Thanksgiving 2015 - Thankful ~ Grateful ~ Blessed

Thanksgiving is THE.BEST.DAY.OF.THE.YEAR. Hands Down. Always has been, always will be.

I absolutely love Thanksgiving. And that is thanks to the amazing and blessed childhood I had. I'm not sure how old I was when we started going to Fairfield for Thanksgiving, at my Uncle J'Earl and Aunt Donna's, but it is the only way I remember Thanksgiving ever being. If we could manage, we would drive down the night before. We always loved that best. That way, we had more play time. The girls played Barbies for HOURS. But really, we just set up the storyline and created our houses and dressed our barbies for hours. Then we would get distracted and do something different. Sometimes the boys would coerce us out of our hangout space to join them for Kick the Can and fun nighttime games out in the cul de sac. And of course there was always Monopoly and Chicken Foot and the Sign Game and trampoline fun and everything awesome in childhood.
Thanksgiving morning always started with a soccer game where we joined my cousins' friends and their friends and anyone. I was never good, but I loved this tradition! It was often cold, and wet. But it got us out of the house and away from our parents for at least an hour or more.
Back at the house was warming up, changing, and the beginning of the many tasks needed to get an incredible dinner on the table for the masses of family that we are. I always loved to see what we were going to do as place settings and table decorations. We would cram all of us in there and lengthen the table as much as possible so we could all be together. The food was always incredible (but what Thanksgiving Feast isn't?) The company was the BEST! My memories are filled with smiles and laughter and love.
In my family we all remember the one year where Uncle J really wanted to cook the turkey in his new smoker. The funny part was that he kept asking Aunt Donna how she wanted her turkey and she kept saying, "Just a little salt and oil" but then Uncle J would do it a different way instead. And then when it actually came down to dinner time, the turkeys weren't ready yet. So we ate without them. They finally came out when we were all done, and completely stuffed with everything else. We enjoyed them for leftover sandwiches the next day tho. Apparently, you don't have to have turkey to have a scrumptious feast!

As we got older, the crowd got smaller. The hardest part about getting older, I think, is that our memories become just that.

The reason I love Thanksgiving is because it is a day all about food, and especially FAMILY. To say I love mine almost feels like an understatement. I adore them! I am so richly blessed to call them mine. None of us is perfect, and I'd be the first to share with you all their quirks and idiosyncrasies and faults (including my own), but I wouldn't trade them for anything (even tho I did BEG my parents to let me be an only child back in my younger years. Never mind that I'm the youngest. hahaha!)

The thing I dislike the MOST about living in Nebraska, is that we aren't close to family. We've been blessed to have family visit us for 2 of our 4 Thanksgivings here, but it still isn't the same.

But I have still enjoyed my quiet (can I call anything quiet if Brek is involved?) day of gratitude and thankfulness with my 2 boys. The silliness in the simplicity of our celebration makes my heart happy.

This year we stayed in our pjs all day long. It snowed through a good portion of the morning, so Brek enjoyed some romping out in the snow and I got some piano practiced, books read, and pointless games played on my phone, plus a phone call with my sister. I got to eat cereal for breakfast (because we actually bought me some of my milk for the holiday weekend - never happens) and had some nice cuddle time with a comfy blanket and my son. He entertained himself pretty well for the morning, did some playing and watching of starfall and pbskids. We had a late lunch and then we all took naps. Well, Brek did "quiet" time. The boys watched a basketball game and as dinner time approached, I hopped in the shower and the boys set the table and made dinner and vacuumed. Dinner was deli meat and cheese panini sandwiches with pesto and a side of rotisserie (aka "crack") chicken, with some sparkling cider mixed with berry juice left over from our travels last week. Not a well balanced meal. But filling and delicious! Afterwards we played a round of "Hide the Turkeys" and sang a couple primary songs; then Joe asked to watch the movie "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Weird is all I have to say, but still enjoyable. Then Joe made us hot fudge milkshakes and Brek was off to bed after he finished his.

Definitely nothing traditional about our day. But wonderful in it's own special way.

This is the first year that I have participated in a theme of thankfulness on social media, and I am so glad that I did. Although there are many things I am thankful for that I have not mentioned, I decided I wanted to find and mention something specific from throughout my day, so that I could focus on the positives and the blessings, even if things weren't really going well. Sometimes life has a lot of challenges, and it is hard to move our focus away from the negative things. My life has not been easier, but I can honestly say that I have felt happier. There have only been a few days where I have really had to dig and find something that I was thankful for. I do have so much to be grateful for. I do have so many people and things and events in my life that God blesses me with. And as I work to improve my relationship with the Lord, I repeatedly recognize the love that He gives me, even tho I am undeserving of it. He is the reason for all that is good and great and wonderful and lovely in my life. And He is the one that pulls me through the crappy parts as well. He is the happiness that fills my heart.

