Happy Thanksgiving!

What a fun day we had. I always love a time to celebrate with family, friends, eat good food (that I don't have to cook), and just relax and visit. We have three sets of parents to visit so we started our Thanksgiving on Sunday in Spanish Fork, visiting Andrey's mom, Kathi, and Step Dad, Dave. We had a wonderful dinner and dessert (you got to love the pies) and had fun visiting, watching movies, and listening to the youngsters play together.

Today we started the day with Christmas music (it is now legal so get off my back those of you that tell me it's too soon. lol). The girls danced the morning away singing along while we made salads, guacamole, and got drinks made. It is always fun working in the kitchen with Andrey. I miss having him around all day long. I sure and grateful for him.

We went to my aunt's house to celebrate my side of the family and we all put out the good food and ate and ate and ate. It is fun to see that each year our family gets bigger and bigger. We used to all be able to sit around a big table, but now it takes 5 tables and two rooms to fit everyone. Our little family is so big now and I love all of them so much. We have some good times. After eating dinner, we went outside and got a train ride from the train that Uncle Joe and Andrey build this last summer. That is always exciting for the little ones...and me and my sisters seem to enjoy the rides a little more.

After the train ride, we loaded up the kids and drove to Draper where we forced another meal...but to my surprise, I was actually able to eat more. I'm a pig, I know. I think I ate more than Andrey. The food was so good. We had my father in law take some pictures of our little family so we could have some outdoor ones for a possible Christmas card photo (so check your mailbox next month). The company was excellent, but we were sad to have missed Todd's family and Serenie's (can't wait to see all of you on Sunday). After the little ones entertained us for a few hours with sining, dancing, summersaults, and just being cute, we enjoyed all the pies that were made. Pumpkin, raspberry/peach, pecan, apple, cherry. Oh my goodness. So good. And the best part (in my opinion) is the cool whip to top it off. I was falling asleep in my chair and the girls were slowly dying down, so we called it a night a little earlier than planned, hitting the road at 7:30. The girls were out the minute they got buckled in.

Now I get to spend the rest of the evening with my wonderful husband, who just served me a nice warm cup of hot cocoa.

I can't wait to get our tree and lights up. I love the holidays and I am so grateful for all I have and all of you! Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Fun Tag

Fun Tag
1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked-but no one picked me up...

23. Taken a sick day when you are not ill (also known in education as a "mental health day")

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michaelangelo's David

41. Sang Karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful in person

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported by ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted-well, drawn...

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive in theater

55. Been in a movie- does a commercial count?

56. visited the Great Wall of China

57. Taken a martial arts class

58. Started a business (still in the process of trying)

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout cookies

62. gone Whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper (Thanks to my paper route).

85. Swam in the ocean

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had Chickenpox

89. Saved someone's life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

Well, I think I got 53 out of 99. Good thing I am still young...there is still a looot I have to do. It's nice to have somethings to look forward to.

Thanksgiving

I am grateful for so many things. I am grateful for Thanksgiving for having an excuse of thanking everyone and feeling gratitude in my heart.
Some things I am grateful for are:

* The scriptures. I don't read them as much as I should, and they are good at collecting dust, but I know that I can always find answers to prayers and be comforted and blessed while reading them.

* I am grateful for my family. I love Andrey so much. He works so hard; early in the day till late at night. I don't see him much, but when we are together, we take advantage of the time we have with our little family. My girls are my life. I love them and am so grateful to be able to stay home with them and be with them every day and witness all the fun, frustrating, silly, and hard things they learn to do.

* I am grateful for the gospel and my testimony that keeps me going. I love my calling as the Young Womens president and love working along side Andrey, the young mens president. We love the youth in our ward and I have become so close to my counselors. We have some good times and it is the highlight of my weeks. Tuesday, mutual night.

* I am grateful for my little house. It still needs a lot of work and it will take years to get how we want it, and we may even move before it's done, but I am so grateful for a home to live in. To know that we are warm and have somewhere fun to come to each day.

* I love my family, extended family, and friends that are so dear to me. They are so supportive, loving, great examples, and do so much for me and my little family. Thank you for all you do and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Go UTES!!!

Andrey and I were at Maceys eating the steak dinner when he told me that a man he is working for had tickets to the Utah/BYU game and wasn't able to go. These tickets total were worth $1,100. HECK YA, we were going! The seats were so good and we had so much fun. Andrey wore his BYU hoody and I wore my UTAH hoody. Everyone on trax asked how our marriage was. We told them great, but once a year we battled it out. lol. It was funny to see how much attention we got with our opposing sweatshirts. Before we even walked into the stadium Andrey got a threat. A guy came up to me and put his hands on my shoulders and said, "Hey, nice hoody, go kill him." (pointing to Andrey). Andrey got "booed" at, people yelling at him, etc. I had so much fun. The most fun was trying to stay warm with only a little fleece blanket and our hoodies. We had our drink and licorice to entertain up when the game was frustrating us with the teams making bad plays, but overall, we had a fun time, and I loved being able to rub it into Andrey's face that THE UTES WON!!! It was so funny to seeveryone rush to the field after they repeatedly told them not to...even when the game still had 34 seconds+- to go. We had the best date night. Thanks mom and dad for taking the girls.

