Thanksgiving 2010 Prep



Source: Right From the Heart

As this is the weekend before Thanksgiving, Nick and I are gearing up for some truly fabulous people to come and spend the Thanksgiving holiday with us! We will have a house full of family because all four of my sisters, their significant others and our one niece will be here to celebrate with us. That makes for ten people sleeping at my house, and we hope to have one more person for dinner on Thanksgiving Day. I am beyond excited, and it goes to show how truly wonderful my hubby is that he is almost as excited as I am! Bless him for loving my family so much! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays! I love to take the chance to focus on the things and the people I am most thankful for, although, the cartoon has it right, it should be a focus for the entire year!
Last weekend, the lesson I taught my Laurels at church was on Gratitude and Thankfulness. As I was preparing, I was reminded of a lesson about being thankful that I was taught by my very wise Beehive advisor, Sister Garfield. She told us that when someone paid us a compliment, to simply smile and say, "Thank you!" It boosts your confidence and makes the person who complimented you happy as well. I was thinking about that this week, and I notice that as people send compliments my way these days, it is so hard to smile and give thanks. So, that is my goal for the next few weeks/months as I grow bigger and bigger: to accept the compliments of others with style and grace.
This weekend, as Nick and I brave the grocery stores, I will be thankful for the opportunity to have all my sisters here. I will be thankful for the chance to spend the day planning and cleaning with my favorite person. I will be thankful for the people who are working so hard to make the holiday shopping as quick and as painless as possible. I will be thankful for and do my best to spread some holiday cheer to those who need it most!
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Week!

Book #27

The Other Boelyn Girl

By: Phillipa Gregory

You know I am seriously behind on posting on my books when I have to look back through the blog to even see what book I posted about last! I read this one forever ago, and I was actually surprised. I have seen the movie, and it disturbed me enough to make me curious about the book. However, it took several years for me to have the courage to actually open it and read it. So, for those of you who are not familiar with the story, The Other Boelyn Girl is about the inner workings of the Boelyn family as they rose to power (and then fell) on the back of a king. The maniuplating. The cunning. The planning. All very, very disturbing. I can't fathom that there are actually people in this world--even now--who are SO driven that they would essentially sell their souls to get where they want. It is filled with betryal, heartache, love, sex, adultery, and incest. Yikes! The book is long, but once one gets into it a little, putting it down isn't always easy. Granted, I had a hard time picking it back up some days, but I was determined to finish it. Read it if you dare. The insight into the crazy royal world, and into the world of one power hungry woman, is a ride into the wild. However, there are normal, wonderful, sweet characters too. I just couldn't get past Anne. That's all.



Happy Halloween

Well, for the first time in a long time, I dressed up for Halloween. This never would have happened if Nick didn't like dressing up for Halloween so much. I love Halloween. I love the kids dressing up. I love the costumes and how creative people are with their costumes, but I have never really felt like I could accomplish the same thing others can. However, I actually liked my costume this year, so I am sharing. Nick was a vampire, and I was his mistress.