A while back I saw a sign that read "Thankful ~ Grateful ~ Blessed." It has filled my mind on many occasions and I guess I could say it has become my personal motto. I am Thankful. I am Grateful. And yes, I am Blessed. Happy Thanksgiving to you and all of your many blessings!

Picture-less Family Vacation

We just got back from our family vacation. This is the first vacation that we have taken that has just been the 3 of us. Every other trip we have done has been to be with family. So this was definitely something new. The other "new" element, was that we splurged and got a hotel. For 2 nights! Brek now wishes he could live in one. (Isn't there an old tv show/movie or 2 about this?)

Anyway. Like always, I brought my camera. I actually pulled it out to take a few pictures the first day, and the battery immediately died. I did at least remember to bring the charge cord for it, so we plugged it in our first night. And then I remembered to bring my camera along for the remaining 2 days. And never pulled it out again. So thus the title. An awesome and memorable family vacation, and no photographic proof. (To be perfectly honest, I think I have 3 or 4 pictures on our phone, but in case you weren't aware, our phone is still in the "flip" variety and it's photos don't even upload to facebook, so ...)

Our family vacation was 3 days, 2 nights in Denver. Originally we were going to go to Cheyenne, but Joe was able to get an appointment with is doctor on a Monday WITHOUT school, so we changed the original 2 days, 1 night in Cheyenne to 3 days, 2 nights in Denver. I had assumed that EVERYTHING would be closed on Easter Sunday, so that meant that we would need the day prior to be able to play around the city. After spending Easter Sunday in the city, I am reminded how that culture is SO.COMPLETELY.DIFFERENT.THAN.SMALL.TOWN.NEBRASKA. I shouldn't have worried about it. But I'm also not sad that we had the extra day.

I'd say there were 3 downsides to our trip. Maybe to some, some of these might sound like excuses or justifications or whatever. But I really only am writing about them because despite the fact that I have been enjoying my time with my 2 boys these past 3 days, these elements have been on my mind. It has been my inner battle, and for the safe of journaling and expressing thoughts and reality, I want to include them BEFORE I write about the actual vacation. So, judge all you want. I'm just being real and me here. First, it was over Easter. Although we enjoy the fun "hunt" and "basket" elements of Easter, I really try to focus on the spiritual element. It is, after all, the MOST IMPORTANT ELEMENT OF LIFE. Brek was of course rather upset that we missed our town's egg hunt on Saturday. And then by Sunday was even more distraught that we were not joining in on somebody else's egg hunt either. And in all honesty, although we talked to him about what Easter was about, and he can tell you that it's about Christ being resurrected, we didn't do anything else SPIRITUAL with Easter. We let it pass this year. Hard to do. But done. Second, our trip also fell over General Conference, which is a really important 2 days for Mormons where we listen to our modern, living Prophet and other church leaders. We receive counsel and guidance and inspiration. I have only ever missed watching Conference in my lifetime because of something I could not get out of. But once again, for the safe of our family time, we decided to not watch any of the sessions. Not necessarily proud of it, nor could I say I'm ashamed or embarrassed either. It's just what happened. (And since I've missed it all, I've also been trying to decide what kind of spiritual study I want to start so that I am catching up and watching or reading these talks that I have missed. I am grateful that they are so readily available via the internet.) The final downside would be health. Having a son who is go-go-go almost constantly, with 2 parents that battle such physically limiting health issues is a challenge, and often what makes our parenting less than ideal. I battled a very intense headache/almost migraine for the first 2 days, joined with some "normal" but no less debilitating back/neck pain. And Joe, well, just needed a toilet.

