HAPPY THANKSGIVING 2008

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I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful family & friends!
THANK YOU!!!

Enjoy your family/friends & turkey {or whatever you're eating}!!!

Day Date, Thanksgiving, SALE

Yesterday, Ben & I went to see the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace, then we had lunch. The movie was REALLY GOOD!! LOTS of action! Very cool!

It picks up RIGHT where the other one left off. Thank goodness I had Ben with me to remind me how the last one ended. Thanks babe, You're the BEST!!

Thanks again MOM for babysitting and paying for the movie tickets (and the treats for Ben)!!!

We also went to check out Kmart to preview an item that I want to get for Nathaniel. It's supposed to be on sale tomorrow morning. Turns out that they only had a couple and not any of the styles that we wanted to get. :( But we got to participate in an in-store survey-giveaway. Some guy was showing a bunch of us some pretty gold necklace/bracelet sets for a special price. Like you see on the infomercials. Anyway, they were a good deal & nice looking but not interested in buying jewelry. We entered a drawing for a gold herring bone anklet, but we didn't win. :( oh well it was fun!

Oh by the way, THANK YOU to all who commented wishing Ben a wonderful birthday on my blog and on his! He's not too thrilled to be another year older, so it really cheered him up!

We also watched Hancock last night {which was AWESOME}. We took a little intermission, so my parents came over for a few minutes to have some cake & ice cream last night. Yummy!

Hope you enjoyed your Birthday Ben!!! LOVE YOU OODLES!!

I have been trying to get some cleaning done today. So far, I've cooked my sweet potatoes (which aren't even for tomorrow - they're for me for the weekend) and made homemade cranberry sauce. It's cooling on the counter almost ready to go in the refrigerator. Mmmm I will make my pumpkin pies tonight! I LOVE the smell of pumpkin pies baking! Plus it warms the house in the evening, which apparently we will need tonight. It's chilly today thanks to the rain!

I'm trying to get some laundry done {of course, need to add another set of *wet* kid sheets}. But my washer keeps giving me some weird F-02 code. I looked it up and it means that it's having draining issues. UGH!! It's been going on for a few days! So, my wash is taking WAY longer than it should!

Wish me luck that I can get TONS done before Ben comes home from work tonight. He is working part of the day tomorrow (like 6am-2pm), so I want everything to be ready to go tonight!

Are you so excited for BLACK FRIDAY shopping?? I am going this year. Haven't been in a long time. I also need to finish my list so I can be organized when I head out into the scary stores! LOL

I am also having a BLACK FRIDAY SALE on my products at DSO:

Hope you all have a FUN and SAFE Holiday weekend!!!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Happy Birthday BEN!!!

TODAY is my sweet hubby's 34th BIRTHDAY!!!

He is my BEST FRIEND!!
The kids absolutely ADORE & LOVE him!

Why not? He does great things like take these little guys to Father/Son campout {and brings them home in one piece - a little dirty but safe}!

He's does funny things like slide this BIG HUGE PEOPLE-EATING BUG under the door while I'm going to the bathroom! HAHAHAHA

He waits in LONG lines at ComiCon and brings home tons of gifts for the kids!

Transformers for the BOYS!

You couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces!☺

See these exclusive fabulous super-hero My Little Ponies!

The girls were thrilled!

See MY COOL stuff???

{Ummm anyone jealous of my Twilight cards? tee hee}

He does COOL DAD stuff like play with the kids in the pool!

He's super handy!

He put the training wheels on Nathaniel's old bike, so Anson could learn to ride a big boy bike!

Please tell me...who's husband would work countless hours cleaning & organizing your stuff while YOU were away on vacation for a week visiting one of your bestest friends?

MINE did!!!

Look what he did! Ok, you may not think this is a BIG deal, but it is.

This is OUR room and it did NOT look like this when I left!
There was craft clutter and clothes that needed to be put away in places that they shouldn't have been!

Look at that fantastic shoe rack! I didn't have that before!

He also bought these containers & ORGANIZED my craft stuff!

Yep, there's more of my stuff organized on the shelf in the closet!

Honey, you are the BESTEST HUSBAND!!!

Check out THIS POST to see more about Ben!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!!

I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Please go wish him a Happy Birthday on his blog too! I know he would LOVE it!!

