Apparently my type is the sensitive type

I always knew that Adam was more of a non-geek in a geek's world....now it's confirmed. Oh, and I can thank Sharon for his "disturbing knowledge of musical theatre."

What Kind of Guy Will You Fall For?
You would fall for the sensitive guy. You'll find your future man wherever turtlenecks are sold. He will have depth, introspection, and a disturbing knowledge of musical theatre. And he may be a little weird. But hey, while your girlfriends cry over broken hearts, you'll be having Shakespeare read to you every night.Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com


So, what about the rest of you?

Congratulations Jessica and Ryan

My youngest sister Jessica is now engaged! When did she get old enough to do that? The wedding is planned for January 25th. It's good news for them--and good news for us since we now get to come to Utah for a week. We'll be there from January 18-27. Hopefully we will get a little time to squeeze in some visits with friends between the wedding events and Adam's skiing.

Withdrawal

After three days of eating pie for breakfast on top of the last several weeks of regular and shameless sneaking of the "good" candy from the kids' halloween bags, today there is pretty much nothing left in the house in the sugar and chocolate departments except Tootsie Rolls .....and so I must be having a bit of withdrawal because I actually ate one. It's time to bring on the Christmas season desserts!

Thanksgiving Report

It was a great Thanksgiving weekend--actually, Thanksgiving week as Max had the whole week off of school so it felt like one really nice, long vacation. Let's just say, I heart my sweatpants. I also have to say that this week the fall colors were so amazing. It was spectacular just about everywhere in the area. It was like the grand finale of fall.

Our good friend Laura came down on Wednesday morning from school in NYC to spend the weekend with us. And before we put her to work peeling apples and potatoes we had to take her to a few of our local favorite spots, like Cassapulla's for an Italian sub with proscuito, and then to Longwood Gardens, where they had already transformed the conservatory into a really amazing Christmas season display. Have you ever seen a Christmas wreath made from suculent plants or a Christmas tree with only edible ornaments? Neither had I, but it was breathtaking.

That night our friends Alex and Amy and kids came in. It was a good night of eating Mexican, making pie, peeling chestnuts, and a post-kids-to-bed game of Cities and Knights with some pumpkin icecream. That's what I call a nice way to kick off the Thanksgiving weekend.

Thanksgiving day was beautiful. It must have been like 70 degrees outside. Adam, Alex, Amy and kids went to the state park with frisbees to take advantage of the morning.

The turkey. This year I tossed the turkey to Adam, and second to marrying him it may have been the best decision I've ever made. Seriously. I didn't even have to touch the turkey from start to finish (even clean-up). It was awesome. He decided he wanted to try a brined turkey since we'd never done that before, and then he approached it like a true scientist and spent a few hours (no hyperbole here) researching about the best method to brine, dry, and roast. During the roasting he had the convection fans going, two thermometers, and some fancy record keeping of times and temps. I think I see an instant-read meat thermometer in our future. But the result was well worth it as not only was an 18lb bird done in 2 1/2 hours--it was deliciously perfect. And if things couldn't get any better, Alex did all of the gravy and made a really nice cornbread and chestnut stuffing.

The Little Feasters:

The Big Feasters:

And of course, the pie was so great. But then again, there's nothing like enough pie for practically one whole pie per person. Oh, and I have to give a shout-out to Pete's Dragon for being like 3 1/2 hours long and keeping our kids occupied all afternoon.

But would it really be Thanksgiving weekend without the Black Friday sales? It might as well be Christmas morning for Adam. He and Alex went out at some insanely early hour like 4 am. and came home with stuff like portable DVD players and a GPS for the car, and the requisite free-with-rebate random accessories like jewel cases. But who am I to complain as I'm the one who gets to drive around with the new GPS and its ever-so-soothing British accent coaxing me to turn left at the next intersection.

It was also really, really nice to see our friends Devin and Linda and their kids in Philadelphia on Friday for a day-after dinner and visit (complete with another game of Cities and Knights).

So I've no complaints about the weekend except that it's made it only that much harder to get back to the waiting laundry and early school start time on Monday. Alas.

What's not to love about the Dollar Tree

This morning I was congratulating myself on being the smartest mom around thanks to the Dollar Tree. Max and Olivia both reached some goals we set at home, and as a reward we took a shopping spree. What's not to love about a store where you can take your children inside and tell them in your most effusive voice, "You can choose one of anything in here you want!" Those children look at you with amazement and think that you must be the best parent in the universe. And they proceed to comb the toy aisle for the perfect item, excitedly helping eachother when they spot something that they think that the other would really like. After our selections are made we confidently walk to the register--all of us unburdened by the time and effort it takes in most stores to search out an item on clearance, or by the debate about why we cannot buy the one at full price. And we all leave happy.

