Modern Family

If, for some reason, you're not watching Modern Family, here is what you're missing:

Happy Thanksgiving!

^^^ it's a turkey.

2010 Dodge Ram

Meet my new (rental) truck, courtesy of Wasatch Front Kia:

Here's hoping it takes them a looooooong time to fix the power steering pump on the van.

LOVE IT!

I love Thanksgiving. I love the smells and the cooking. I love the weather and games. I love the parades. I have to admit that it is still not my favorite holiday. (4th of July is awesome!) However, I get so excited to have family around. In fact, this year on Thanksgiving, I get to wake-up in my own home with Tyler and Rachel all to myself before we head out to extended family activities. Wonderful!!!

Also, since we are staying in town this year, I'll get to hit the Black Friday sales. I'm not a huge shopper, but I love a great deal! (Remember the R.C. Willey Chair?!?!) Tyler and I have our eyes on a specific item this year that will certainly require some camping out in front of a store. I've never done that before, but it'll be "romantic" to do it with Tyler. (Wish us luck.)

I hope everyone enjoys Thanksgiving. Have fun with your family and certainly don't go wild at the dinner table. Trust me. It is NOT worth it. :)

ABCs

So, I know Rachel is only 3 years old, but I've been trying to teach her to recognize the ABC's. She has the song down good, but knowing each letter is harder. We even bought her a leap frog game for the fridge to enhance our efforts. It is frustrating sometimes, but every now and then she surprises me. Like this morning, I was wrapping some Christmas presents to sent to her cousins'. I wrote their names on the present. Then, I had a phone call. Yes, I left the marker out and open. In the mean time, Rachel decided to write some letters on the presents like Mommy. She wrote her favorite letter "R" (of course) and then continued with an "A", "i", "f", "o", and "t". She even told me what they were. Although the presents were now decorated, I was so proud of her and a little in myself.

From today's SL Tribune:

Exercise What?!?

So now that I am feeling better, I thought yesterday that I would go for a slow 3 mile run with my friend Dana. I knew it would be different because of the fetus in my belly and my lack of movement in the last 2 months. However, I did not expect how difficult it would be. My Dr. asked me not to raise my heart rate over 140 bpm. I thought he was crazy, but when I hit 150 bpm, I felt like my heart would pop out of my chest. My face was dotted with little white spots, and basically, I stopped running at about .5 mile. We kept walking, but I was really discouraged that I wouldn't be able to meet my goal of being a sexy prego woman. It is just highly unlikely. I"ll continue to be more active, but running may not be my thing for the next half of a year. SAD! Anyone up for a good walk, swim, bike ride?

Democracy inaction

It's nice to know that voter turnout in yesterday's election was 4 times lower than in the recent election in Afghanistan. You know- where the Taliban were cutting off people's fingers if they were found to have voted.

Way to go America!

Where were we then?

What were we doing this week in 2004?

Tyler -
(In Rexburg, ID)
This time "where was I then?" is literally a question for which I have no answer as 5 years ago this month I had returned from my mission, was in school at BYU-Idaho and effectively stopped writing in my journal.
As such, reports from Tyler are on hiatus until December when, in 2004, I got back on the bandwagon and started writing again.

It may be interesting to note, however, that today- Nov. 1, literally didn't happen for me in 2002. I got on a plane in Los Angeles on Oct. 31 and, thanks to flying across the international dateline along the way, I didn't arrive in Seoul, RoK until Nov. 2. Later that day, I arrived in Vladivostok, Russia for the first time.

Tori-
(In Aruba)
I'm still in Aruba! I've made it through another transfer. I thought for sure I would leave. Sometimes, we just feel the vibe. I guess I still have work to do here! Our investigators surely put us through some loops. Fam. Castillo still need to actually get married, but first she has to get legally divorced in the Dominican Republic. We probably won't see them baptized but they are on their way. Fam. Jaramillo are gathering their papers to be legally married as well but its going to take them a while.