My Mom is offering us FREE babysitting this morning, so Ben & I can go on a Day Date to see the new James Bond movie and go to lunch! Thanks Mom, you ROCK!!

Who Needs Pockets?

Oh my gosh! This is THE FUNNIEST thing evah!




Totally reminds me of my own kids! My kiddos figured out at an early age that you could use your undies/diapers for pockets or holsters or whatever! hahahaha

Cranberries, Pink Lemonade - FREEBIE

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, I thought I'd share a recipe with you. I LOVE cranberry sauce! Usually I get the jellied kind in a can - my fave! Last year, I got the cans, but the day after Thanksgiving, I decided to try a new recipe. I don't really like the whole-berry canned cranberry sauce, but THIS IS DELICIOUS!!! Plus it's so EASY!

Here you go...Easy Homemade Cranberry Sauce

I also made this layout {using my newest freebie kit - Pink Lemonade} for the DSO Recipe Challenge. If you haven't already, you should check out this month's challenges. They have some fabulous posting bonuses {if you do a layout following the rules for the month, then you get an awesome freebie gift}!

Here's my latest FREEBIE kit that I made for the DSO Color Challenge

Download Papers

and

Download Elements

I know 4shared has changed a little since it's upgrade. You have to be logged in to leave a comment. Weird, I know. So, please leave a comment on my blog. I LOVE to read all your wonderful comments! It's what keeps me motivated to make freebies! Thanks!!☺

Primary Practice & Bday Party

Today we have the Primary Program Practice {tomorrow is the program}! The kids are mostly excited because they're going to have pizza & root beer when they're done! Way to get the kids there - - offer yummy food! LOL

All my kiddos have their parts memorized, even Anson. YAY!! Hope they all remember them tomorrow & can sit still. Anson is in the very front on the little chairs and during every practice, he is SO wiggly! hahaha Gotta luv the little sunbeams! They always add a little humor to every program!

Later today we're going to celebrate my nephew's birthday! He is such a cutie! And his younger brother is Ashley's little buddy!

Somewhere in between those, I need to get some laundry done. Yep, I have been perfecting the art of procrastination this week!

Oh and by channel surfing last night, I came across some fun Christmas movies on ABC Family channel. I guess they're having one every night. Felicia & I watched one and it got late, so I recorded the 2nd one. Then on the first day of December, they're doing 25 days of Christmas specials. I just LOVE Christmas movies!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

TWILIGHT

Going to the midnight premiere was SO FUN!! TONS of people & we got there super early to get good seats {ok well Julie got there at 7:30pm to save seats for us - woohoo you rock!!}! I got there about 8:30pm. We also ran & got a little treat from Cold Stone Creamery! Mmmm

Here are the gals with their FABULOUS glittertastic Twilight cups!

I don't have a fabulous glittertastic cup, but they let me in this picture anyway. LOL
Julie & Me trying to get a funny picture from above.

Julie & Me

Julie & her sisters

Lindsey & Julie

SO FUN TO SEE EVERYONE!!!

Ok onto the movie now...I LOVED IT!!! Not changing my mind even if other people didn't like it. Don't really want to hear any negative reviews about it. I know they can't get everything from the book in it, but they did a great job putting a lot of key stuff in there! Originally, I wasn't too keen on some of the actors they chose, but they ALL did wonderful!

I think Jacob is one of the cutest actors they chose! Check out that awesome smile & those dark eyes & dark hair!

And the actor they chose for James is quite hot! Too bad he was BAD! haha

There you have it! We had a BLAST last night! Now I'm trying to function on only a couple hours of sleep, but it's all worth it!!

Did you go last night? Do you plan on seeing it?

Twilight - WOOHOOO!!!

I'm going to the midnight showing of Twilight TONIGHT!!!! Are you going or are you waiting? LOL

I'm SO EXCITED!!!!! It's going to be AWESOME!!!

STAR, P.E., Contest, My Catalog

Ashley is *STAR* of the week in her class! She was so excited to answer some silly questions about herself & bring in a couple pictures of herself to show the class this week! WOOHOOO!!! I'm so proud of you sweetie!!!

