Our Thanksgiving Day:

Hello again,

I will catch everyone up on the other things that went on in Nov, and early Dec. below.

Thanksgiving, as that is about the last time I entered in some info. Rick, jakie and I went out and got a 12lb. bird, drinks, stuff for stuffing, and were all set for a 1st attempt at a Thanksgiving dinner on our own when a friend called and said there was too much food at their house and invited us over. I was excited to get out of having to cook agian so we accepted and ended up having a delicious dinner at their home. We ate plenty and helped clean up and went home to peace and quiet and were grateful for the friendships that saved us hours in the kitchen cooking and cleaning up just to have left overs. Rick cooked up the bird he next day and we enjoyed every bite. I think next year really will be at home though since we ate turkey for days with no stuffing left overs and it was somehow just not the same. Baby steps though right!!

So next even after that was my bithday. I got to celebrate my 29th B-day on the 9th of December and I loved it. I have always loved my birthdays and I still set my alarm for 4:19am so that I can see myself turn a year older in the mirror at 4:20am. I have done it since I was a child and I always feel grateful for the wonderful things in my life as I do it. I also am grateful that no grey hairs or wrinkles are in the picture yet either. I thought about this year and all of the changes that are comming and have truely felt blessed. I always feel like my birthday is the start of the new year so I think all of my resolves are formed in that few minutes as I watch myself turn another year older. I have my resolutions set and start to work on them by New years atleast so I feel good about that. We finished out the day by going to lunch at the Blue Finn in Northgate mall. It is an amazing Sushi place that is all you can eat buffet style and although I hate buffets, this was truely amazing and most were made right before i picked them up. I loved it!

Only a few days later on the 13th.is my Dads B-day so I called to say hello to him and love talking to him. If we are busy all year long and cant talk much I can always count on a long conversation with Dad on his or my B-day. I think that is why I love them too. You get thought of or you get to think about others on their day. It was good to talk to him and I love him verry much.

The next day was Jakies B-day. He turned 3 years old at 10:25am and to do our mini celebration Rick and I took him to breakfast before work and just took the time to tell him how much we love him. He loved it and usually does love any time that we are telling him that he is special and that we love him. He got to open presents from Grandma Hutchins, and Grandma & Grandpa Shumway. He loved his Jammies, videos of Curious George, and "hopticoptors" (helecoptors) toys as well. It was fun and led up to a great day the next day when he had his real party. I invited lots of his little Nursery buddies from our current and last ward and qute a few turned out. It was the 2nd to last Saturday for shopping so it was appreciated that parents brought the little ones. We did Chicken nuggets, soda, Cupcakes and home made ice cream. I went wild at the dollar store and got tons of gifts for prizes if the kids participated in the activities and believe me , they did. We played pin the tail on the donkey, dance-freeze game, guessing games, rick read a story, we used poppers full of confetti, we sang, danced and just wore ouselves out!! We did it from 10am to 12pm and it was perfect because we got to do nap time shortly after. I recomend early for little ones from now on. Anyway, Jake got presents and was so excited! He put on a show as he opened each one and thanked his little buddies for comming and being "such a good little buddy". I think we had as much fun as he did and I am glad it went well.