DINNER & BLACK FRIDAY !!!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I ate too much (as usual) but what's new?
This year I went to Traci and Jason's at 10AM. Traci and I scouted the ad's for the deals and decided the route we would take for "Black Friday Shopping !" lol Then Jeff and Christa came over and we visited till 1PM when we split up and went our separate ways for dinner. Jason, Traci and the kids and I went to Jason's parents and Jeff and Christa went to Gordon's.
Ann made the turkey, stuffing, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and fruit pies. Traci made stuffed mushrooms and green beans. I made 2 salads, sweet potato souffle, a relish tray, pumpkin pies and lemon bars. NOW YOU CAN SEE WHY I ATE MORE THAN I SHOULD HAVE! It was delicious!
Before dinner, Sophia and Isabel made the table centerpieces! They had gathered leaves from their yard and Gramma Ann had some fruit and flowers. This one is Sophia's! It was Beautiful!

This one is Isabels. It was beautiful too!

Just as pretty as the two little girls who made them! Isabel had a darling song about her Turkey named Albuquerque! It was so dang cute. Wish I could remember the words!

Here's Caden givin a "thumbs up" for the bird! "LET'S EAT"..................After dinner and dishes we sat down and enjoyed a movie and being entertained by the kids.

Isabel and Sophia took pictures with my camera and then drew faces on each other till the battery gave out! I took off the mustache and glasses etc that Sophia put on Belle.

Andrew had us all laughing when he found and extra binky and decided "If one's good then two is better!" He loves his binky!

Traci had to go to work at 7:30 PM so I left and went to Art & Lynn's for a bit to visit with Debbie and the girls as well as Mom & dad and the kids! They all had a great dinner too and were playing games. I left just before 9 cuz I didn't want to miss the call from Tony and he didn't disappoint me! We had a great visit and compared meals! He said his was awesome but he knew it would have been better at home! (awhhhhh)

I was going to go to bed to get ready for our big shopping day but Traci called me from the hospital and said I could go to Walmart and get some of the things that would go on sale early .....SO like the idiot I am.... I left the house at midnight, went to Walmart and I was able to get two of the Cricut Cartridges I wanted. Then I met up with Traci and we went to Walgreens, Walmart, Old Navy.....then breakfast and then out to Target. When we got there the line was soooooooo long to get in and it was too cold to stand in line that long so we went back to Walmart. I planted myself at one spot for Traci while she planted herself in another.
When 5AM hit, I was able to get two portable disc players for her and she was able to get 3 digital camera's. (all Christmas presents she wanted for her kids) It was a complete "MAD HOUSE"....worse than in the past! SERIOUSLY! I was trying to find her afterwards and came across a Blue Ray player that I wanted to get for Tony. We finally met up and paid for our treasures and then went our separate ways! She went to find her friends that we left at Target and I went home to get an hour and 1/2 of sleep before coming to work! YES, I had to work today! LIKE I SAID ..... I'M AN IDIOT! I'm gonna pay dearly today. I'm suppose to go to Mountain Home with Jeff and Christa when I get off work to see her parents whom I haven't seen since they got married! It's gonna be a long day ... AND I'M SLEEPIN IN TOMORROW!

"SONGS OF THANSGIVING"

Last Sunday night, Jeff, Christa and I attended the 7th Annual "Songs of Thanksgiving" at the Qwest Arena in Boise. It was started by Steven Ricks seven years ago. Steve was my 1st Bishop when I moved to Boise. He is a wonderful man with a great appreciation for good music so after retiring from his law practice he gathered together hundreds of local talent. Musicians, of all kinds. Singers, directors, pianists, orchestra, and band. The people are of all faiths and they come together every year to do this FREE CONCERT.
It was beautiful with sons like "Battle Hymn of the Republic", "Give Me That Old Time Religion", "Lead Kindly Light" and EVEN "Called to Serve"!!! It was so awesome! It was a great way to kick off the holidays!

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS....

My youngest brother Rick and his wife Wendy (and 2 of their children ...Kate & Will) came yesterday and spent the night with me. We woke up to this !!! I was going to fix them breakfast and then they were going to leave for Rexburg to pick up their daughter Charcie and head for Montana for Thanksgiving.
Then yesterday before they came, Wendy's grandfather died. He lived in Rexburg. Wendy was sad that she was not able to see him before he passed.

