A Date! A WHAT?

When you have 3 kids and opposite schedules, the kind of dates you might be familiar with are more likely to be the edible (but not reccommended..) ones. However, we did, in fact go out together a few days ago, after introducing ourselves, and had a very enjoyable time. We went to the festival of trees at the hospital here in town. It was put together as a benefit for the new Cancer wing that is being added on to the hospital. We decided that we would pick our favorite winning tree and take a picture by it. I loved the candyland type tree, (surprize) and David was a fan of the one he called the "Jesus Time" tree, because it looked like it was from Jesus's time. I also loved the tree with the lime green ribbons going up. After seeing the trees and listening to some of the music, David said that we couldn't call it a date unless we went and got a treat so we went out for a Starbucks hot cocoa. I think I'd say it was the best date we've been on since Baby Rome came to town...The only one too:)

The Perfect One!

Over the river and through the woods to find the perfect Christmas tree! I love the way this feels like the beginning of an Old Fashioned Christmas. This hasn't been something that we've done each year and it really should be. I should make it clear that Dolce was only holding the saw for 1 second during the picture to prove that we brought a real hand saw to cut the tree down. Next year it will be a hatchet:)
I'm looking forward to some fun new Christmas Traditions this year including Elf on the Shelf which will be new to our family. Stay tuned to find out what mischief our family elf will be getting into starting December 1st.

Thankful

I think that Turkey, mashed potatoes, butterscotch pie, Cranberry fluff salad, 1 sweet potato(they're growing on me a little each year that I force one down.) rolls, and being with all the people that make me me is the perfect petri dish for creating Thankfullness for me every year.
This year was no different, so here is the list:

My Fantastic Family
The Gospel
sweaters
Memories of my Grandma as this was the first Thanksgiving without her. I wore a ring of hers to keep her in my thoughts for the day.
Great friends
My Sister!
Butterscotch pie that I didn't make:)
Dolce's little mischief smile
Rome's easy going happy go lucky personality
Mckinley's kind little heart- I think she doesn't have a mean bone in her body.
David's expertise at having fun.

The night before Thanksgiving, I decided to try my hand at making a Butterscotch Pie because last year, I had gone to my Grandma's house and she showed me how she makes all of her pies the day before Thanksgiving. David and I had such a blast making an absolute mess and probably coming uncomfortably close to burning the house down. I think the whole experience must have set David straight because He fears for his life in the kitchen now. And I will never forget his face when he said "Do you know what you're doing?" as milk was bubbling over for the second time and I was holding the pot high up in the air, creating burnt sugar milk rain. Haha! I'm Thankful for him!
Happy Thanksgiving.

A 2 year old princess

Our lovely little Dolce is 2! When you turn 2, you have to have a "tu-tu" party, you know. And so for her special day this is what she wore. We had a birthday dinner for her where we served Gioza, and we also had family members over for Gingerbread and a "snowman soup" bar.(Sometimes referred to as hot cocoa.) Dolce loves marshmallows and so we thought it would be fun to have a hot chocolate bar with different cocoa flavors and toppings for her birthday.

At 2 years old Dolce is so much fun. Here are a few things about her:

She loves chocolate.
She loves to paint and she always drinks the paint water...no matter what color it is.
She likes to play dress up with her sister.
She loves being outside in any weather.
She always pushes a little doll stroller on walks around the block where she stores all sorts of interesting treasures she finds along the way.
She is an expert mess maker and I think I will still be cleaning up terrible 2 messes when she's terrific 25.
Her seizures are well controlled on Trileptal.
She likes to sing.
She loves watching "simba."
She loves going to nursery at church and doesn't get anxious about staying.
She's a very picky eater, but loves macaroni and cheese and yogurt.
Everyone comments on how pretty her eyes are. They are her most striking feature.
If the need arises for fit throwing, she lays facedown on the ground and throws the most impressive tantrums I've ever seen.
She loves being read to and looking at books. Her language is coming, although she isn't as verbal as her sister.
She gets up every morning and gets ready to take Kinley to kindergarten. She also wears a green backpack that we have to hide at night or she tries to sleep with it on.
She's very girly and loves make up.
She hates brushing her teeth and doesn't seem to realize that her wide mouth bawling actually helps the process.
She still bullies both her big sister and baby brother. But she loves them too, and she really misses Kinley while she's at school.
Her most prized possession is "big blank" a purple and yellow blanket she stole from Kinley.
We love her so much!

