COUSINS

My cousins Marlo, Reagran, Karen, Kathy, Kristi, Jenny


We spend Thanksgiving every year with my side of the family. We usually just meet at one of our church buildings. That is really the only option since nobodys house would actually fit everyone and all the food that arrives. But this year we are going to Utah for Thanksgiving. Chris' brother, Cameron, is getting married that weekend and so we are driving out to be there for the event which means Thanksgiving with his family. I'm okay with this. I love Chris' family. After being married for 15 years they become your family too. But what I don't love is not being able to see my cousins. So I decided about a month ago that I would have a pre-holiday dinner at my house and invite whoever wanted to come. Yesterday was the day and we had 20 people in our home.

Our home is not huge.

Not by a long shot.

But it was fun.

I didn't feel like doing the whole Turkey meal thing because everyone will be having that in a couple weeks. So I made chili, cornbread and a veggie tray. And then others brought chicken noodle soup, drinks, toppings for the chili, a smoked turkey and pie. Oh goodness, there was pie, and a cobbler too.

Tons of pie.

Oodles of pie.

Gobs of pie.

We like pie.

More cousins playing on the Wii, Levi, Chris, Corey, Emma (she's NOT my cousin), Ronlin and David.
Kaylee, Annie, Madee and Heidi


It was so fun to see all my cousins that were able to make it. When I went to Phoenix in October I went to an art gallery and the exhibit was titled "cousins" I connected emotionally with the pictures. They weren't pictures of my cousins but I could tell that the photographer/artist loved their cousins as much as I loved mine. My mom was from a family of six kids and there were always a lot of cousins for me to play with while growing up. We have all remained close. Several years ago when my grandpa passed away he left some money that was to be used for a family reunion. We all had so much fun and as I watched my girls play with my cousins' children I realized that my children were missing out on a huge part of life that I had loved so much. So that is when we started attending my auntie Pam and Uncle Clair's family reunions. It has been a blessing to our family. It's fun to have my children call my cousins "Aunt Kathy" or "Uncle Kevin" They aren't really their aunts and uncles, they have plenty of those to be sure. But to me it just seems appropriate. I mean who wants to be called "first cousin twice removed"? And all of my cousins children are just "cousins" so instead of having 3 cousins they have about 50. Who wouldn't want that?

So today, whether you are close with your cousins or not, take a moment to send them an email, write a letter, or pick up the phone. I think you will be glad you did.

Good Job Kenny!

Dear Kenny,

Congratulations on your win as Entertainer of the year at this weeks CMA's. You are now tied with Garth Brooks for the most wins of that category. Thank you for taking the time in your busy schedule to read my letter. I can see that you took my advice to heart and went with the Kenny look that we like best. And when you were in your dress pants you no longer looked like you had just gotten off work at Radio Shack. Good for you.

What was the deal with you and Shania though? There was definitely some chemistry on stage between the two of you. I know I wasn't the only one who noticed. They were talking about it the next day on our local radio station. I say go for it. She is single now and the two of you could really make some great music together.

Your devoted fan,

Darilyn

Saturday's perfect day

Today has been a perfect day in my book.

8:30 a.m. As a family we all trekked to Emma's last soccer game and sat in the rain sipping on hot chocolate out of our thermos. We had umbrella's and they had a port a potty near by so it was PERFECT.

10:30 a.m. Decide to stop at the library on the way home from the soccer game. As a family we check out 3 Fruit Basket books (Makenzie) Season #1 of Gilmore Girls (Darilyn) East of Eden (Darilyn) 2 mystery books (Heidi) 3 computer development books (chris) and Baby Mouse (Emma). At 10:55 as we are checking out our books they make an announcement that there will be a performance by the Oregon Children's ballet of The Nutcracker downstairs in the auditorium. Are we really so lucky to be there at that very moment?

11:00-11:30 Watch an adorable performance of the Nutcracker for FREE. And they even hand us a candy cane on our way out. BONUS.

Once we get home we have some lunch and then watch Kit Kittdredge: An American Girl. I absolutely loved this movie. I'm the biggest sucker for sweet wholesome movies that make you tear up. This one was PERFECT.

After that we started The Gilmore Girls. My sister has been a big fan of this show but I myself have never seen a single episode. It was just staring at me today at the library begging to be picked up. I obliged. All of us girls are watching it and so we spent all afternoon and evening staring at the TV. It was PERFECT. I haven't had a day like that in forever. I can't remember the last time I sat down and watched a movie at home. It felt PERFECT. At one point I told the girls to go get their Halloween candy and we munched on that for awhile. That made it even better!

It may seem like a simple day but that is what I need right now, Simple. Because it's perfect.

Have you head of United's new baggage program?

I receive emails from a couple different airlines. Today I recieved one that said this, "United Introduces Door-to-Door Baggage." That got my attention. I wanted to know more so I opened the email and started to read about this new program that United Airlines has. Apparently I can purchase this service on United.com and then Fed Ex will either come pick up my bags or I can take it to my local Fed Ex center. It entices me further when it says:


United is the first airline to save you time and money with this simple and convenient service.

• Next-day delivery of your baggage
• Convenient online tracking
• Available in the 48 contiguous U.S.

Then I look at how much this service costs:

Starting at 149.00 USD

per bag

I'm wondering, how does spending $149 to get my suitcase to its destination save me money?