So, now that the negatives are out there, it's time for the positives (and the narrative): We left Saturday morning. We spent Friday (which was the first day of our Easter Break at home, relaxing, cleaning, and mildly getting ready.) We woke up Saturday and packed. No real rush. We got to Denver around lunchtime. We ate at KFC. With a child who fights eating, the constant reminder of "We can't go play until you finish eating" still gets REALLY OLD! And he sure was excited about the playing part. We went to the Children't Museum there in Denver. My mom and I took him there a little over a year ago. Joe had never been, and Brek has been begging to go back ever since. We were not prepared for huge massive crowds. Apparently, the day before Easter is a big one for the museum. This put Brek in his "observation mode" despite his exuberant outbursts and huge smiles about going to the museum while he was supposed to be eating lunch. He still had fun. And he handled the masses well. We stayed until closing, and even then, he wasn't ready to leave. Most of our time was spent at the ball area, of course. But he explored and played in some of the parts he hadn't in the last time. Then we went down to the firetruck area, which hadn't held his attention much a year ago. But he really like it during this visit. At one point, another little brown boy about his age engaged Brek in some awesome "pretend play" and the 2 of them were off fighting fires and exploring houses and driving trucks to their little heart's content. It was precious! After the firetruck, we went up and did bubbles for a bit. Brek really loved the vapor/smoke ones that he could catch. And then he convinced us to go outside to the carnival area which was part of the Easter extravaganza and he played with hula hoops and got to ride a little barrel train. He had only minimal interest in the instruments that were there, but then again, he's around those (and of a much more "realistic" variety) on a regular basis. He then went over to the playground area and attempted some monkey bars as well as an attempt at engaging with/showing off for some other kids. Then joined a large group on the tire swing. And then we ended back at the firetruck area for the last 15 minutes before we got kicked out.
From there, we checked into our hotel and then went to dinner at PF Chang's. I've had a gift card and free appetizer coupon for several years. We ended up eating on the patio since it was a 10 minute wait instead of 40, and in reality, it was closer to 5 minutes. It was still almost too cold to eat outside, but not bad really, and the atmosphere was fun. Our waitress scored us a 2nd free appetizer so we ended up with lettuce wraps and green bean fries. Brek had his first "sweet and sour chicken" and kept talking about how the sauce was AMAZING! I got "almond cashew chicken" which was yummy, but also made me wish I had just gotten honey chicken instead since that's my favorite. And Joe got "salmon avocado sushi." He let me try a bite, and as I had never eaten sushi before, I was pretty hysterical and nervous. But it was yummy. I also tried their strawberry, cucumber, and lime infused water and it was DELICIOUS!!! We ordered dessert to go and went back to the hotel and enjoyed their famous chocolate cake and some chocolate raspberry wontons. It was a really fun night!
Our hotel room had 2 rooms in it, so that was nice because Brek got to sleep in his own room. He also enjoyed the tv time, tho he is still getting a grasp on the concept of tv since we watch everything on the computer. He doesn't fully understand that he doesn't get to watch WHATEVER he wants when he wants to. Sunday, we enjoyed breakfast at the hotel and then went swimming. Brek was disappointed that there wasn't a hot tub, but the pool was nice and warm and felt good anyway. And the shallow end was only 3 feet so Brek was able to get around on his own. We brought our own food to make paninis for lunch (although we forgot the panini press at home, so it ended up just being fancy sandwiches) and then took naps. Once we were up, we went on a search for a park. With a bathroom. This proved to be more challenging to expected. We ended up in the heart of a huge residential area, with a really huge park. And it seems going to a park on Easter Sunday in the afternoon is what EVERYONE IN DENVER does. Haha! We did find some portopottys at least, but the playground area was on the complete opposite end of the park, and then there was no parking anywhere either. So after some deliberating we decided to head back towards the hotel and try and find another park. I think we tried 3 or 4 before we found a park area with a visitor's center with a bathroom, and after paying an entrance fee, had less than 30 minutes to play there before it closed. We wanted to fly kites; there was no wind. We also had some "Easter basket toys" that I hid around the park for Brek to find. I guess the way we do Easter baskets in our family is that we hide everything, not just the eggs. And there wasn't much candy anyway. Brek's favorite toy was a rocket that I found. He actually had asked for a rocket for Christmas, so I was excited when I found this one for less than $5. And it's something he can totally power and do himself. So after Brek found all his toys and we played for about 10 minutes, we got back in the car and went back to the hotel and swam again. Then we ventured out for dinner. This also proved a little more challenging than expected. We ended up in downtown Denver. Joe was on the hunt for a bathroom. I was in charge of finding parking. Had to pay for it over the phone, after setting up the car and the credit card into their system, and then having to call several times because it didn't make sense. Then, the restaurant that we had looked up wasn't open, so we had to improvise. We ended up at Hard Rock Cafe. The food and experience was meh, but still memorable. :)
Monday, after enjoying breakfast at the hotel again, we did some swimming. Then packed up and left the hotel. We went shopping at Costco, which, after living in such a small town, is always a fun thing to do. Then we enjoyed lunch at Panera Bread - because Joe knows I love deli type places. Then Joe had his doctor's appointment, and after that took 1 1/2 hours longer than planned, we headed home. We had to go home via band practice for Joe tho, so we actually didn't get home until late.

