Half-full kinda gal

I have little excuse to be unhappy. My family is healthy and doing well. The Mister has a great business that he loves and supports us with. I love my church, and God, and all that he has blessed me with. I get to be a stay-at-home Mom which I LOVE no matter how much I complain about dumb, mundane stuff like the 2 year-old flooding the kitchen drawers numerous times. Despite all the good in my life, I feel my focus lately has been too negative. Endless to-do lists for my other job and tedious tasks that have taken my focus off the idea of giving thanks kinda ruined my attitude this month. I felt that I was always in a state of catching up which made for a grumpy Mom too often. The glass felt half empty for weeks because there were so many distractions the month of November that stressed me out and took me away from what I really wanted to do. I'm going to turn that around pronto! I'm now focusing on my glass as half full. Heck! My glass is over-flowing! The good news is my work load is getting lighter and I am really making a conscious effort to slow down and enjoy life with my family the way they are right now.

It took a short family vacation with no to-do list for me to realize how frazzled I really was. We spent Thanksgiving with my Uncle and Aunt up in farm country near Sacramento. They were such gracious hosts and opened up their gorgeous home to us for a couple days. Thankyou!! We combined traditions, enjoyed delicious food and good conversation, played all day outside on a warm fall day, and came home with more than we left with. The only bummer for me was that my cat allergy really acted up during our stay, but it was nothing a daily allergy pill couldn't fix.

I asked the fam what their favorite part of our adventure was and this is what followed;

TJ: playing air hockey (really?! that's the best you can do?)
J: eating the Thanksgiving feast, playing football, and doing scavenger hunts with Brennah

Coop: NOT eating the feast, and playing football, air hockey and the pool table
Toby: AND playing "ferz-bee" (frisbee)
J: and playing with Simon (Dan & Lauren's dog)
Toby: yeah, and playing with Simon
Coop: and playing with pictures (?)
Dad: Ummm, bacon (as in bacon-wrapped turkey, his pet project, which was fabulous!)

I love this picture because there is so much going on; Lauren passing the football to Toby, Mr. Cooper and Daddy doing their own practice, Tom walking on his hands in between passes, Syd watching it all from the middle, and Simon wandering around the huge lawn waiting for someone to play fetch with him. Thanksgiving morning we did our own mini-Turkey bowl which ended abruptly after Uncle Dan accidentally steamrolled little cousin Brennah. Toby was on my team and he took this new game of football so seriously. He's never been interested before, but our little TJ might just be a running back in training.

I loved it up there. One of my favorite parts was jogging Friday morning through the mist on quiet country roads through orchards and farms while the smell of burning leaves and firewood filled my lungs. I'm pretty sure I could get used to the scenery and pace up there. It was so quiet at night that a car driving on the nearby road sounded like a helicopter, and the stars were beautiful and bright at night.

Syd did not sleep the best while we were away. There was always so much going on that she refused to settle down for a nap. I resorted to taking her on a walk in the stroller down the bumpy road to put her to sleep. I ran inside to get something and came back out to see both uncles turning their sandman magic on. *tangent* Check out that driveway! It's perfect for sending the kids out on bikes, scooters, and crazy-wiggle-board-thingys. She did fall asleep, but woke up as soon as I wheeled her in the back of the house. Instead of sleep Syd played with the puppies and her uncles; two things she talks about often.

Under Uncle Tom's tutelage, Jessie learned to ride the aforementioned crazy-wiggle-board-thingy. She got really good at it and now wants to ride every one she sees. I tried the thing and it is an entirely different beast than a skateboard. Fun though.

We ate a fabulous Thanksgiving meal! The meal itself was so delicious, but it was the company and activities that we did before and after dinner that made it so special. Here is the Mister's long-anticipated bacon-wrapped turkey. We've nicknamed it Hellraiser. It really did have the most delicious flavor and Chef Dave figured out one more modification he will make next time so it will come out perfect. The other turkey (yes, we cooked two!) Aunt Heather and Mom stuffed full of persimmons, sprinkled on some salt and butter and slow cooked it all night. Oh, the meat was melt in your mouth tender. Besides the standard stuffing, mashed spuds, and gravy we ate fresh cranberry/apple/orange relish(my personal fav), Heather's awesome rolls, shrimp cocktail (J's all-time favorite) asparagus, broccoli, corn, etc........ lots of food. I am also pleased to say I did NOT stuff myself and only went back for a second spoonful of stuffing. Of course, I had to save room for Marie Calendar's pies later.