Tuesday evening, Ben & I went with Ashley to learn about her P.E. at school. It was fun because they had all the kids & their parents doing some fun exercises & games! I guess to show us what they do in class. I don't remember P.E. being that fun! Well, maybe when I was in 1st grade it was that fun! Like we did push ups, then ran around, did ab crunches, and hula-hoop'ed. Oh we also bounced around balloons - ours was pink of course - no other color would be acceptable! haha Oh can't forget about learning to do the *chicken* dance! {totally reminds me of Jimmy Neutron the movie} LOL

Nathaniel & Felicia said that they get to do that in P.E. too sometimes! Ok, what happened to the dreaded square dancing??? Did you have to do that in grade school, especially grades 4-6? We did on rainy days & for a few weeks in the winter! Yuck! I always hated that! It was only somewhat OK if you got to be next to the cute guy you liked. But of course, I think that only happened ONCE! I always got the icky guy who liked me in my group and did NOT want to let go of my hand! Eeeewwwww! Oh the wonderful memories! hahahaha

Don't know what happened but we all woke up super late today! I'm talking 8:20 and they're supposed to be IN their class at 8:30! I ran around telling them 5 MINUTES!!! HURRY!!! Ashley tends to panic in high-stress situations and when I say panic, I mean her OCD {obsessive-compulsive disorder} totally kicks in! Poor girl. But that didn't help our racing around. We got out the door at 8:30, everyone dressed, teeth brushed, hair combed, lunches packed, backpacks on & said our morning family prayer plus I had to get dressed & get Anson dressed to go! I dropped them off at the office to get their late passes to class. I hope they have an OK day in spite of our morning!

Don't forget to donate some food to homeless shelters or anywhere else & then blog about it & include THIS LINK to get entered into Bunny's contest to win a TON OF GOODIES!!! And you can grab the button on my sidebar if you want. Go to the Friends4Food Blog to see the updates on all the goodies! Someone is going to be ONE LUCKY WINNER!!!

Oh oh and I want to thank Bunny for creating a catalog for me! It shows all my products at DSO and layouts using my products. WOOHOO You ROCK!! You can see it by clicking the button that says "MY CATALOG" on my sidebar! There's a little surprise for you in there too! Enjoy!☺

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

Yesterday was a pretty good day! We had primary program practice & the kids did pretty good. They have their parts memorized and are excited about it for next week!

Just as we were leaving, the Elder's Quorum President pulls Ben aside and tells him they'd like to come visit us this week because they have an assigment for Ben because of his unique talents. WHAT??? Now THAT is going to drive him nuts for several days!!! It's probably something really simple, but why do they have to do that? Can't they just tell us right there? C'mon! UGH the suspense! hahaha

After church, we watched Journey to the Center of the Earth together and Ben made popcorn {which made the kids very excited}! We all thought the movie was good! Very cute & interesting!

Then, we took a walk and ended up at Grandma & Grandpa Call's house for a little while. {The whole say there, Ashley & Anson were holding hands & were SO CUTE!!! Where is my camera at a time like that?} My Mom was so nice and shared pumpkin pie with everyone! I was the only one who didn't have any but only because my stomach was hurting. All the kids got to *trick-or-treat* again because my parents still have some remaining candy.

When we left, we stopped at the park on the way home. We all had FUN playing! Just before we were done, Ben & I were swinging & had Ashley & Felicia on our laps. Just as I was telling Felicia to get ready to jump off, suddenly we heard a loud THUMP and saw Ashley looking up & spitting sand out of her mouth! She was jumping off Ben's lap but her boot got caught and she belly flopped into the sand! Ahhhh luckily she wasn't hurt because Ben & I couldn't stop laughing! For once, she didn't throw a fit because we were laughing. Ben took her to the drinking fountain to rinse out her mouth! Then she was fine.

Came home for the kids to get cleaned up & no one was really hungry {from eating so much pie, think Ben, Nathaniel & Felicia had 2 slices, and the kids were eating candy too}. So, I lucked out & didn't have to make dinner. Just munched on a few crackers & cheese.

Ben left early this morning to go to jury duty. Hope he doesn't get stuck there all day. He's really needed a day off from work because he's been working extra days. As it turns out, Julie is at the same jury duty as Ben! How wild is that? LOL :) Good Luck you two!!

