The Feast

This year our Thanksgiving was celebrated at the new Brian ranch house in Grover. What a fun time we had. It was so nice to have TONS of room in the kitchen for all of us to spread out and cook our various dishes. We now have a dining room table that fits all the adults comfortably.

Oooh the pies-----apple, buttermilk, pumpkin and derby!!!

The turkey was to die for---so tender and juicy!

Grandpa wanted the boys looking nice for dinner. Obviously that didn't apply to Finn's hair!

Darin's heavenly rolls.

Early Christmas Present

Last Monday night our dog Duke didn't come home. He ALWAYS comes home. He hates the cold. If he sees Kurt driving in to the garage, he will run home immediately. But last week he didn't run home when Kurt came home from work. We drove around the neighborhood multiple times calling, whistling and praying. We ate dinner and had family night but everyone was pretty quiet.
The next morning Kurt called the animal shelter. They laughed when he asked if they had a French bulldog. Good luck finding him they said. Emerson and I drove down to the shelter to look for ourselves just to be sure. Nothing. Emerson was too upset to go to school.
It was hard to leave Tuesday afternoon to go to Grover for Thanksgiving. I think I cried the entire first hour of the drive. Kurt came to the ranch Wednesday afternoon but he didn't bring any good news. Still no sign of Duke.
Thank goodness there was lots of work to be done at the ranch to keep our minds busy. But as soon as we started getting closer to home yesterday, I could feel the sadness creeping up. I knew that there would be no Duke to greet us when we walked in the door. Once again, the whole family was pretty quiet and subdued. I could tell Emerson was really sad. She asked me to do a puzzle with her---to keep her mind occupied I think. Indy got a phone call from Cade saying he needed to come over to get a scout paper. Minutes later Cade was at the door, then Mike, then I hear a dog and I see Duke! Then more Youngs pile in the door along with the Browns.
I guess Mike had been walking over with Cade and saw the Browns open their garage. He saw a dog over by a tree in their yard. Mike said is that Duke???!! Sure enough. Somehow he got stuck in their garage when they left. The Browns had left on Monday night to go to Oregon! They had no idea that Duke was in their garage. Our poor dog was right next door the whole week! 6 days with no food or water that we know of. The poor guy is so skinny!
He is so happy to be home and we are thrilled that he is okay. Thanks to the Browns for (unknowingly) housing our dog all week. Sorry for the mess!
It was the best early Christmas present ever!!!

Testimony

I am grateful for my testimony. I know that God lives and that He loves me. I KNOW that he answers prayers. I know that Jesus Christ atoned for MY sins. I know that he felt all of my sorrows, frustrations, worries and fears. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore the gospel to the earth and because of him we have the fulness of the gospel today. I know that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon through the power of God and that it is true! I know my purpose here on this earth because of my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. And I know that families can be forever and my family is a wonderful gift from our Heavenly Father.

These are the things that mean the most to me in this life. How thankful I am for that knowledge.

Gratitude #2

I am grateful for my in-laws. I appreciate the fact that they have taught their children to work hard. I am thankful for the awesome new ranch house that they have built and can't wait to spend Thanksgiving there next week! Love you Pat and Sherry!

Gratitude

Today I am grateful for Finn and Indy and their willingness (not always happily.....)to do all the work necessary to get so many merit badges last night! I am thankful that they have gained a little bit of appreciation of the value of earning their Eagle. Finn is getting very close and Indy is well on his way. All the work will be worth it boys----I promise!

What is truth?

This month for our Relief Society meetings, we have had Sherrie Johnson come speak to us weekly about truth. She is a professor of religion at BYU and an author. I have only been able to get to one class far but it was so good! We have been recording them for sisters not able to make it to the class. So I am planning to catch up! Sherrie taught this class series at Education Week this year. She is an amazing person. If you want to read something inspirational every day check out her blog-sherriejohnson.blogspot.com.

Home

Kurt and I got back Saturday morning from our trip. Gotta love that red-eye flight!!!! I don't have any pictures to post as yet because, wouldn't you know it, we go to turn on the camera the first day and.........the battery is dead! So, until Gina sends me the pictures she took on her camera, I have none.

Anyway, we got home Saturday in time for Indy's championship football game. They won! It was so fun to sit outside on the frozen metal bleachers in the sideways falling snow after just having eaten dinner outside on the lanai in Hawaii the night before! Oh well. It was good to come home and see the kids and sleep in our own bed.

Kurt also remembered, as we driving home from the airport, that we had to give a fireside to his ward on Sunday! How fun is that! I think it ended up okay despite the lack of preparation time.

Now we're back in our routine and so looking forward to Thanksgiving at the ranch. We are taking a bunch of things down this weekend and can't wait to see the new house!

ALOHA

Kurt and I leave to Maui today with the Hunters and Andersons. It's really bad timing and we can't afford to go but we're going anyway. I know we will have a great time once we get there.

Birthday Dinner

We went out to dinner as a family on Monday night for Mom's birthday. Her birthday was almost two weeks ago but we couldn't all get together until now! It has been such a long time since we have all gone out to eat as a family. The little kids tend to get a little crazy in restaurants! So we got our own room at Buca di Beppo where we could have a little privacy. Cache, Isaac and Will ran around the room most of the night. They thought it was great! I think everybody had a fun time.

November??

Who would have thought I could go running in the canyon in shorts AND a short sleeve shirt on November 3 in Utah? It was a gorgeous day with a beautiful blue, cloudless sky. I know it won't last long so I am really trying to appreciate it while I can!

Halloween 2009

Amazing that Halloween has already come and gone for another year! It seemed to creep up on me too quickly this year.

The festivities were pretty much the usual-----elementary school parade (with the last of the Brian clan), pumpkin carving with the Youngs and the Winters and doughnuts galore!