn was a little scared any time the evil queen was on, but other than that she really liked it. The music was entertaining and Becky and I were laughing through most of the movie. If you are looking for a good clean movie for kids that even you will enjoy I would give it two thumbs up.

I've been tagged!

Thanks Mare for the tag! Here are a few random facts about myself. For those of you who know me well, they probably won't come as a suprise to you.

1. I am extremely frugal. I only buy things that are on sale and that usually includes groceries. When I buy something that's not on sale I always have buyers remorse and often that buyers remorse ends with a return. I have made a vow that after law school the buyers remorse is out the door.

2. I am a sucker for the teeny bopper shows. When a cheesey high school movie is on like Mean Girls or She's the Man (My Fav) I can't help but watch it. Just the other night I watched Princess Diaries 2 and I had to stay up till midnight to finish it. I know it's pathetic, but I can't help myself.

3. I love love,love the gym. I love the smells (except sweaty hairy guys), the sweat, and the way I feel when I leave. I even love the little towels they hand out to whipe your brow. When I don't work out for several days I get really irritated, and moody. Dan will even comment sometimes when I'm grouchy, "go work out." Working out is like a drug for me. And my favorite classes are the ones that kick my rear. It is the one time of day that I get to do something that is just for me, all by myself.

4. I don't bake. With the exception of banana and zuchinni bread I do not bake at all. I love to cook, but when it comes to baking it's just not my thing. I don't really enjoy baking and it never turns out right. Just last night I baked some chocolate chip cookies and they were flat as pancakes. I love looking for new recipes and trying different kinds of foods, but if it includes baking I stear clear. My goal is to learn how to cook bread before we leave Lincoln. My good friend here is an amazing baker and hopefully it will wear off on me.

5. I am a horrible bowler. I cannot bowl for the life of me. For any of you who have been bowling with me you know what I'm talking about. There's something about rolling the ball down the slick lane that I just can't do. Either I bowl too hard, or I'm off to one side, but I just can't seem to get the hang of it. Maybe it all goes back to that time in elementary school bowling with friends when I was hit in the eye with the ball. Don't ask me how it happened, but I had a black eye to prove it. If you're ever in the mood for bowling and you want to win, just invite me along, cause unless a miracle occurs I won't score above 100.

6. I had to add one more just for fun. Apparently I am not funny. I have gone most of my life thinking that I was funny and whitty, but I was wrong. There have been so many times that I have said something that I thought was hillarious and I will be laughing histarically, then I will look over at Dan and he will be looking at me with that face that says that wasn't funny. Oh and he lets me know, I'm not as funny as I think I am. I will have to say that my husband is extremely funny and I would like to think that some of that has worn off on me. You be the judge.

I am tagging Kim, Amy D. and Suzy. Hopefully it will motivate all of you to update your blogs.

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Leaves are falling all around...

I have to say that I love FALL! The leaves are changing colors, the weather is cool, there are leaves everywhere. We have never owned a rake up until this point, but now I can see why everyone here needs one. Our yard is covered with leaves, and what's the point of having leaves if you can't jump in them and throw them over your head. Hollyn had a fabulous time playing in the leaves and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

Santa in November?

Saturday morning we went to a scavanger hunt at the mall. It was a hunt for Santa. At the end Santa was asleep on one of the beds at the matress store. Hollyn loved it! She was so excited to see him she kept saying, "Hi Santa," every chance she got. The kids where able to have milk and cookies with Santa and then they each got their picture taken with him. Hollyn actually went and sat on his lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas. I was so impressed, I thought for sure I would be sitting on Santa's lap with her again this year.

Hollyn the Great!

I'm not usually one to brag, but then I thought what's the point in being a mom if you can't brag about you kid every now and then. Hollyn is an amazing little girl. Every day she surprises me with something she remembers or knows or even sings. Lately is has been about what she eats. Everything I cook she eats, including squash and any other vegetable. Just tonight we were having Mexican food and some salsa. I look over and see Hollyn spooning salsa into her mouth. I'm talking about plain salsa. As gross as it may seem, I thought hey it's healthy. Then after dinner instead of asking for a treat as she often does (I never said she was perfect) she asked me for snapped peas. This kid is addicted to snap peas (Costco's of course) I have to literally put a limit on them. Now only if her mom could be as healthy as she is all the time.

Pumpkins, Candy, and Costumes

Our Halloween extravaganza is finally over so I thought I would send some pictures of all the fun we had. Hollyn was a princess pirate, okay the princess is a stretch, but every girl adds princess to everything. She loved to say Argh Mattie. (I have no idea if that's how it's spelled, you get the idea though)
The Friday before Halloween we went to the Children's Museum for some trick or treating. The Children's Museum here does an amazing job. The middle floor was all trick or treating and they had some really great stuff for the kids. Each treat went along with the theme. For instance at the doctors station they gave away red glow sticks that looked like blood. The farm section gave away chocolate milk and a toy animal. I really liked it because it wasn't all candy. Then the top floor had a craft and the bottom floor had games. Hollyn had a blast! Saturday night we had our ward trunk or treat. It was a little crowded and Hollyn got bored waiting in line at all of the cars, but we had fun seeing all of the kids in the ward and their costumes. Sunday night we went over to the Anderson's to carve pumpkins. Hollyn and Olivia were more interested in drawing on the pumpkins and trying to get the knives, but we were able to carve some pretty great pumpkins. It sure has been fun for Hollyn to find a great friend here in Nebraska. They really have become inseparable and we always love hanging out with the Andersons. Then to finish things off, on Halloween we went to the outdoor mall to go trick or treating with the Andersons. Hollyn and Olivia loved running to all of the different stores to get candy. I should have taken advantage of the opportunity and shopped a little. All in all we had a fabulous Halloween. It was nice spending so much time together as a family and seeing Hollyn so excited.