76-100

76. ice maker
77. David
78. Dallin
79. Lauren
80. Sara
81. Cooper
82. pine trees
83. palm trees
84. lip gloss
85. sales
86. my dishwasher
87. Christmas carols
88. sparkling cider
89. hot chocolate
90. hot water heaters
91. creative people
92. movie rental places
93. firefighters
94. policemen
95. snow
96. Lauren's helpfulness around the house
97. Dallin helping Lauren and Sara with math
98. Sara's beautiful artwork
99. David and his hard work at Pac Sun
100. being able to enjoy living in an apartment

51-75

51. recipes
52. electricity
53. teachers
54. libraries
55. puppies
56. waterfalls
57. good conversation
58. eye glasses
59. the color green!
60. my friend Cheryl who helped me redecorate my living room
61. "two-minute" mysteries
62. Chipotle
63. hot fudge sundaes
64. sunshine
65. vacuum cleaners
66. grandparents
67. aunts and uncles and cousins
68. seminary
69. the opportunity to feed the missionaries
70. neighbors
71. ward family
72. the Constitution
73. George Washington
74. Abraham Lincoln
75. french manicures

the next 25...

26. scrapbooking
27. Crate & Barrel
28. my Mom and Dad
29. Disneyland
30. bicycles
31. violins
32. curling irons
33. flat irons
34. microwave ovens
35. comfortable running shoes
36. doctors
37. grocery stores
38. paint
39. my body and that it works!
40. family history
41. temples
42. the Atonement of Jesus Christ
43. Joseph Smith
44. saints that risked (and gave) their lives to help establish the Gospel on the earth again
45. Christ's example
46. the prophet
47. the ocean and beach
48. dolphins
49. the internet
50. telephones

I'm thankful for...

I'm copying my sister-in-law, Debbie and listing 25 things I'm thankful for. I'm going to try to make it to 100. Thanks for the idea Debbie! These are in NO particular order!

1. rain
2. shoes
3. my family
4. thrift stores
5. photos
6. watermelon
7. hot chocolate
8. jeans
9. digital cameras
10. babies
11. pretty paper
12. friends
13. the gospel
14. the scriptures
15. Relief Society
16. massages
17. pedicures
18. yummy smelling lotion
19. donuts
20. Dove chocolate
21. tulips
22. books
23. air conditioning
24. free (and safe) country
25. the people serving in the military

Preparations

Cherry pie is done (thanks for the help Lauren). Our menu for tomorrow: turkey with stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes w/marshmallow topping, crescent and dinner rolls, sparkling cider, pumpkin, cherry and chocolate cream pie. I'm looking forward to parade, football, food and sittin' around! I'm thankful that we have a day to do all of that and just enjoy family and friends.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Better late than never...

Here are some photos from Halloween! I'm only a little slow. Dallin went trick-or-treating with a friend and dressed up as a surfer. He looked exactly like he does in the summer: board shorts and a rash guard. I didn't get any pics of him. Lauren started out as a diva witch at our ward trunk-or-treat and by Halloween she was a "black widow". Sara was Mary Poppins (her favorite Disney character). She won 2nd place at the Halloween party here at our clubhouse! The prize was 2 movie tickets.

We found a pumpkin patch that was almost as good as our Oregon pumpkin patches. I wish I'd gotten a better picture of the patch with palm trees in the background! The one I took is fuzzy and the palm trees just look like bushes!

I went way overboard on buying candy for trick-or-treaters. After eating some of it we donated 15 lbs (that includes what the kids received while trick-or-treating) to Sara's school. They have a group that sends it to the troops in Afganistan and Iraq. The girls happily donated all of their candy and Dallin donated most of his. He just kept a few pieces for himself. While trick-or-treating, Sara was given a giant-sized Hershey bar that she donated.

We have this tradition of eating chili on Halloween night. We've been doing it for about 9 years. For whatever reason, my kids don't even realize it. Nine years, and they haven't noticed a pattern! They are surprised every year when I mention that we are going to be eating our traditional All Hallow's Eve dinner. "What do we always eat?" "What tradition?" "Is it pizza?" PIZZA?????? We've never had pizza on Halloween! Apparently this will not be a tradition that they will be interested in continuing when they leave home.

Tag!

Illyse tagged me, so here are seven random things about me. I wish I could link her blog to this post, but I'm not very computer saavy!

1. I won't eat an apple or piece of apple if it has touched a paper napkin. It gives me chills just thinking about it! I can't really explain why, though.

2. Vaseline is my favorite lip gloss.

3. I can't sit and watch TV, read or scrapbook if my living room or kitchen is cluttered.

4. I love United States history.

5. I like to read "Whodunits". You know, those short little "2-minute" mysteries that the reader is supposed to try and solve.

6. I have loved Law & Order for about 6 years now.

7. I had malignant melanoma a couple of years ago. The doctors were very surprised because it usually affects people older than me.

Sewing lesson

Lauren wanted to make a gift for a specific person (that I won't name in case she reads this blog) and her idea was an apron. So we got out the fabric and sewing machine. She chose which fabrics she wanted to use and ta-da! Here it is. This is the second thing she's sewn on the machine. She made a baby blanket for a teacher 2 1/2 years ago. So someone is going to get this apron for Christmas...