Many Things To Be Thankful For

November is nearly over.  My last post was Halloween, and now we are jumping to Thanksgiving.  But there are many things to be thankful for in between those two holidays.

Lynnette and I were accidentally twins when we went to the Christmas Gift Show together.  You better believe that we got a lot of comments about it.

 Dustin and I went on a date!

 Dustin took the boys to a Weber State football game.  They had so much fun.

 Dustin hurt his ankle in basketball.  I guess it is one of many signs that we are getting older.  I am thankful that it wasn't broken, just some torn ligaments that will heal.

 One day Grant wanted to "dress like a cowboy" for school.  Love this kid!

 We had a Master Chef episode at our house.  The kids did amazing on their three course meals.  They were delicious, and looked so nice, too!

 We got a new roof.  It is no fun to spend money on things like this, but I'm thankful that we are able to.  And, that a few more of those old satellite dishes are gone now.

 

Dustin's new birthday suit came in.  Doesn't he look handsome?  I'm thankful for him.

 All 3 of our elementary school kids won an award in the Reflections contest this year.

  It has snowed a couple of times.

 We decorated for Christmas!

 We just got done dog sitting for our friends and surprisingly, we had a lot of fun with this (not surprising to my kids, but very surprising to me and Dustin).  Buddy here was the funniest old man dog.  He was so mellow and cute, and did really funny things, like stare at doors that he thought might have something he wanted inside, or stare at our nutcracker, or stare at the hamster cages.  He was such a good dog.

 We also had Dustin's brother and family in town for Thanksgiving, and their dog came, as well.  Hopefully my kids got their dog desires filled for a little while.

 We had a great few days with Arie and Isabel and their kids.

 Thanksgiving was wonderful.  We had a last minute switch to hosting it here.  Dustin and the kids were great helpers in getting everything set up and ready, so that I could focus on the turkey.  We had 21 people in all--Jen's family, my niece Khalina and her family, Arie's family, us and Gramma Lana.  It was a fun crowd.

 Avery helped me make a peanut butter pie and it was sooo delicious.  Good choice, Avery!

 A couple of days later, the adults went to dinner to celebrate mine and Isabel's birthdays.  They are two days apart.  Isabel's brother, Ervin, came, too.  We went to the Garden Restaurant, and then walked around Temple Square and looked at the lights.  The weather was nice and the view was perfect!  At dinner, the waiter had Isabel and I release balloons up to the open roof to see if they would go out.  And then our wish would come true.  It looked like they weren't going to make it, but then they slipped out at the end.  Phew!  Million dollars, here I come!!  Just kidding.  I wished for peace on earth, good will towards men, of course.

 And, today is my actual birthday!  The kids made me this hamburger cake while Dustin and I were at church meetings this afternoon.  I was so surprised and impressed!  All those Food Network cooking shows are paying off, I guess.

After opening gifts, including many homemade gifts, we had hamburger cake and rootbeer floats to finish the Happy Birthday night.  I sure love my little family!