Made gingerbread cookies, today!  They were pretty, kept their shape and looked nice, but they were kind of bland and dry!  BUT...the kids had a great time.

We had the Smarts join us, and they (clearly!) were happy!  I can't believe tomorrow is December!

Advent

Cute little girls in church, today!  They made sweet little advent chains for Christmas that will help them serve and be prepared with the true Spirit of Christmas.

I love these little ones! 

We got our Christmas up today!  Our tree is a little simpler, so it takes a lot less time to get up and decorated.  I feel like this picture is distorted.  The wall and tree are askew, but the window seems straight.  I promise, the tree and wall are straight, too!

Christmas Time!

We met with Mad, Joni, Mom, Dad, and of course Master Thomas for breakfast today!  This little guy has seriously stolen my heart!

We went to Original Pancake House, where a friend recommended the California Omelet, which was fantastic!  We had a great time talking and relaxing together.

Grandmere and Bapa were hard at work afterwards getting that tree up!  It is so tall, and has so many decorations.  There must be some way to just shrink wrap the whole thing and store it as is, but we haven't attempted it yet.

Grandmere's house will be covered in glitter for the whole season!  It does not go away!

We TRIED to make the turning on of the lights downtown, tonight, but sometime between driving by Temple Square, and coming back up to ground level after parking, they had already switched them on!  We walked by the Macy's windows on our way to the lights, and the girls were able to see all the candy decorations.  There were a million more people here tonight than last week!

Even though we missed the actual switch on, it was still fun to wander around among the lights.

The Christmas season is upon us!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This morning was the half marathon!  There were A TON of photographers along the sides of the race, this time, and they actually snapped some decent ones of me!

This race was tough.  I had definitely not trained enough.  There was A LOT of walking, especially towards the end.  But I finished, and that was truly my only goal!  Now to hope I don't hurt for a week!  This picture was coming in to the finish line.  I had about HAD it, but managed to run the last little bit.

My biggest problem, though?  I was FREEZING!  It was only about 30 degrees at the end of the race, and as soon as I wasn't moving around any more, I simply couldn't warm up enough.  I headed straight up to my parents' house, where I showed off my finisher medal.  This one was pretty dang cool.  BIG, and glittery!  After this picture I took a hot shower, and literally sat down on the shower floor and ran out the water heater, as hot as I could take it to get my core temperature back up.

Then of course, we needed a couple things at the store, so I headed there quick.  The leaves on the trees were still SO pretty, even this late in the season.  There was this pretty variegated row that I just had to snap a picture of.

Today was also the ending of our Thankful Tree.  This is what it looked like after we put our last leaves on it.

Today I took all the leaves off and made note of the girls ideas.  These were Mimi's, which were so cute with her being so interested in writing.  I could even figure out what each one said!  Mimi is thankful for: snow, Jesus, Santa, family, Mommy, the world, animals, and trees.

Most of Leiden's had illustrations with them, which is SO Leiden!  She is thankful for: medicine, Earth, food, Mrs. Casperson (her teacher), the Thankful Tree, plants, animals, lights, school, pictures, and houses.

Mac is thankful for: clothes, apples, pencils, pets, Thanksgiving, food, mom, snow, colors, toys, Jesus Christ, and the Thankful Tree.

I didn't take a picture of my leaves, but I am thankful for: my body, hugs, cloudy days, doctors, Leiden, Mac, Mimi, turning leaves, the Savior, the Sacrament, hot chocolate, the military, warm houses, and friends.  This is a wonderful tradition that I look forward to every year.

As well as THIS tradition!!!  Here we are, mid baking time, when the bird gets turned onto its back, and we put the bacon on!  Mom is always so relieved when this part is over, because then she can do her final kitchen cleansing and disinfection from raw turkey juices!  It's nerve wracking, really.  My least favorite part about cooking a turkey...all that raw meat everywhere.

She and my dad were having way too much fun with the awkward turkey legs.  Many turkeys come with them bound with plastic, but these were just sprawled out.  My dad had to take some twine to them to get the enormous bird to fit in the roasting pan!