***EDIT*** The case was settled out of court, so they were ALL excused early! WOOHOO!!!

Gotta go get dressed...my Mom & I want to go check out Hobby Lobby in a little bit.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

Jury Duty & Cleaning

Ben & I have successfully escaped Jury Duty {or even having to show up to see if we're chosen} any time we have received that dreaded notice in the mail.

However, Ben received one recently and just found out that his group has to appear next week. UGH! Luckily he already has the day off and it's a court near us. He's hoping he doesn't get picked.

To make things worse, I almost put my mail back into my mailbox yesterday when I saw the horrible *jury summons* with MY NAME on it! AND I'm supposed to report in the middle of DECEMBER! AAAAGHHHH! Apparently, you can only get out of it once then your name gets drawn again in 90 days. {which I recently got out of it so my time is up}

I know. I know. I should be happy to be a part of the jury process and do my civil duty. But I'm NOT. Sorry. I don't want someone else's fate in my hands right now. Especially right before Christmas! Like I'm not stressed out enough! So please please please cross your fingers for me that MY GROUP gets dismissed! {you know the phone call you have to make the night before to find out if you have to show up first thing in the morning or not}

In the meantime, I'm trying to get the kids to help clean up their messes around the house. I'm grateful that Nathaniel & Felicia are being great helpers! Thanks kiddos!

I also saw a pair of shoes sticking out from under the couch, so I did the unthinkable and moved the couch! Ummmm yah. Ewwww! What was I thinking? I found tons of kid papers, flip flops, dust, sand {leftover from school playgrounds in kid shoes}, dvds {in cases & out}, small toys & books, socks, candy wrappers, etc. At least there wasn't food. I have found old cereal or crackers before. Don't know how that happens because they're supposed to only eat at the table! I swept everything into one big pile and told the kids {since it was their stuff} to put it away or throw it away! Then I moved the other couch. Whew! Only a couple school papers. YAY! Have to confess that it was only clean under that couch because the kids knocked over a small lamp and broke the glass shade, so I had to move the couch to clean up the glass about a week or two ago.

Guess we have a new weekly chore added to the list...check under couches! Lucky me. The kids will be thrilled - - NOT! LOL

Hope you're having a fun filled Saturday!

Warm Blessings & Freebie

I am LOVING the weather right now! Low to mid 50's in the morning then hi 70's in the afternoon! Couldn't ask for better weather! I know we don't have much of 'color changes' in Arizona, but I'd like to think that my grass turning from green to yellow is kind of like autumn colors, don't ya think? LOL

Ok I'll admit that I didn't think it was such a big deal for the leaves to change colors like people in states with *real* seasons. But our first fall in Texas, I was amazed that the leaves did change colors and it was really pretty! I do miss that a little.

For me, November is all about Thanksgiving and being with family. Not just eating, ok it's a LOT about eating yummy turkey & all the fixin's, but also about really counting our Blessings! Thanking our Heavenly Father for all the blessings He has given us, telling our family & friends "Thank You" for being a part of our lives, and also helping to bless others.

So, here's a BIG THANK YOU to all my FAMILY & FRIENDS!!! You are so SPECIAL to me & I LOVE you tons!!!

With that said...
I have a NEW kit in my store at DSO this week! WOOHOOO!!! And yep, they are the beautiful golden colors we don't see when our leaves stop being green in Arizona, but we do see them in our gorgeous sunsets! You know what I'm talking about, right? When you're driving home from work or the store or calling the kids in for dinner and you suddenly look up and see the sky covered with red, burgundy, orange and yellow-gold! I just LOVE watching the sunset and I LOVE that my kids LOVE it too! Well, those are the colors that I used in my new kit.

Warm Blessings

It's on SALE 30% OFF for 1 week

Of course, I had to play with it & make a layout.

I'm so grateful for my little sweeties!

{I also used KimB's "Loryn" stitching & alpha}

Oh my goodness! The DSO Designers have been busy

because look at all the NEW goodies this week!

You can click on the picture to see it larger.

{If you missed some of my recent freebies, like the DSO October Daily Treats, then you can find them in my store now - most are under $1.}

Oh oh, I almost forgot.

I have a little sumthin' for you, I made a QP from my layout.

You can grab it

* sorry link expired *

Please leave me sum lovin'

I read all my comments on my blog & in 4shared.

