Give Thanks... Pt. 2

As you know (if you had been reading my blog before Thanksgiving), I was preparing to run a 10K on Thanksgiving Day.  Well... I totally wussed out.  lol  The week before, when I ran 4 miles, I ended up so sick the rest of that day and I didn't want to be sick on Thanksgiving like that.  So, I ran the 5K instead.  Even at that, I was a little sick afterwards, but not nearly as bad as the week before.  I'm really glad I didn't try for the 10K, I would have hated the rest of the day.  It was still fun to run and we still helped to raise a lot of money.  There were well over 20,000 runners and we raised over $700,000 for the food bank. :)

Before the run:












Ryan took the camera with him and took these pics of the crowd.  This first one is just everyone gathering at the start line.  The starting line was down around the corner on the right.  The second pic is taken during the walk/run.




When I finished the 5K, I waited for Ryan to get close to the finish line with Rori and I met up with them.  Ryan took Rori out of her stroller and gave me the camera so I could take pictures of Rori walking and finishing the 5K.






After the run, we showered and headed over to my sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner.
















After dinner...




On Friday, we went to McKinley Park with Ryan's family. 




























On Saturday, we spent most of the day with my family playing games.  It was a lot of fun!  We specifically planned to play the long games that we never have time to play. 












And I think that's about it!  We love spending Thanksgiving week with family!  We're so grateful for them and for the luxury we have of living in a time when we have reliable cars, safe highways, jet planes, etc., that make it so much easier to see each other. :)

Give Thanks... Pt. 1

***Since my computer is going so slow, I'm going to post these now and the rest later.  Part 2 will hopefully come soon.  (It has taken me ALL DAY just to get this far!)

We headed down to Sacramento on Saturday, the 22nd.  It's a long drive but well worth it. :) 

While we were at my sister's, Ryan made a cake.  This is becoming a bit of a tradition, so I propose that next year, Ryan plans ahead for what he wants to make (I vote Turtle Cheescake!) and then we can make sure that the ingredients are available.  Who will second the motion? ;)





The kids all had fun playing together...






Playing tennis at the park with the Roser girl cousins...










When Ryan and I played a match, the girls became cheerleaders.  Of course, they all cheered for me. ;)  lol






The next morning, we went to the Railroad Museum in Old Sac.  They had started decorating for Christmas...






















Hanging out at Grandma's house...






Whenever we come down to Sacramento, we make sure to visit with my friend Heather and her zoo, I mean... family. lol  Their house is full of kids and love and it's always fun to visit with them and see how big the kids are getting!






















Back at Grandma's...  Have you ever looked out your window onto the dark street infront of your house and seen witches flying by on their brooms?  But then you blink and they're gone?   And instead, there are just regular people out sweeping up the leaves?  If so, don't worry, you're not going crazy or anything.  They are real.  Here's proof:


Cadi loves to help with baking.  She and Grandma are making bread rolls for Thanksgiving dinner:

Slow Going

My computer is going WAY slow. :S I hope this actually posts.

Also, I'm going WAY slow because of my back. But it's getting better so I'm not complaining. :)

And speaking of slow... I'm making a slow cooker split pea soup today and mmm, mmm, mmm, it's gonna taste so good!

Christmas Survey

It's taking forever for PhotoBucket to upload my pics, so while I wait for that to happen, I'll do this little survey that my friend Amber sent me awhile ago...


1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?

Both. I mostly use wrapping paper tied with ribbons and bows, but sometimes I use gift bags. Any other time of year, I use gift bags most.



2. Real tree or Artificial?

Artificial. I have two fake trees and I love them! I love that they are both the perfect size I want, I don't have to pay for them each year, they are pre-lit, and I think they look great - especially once I put all the decorations on them! Light a few candles that are pine scented and you wouldn't know the difference. Plus - no watering, dry pine needles, sap, or spiders to worry about.



3. When do you put up the tree?

I like my trees up as early as possible! If we were home for Thanksgiving, they would go up the day after Thanksgiving - maybe even Thanksgiving night! But since we usually go to California for Thanksgiving week, I try to get all my Christmas decorations out before I even leave. This year, my trees were up one week before Thanksgiving.



4. When do you take the tree down?

Usually around New Year's.



5. Do you like eggnog?

I like it, but I don't "love" it. In fact, when we have it (only a couple times during the season, including Christmas morning with breakfast), I like to add milk to it because sometimes it's too rich for my liking.



6. Favorite gift received as a child?

Which year? Overall? I would have to say my Cabbage Patch kid - but it's really hard to say because every year I was happy with my gifts. I just distinctly remembering wanting a Cabbage Patch kid SO MUCH and I knew my parents couldn't afford it. I was so happy when my mom gave me one! (She had a friend who made it for a lot less than she could get it in the store, so she had one made for me and also my sisters.) My parents didn't have a lot of money, but my mom always managed to get us gifts that were just right and what we loved. :)



7. Hardest person to buy for?

My FILs. I still don't understand why it's always my responsibility to buy all of Ryan's family their gifts when Ryan doesn't buy my family gifts. How did this work out that way? Oh yeah - because if I left his family's gifts to him, they would never get anyhing! ;)



8. Easiest person to buy for?

My girls. Especially Rori since she is so little and loves everything from dolls and stuffed animals to cars and trains. lol



9. Do you have a nativity scene?

A few. lol



10. Mail or email Christmas cards?

Mail... not that I've sent mine out yet... I need to do that this week!