Heidi's 8 year-old interview

So I recently saw an interview on my friend, Memory's blog that she did with her son. They do this every year to see how his answers change. I loved reading it and thought I really should do something like this. So I thought how about if I just do the EXACT same thing? If it's not broke why fix it mentality! This would be a fun thing to do around their birthdays but that is too far away for me to wait with Heidi. So here it goes.

What is your favorite TV show? icarly

What is your favorite movie? Harry Potter (thanks to Aunt Krista who let them watch this movie when she was watching them this past summer. Krista's reply was, "what are aunt's for?") Well, anyway Heidi has been in love with the Harry Potter movies ever since and constantly begging to watch them.

What is your favorite color? Aqua -- I love that my girls have favorite colors that are so specific. There is no such thing as blue and green, it must be Aqua. My other girls are the same way.

What is your favorite food? Hotdogs and Chili, but not together.

Waht is your favorite thing to do with mom? Cook together

What is your favorite thing to do with dad? Go to his work

What is your favorite thing to do with your sisters? Play games

What do you want to be when you grow up? A chef or a ballet teacher (This just goes to show how much she adores her ballet teacher)

Do you have a favorite friend? No, not really. I have lots of favorite friends.

What is your favorite thing to do when you are not at home? Go to Disneyland or Disneyworld but i've never been to Disneyworld.

What is your favorite toy or thing? My birthstone necklace from Nanna.

What is your favorite book? Nancy Drew or Mary-Kate and Ashley, I like Mysteries.
What is your favorite animal? Lions

Do you want to go on a mission? Yes, but not anywhere with giant spiders.

Do you want kids? yes

What's hard to do? Some homework but not all

What's have you learned from your primary teacher this year? That I am a child of God

What do you love to do? Travel and go places far away like Utah.


Thanks for letting me do this interview with you Heidi. It will be fun to see how your answers change over the years. I love you.

Halloween Weekend

What a great weekend! parties and more parties. Friday started out with getting to sleep in, no school for the kiddos. But then it meant hauling them around to get my errands done. It wasn't too bad though. I can definitely tell that they are getting older and can help more. When our errands were done I made Mummy Dogs for dinner. Too bad they ended up looking more like pigs in a blanket that had gone through a paper shredder. And then I had great plans to make a Mr. Skeleton veggie tray but ran out of time. Oh well, the girls never knew what they were missing and happily gobbled up the celery, carrots and cucumbers I put in front of them with homemade ranch dip. Then it was off to meet our friends the Camerons and Smiths for a night of hobgoblinin around the neighborhood. The kids love to go trick or treating in the Cameron's neighborhood because within a very short amount of time you have enough candy to ensure at least one months payments on a dentist's school loans.

The next stop was to a Halloween party at our church.

Hannah, Samantha, Makenzie, Mary-Margaret, Laura and Becca.













Carrissa, Emma, Roz and Allie

Once there Emma was able to hook up with her three other buddies who were also dressed like witches and they then became known as the "4 witches". They tied with another team for a game they played where they had to create mummies out of toilet paper. Those girls were seriously psyched to have won. My own gorgeous husband took home the prize for best male costume. Good job babe!
The winning look!

Do you think our evening was done? No way. From the party at the church Makenzie and Emma took off with their friends to go trick or treating in their friend's neighborhood. I think they went trick or treating until after 9:00 at which point I got a phone call begging if they could spend the night. Of course. Rachael is a champ in my book to have had at least 6 girls in her house for the night.

Go Rachael, Go Rachael, Go Rachael.

Sorry, that just popped into my head and i had to put it in here.

While my oldest two were at Rachaels I had the two youngest girls of the posse with me, my Heidi and Sarah's Eliza. They wanted to go trick or treating in our neighborhood so Chris took them around and I handed out candy with my spooky music blaring from the house and our jack-o-lanterns lit. I LOVE HALLOWEEN. Have I said that lately?

You'd think that our Halloween festivities would be over with the passing of all Hallows Eve, huh? Nope. On Saturday Chris and I went to Hailey's Halloween Birthday Bash.
The lovely Esmeralda, AKA hailey with her birthday cakes.


It was fun. I had started out the day with a migraine, throwing up on the way to Emma's soccer game. Not a good start. And I really was having a hard time getting in the groove of being party Darilyn. So I put on my hippest costume I could come up with and off we went with Mr. Skeleton veggie tray in tow. I ended up having a total blast despite my residual headache and not feeling that great. Hailey is a gem. If you don't know her you should check out her blog. She is an amazing mom, a fantastic friend and someone that I'm blessed to know. Like always, the party Darilyn emerged after most of the people had left for the evening. I'm not a large group person. Bet you didnt know that about me, huh? It's true. I tend to be much quieter in large group settings.....ack, i'm digressing. Sorry.

Anyway, some of the highlights of the party were Chris and I winning 'Best Costume', watching Rich and Terry do Karaoke, Chris and I winning 'Best Costume', meeting the tooth fairy, dancing to Hailey's awesome music....oops, i've been trying not to use that word, awesome. I think it dates me. And Chris and I winning 'Best Costume.'






Rich and Terry doing Sonny and Cher's "I've Got You Babe."

Did You see that Chris and I won for Best Costume?

I went to bed a happy girl.

The end.