Saturday was definitely the favorite of the trip. But truthfully speaking, it was just nice to spend time together. We played board games. We watched cartoons. We slept. We cuddled. We laughed. We swam. We spent a ton of money, which is only a big deal because, as Brek says it, "we're trying to dopt a baby." We made memories. We were together, focused on each other. And someday, we'll do it again.

December Part 4 - The rest of our vacation and New Year's Eve

One morning Brek convinced Grandma Jensen to pull out her cello. This is one of Brek's favorite things to do when we visit.

Then Grandma suggested we get out one of the old broken violas hanging on her wall and turn it into a more appropriately-sized cello for Brek. She pulled out an extra cello bow and go to work teaching Brek proper position and technique.

And then they started playing duets:

This is one of my favorite pictures:

Another day Joe & I had a date and when and did some shopping. We went to lunch at Zupas like we always do which is my favorite restaurant and I got the same thing that I always get. So yummy!!! We did some clothes and shoes and Costco shopping too. It's nice to visit a city after living in rural country. Then we met up with my sister and her family and saw the new movie Annie. Very cute!

On New Year's Eve day, we drove up to Salt Lake and went to the zoo. It was a free admission day. I knew it was going to be cold, but I wasn't quite expecting freezing. Brek was pretty whiny and unpleasant. There weren't as many animals out as we had hoped. But we hung in there for an hour or so and called it good. We did get to see the gorillas (inside, thankfully), and an elephant out playing in the snow, and the sea lions and seals (not even the polar bear was out!), but we did see the brown bears, and then the tigers too. They were pretty active.

Trying to get a picture with the tiger. Not such a good one:

Then inside. Brek liked the big turles the most:

Before we left we stopped and got hot chocolate in the zoo cafe.

That evening cousins arrived!!!

Playing with Jensen, Eliza, Mara, and Olaf

It just so happens that Mara and Eliza's new Christmas pjs are the EXACT SAME ONES that my mom got for my nieces, which match Brek's pjs. So they wore them on New Year's Eve together.

Tea party with cousins and Olaf:

Brek, Eliza, Mara, Lizzie, Olaf, and Sabrina

Our brother-in-law Matt got a race car driving simulator for Christmas, so he brought it over for our New Year's Eve party. As the evening dwindled down and got later, even Brek took a turn. His cousins Rose, Nora, and Mara were helpful so he could have several turns. Apparently he's really good at crashing:

It was fun partying with the Jensen family to ring in the New Year. It was the first time Brek has gotten to stay up until Midnight, which he of course thought was totally awesome (and of course made for a cranky boy the next day). We're grateful that Brek has such wonderful cousins that play so well with him. Happy 2015 to our family and friends!!!

December Part 2 - Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, & Boxing Day

Christmas Eve we spent with Joe's younger brother Dan, and his family, and Joe's mom. Brek, of course, loved the cousin time! (In fact, to the lack of his poor manners and the fact that he is 4 and barely has any even tho I try, the moment we arrived at Joe's mom's house after a long day of driving, he walked in and said, "Where are my cousins!?" No "Hi Grandma!" or "We're here Grandma" or "I missed you Grandma." Just asking for the cousins. Thankfully he had some wonderful time with Grandma Jensen to make up for it.)

Anyway, back to Christmas Eve. Here's Brek and Madison playing with cars. They especially got giggly when they would crash them in to each other, which I also thought was hilarious.

And once Matthew warmed up to us, he enjoyed going and sitting on the track and getting in the way as the cars went around. He thought he was pretty funny.

Once Dan was home from work, we got started on our festivities. Dan & Michelle had planned a "Bethlehem Dinner" with grapes, cheeses, crackers, mini-hotdogs, a veggie tray, and sparkling grape juice. We were originally going to eat it on the floor, but with the grape juice and nice carpet, we decided against that. Brek dressed up as Joseph and Madison dressed up as Mary and we all ate together. It was super cute and so much fun! I thought it was a great idea of creating a kid-friendly (and still adult-enjoyable) dinner for such a special evening.

After dinner we did craft time. I found this idea on Pinterest, and loved it because it was something all of the kids could do on their own if they wanted to. And it was simple enough that it wasn't too much work for me to get ready.

Madison was pretty funny to watch because at her mom's request, she tried to be thoughtful and meticulous about putting the pieces of tissue paper on the contact paper. But then she lost interest so she just took a handful of the tissue paper, dropped it on the contact paper and quickly spread it around until all the sticky parts were covered. She's one of those "craft projects are interesting but spending a lot of time on it isnt' my cup of tea." Such a cutie!