11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

I honestly can't think of anything. I've witnessed people getting some very "interesting" gifts before... but I can't think of any bad ones that I've received.



12. Favorite Christmas Movie?

Hmmm... I'm going to go with White Christmas.



13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

The day after Christmas. Seriously! lol I love Christmas shopping. :) I keep an eye out for good deals constantly.



14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?

I've recycled gifts but I don't know if I've recycled Christas gifts.



15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

So many sweets and treats to choose from! Cherry Kisses, chocolate covered popcorn, reindeer corn, pirouettes (the thin wafers rolled up around chocolate... YUM!), hot cocoa... Mmmmm!



16. Lights on the tree?

Absolutely



17. Favorite Christmas song?

Too many favorites! O Holy Night, Carol of the Bells, Variations of the Canon, Angels We Have Heard on High, Mary's Lullaby, Breath of Heaven, Handel's Messiah... way, way, WAY too many favorites! I love holiday music! :)



18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?

Stay home. Now that we have our girls, we like to stay home and do our traditions with them. We always welcome loved ones to visit us though! And once in a great while, we will probably go visit some family, but mostly, we love to celebrate at home. :)



19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers?

Sure can!



20. Angel on the tree top or a star?

Both! A star on the top of our front room "pretty" tree and an angel on the top of our family room "memories" tree. :)



21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?

Christmas Morning!



22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?

I like Amber's answer: Greed. I add: Commercialization. Christmas is a fun time to decorate for and give presents, but that isn't what it's all about. I don't mind all the Santa's, snowmen, and reindeer, but I wish people would celebrate the birth of our Savior just as much as they celebrate Santa.



23. Favorite ornament theme or color?

Ones from vacations we've taken; as we put them up, we remember the fun things we've done together.



24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?

I don't really care! I personally like to have something really simple like a roast. That way most of the day is just spent together, not in the kitchen.



25. What do you want for Christmas this year?

I don't know. I don't expect to get much really, since I already bought two new nativities last month and I told Ryan they can count as my gifts this year. lol

This is the post where I finally get back to real life.

We have been really enjoying visiting with family! First our trip to Sacramento for Thanksgiving week, then this weekend having my mom and brothers here for the Festival of the Nativities. This morning, my mom and brothers left though, so that means it's time to get back to real life. It's a good thing I like my real life. ;)

As we speak, I am finally uploading the hundreds of pictures I have taken over the last couple of weeks. My back is still really sore but with drugs and a heat pad, it's feeling much better than it was. I can function. :)

Believe it or not, we're heading out of town again in four days! We will be taking a little weekend trip to Idaho for our annual Christmas party with our very good friends, the Davis's and Maschek's. We love our annual Christmas weekend with them and are excited to go this weekend. And since this will just be a short weekend visit, getting ready for it should be a piece of cake. .... Ha! lol Actually, it is... except that our gifts this year are homemade and I'm still working on one of them. I better finish that up soon, huh?

So... I'm back and trying to get back to normal. Pictures are uploading and once they've been properly saved (rotated, red eye's removed, etc), I will post a few. Likely in a slideshow since there will be so many. One way or another, they are coming soon. :)

I'm sorry... so sorry.

It's takiing me awhile to get back here. And even now, I don't have the time to post anything worthwhile. I still haven't uploaded my pictures from our Thanksgiving visit.

My mom and 3 of my brothers arrived yesterday and are visiting this weekend for the Festival of the Nativities taking place in our church building this weekend. We are going over there in just a little bit. We're having a nice visit but unfortunately, first thing this morning, I threw out my back. Lovely. So I've been limited on what I can do. When you have company and have just invited over the little extended family you actually have in the area, it's not the best time to throw out your back. At least there are a lot of helpers. :)

This morning my mom and Acadia made a gingerbread house. (I bought a kit that had the house made already and they just had to decorate it. The house's roof arrived cracked so they did have to mend that first, but mostly it was just decorating fun.) It turned out really cute. They even put a reindeer head mounted above the front door. lol Whenever I get around to posting my other pics, I'll post pics of this weekend, too.

Does anyone have any miracle cures for back pain? ;)

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

We had a really nice visit "home" for Thanksgiving. The drive down and up were both very uneventful, which is always nice. And we had a great time visiting family and friends. I have so many pictures to post but I haven't uploaded any yet. I've been too busy! I'm so glad that I decorated for Christmas before we left for California! lol

As wonderful as our visit was, it is so good to be home! It is great to sleep in our own beds, in our own rooms. :)

As I said, I'm busy! And right now I need to run Cadi to school and do a plethora of errands. But we're home, we're safe, we had a great Thanksgiving, and I will post more soon. :)