Thanks for all the nice compliments when I do freebies! You don't realize how much they mean to me! ♥

Paper Bag Card

Apparently you can make anything out of anything! Is this fabulous or what? It's a Christmas card using a paper bag!

here's the gorgeous outside

...and the beautiful inside

{w/ a little pocket to put a little gift or whatever}
Go HERE for the tutorial.
WOW!

Give Thanks Wreath

Isn't this darling?!!! I want to make one!!!

Go HERE for the step-by-step instructions! Looks pretty easy!

If you make one, I want to see it!

Halloween & SAVERS

What happened to October? Seriously, it's already over & Halloween came & went! Now we're almost half-way thru November already! YIKES! I swear, once Halloween is over, next thing you know it's Christmas Day! Seriously! I heard Christmas music on the radio this weekend! WOW! So, I know, I'm a little behind, but I finally uploaded my camera and here's what I've got:

Halloween pics!!

Ben is the tall Spiderman in the back - LOL

{like you couldn't have guessed, right?}

Nathaniel is Captain Rex (the clonetrooper)

Felicia is Hannah Montana

Ashley is her fave pink Power Ranger

Anson is the buff Iron Man

Nathaniel enjoying some cotton candy

{like his beard?}

Felicia & Ashley decided to *sort* their candy the next day

Here's Felicia and all her goodies!

Chocolates on one side (including tootsie rolls) and all other sweets on the other!

Here's Ashley's wonderfully organized pile of candy!

They were so excited to show me what they did!

They are too funny!

This little guy is often caught being super silly!
Last week was a big day for Felicia! She lost another tooth!
She wiggled it like crazy at church & it was ready when we got home!

Yesterday I took advantage of the HUGE 50% off SALE at SAVERS!

Thanks Julie for the heads-up!

I went not as early this time (around 10am instead of 8am)

I think Julie picked the place clean, but I was still able to find some great deals! LOL

Here's the loot!

{ok, please don't judge me because my bed wasn't fully made with all our pretty pillows that I insist we need when I took these pics - how embarrassing!}

I got 23 items for $50. WOOHOOO!!!

Here's 2 nice polo shirts for Ben

Hope you like these babe, cuz they put me over my $2 average per item! haha

4 nice shirts for Nathaniel

{don't ya just love the gray one?}

wish they had that in Ben's size too! haha

They always seem to have an abudance of fabulous items in Felicia's size!

Although, that blue striped sweater is going to Ashley!

Ashley got some much needed jeans!

She only has the hand-me-downs from Felicia & they all have holes in the knees & look like *high waters*

But couldn't find very many tops that would fit her

(they're all too short & she has a long torso & long legs)

Anson got a couple things too.

When I got home, I found this little stinker drawing on her face!

At least they're washable markers!

She says it's a beard that grew all over her face!

{oh there's all my decorative bed pillows!}

Do you like Ginger's new cozy spot?

Anson has been begging me to play some kind of *froggy* game with him. So I gave in & he explained to me what it was. Apparently, he wanted me to hop around like a frog saying "ribbet" and chasing him *the bug* for food! hahaha He loved when I caught him and hugged & tickled him! But we didn't play too long because it's actually really tiring to squat down & hop around, plus the gingersnap {I mean the Anson-bug} I had just eaten was sloshing around & wanted to come back up! Never a good sign! So I called -GameOver- LOL

One of our neighbors asked Ben aka Spiderman to make an appearance at their son's birthday party last night. He was a huge hit as usual.

This is what was on his mind when he got home! haha

Yep, good ol' xbox!

So, after dinner, we played Gears of War 2 with some of his co-workers online. It was so FUN!

We spent most of the weekend (in his little bit of free time after work - he worked everyday this weekend) we played the newly released Gears of War 2! We finished co-op campaign on Monday night! Now we are going to play it again on Insane! Which is, of course, insanely hard! But you get more achievement points for doing it that way. And we're all about the points! LOL

Ok, Julie, are you happy now?! She was concerned that I wasn't blogging much lately! Thanks for being worried about me! ♥

Now I need to do laundry (oh it never ends), grocery shopping (again the people in my house are ALWAYS hungry), get dressed and find out if Best Buy has any more little remote control tanks available (we're supposed to get a free one with our Gears of War 2 Limited Edition but they hadn't received them yet on release day - last Friday)!

What are you up to today??