Brek took a bit more time on his project. And Matthew decided he wanted to make one too, so Grandma Jensen helped.

James wasn't feeling too well, but it was fun that he joined in.

The finished projects:

This one is Brek's:

Matthew cuddling with Grandma Jensen

Next up for the evening was cutting our sugar cookies:

Dan had a fun gift-passing game ready for us as well, which I guess their Grandma Jensen had started as some sort of tradition when they were kids. It was fun, and even little Matthew loved passing the gifts around the circle as Dan read "The Night Before Christmas."

The last thing we had planned was reading the Nativity story (and the kids were going to act our the story.) But Brek and Madison decided they had a little play to do first. They passed the little microphone back and forth. I don't remember what they were saying, but we had a hard time keeping our laughter down. Brek thinks he kept talking about how the play was going to start soon. They are cute kids!

Our nativity play ended up with puppets and dressed up figures, and Brek changing between being Joseph and a wise man, and then Mary becoming a wise man too.

Our nativity play didn't result in quite the gentle spirit and calm of the evening that we had hoped for, so we ended up watching the short nativity movie on lds.org as our ACTUAL final activity and the kids were very calm and quiet and enjoyed it.

Our movie watchers

We had such a wonderful time with Dan & Michelle's family! It was the only time during our Christmas vacation that we got to be with them, so we are grateful that we got to spend the evening together.

Back at Grandma Jensen's house, we all opened up one present and then went to bed. Here are the boys all ready to open their Christmas Eve presents:

Brek got pjs! (We were hoping to find Baymas pjs for him, but got Lightning McQueen instead.) Brek was thrilled!

All the presents out and under the tree, ready for Christmas morning:

Stockings and presents from Santa. (Joe's Christmas Eve present was that I finished his stocking.)

An up-close shot of Brek's delivery from Santa:

I was super excited about our Christmas morning plans: We had decided that we definitely wanted to do more on Christmas to acknowledge that we were celebrating Christ's birth so we had talked about the things we do to celebrate our birthdays. Joe's suggestion had been a birthday cake, but I figured that there are already plenty of sweets around Christmas that we probably didn't need any more. Brek's suggestion was breakfast in bed. We both loved the idea, but were unsure if Joe's mom would be on board with the idea, and weren't exactly sure about the logistics of it, but we decided to try and move forward with it.
Once Brek was up, we all got up and went into the kitchen and made breakfast together. We had smoothies, pancakes, bacon, and sausage. Brek enlisted Grandma Jensen in re-reading "The Magic Curtain" again (as we had read it Christmas Eve before bedtime, per Jensen family tradition.)

Then we all went back upstairs to the room where Brek was sleeping, and sat together on the bed and the floor and ate breakfast together. We re-read the scripture account of Christ's birth, and per Brek's request, we also watched the nativity video again. (I think he watched that video about 10 times during our trip. He loved the spirit that he felt when he watched it, and it was so sweet to see him want to keep the focus on Jesus through the wonderful Christmas season.)

Finally, we convinced Brek that it was time to go see what Santa brought and open presents. I seriously was more anxious and excited about it than he was. We started with his stocking first

Here he is showing his Baymax action figure:

He got the whole set:

Then he opened the presents from Santa. Here he is giving loves to his Baymax toy. Horray! (Santa had a really, REALLY hard time finding one of these.)

Joe and Brek reading the book about dinosaurs that Santa brought:

Playing the fishing game that Santa brought:

Santa also brought "Baymax wrapping paper!" which in reality was a Baymax poster.

Then we moved on to the presents under the tree from family. My sister got him a Spiderman punching bag and boxing gloves.

Brek got lots of games and activities from us. One of the activities that we wrapped up for Brek to open was all of our swimming gear. So the day after Christmas, we went over to the Provo Rec Center and went swimming. Brek was disappointed that the big slides weren't open, but we still had a fun time!

The rest of Christmas Day was filled with playing and relaxing. I'm pretty sure we all took naps. Brek and Grandma Jensen went out in the snow (that came that night) and built a snowman. Grandma Jensen of course made Christmas dinner, so several of Joe's siblings stopped by in the evening. Brek had fun seeing cousins and playing. Joe & I got to go deliver dinner to Joe's sister Janelle and her family, who all weren't feeling well. It was a fun and happy day!

On Boxing Day, Joe was invited to go play at the Locust Salon (which is the house of our brother-in-law's brother, who also happens to be a former professor.) Joe was able to borrow a tuba from a friend, and of course enjoys getting to play.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christ-filled Christmas!