Turkey Day - Parades, Food, and Family, Can A Day Get Better??

The Great, All-American Holiday - Thanksgiving!! I love this holiday! It is my favorite holiday in November (it's the only holiday in November - hee hee hee). But seriously, don't you just love Thanksgiving? Little did those Pilgrims know that their peaceful dinner with the Indians would change the course of history and give us one of the best holidays ever invented!!! 

So yesterday was the blessed holiday and it was fantastic! My bad luck took a break for an entire day, and I was so happy because I had some major cooking to do.

We started out at my family's house - we got up early and started watching the Thanksgiving Parade...

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The Thanksgiving Parade is the number one best parade ever in the entire world! They have giant balloons, a million marching bands with baton twirlers, and, most importantly, broadway performances and the Rockettes!!! I look forward to this parade all year long! I mean, as soon as Christmas decorations his the shelves in my local Wal-Mart, I could feel the excitement for the parade just start building and building! I feel like this is as close as I get to the broadway world I love so much, especially lately since I am in a bit of a "theater drought" in my life (don't worry, I get to see Lion King on broadway in January). In fact, my dream is to one day have a studio apartment, right there on main street, and be able to cook my turkey and look out the window and see the giant Snoopy balloon floating by! It would be like magic!!

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We turned on the Thanksgiving Parade and then started the cooking....I made my New York cheesecake and then got started on my "assigned dish", vegetables. Now, I don't really like very many vegetables, so I don't know many fancy vegetable dishes. Had it been an "every day" type of dinner I might have just opened a can of green beans, a can of peas, and a can of corn, nuke them in the microwave and call it a day. But this was Thanksgiving - the dinner of all dinners! So I had spent some serious time before hand doing some homework, and Better Homes and Gardens gave me some recipes that sounded full of stuff that people who eat vegetables might like...I picked two of them and that was that. 

So anyways, I started my gourmet vegetable dishes (with a prayer in my heart) while Laney worked on her rolls and mom and dad buzzed around making other various dishes essential to a perfect Thanksgiving feast.

Finally it was time! Granny and Papa came first and then came Grams and Gramps. You should have seen the spread! The house looked beautiful, the food looked beautiful and everyone looked so happy! 

We stuffed our bellies full of goodness, with barely enough room for dessert!

Right after a clean up, Jon and I headed to his house for another giant feast. I felt a little bit bad because we got there and everything was already finished - and it looked great! MomS had worked really hard and everything was so looked so nice! It was nice to have most of the family there too - we hadn't seen Keith since last Christmas! The food was fantastic, and yes, Jon and I found room in our stomachs for everything - including dessert.

After dinner everyone went in to the living room with the intent of chit-chatting and catching up, but it wasn't long before everyone was unconscious!

Later we did some singing around the piano and then watched Kung Fu Panda (a fantastic movie for all ages - I give it two thumbs up!) and headed to bed.

Talk about the perfect Thanksgiving! Two perfectly traditional meals, Two fantastic families, One great parade, and One long nap!

Perfect Day!!

Bad Luck!

You know the old superstition about breaking mirrors? They say that one broken mirror equals 7 years bad luck.
Now I have never been a believer in superstitions until last week.......
Before I start the story we need to go back...way back to a time before I was married.....
Now my parents bought this camping trailer and I decided that I wanted to turn it into a little "dorm room" type home so I could have the illusion of moving out without actually moving out. I was cleaning it all out and getting ready to paint, but there was a big mirror in there that I wanted out. I tried to take it out carefully, but alas, it fell out of my hands and shattered into a million pieces on the gravel outside. Of course we all laughed and made jokes about bad luck, and we went of with our cleaning.
Fast forward to last summer.
My sister-in-law Joy Lynn was in the Miss Navajo County Pageant, and, of course, I was all about helping her out. Long story short, I let her borrow some things including my little full body mirror that I had taken to the State Pageant. When we were bringing it home from Snowflake, you guessed it, it broke - a big crack right down the middle!
Again we laughed and joked about my imminent bad luck and threw it away.
Little did I know that all of the bad luck would attack me at one time!!!
Monday night I was heading to the Institute Building at ASU because that is where I pick up my sweet husband after work. I had just pulled to a stop in the turning lane and I settled in for a long wait - that light is really long!
Just then I saw a car pulling out of the gas station on my left and it was heading straight towards me!!! I honked my horn, but to no avail - he ran right in to the front of my car! I was so shocked!
We pulled in to the gas station to get out of the road (which, I found out later, was a really bad idea) and he gave me his name and phone number - then he tried to leave. I demanded that he show me his insurance information, and he reluctantly did, but was rushing me the entire time. I then asked him to wait for me to call the police (mistake #2 - I had left my cell phone at home to charge) and he told me that he had to leave. He was slurring his words and he was very messy so I assume he was drunk. I asked him another 2 times but he just got in his car and drove off!!!
I was so upset!!!!!
I called Jon who immediately started walking from the institute to the gas station.
Now there was a wonderful man there who helped me out. His name was Melvin and he was an older gentleman who asked if I was ok. At first I was a little nervous because of stranger danger and all of that, but when he started talking about his daughters studying business and medicine at ASU and about the flower shop he worked at, I became very comfortable and I was so grateful that he was there with me while I waited for Jon.
Jon tried to call the police who refused to come because the other guy already left - which was very rude! So we just headed home.
When we got home Jon tried to call the guy who hit me to ask for the phone number to his insurance company. I had written down the name of the company and his policy number but not the phone number. The guy then told Jon that he had already taken care of it - we would pay for our car and he would pay for his. He said that this would be fair since it was partially my fault. Jon asked how it was my fault and he explained that I was trying to pull in to the gas station and didn't have my lights on......such a lie!!!!
Of course I was very upset that he would lie!! How dare he!!!
Anyways, we called his insurance and set up a claim and they came out to look at the car and everything - and now we are waiting for them to get a hold of him. He hasn't been answering the phone when they call.....shocker huh?
So that is the story of our lives right now. I have been asleep for most of the past 4 days because I have had some neck pain that is pretty much whip lash that caused muscle spasms....so I have had some pretty serious prescriptions that knock me right out!!!
In happier news, my daddy came down and stayed with us Thursday night and then we got to spend time together all day on Friday! He took me on a date for lunch and we walked around a few stores. It was so fun to spend time with him! I miss him a lot and I miss spending time together just talking and stuff! He is without a doubt the best daddy ever!!
That is it for the news of the Salines right now - but this weekend is Turkey Day and I am so excited!!