They decided to get going early this morning because of the weather and she was going to help her father make arrangements for the funeral. I sure enjoyed having them here even if it was short. They had a great visit with Jeff and Christa last night when they got back from Vegas and Zion's National Park.

I'm glad I got to see them and hope they have a safe trip to Rexburg and Montana and I hope they have a Happy Thanksgiving.

I'M MAKIN PUMPKIN PIES THIS WEEKEND......

HAPPY THANKGIVING YA ALL ..........

Sorry, just couldn't resist !

REMEMBER THE ALAMO AND WHAT A GREAT TIME I HAD WITH FAMILY !

I just returned from a wonderful time in Texas. I flew down with Mom and Dad Norton for the sealing of Chris and Princess. We met up in San Antonio on Monday the 9th. We spent a wonderful week with them. Scott and Jill drove over on Wednesday the 11th from Arizona as well. It was a great visit and the following are some of the highlights of the trip.

We stayed at LaCascada in downtown San Antonio. It is on the famous San Antonio Riverwalk and the Alamo is there as well. This is a picture of some of the beautiful grounds around the Alamo. It was really a sight to see.

This is Princess, me and Chris sitting on a cannon on the grounds.

And this is the famous front of the Alamo that you always see and associate with the Alamo but there is a whole lot more to it. It was great and gave you a feeling of reverence and appreciation for the men who died there.

The following pictures are some of the Riverwalk! It was absolutely beautiful! The Riverwalk consists of hundreds of shops, restaurants, hotels, businesses, a mall etc that are situated on the river with walks on both sides of the river.

Chris and Princess posing in front of one of the beautiful waterfalls on the riverwalk.

We went into a little convenient store and grabbed a sandwich and something to drink for breakfast one morning. Chris was pretty impressed with Grandpa's ability to drink 1/2 gallon of milk.

I stuck with one of the little ones but Grampa Norton said for just a little bit more money he could get a bigger size. (Much better deal....good thing he's not lactose intolerant, LOL

The weather was beautiful. We enjoyed temperatures in the high 70's and even low 80's one day.

Here we are on a river taxi. That was a lot of fun to ride and listen to the drivers make jokes and tell us all about the sites!

After buying a ticket for $10 dollars each we were able to ride from the time we bought it up to 24 hours so we came back in the evening and rode it in the dark! It was a lot of fun and our night driver was a fountain of information and he drove us around for a good hour and 10 minutes. We were only suppose to have about 1/2 hour left! WE LIKED HIM!

Me and Chris!

On Wednesday, I went with Princess and Chris to Laredo. Princess had a Dr. appointment at 9AM so we had to leave at 6:30AM. It was fun to meet her Dr. and to hear Tristan's heartbeat! He sounds good and the Dr. said she is doing great!

After the appointment we drove to their lovely home. Princess made us lunch and Chris showed me around. Their home is really nice! Check it out!

Wednesday the 11th was also Princess's birthday! YAY! Chris gave her a sewing machine!

After lunch, Chris drove me all around Laredo and showed me his job! In this picture, you are looking across the Rio Grande River into Mexico. The guys you see on the shore are what the Border Patrol calls "Scouts".....these guys are looking for an opportunity to smuggle and illegal alien (or worse yet...drugs) across!

Just up river from these hooligans is the customs. Chris said that this is the place where most actually get across! UNBELIEVABLE!

Wednesday evening, me and Mom and Dad Norton went down on the Riverwalk to a little Mexican Restaurant that was awesome! CHEAP AND DELICIOUS! My kind of place!

Friday morning we all got up early and Chris drove us to Houston to the Temple. Jill stayed behind with the kids and they toured the Alamo and some other places and went swimming. The 6 of us went into Houston and "Thank Goodness, Chris was driving!" TRAFFIC WAS A NIGHTMARE!!

The two missionaries that baptized Princess came from SLC! AWESOME YOUNG MEN!

Elder Smart, Chris, Princess and Elder Sullivan.

Elder Smart is from Utah and Elder Sullivan is from California but both of them are going to school in Utah at the moment. Smart at Utah State and Sullivan at BYU. Smart joked with Sullivan and called him the "Chosen one" LOL

Here's the 6 and 1/2 of us ..ha ha....It was a beautiful day! The spirit was so strong and I personally would not have missed this for the world!

Scott messed up his ankle the day before coming. He was taking an illegal alien in (in the middle of the night) and they got to a fence and the alien went under and Scott went over. There was a big ole rock that he came down on, twisted his ankle really bad and now is off work and on crutches BUT that didn't stop him from coming. (Although Jill had to do all the driving....she's incredible) He's gonna mess up the other ankle if he keeps this up!