And then we come home to open these new treasures, their value seemingly much increased thanks to the trouble-free, begging-free, cost-concerned-free shopping experience, until within 10 minutes of both are coming to me saying, "Mom, can you fix this piece that broke off?"

Darn that Dollar Tree!! Well, at least Max's new truck still rolls around without the little plastic piece on top, and so far Olivia doesn't exactly mind that the mermaid's fin is now held on by scotch tape. Talk to me in another 10 minutes to find out what else has broken off by then.

Next time, I'm just handing out dum-dum suckers....including one for myself.

Même

My good friend M-L "tagged" me way back in June to do this Même, but since I wasn't a regular "blogger" back then, it's taken me this long to finally respond. So here goes.....

Four jobs I have held:
1. picking spinach in Washington
2. office assistant to BYU University Photograpther
3. sandwich maker in deli in DC
4. mom

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1. Room with a View
2. Mary Poppins
3. Three Amigos
4. Star Wars (the original)

Four places I have lived:
1. Provo
2. London
3. Berkeley
4. Delaware

Four TV shows I enjoy(ed)
1. Mystery!
2. Masterpiece Theatre
3. Wonder Years
4. Arrested Development

Four Places I have been on vacation
1. Jersey Shore
2. LA
3. Sweden
4. Southern Utah

Four of my favorite dishes
1. Arrechera Tampequena at a Mexican restaurant in Kennett Square, PA
2. the red curry and coconut milk from Cha-am in Berkeley
3. Saag from Bombay House in Provo
4. waffles from Adam every Sunday morning

Four Websites I visit regularly
1. NYTimes
2. PlanetSmith
3. craigslist
4. Gardenweb home forums

Four places I would rather be right now
1. California
2. England
3. Utah
4. somewhere warm with a great beach

Four other friends to do this:
1. Melin
2. Linda
3. Rachel (smithsrus)
4. Karen (jk1.net)

My Best Picture Ever

Max's budding photography skills.

P.S. Aren't I always raving about my incredible back yard......ok, it's really Longwood Gardens.

Fall is Here

We had a long summer (which I loved) but now fall is here and I admit that I had forgotten just how beautiful it always is. We went out last weekend to play some frisbee golf in a local state park, and although it was a wee bit chilly, we had a really great time (once I convinced Olivia to stop crying over the cold with the promise of hot chocolate at the end). And the colors are just starting to turn really incredible. My pictures don't exactly show it off, but Dead Poets Society was filmed locally, so just imagine those outdoor scenes from the movie, but then put my kids holding frisbees in the foreground and that's about what it looked like outside.

Congratulations Joey and Dicy

Welcome to baby Eleanor Mae Burton!!

She's beautiful...and is that red hair I see?

Biggest congratulations and hugs all around.

Spelling F-U-N

A few years ago when Max was just starting to figure out about reading he would often ask me spelling questions. For instance, if we were driving somewhere he would say something like, "Mom, can you spell road?" And then I would. One day he got going and started asking me to spell word after word. "Can you spell spider?"; "Can you spell shirt?"; "Can you spell airplane?"; etc. Finally after impressing him by not even pausing to answer all these spelling queries, he asks, "Can you spell every word?" Of course I answered, "yes."

Now he is in first grade and is a pretty good reader and he has taken to making spelling part of his regular speaking. For instance, he'll often do something like, "Mom, can I have some c-a-n-d-y?" And sometimes his spelling isn't exactly spot-on so I really have to think about what I think that he's trying to say/spell. Let's face it, the English language is full of lots of spelling conundrums. Vowels make all sorts of sounds. Then there are strange combinations of letters, like "ph" or "ion." Sometimes the letters "ea" together make a long "e" sound, and then sometimes they make a long "a" sound. There are lots of these phonetic inconsistencies that can be really confusing for a 6 year old.

So yesterday he reasoned out how to spell Cheerios:

"c-h-e-e-i-r-e-a-o-s-e."

Maiden Voyage

Here goes. Since I was starting to feel as though I was pretty much the only one left in my demographic without a blog (or an iPod or a Honda Odessey for that matter), I thought that it was about time I followed the crowd.

And then, last Saturday night Adam and I and the kids pulled into Target and the lot was packed (you know what I'm talking about). But there it was--front row and not handicap-accessible only--a wide open Doris Day parking spot. Pretty sweet. And where else can one unabashedly share such meaningful life-moments like that? Welcome to blogging.

Oh, and I'll be sure to let you all know when we get that Honda Odessey too.