Thanksgiving Fun

I can't believe it's already almost December. This year has flown by. We had a really great Thanksgiving this year. The highlight of course being the food and I just wanted to share one really hilarious story. I drove down to my moms house on Wednesday to help her get ready. She decided that this was the year that we kids needed to learn how to make the famous Heritage Garden rolls. She made the dough at work and brought it home, then did the "hard part" rolling it out and making the correct shapes for us to roll. Now the secret to Heritage Garden rolls consists of first putting plenty of butter on the dough and second rolling them just right. You start with a piece shaped a little like a fat triangle, then you hold the top and run your fingers down the rest of the dough so it stretches out. Then you put your thumbs on the top and hold the dough between your thumbs and then flip it in the air about 6 times. So I grab my piece and stretch it out just right and begin the flipping process about the same time that Mom decides to grab the camera and make a video of Carolee, Spencer, and me working the magic. Just as she starts the video I have the dough in the air making my crescent shaped roll and the butter from the roll flipped into my eye. So I'm shouting "ahhh I just got butter in my eye," and Mom is like "Hey let me see your roll." So I hold the roll up to the camera closing one eye cuz the butter is sitting in my eye, and the whole video is me complaining about butter in my eye. Of course Mom has no sympathy because apparently getting butter in your eye is part of making Heritage Garden rolls. Anyway, the rolls were slightly misshapen but because Mom made the dough they tasted amazing. I think maybe we need to have rolls for Christmas so we can have more practice. I'll make sure Mom gets the video up on her blog so you can all appreciate the "butter in my eye" part of my boring life.

I am a Utah (wo)Man

Today the Utes beat BYU 48 - 24! I'm proud to be a Ute!! This season they are 12 and 0! Go Utes!

Spending time with the Family

Today was my cousin Lane's wedding reception in Heber and so Todd and Nicole decided to head to the outlet stores in Park City (Kimball Jct. actually) and invited the family to join them. Everyone came up except Spencer and Katie. I got off work late so I missed out on donating to the economy like the others, but joined them at the end of the shopping trip and then for dinner at Don Pedros in Heber where our group of 14 took up most of the restaurant. I can't remember the last time we all got together and went out to dinner, so it was quite a fun time. On to the reception where we were reacquainted with cousins Sarah and Lane who I haven't seen in 2-3 years. They looked all grown up and it was really weird to me. Sometimes I still picture them as small children. Sarah has been married to her husband Sage for 3 1/2 years and they live in Idaho so we rarely see her. It was fun to get to see her again. Lane's new wife Jesika is a darling girl and I'm very happy for them. It was a good family day and I'm glad everyone lives fairly close so we can do it occasionally.

Gratitude

Being that it's November and I have been jealous of my friend Chantal's ability to express gratitude on her blog, I thought I'd give it a shot; however, for those of you that frequent both pages, remember she has a law degree and so by default can write way more eloquently than I can. I was asked last week to speak in Sacrament Meeting the Sunday before Thanksgiving on Gratitude for the Atonement. It has left me for the past ten days thinking on the subject and making me realize how really blessed we are that we have a Heavenly Father who gave us His Son and how blessed we are that the Son was willing to come here and take upon Him our infirmities. I wish sometimes that I was infirmity-free, but since I can't be, I stand in awe of the One who has already been there. By the same token, I am grateful that Heavenly Father in His infinite wisdom decided to place us here on earth in family units so we wouldn't have to figure out this earth life alone, and then just in case the support system of familes wasn't enough he gave us other people: friends, acquaintances, and sometimes smiling strangers to help us in our quest for His kingdom. I really am so happy that I have so many wonderful supports out there. In the interest of time, space, and fear that I'll miss someone, I'll just say that if you think you are one of my support system you are right. Most of you may not even know what you mean to me, but I really do have such love for all of you that it's hard to express even what all of you mean to me. I am also, on a slightly less sappy note, so grateful for the beauties that surround me. I still stand in awe everytime I look outside or at pictures of what's going on outside somewhere else (Chantal's pics of a New England fall). I'm grateful for a living prophet, who leads and guides the church and for so many local leaders that pick me up when I fall and help me understand my true worth as a child of God. To quote one of my favorite hymns "my heart is full, mine eyes are wet, oh help me Lord lest I forget." I really just hope that all of us can take a moment this month and not forget.

Blogging

So I've been on my computer for 15 minutes looking at blogs and nobody is updating!!! Okay not nobody. Bre, Nicole and Todd, Kayla: you all do a great job. Mom, Kris, HELLO!!! Get on the ball. Then I thought, hmmm, I haven't blogged in a week and that was stuff about a month ago. So I thought I should get on the ball too. Today is my mama's birthday. She's something like 39. I can't remember exactly... okay so mostly I just didn't want to get in trouble. We usually have a giant party that starts on October 6 and goes through November 8 and that covers about 60% of the birthdays in our family. We didn't do that this year. I guess we all got too busy for tradition. I don't know. Sometimes I really feel like my life is passing me by. I mean all my life I've thrived on tradition (you know the song from Fiddler on the Roof) and I find as I get older the traditions I used to hold so near and dear are nothing but wispy memories. Sometimes I wonder if they really happened or if I 'm remembering my life wrong. I got home from my mission and all of the holiday traditions had slipped through my fingers. Last night I went with Tierny to see Mamma Mia for the second time. There's a song that the mom sings called Slipping through my Fingers. It talks about how quickly her daughter grew up and how she feels like she missed some of the best moments because she wasn't on the ball. I don't want my life to be like that. I need to start my personal history so the memories I have aren't completely lost to faulty memory. Well enough melancholy for one night. Bedtime!!