At Ben & Heather's house they have a tradition of playing Bingo complete with dollar-store prizes after Thanksgiving dinner. I was shocked when they laid out a couple boxes full of prizes on the counter, and the excitement level from the kids instantly went up a couple notches. I learned a couple different ways to play Bingo and everyone got multiple turns at the prize counter to pick a treasure. I was amazed at the happiness it brought to my boys to win, pick a prize of bubblegum or gummy candy and share it with everyone. They had as much fun sharing and trying people's treats as playing the game. The Mister wants to incorporate Bingo into our family traditions because we all had so much fun.

We watched Miracle on 34th Street and ate pie while the Mister taught the big kids how to play Munchkin. I took Syd up to bed about 9 o'clock and snuggled her in the bed so she would sleep, but I fell asleep with her. I was totally bummed that I missed out on adult game and fun time. It was all the Mister's fault because he came to check on me and didn't wake me up! ;)

We came home Friday afternoon after more fun games outside and a delicious Thai lunch. Our visit was short, but we had an unforgettable time. Thank you so much Ben and Heather for sharing your home and Thanksgiving traditions with us!

Road trip

Seriously, how do I slow down time? I am almost out of November with another 2 weeks of work that I wanted done during this month. If I didn't need sleep things would progress much faster. I noticed the calendar has been relatively empty this month, but we have been plenty busy.

Two Sundays ago we took an impromptu trip up north to be with my Uncle Ben and Aunt Heather and their family for the day. Uncle Ben was called to be the Stake President the day before, so we left at 6:30 that morning to make the drive up for the 10 AM meeting. Just FYI

for some, being Stake President in our church is a volunteer calling where that person and his two counselors preside over many smaller congregations, or wards. It was fun to hear about Ben and Heather's experiences over the past whirlwind 24 hours. We even learned that one of Ben's counselors is the brother of a long-time friend of Dave's family here in the Bay Area. It truly is a small world and we are all connected to each other. We were happy to see Great-

Grandma Payne again too. She flew out super last minute from Utah to be there for the Sunday

fun. She is an amazing traveler at over 80 years old, and it's always wonderful to catch up with all she is doing and how the family is too. I am so glad we went. Sadly, I have felt that we don't

get together with Ben and Heather as often as we should. They are the closest family on my Mom's side, and I haven't seen them in ages. Thanks for letting us drop in on your big day Ben!

My kids are awesome, too. They sat in the car the three hour drive up and we literally parked the car and went straight into church to sit for a two hour meeting. I was so impressed with their good behavior. The Teddy Grahams and Smarties had something to do with the Littles being good. ;) They certainly earned some fun time and needed to run around afterward, so we headed to Ben and Heather's house for lunch and down time.

They have a beautiful home complete with a pomegranate orchard in the front yard.

It was all I could do to keep the boys out of the orchard because they had their nice Sunday clothes on.

I wouldn't mind having enough land to need a tractor in the back yard one day.

It is so beautiful and peaceful up there.

I couldn't resist taking some family pictures near the trees even though the sun was already down. We will get the chance again because we are going there for Thanksgiving which the kids are really excited about. Jessie was pleased as punch to see her 2nd cousin Brennah again. Sweet Brennah was a gracious hostess to all the kids. She showed them where the fun stuff was and played with Syd for awhile outside when Jessie was unavailable.

We ate a delicious meal, played the piano, tested the air hockey and pool table, kids played while a movie ran in the background, we visited and then it was back in the car to head home. I was supposed to drive home, but it didn't take my tired eyes long to feel like I was floating instead of driving on the road. Dave got a cat nap before lunch so he didn't mind too much that he had to drive home. Next time we do that drive in one day it would be best if both of us didn't get to bed at 2 AM the night before.

Thanks for having us B & H! We will see you for Thanksgiving. :)