Thank Goodness It's Friday!!!

Remember back when you would go home on Friday nights, order a pizza and settle down on the couch for a nice long night of ABC's TGIF - teeny-bopper shows like "Boy Meets World" would fill our televisions sets in less than HD quality and we would laugh and cry along with Cory and Sean.
Then on Saturday mornings we would wake up early (in spite of staying up late to watch TGIF) so ABC could once again grace our televisions, this time with One Saturday Morning where you would watch cartoons like "Pepper Ann", "Doug", "Recess" - Disney classics!! What a perfect moment to sit in front of the tube in your PJ's with dad's Micky Mouse shaped pancakes covered in Jif Peanut Butter and Log Cabin syrup.
Those were the days!!
Now a days you turn the TV on on a Friday night and you can watch some evangelical preachers (on the Christian channel), or some re-runs of shows like that one with George Lopez.
Saturday mornings are even worse! You can catch some weekend reporters (the ones that are still sort of learning) talk about stuff that happened the week before and about important things like "how to stop bloating with Dr. Melvin the leading bloatation doctor in the country", or an infomercial on the newest exercise phenomenon hosted by a washed up actor.
Now, I'm not trying to put a negative spin on ABC and its lack of great weekend programming, all I'm saying is that I miss the good stuff!
So I am petitioning the TV networks to bring back weekend television for the sack of all of the people out there who want to spend a nice date night with pizza watching teeny-bopper shows!
Who's With Me??

Halloween Pictures

I finally have some Halloween pictures to you put on here! I think Jon looks fantastic and we had so much fun!! He really had fun playing with the giant fake sword!
There was a kid from Jon's primary class at our trunk or treat who was dressed up like a pirate. He pulled out his little sword and wanted to fight Jon. Jon was so excited because he pulled out his giant sword and the kid ran off - it was so funny!!

Yes! on Prop 102

As we all know, the big Election Day is coming up tomorrow. This is my very first election (I was too young to vote in the last presidential election) and I am very excited to let my voice be heard. This is also, as the EIB Network calls it, "the most important election of our time".
While I do have many strong opinions on who should be the next president and vice president of the United States (Go McCain/Palin!) I don't really want to talk about that too much right now.
What I really want to address is the very important Proposition 102. I wish I could tell you how much this is going to effect our country and the things we believe in, but I am sure I don't know the half of it! The effect is going to monumental! I believe this because the General Authorities are asking us to vote for marriage on this important proposition. They wouldn't ask us if it wasn't important!!!
We all know what will happen if this doesn't pass - we all know what has happened in other states already.....from Catholic adoption centers being closed down for not giving children to gay couples, preachers being sued for not marrying gay couples, and probably the scariest of all, children being taught that being gay is acceptable and having to celebrate "gay day" and read books where Prince Charming marries the prince from the other kingdom and not the beautiful princess.
I don't know about you, but this terrifies me!
Don't get me wrong, I have friends who are gay, and I love them very much. I honestly don't care what they do in their spare time - it is their decision and I am not going to judge them for what they do.
Still, I do not condone their behavior and I really do not want my children to be taught that it is acceptable behavior that should be celebrated.
I really feel very strongly about this and I am asking you, the devoted readers of my blog, to please, if you haven't already, go to the polls tomorrow and let your voice be heard.
Vote Yes on Proposition 102 - for my children and for yours.
We have a great opportunity to stop evil like this from infecting our great nation!
God Bless America!

Halloween: Ghosts and Goblins and....Spartans?

Last weekend was our Trunk-or-Treat at the Evergreen Ward. Now, it was a week before Halloween so you can bet Jon and I had our costumes all planned out......just kidding!! We are not that organized lately - -
So that Saturday (the day of the Trunk-or-Treat) my parents came down. Dad had a "Principal Class" (because apparently running a school isn't enough - you must also go to classes to learn how to run a school) so my mom took Jon and me to Party City where they had a HUGE selection of Halloween costumes and ideas. All 3 of us were running down each aisle picking out different ideas - "I wanna be a fairy", " I want to be a whoopie cushion", "I want to be an undead pirate!"
Finally we decided on Spartans. Jon got this amazing costume with arm and leg bands and a sword, and I got this beautiful toga lookin' thing with all sorts of pretty, gold chains and bracelets.
That night (after a fantastic day of Christmas shopping and "not looking" while mom picked out Christmas presents for us kids) Mom helped me fix my hair and make up (and it looked beautiful!) and we got strapped in to our costumes.
After some safety pinning and stapling (thank you Mom for being a theater major!) we were a beautiful Spartan couple!!
We went to the Trunk-or-Treat where we saw some really great costumes. There was a family with 2 little ones dressed up like chickens and mom and dad dressed up like farmers, there were a lot of Star Wars, and one family in particular who were the most amazing pirates I had ever seen!!!
It ended up being a great Halloween party (a week early)!!!

NOTE: We are in Snowflake right now, but there will be pictures of us in our costumes as soon as we get back to Tempe!