My Grandma Jackson

My sweet, beautiful, almost perfect Grandma Jackson passed away on November 1st, and I have wanted so much to journal some of the many ways that she has been an influence in my life. I have been very overwhelmed by this task, and it seems very inadequate to dedicate just one chapter of journalling specifically to her when so much of who I am has a root (I hope) in the person that she was.
My Grandma never forgot a birthday of mine or of my children and as we celebrated Dolces birthday on November 3rd, just 2 days after she had passed, I really felt the emptiness and difference that not having her here would be.
She hadn't been feeling well for a couple of weeks when I went to see her on the 24th of October. She thought she had a bad flu bug that wouldn't go away. She had a persistent dry cough that she had had for about a month, and some shortness of breath. She also had nausea and couldn't keep food down. She had lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks. She wondered if I would mind taking her to her Doctors appointment when she could get it scheduled.(Because that very day my Grandpa was having a pacemaker placed.) So I called the Dr. and asked if he would be able to see her as soon as possible. She kept saying that she was so tired and just needed to get better.
The next morning, I picked her up for her appointment and thought that it might be more appropriate to take her to the ER because her shortness of breath seemed to have gotten worse. But she insisted that we go to her appointment with her Dr.
I was with her when the Dr. came in to tell her that she had Leukemia. This was so devastating and I didn't know how to comfort a person who had always been such a comforting influence for me. We were told that she needed to see an oncologist that day and so I got permission to transport her, with my Dad, in her own car to St. George. I called her children to tell them the news.
That evening, before leaving the hospital, My Grandma said the nicest, most sincere things to me. She told me that I was such a special, sweet girl, and that she loved me very much. I wonder if she somehow knew that these would be the last things she would say to me. I'm grateful that I had this day to spend with her where it was just her and me.
Two days later, her white blood cell count had risen so much that it was determined that she needed to be cared for at a specialty center and so she was flown to LDS hospital. The next time I was able to see her, her condition had deteriorated quite a bit.
As things progressively got worse, it came time to say good bye. I want to remember that I thought that she must have loved me most because she tried to talk to me and hug me while I was telling her good bye. (I think she had a way of making everyone believe they were her favorite.) Things happened so quickly with her Leukemia. She passed away exactly 1 week after her diagnosis.
I will always remember how kind my Grandma was, even in the hospital and throughout her end of life care, she remained patient and so kind. I'm so lucky to have known her. I'm looking forward to forever with her.

This picture is, I think, the last picture I have of my Grandma. It was taken at Baby Romes blessing bash on August 8, 2011. She loved babies and when I went to see her at LDS hospital I took Rome with me. When we first got there, she had just had a bone marrow biopsy done and she was in pain and upset. But when she saw Rome, a big smile came to her face and she said, "Hi Baby!" Back in August, at his blessing party, Rome had been awake for most of the day, but when she held him, he fell asleep and she held him for a long time. If I would have known that this would be the last family festivity where I would get to see her, I would have taken more pictures. I'll be cherishing this one.

Halloween!

This Halloween was a difficult one because we were preparing to lose my Grandma Jackson to Leukemia. (I will share more thoughts on this soon.) However, Grandma loved children and she would have wanted them to have a Happy Halloween, even at a time when she was suffering, and so we dressed the kids up and had a little party with sloppy joes, trick or treating, pumpkin carving, and a scary movie.
We only got 1 good picture of everyone but we did get some cute pictures of Dolce in her clown costume from earlier in the day.
Dolly was a clown, Mckinley was Rapunzel, and Rome was a strong man.(That's not just fat:) Happy Halloween!

Staheli Farm!

A couple of years ago, we started going to Staheli Farm corn maze for a fall family outing. This is such a fun place to take our kids, last year we ran out of time to do all the fun things that we would have liked, so we went earlier this year. We packed a picnic and made it to the farm just after it opened for family night. Our camera died before we actually made it to the corn maze so the pictures only show some of the farm activities. There are lots of swing set kind of things, rope swings onto mattresses, animals, a petting zoo, pig races, a slide that slides into corn kernels, a cow train ride, a pumpkin patch, and the air trampoline was new this year. There are so many things to do at the farm that it was hard work getting the kids to go to the corn maze. Once there, however, it's one of everyone's favorite memories of the year. We loved getting lost and finding our way out again. Can't wait for next year!

More Halloween Fun!

These pictures are from a Halloween party on October 22nd. This was one thing that really made Halloween great for me this year. Look at this food table! Everything was so yummy. The way to my heart is definitely through my tummy. The couple in the above picture is actually the haunted Mullet couple, Wes and Necia Mullet. They lived in the house before Brooke and Chad and came back from the grave to host the party. (The really fun part about this is that I grew up across the street from them, and the costumes were so accurate, I knew exactly who they had dressed up as the moment I walked in!) Such a fun party! This took a lot of preparation! Great job, Michelle and Brooke!