The grounds were beautiful and this happy couple glow!

Little Tristan jumped for joy! He'll be born under the covenant!

It was hard getting a full size picture with my little camera but this one looks pretty good! It was a beautiful temple!

Saturday, Jill and the kids swam. Those are definitely some water babies!

Chris and princess soaked their feet!

It was a great trip. I sure missed Tony and my parents though! Sunday morning we got up at 4AM and left the resort at 4:30AM. Chris and Princess led us to the freeway and then were kind enough to give us their GPS so we could get to the airport on time and make our connections! We made it to the airport just fine but then had a heck of a time returning the rental car! We drove around for 45 minutes trying to find the darn place. After sweating it out and getting very anxious, Lynn said a couple of prayers and we pulled into a hotel to ask questions and the lady said, "Just go through our PARKING LOT AND IT'S RIGHT BEHIND US!" We were so happy to finally get through security and make it on the plane with NO TIME TO SPARE!

We got to Denver to find the season had changed! BIG TIME! There were snow plows all over and we had to sit on the Tarmac for 20 minutes while they de-iced the plane. We got to Salt Lake around 11 AM Sunday and Debbie picked us up, took us to the condo where we ate some lunch and then headed home. Luckily the roads were good all the way and we arrived home after 15 hours of traveling. It was an awesome trip and like I said......

I WOULDN'T HAVE MISSED IT FOR THE WORLD!

NEWS FLASH *******

I'm in Utah and will be leaving Monday morning for Texas.

I talked with Donna this morning and Jack will be moved today to a rehab facility in Missoula. His speech is garbled still but it is getting better and he is getting a little movement in his right side. She said Holly had her baby Thursday. A little boy, William Rexall Spinks. 8 lbs 6 oz.

Eric, Jason and Nicole are all there in Missoula with their dad. I am so grateful Jack was still home and not on the road to Utah when all of this happened. He is in good hands and in very good spirits. Donna said his appetite wasn't affected. He says he's hungry all the time. LOL

Our prayers are with you Jack as well as with Janet who is home now and recovering. We love you both so much and our thoughts and prayers are with you!!

IF ANYTHING CAN GO WRONG....IT WILL~

Life can sure throw us some disappointments!
My sister-in law, Janet was in the hospital with bacterial pneumonia for better than a week. She was able to come home yesterday (Thank Heaven) but still has some recovery time. I pray for her and her family and I'm very thankful she was released from the hospital.

As you all know, my sister Donna and her husband Jack, were going to drive my parents to Utah today to meet up with me and Art and Lynn so we could all fly out Monday morning to Texas for the sealing of Chris & Princess. Well, last night my parents called and told me my brother-in-law Jack was admitted into the hospital with what they think may be a stroke. I called this morning to see how things are and it may be worse than we feared in the 1st place. I offered to drive to Montana to get my folks but they have decided that they are needed more at home right now. They feel bad that they will miss the sealing but like I said....that's life.
I will keep you all posted on Janet and Jack and would appreciate your prayers in their behalf.

I will be back late Sunday the 15th and I pray all be be well in my absence.

LOOK WHAT'S FOR DINNER !!

Heather made Sunday dinner and this is what we had! We got a small pumpkin from the Halloween party Friday night. We cut out a section, cleaned it out and then filled it with the following recipe:

Halloween Pumpkin Casserole
1 small/medium pumpkin
1 onion chopped
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 1/2-2 lbs. ground hamburger
2 TBSP soy sauce
2 TBSP brown sugar
1 4oz. can of mushrooms drained
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 1/2 c. cooked rice
1 8oz. can of water chestnuts (optional)
Brown onion, oil, and hamburger. Add soy sauce, brown sugar, mushrooms, and Cream of Chicken Soup. Simmer for about 15 mins.
Add rice and water chestnuts. Put the mixture in the pumpkin and cook for 1 hour at 350 degrees. You can draw a face with a Sharpie marker on the outside of the pumpkin before you cook it. It's kind of fun to do!
It was really very good. We didn't eat the pumpkin but you can if you want. We baked a Sweet Meat Squash and ate it with the innards of the pumpkin. Mmmm Mmmmmm Good!
Heather even put a face on the pumpkin with a magic marker and wrote "Eat Me" on the top! LOL