Happy Maynksgiving!

Yesterday we started a new tradition. We had a leftover turkey from Thanksgiving so we decided to have Maynksgiving dinner. We invited a few of our best Idaho friends to bring their Thanksgiving speciality to share. Tom made the turkey, pork loin and an apple pie. I made the rolls, pumpkin pie and homemade ice cream (which replaced cranberry sauce -- something that, in my opinion, should happen at every Thanksgiving).

The theme with our plastic cups and porcelain dinner plates was "white trash with a little class" but hey, it is our idea and we make the rules. Happy MAYNKSGIVING!

Donnie Mac's Trailer Park Cuisine

Once a month in our ward we have the option of signing up for dinner groups. Usually a few people will host them at their houses and everyone will bring potluck. Last week we had our dinner group for May but not very many people signed up so instead of eating in, we went out for a new experience.

Donnie Mac's Trailer Park Cuisine was featured on the TV show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. I tried the fried chicken sandwich, which was also featured on the show. It was a fun atmosphere and the prices were reasonable. Yeah for dinner groups.

Little Climber

Morgan has been trying a lot of new things lately. She is a little climber. She climbed onto the couch to get her peach puff treats, opened them, stuck her arm in to grab some, and tried to put the lid back on. She tried to climb into the tub but I caught her first (it might be an ouchie fall if she makes it).

She covered her eyes then uncovered them and laughed when I said "peek-a-boo," then did it again and again (minutes of entertainment!).

When she woke up from her nap I heard her talking. Then I heard her glow bug play music. I snuck into her room to watch what she was doing. She had her baby in her arms and gave it a kiss. When the glow bug music stopped, she pushed its tummy again so the music would play. Then she sat and talked to her baby. So so cute.

Other things she does are:

Pats us on the back while giving hugs or right after being picked up.

She stopped being our good little eater and now spits most things out.

Her favorite foods are string cheese, avocados, and sometimes egg yolk.

She is getting more sturdy on her feet and practices walking without us urging her to do so.

Bear Creek 5K

I got a flier on my door announcing a 5K in my subdivision. I definitely wanted to support it so they would do it again. Last Saturday I strapped Morgan in the jogger and we met some friends at the park. There was a really good turn out (it ended up being a ward activity for the other ward and they invited the neighborhood). I signed up and handed in the disclaimer. Originally I marked that I was running in the non-competitive group. Well, when it comes to races, I can't just be non-competitive. I ended up running my guts out. I was the 2nd girl to cross the finish line! It was really fun and a great ward activity idea. Our ward decided to do one on the 24th of July.

Grandma Camille

My grandma was in the hospital again while we were in Utah. She has had incredibly poor health for like 45 years. She had her first stroke when she was 40 and two or three since. She has also had an aneurysm and broken her back at least three separate times.

It's hard to watch my spry, energetic grandmother go from being able to walk faster than I could keep up to barely being able to move (to being strapped to a hospital bed). She used to let me go for walks with her and take me school shopping. She bought me my first pair of Girbaud jeans (which were super cool in the early nineties and pretty expensive). We also used to watch the Sunday night movie every week at her house and she would rub her fingernails up and down my arm until she was eventually scratching so hard I had to ask her to stop.

Anyway, she fell a few weeks ago and broke her back again. Her doctor decided it would be best for her to stay in the hospital for a few days. She did not want to go and stayed in the chair in her hospital room for the entire first night. That was when she mentally checked out. The next day she could remember my grandpa but couldn't remember her kids. She was in and out of it for a few days.

I went to visit her on Saturday on my way to my parents'. She was so loopy and confused. I told her who I was but I'm not sure if she understood. She was quite taken with Morgan though.

The Delta care center was ready to take her on Tuesday so I went with my parents to pick her up before I went home. I was holding her hand and a couple of nurses walked in. She introduced me as her son, Wendell, and my mom as his wife, Sandra (the names and relations are totally accurate, if only I were a tall man with a southern accent). She kept telling us how much she loved us and my mom mentioned that although she may not recognize me, she did recognize love. I was content with that but God decided to give me a tender mercy when my grandma looked at me and said, "I love you, Kelli." I started to cry silently and told her I love her too. She is now in the care center in Delta for a while until we (the family and medical staff) know what to do. She has a few good friends that are there too so hopefully she does well. I love you, Grandma.

Fun With Grandparents

Since we were in Utah, Morgan and I went to my parents' house to stay for a few days while Tom went back home to go to work. We had a great time. I had a babysitter while I biked from Lynndyl to Leamington, Oak City, Delta and back to Lynndyl (with my tire going flat only 6 miles before the finish) to prepare for the half Ironman in a few weeks. Hello nostalgia! During my "alone time" bike ride so many memories popped into my head. I also saw my good friends Kelly, Jake, and Devin, each of whom come with a plethora of memories. I think I'm going to write a book about things we did during adolescence.

Morgan got to feed the cows and horses with Grandpa and Grandma. She LOVED that.

I went too.

Morgan wanted to try the hay. She likes it.

Grandpa wanted to show her his Halloween costume.

And let her try it on.

We visited great Grandma and Grandpa Cook too.
Grandpa pulled out the 30 year old toys from when I was little and let her play with them.

Adam's Commissioning

We're so proud of Tom's brother, Adam. He is graduating from Westminster with a degree in nursing and he was just made Lt. in the army. We attended his commissioning at the capitol building in Salt Lake last week.

Our brother-in-law, Lenny, was the one that got to do the oath with him because he is Sergeant or Captain or something big in the army(I know that was vague. I know nothing about the army).

Congratulations Adam!

While at the capitol we had to take some pictures of our family, of course.

Catching Up on Birthday Stuff

We really love this new place that we tried for our anniversary so we decided to go again to Epi's for my birthday dinner.

It was just as good as we remembered it. Their fish in cream sauce is to die for. My romantic husband reserved the porch table for us but we ended up sharing with a walk-in that was going to be turned away because he didn't have a reservation (on a Thursday night... it's that good).

Tom brought me flowers (and he's lucky he did because he was late getting home from work). I was sick with a cold by the end of the night though and all I wanted to do was sleep. Okay, part of me wanted to go to a movie because I rarely go anymore so we went to Date Night and subsequently found out that movie theater prices have gone up again. Is it normal to pay $10 each to see a movie? I don't know. I grew up where it cost $4.50 a ticket.

Friday Night in the ER

Poor little Morgan caught my cold last week but to her it ended up being croup. She was having a hard time breathing and coughing on Friday evening so I called the on call nurse around 1am. While I was talking with her she could hear Morgan, who starting throwing up. She also had a 103.8 degree temp so the nurse suggested I take her to the ER. So off we went. Tom was out of town for work so it was just the two of us.

They gave her a breathing treatment, which she hated, and took x-rays. The x-rays were clear and healthy, thank goodness. Here she is in her little hospital attire. We brought some books to read and something to play with in case we had to wait a while (and we did).