Raking Leaves

I found a new favorite past time of mine. I love raking and picking up leaves. My grandpa had all of us (my sisters and aunts and uncle) come over (Taylorsville) and help him with clearing the leaves out of his yard. He has about 1/2 an acre and a lot of trees. We all put on our gloves, grabbed a rake and a handful of garbage bags. We had so much fun visiting with family we don't see all that much, and getting wet in the rain. I loved every minute of it. I love the Fall!

'I' for Ice Cream

Emma really wanted to do school today and I have been slacking at keeping these activities going. Today we learned about letter 'I,i'.

Emma began by coloring her letter book. 'I' was for ice cream so this helped her attention last. We learned how to draw little 'i's and capital 'I's. Emma got side tracked and started making squares instead. Oh, well, at least she understands how to dot the little 'i's. That was her favorite part.

We then did a dot-to-dot game which ended up being an ice cream cone. It is funny to see her amazement that connecting the dots makes something. Silly girl.

We colored Elmo holding an icecream cone and put it together onto a toilet paper roll. Emma loves him. She has been carrying him all around the house all morning.

I talked about igloos, insects, and of course, we finished the lesson by eating ice cream from Wendy's. That is when Ellie joined us and made a MESS!!!

Disney On Ice

We are taking our little family to Disney on Ice tonight-opening night. We got really good seats so we are excited. The girls are way excited and Emma is off the walls. I love that she gets to have these fun memories and glad that Andrey got paid in order for us to have them. We had fun getting the girls dressed up as princesses.

We had such a great time. It was a long two hours...for Ellie any way. It was funny to see that 10 minutes before the show was over all the little kids were starting to cry, get wiggly, and get really fussy.

My favorite part was the Incredibles. Andrey liked Little Mermaid (as usual). It must be a shell thing. lol Emma liked the bubbles that came out of the ceiling. Emma's favorite was all the princesses with their handsome princes. They did a really good job with the production and we had a fun night.

Andrey was so cute to watch. He was more into it than the girls. He had this excited smile on the whole time.

Emma was scared of the big shark when he was chasing Dory. All the kids were screaming for her to swim away. It was so funny.

They did It's a small world and that was my least favorite part after many years of standing in line for hours just to hear the song 20 more times. That part of the show was really well done though. It was neat to see all the different cultures, outfits, and languages.

Andrey and Holli's Costumes

Emma playing on the drum set at our friend's house during the Halloween party. She loves drums like her mom.

My sister, Robyn and her husband dressed up as Rock stars. They did an awesome job.

Andrey's leaves were a bit off...he was hiding the whole night, handing out candy in the dark. Ha. ha. He was a good sport though.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get these on here. I left the camera at our friend's house when we had a Halloween party. Anyway, we were embarassed by what we wore, but it was so funny to see Andrey in his costume. We were Adam and Eve:

Avon saves Christmas

Christmas is coming soon and it's time to start shopping...well, I have anyway. Avon sells not only make-up and fragrances, but also christmas gifts. I bought my daughter tons of Princess items/toys because that is what she's into right now. Most items are less expensive with Avon than in the stores. And! It saves you a trip to the store. All you do is go online to http://www.avon.com/ and check out what they have. I can also get you a catalog if you would rather. You contact me by e-mail or phone and let me know what you would like (by each product there is a six digit number that I need). Every two weeks I submit my order and I deliver your products. Please take a look and let me know what you need for your Christmas purchases (thanks for reading my little plug).

That is a picture of my pretty sister (being silly of course). She uses Avon and look how beautiful she is...so she is saying to all of you, "Buy Avon from Holli....it's great."

Golden Corral

We wanted to do something fun Sat. night, so we thought, "Okay, we will go bowling. The girls will have a lof of fun. No, maybe we will go take them to Jungle Jims Playground..." We heard our tummys a rumbling, so we decided to eat dinner first. We passed Golden Corral and turned around quickly. We hadn't eaten there in a long time and thought this was the perfect time.

We were enjoying our plates heaping with food. I took a big bite out of my crab salad and was talking to Andrey about my day and his half day at work, when I looked down to get another bite and AHHH! No Way!!! Sitting there, on top of my crab salad was....

Guess.