Ah, A "Twilight" Thanksgiving!

So, let me just say that this is the first night that I have been able to pull myself from the couch in almost an entire week! What kind of hold can a stuffed leather couch have over me? Let's break it down:

1. Scene of the crime:

I decided that Thanksgiving was the perfect time to start a book I'd heard quite a bit about in recent weeks, but hadn't given that much thought to-"Twilight". I purchased the book a little over a month before and it was serving as a wonderful dust collector in my bedside table while I finished my latest book. I began reading the book on Wednesday night around 8:30 pm with the intention of only reading until I was to the third chapter. Yeah-not so much. I ended up reading somewhere around 200 pages (or rather, until 1:30 AM-yes AM!) until I finally decided I must sleep if I was going to get my turkey in the oven anytime before noon the next day.

2. After another fabulous Thanksgiving dinner hosted by my in-laws (delicious, as always, Mom M.) and the usual Thanksgiving day routine, ie: watching Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, cooking a turkey so Eric wouldn't have to worry about leftovers from his mom's house, playing card games with his grandparents and my brothers-in law (my sisters-in-law don't really get into the whole "card" thing, dang it!) and lounging around most of the evening, I decided that I would give myself just a few minutes more reading time before bed. Ha! Fool that I am, I was up again until 2:00AM this time. I swear these books have an addictive chemical mixed in with ink. I finished the book in record time. SO freakin' good.

3. On Sunday, with the exception of my 3 hours at church, my day was almost fully devoted to starting and finishing "New Moon", the second book in the series. Good thing there were a lot of leftovers from Thanksgiving or my family might have starved. My poor family!

4. On Monday, I started "Eclipse" the third book in the series so far. The biggest book yet, and I finished it last night! Holy Cow-I'm usually not a speed reader, I can usually get through a 500+ page book in less than five days, so the fact that I've just finished well over 1500+ pages in a matter of 7 days is pretty darn good in my mind.

It's a very good thing that the author's next book in the series isn't due out until August of 2008 (well, good in Eric's mind, for me it's absolute TORTURE!) so that I can get some freakin' sleep and get caught up on the all laundry I've totally neglected. Sigh! If anyone out there knows of a good book they've just finished, please call me-I've got a good eight months until my obsession with this series flares back up! :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

Room Service!

Eric and I packed a bag, grabbed the girls and headed downtown to the Little America Hotel in Salt Lake for an overnight stay on Sunday night. It was so much fun. Eric's mom and dad gave us a gift certificate last year for Christmas and we hadn't even thought about using it until she reminded us that there was an expiration date on them! Luckily, she warned us in time and we ended up giving the girls a fun, swim-filled mini-weekend. The rooms in the tower are awesome and HUGE! If you've never gone-make plans to go and be sure to stay in the tower, they're the best!

We let the girls swim around in the indoor/outdoor pool and then warmed them up in the hot tub for a minute. Both of our girls are little water dogs and once they're in the water it's like pulling teeth to get them out again. I'm glad they like to swim, but it's a little scary too because they think they can just jump right in and we'll be right there to catch them. I think some swimming lessons will be included in next year's summer plans for Haylie. I know Grandpa Jim enjoys swimming and would be an excellent teacher (hint, hint Dad!).

Of course, Eric and I didn't think about asking for a room with two beds so we ended up in a room with one king-size bed. My brilliant thought was just to do a makeshift bed on the floor for the girls (yeah, right). We ended up in a tangled mess of arms and legs on the huge bed. But it was still fun and luckily, the bed was big enough for all of us so we got to do some major snuggling with our girls. Not a bad alternative. :)

It was good to just get away overnight and spend every minute with our girls. Nothing is better to me than just being with my girls and my funny hubby. That's all I need to make my day.

Fun Old Fashioned Family Christmas!

"I'm gonna burn some dust here. Eat my rubber!"

"Dad, it's burn some rubber, eat my dust."

"Whatever, Russ, whatever."

Eric got our Christmas lights up on the new house last week and I must say they look awesome! I am a big fan of the Christmas lights. I used to love asking my Dad to put the "colorful lights" on the house when I was little and then when they were up I would lay in bed at night and look at them through my bedroom window. When I think about that I really miss being a kid. Christmas has changed so much since I was young and it doesn't feel the same anymore. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy being around my family and the traditions we have continued through the years (especially my Mom's awesome Christmas breakfast). Before Eric and I had our girls, and believe me, eight years is a LONG time, Christmas was just kind of a "family get-together" kind of holiday. It has been so much more entertaining and rewarding for us since our children have come. We actually get more of a gift out of giving them presents than we could ever get out of buying each other gifts. I think Eric and I could honestly say we wouldn't mind if we never received another gift-so long as we could just be with our families and be able to give our children a good Christmas. For me especially, as I've gotten older, I truly enjoy giving a whole lot more than receiving. It's funny how your perspective changes over the years and you really do find that the material things don't really matter much. After all, as they say, "You can't take it with you." If only that weren't true where Disneyland is concerned! :)

Well, I think I've waxed nostalgic long enough for one blog! If nothing else, you can enjoy looking at my pic's of Clark Griswald-if I were clever enough, I would've found a way to insert Eric's face. He always reminds me of Clark during the holidays (Love you lots, honey!) and I get a big kick out of him walking around the house tormenting the girls with his "ho ho hos" from back bedrooms or asking if they heard footprints on the roof. So fun!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Love To Eat Turkey!

Well, it's been a while since I've been on to blog so I thought I'd better get started again! I love November for the following reasons:

1. Turkey! So yummy and good for you-an awesome combination! Thank goodness for Thanksgiving.

2. Thanksgiving-I know this should probably be at the top, but for me it's just a holiday that gives me an excuse to eat turkey! :)

3. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade-I like parades and this is by far the best one of the year!

4. Family Get-togethers-when the weather turns bad, it's fun to go indoors and play games with my family. Eric's dad and grandparents can always be counted on for a fun game of Rummy or Hearts, but they're not too big on many other games which is just fine (Ernie and I like to try and trick everyone else during the card games). My family is just the opposite-we love all sorts of different games and on Thanksgiving there is usually more than one game going on at once with different family members.

5. The "Official" start of the Christmas Season-I like Christmas well enough, and I enjoy the parties and the special programs at church during this time of year.

My only wish would be for Thanksgiving and Christmas to come and be fun and then have spring return instantly! I never really look forward to the long, cold winter months. No fun! Oh well, the sooner winter gets here the sooner it will be over! :)

I hope everyone has wonderful plans for Thanksgiving and that you all enjoy the holiday season!