The girls came by later in the afternoon, after already having Thanksgiving dinner with Brad's family.  Grandmere had been thoughtful and forward thinking by getting them a little craft to work on while we waited for the feast.

Finally!  The bird comes out and we get ready to carve!

I think the bacon is the most coveted bit, though...I know Madison eats as much of it as he can!

We had a good crew for dinner this year.  There had been a lot of illness at my mom's house, and we were just glad to be together as a family!

The star of the show was probably Master Thomas, who got to eat some baby food turkey!  Um...yeah.  This face was hilarious.

Me and Mad.

A funnier me and Mad, with mom photobombing in the back!

Sweet little man on his first Thanksgiving!

Cuddling with my girls is one of my favorite things to do, when they'll sit still long enough to do it.

I made pumpkin pie, of course.

It was a lovely evening with family and good food.

Happy Thanksgiving from the Macdonald girls!

Which Wich

This afternoon I picked up my bib for the half marathon tomorrow!  And I got the coolest number ever!  I'm a little nervous about the race.  I've not trained as I should have, after my foot hurting for quite a while after the last one at Halloween.  There's no question I will finish, but it certainly won't be a personal record!  And that's okay.  I'd rather just be normal sore afterwards, and not injured sore.

Tried a new restaurant tonight.  It was Which Wich, a sandwich place right by my house, but I've never tried it.  It was pretty good.  I forget how much I like sandwiches, and I feel like it's almost always a better deal to go out to get them.  Otherwise you buy lunch meat and don't eat it all, and then you feel like different meat or cheese, and all the toppings!!!

I love Meghan.  So much!  She brought me and Alecia our very own Gingerbread house kit!  I LOVE these things, and I can add it to what I do with the girls later in the season.

Macy's

Went to go see the Macy's windows this weekend with a friend.  Apparently they unveil them a week prior to the lights going on on Temple Square.  I'm not sure a lot of people knew about this, though, because no one was there looking at them!  It made for a leisurely walk downtown without having to deal with the crowds, though!

Healing

Mimi's head looks SO MUCH BETTER.  The swelling had largely gone down by the next day, and all that was left was a pretty good scratch.  This poor little girl's head has seen some owies.  

There's a tiny bit of bruising, too, but it should heal up nicely, and there were no complications or problems internally.  Whew.

I finally got this back, today!  It has been HARD without it!  I take fewer pictures with it than I used to, which I would like to change, but I still use it enough to miss it when it's gone!  The repair was more expensive than I would have liked, but cheaper than buying a new camera, so it's done.

Went to go see this tonight on a date!  I was super excited to see how it all ended up in the movie.  The book was so bleak, it was interesting to see the movie's take.  It was a little less bleak, but still realistic to the characters' lives.  Had a great time, despite not feeling super well all day.

Christmas Workshop

And it begins!!!  The girls are getting American Girl Doll beds for Christmas, and there was NO WAY I was going to pay for the real ones, so I found darling little 18" doll beds at IKEA.  I just have to paint them and make the bedding!  These were the super cute fabrics I found to make little sheets and quilts and even littler pillows with!  I am so excited, and hope the girls like them!

Tumbles

POOR little Meemer!  She took one heck of a tumble this morning on the way to school.  The story is that she tripped and literally face planted on the concrete.  As in her hands didn't break her fall at all.  After squaring her away, I had to get the other two girls out of class to ask them questions about it.  Did she pass out?  Did she immediately start crying?  Did she lay on the ground for any amount of time before getting up?  After I had all my questions answered, I got hold of the doctor, and relayed the information.  He seemed to think she was fine.  Stressed that head injuries can swell up like crazy, and gave me things to watch out for in the next 12 hours.  Poor sweetheart.  It looks bad, but she's going to be okay.

In more positive news...I am addicted to this homemade taco seasoning!  I tried it a few months ago, and it is SO GOOD.  Store taco seasoning has always made my tummy just a tiny bit upset, but this stuff doesn't!  So instead of mixing up just what I need, tonight I mixed up a whole jar full to be used whenever I want!