Much to be Thankful For

Being in the military, you always worry about being moved away from your family and friends, but as McKay and I are figuring out, Los Angeles is turing out to be a place that friends and family come to us!  We spent our Thanksgiving up at our cousin's home and were thrilled to find out that other cousins from Utah would be joining us!  Here is the lady that made the day all possible!  Our incredible Aunt Leticia!

Aunt Leticia has a wonderful garden and many fruit trees surrounding their home that yield them incredible fruit juices like the one below.  This one is a orange and pomegranate juice!  As you can see by the sign below, McKay's family is pretty serious about their food rights...

The girls worked in the kitchen, while the boys watched football,

...but don't worry, as tradition goes, boys do the dishes and clean up.  And this little boy was the cutest of them all!  Nothing so attractive as a man doing dishes!

Incredible Aunt Leticia made all of these 9 pies from scratch.  

After dinner, I introduced the kids to the What If Game.  It was a big hit!  We played it until late into the night and then again the next night.  It's one of those games that makes you laugh and laugh until you start crying.  I love it!

If you haven't played it before, you must!  It's better to play with a bigger group and is great for kids, or adults, or both.  Everyone gets a small blank piece of paper and writes a what if question.  It can be anything.  Something like, "What if the sky was green?" or "What if Michael Jackson was your father?"  Anything!  Then you pass the question to the person next to you and have them answer it.  After that, everyone puts their paper in a basket and then picks a paper from the basket that they didn't write either the question or answer on.  Then the laughter begins!  One person reads their question, but then, the person to the right or left of them, (depending on which way you want to go around the circle,) reads their answer.  This continues down the row with one person reading their question and their neighbor reading their answer.

There were many, many funny questions and answers from the nights, but this was the cutest answer by far.  Aaron (8) wrote this one.

The rest of the break was filled with games for the guys, 

and shopping for the girls!  

I'm not a big Black Friday shopper, but did have a blast shopping with these fun ladies and finding a few incredible deals along the way!

A successful day of shopping!

My favorite part of the whole break, by far, was story time with McKay.  The kids (and as you can see, the not-so-much-kids) begged for McKay to read to them every night.  

Besides McKay being a fabulous storyteller, he is also a very good improviser, which often led to conclusions with very hungry caterpillars dying from heart-attacks or Fancy Nancys not being so fancy.

Our future kids have no idea how lucky they will be to have this man as their daddy.  I will always be grateful to have him as my husband and best friend.  He makes me laugh every day and always makes me feel beautiful and loved.  What a blessed girl I am!  Besides McKay, this Thanksgiving I am thankful for our family and friends, for our health, for our church, for temples, for the many little blessings and miracles we often overlook each day, for the Lord's goodness, and for this next month of December that we have the privilege of remembering our Savior and his most humble beginning.

Mr. McKay goes to Washington

As always, I am so proud of my military man and grateful to all the other men and women who have, or are currently serving our country.  God bless you and God bless your families.  After almost a year and a half with no uniforms, ribbons, metals, early wake up calls or saluting, McKay finally came out in his uniform with bag in hand, ready for his trip to Washington D.C.  It was hard to let McKay go on his first airplane ride without me since we've been married.  All those awful feelings of when we had to say our good-byes during our long engagement came rushing back to me.  Now, I knew that he would only be gone for 3.75 days, but I still couldn't stop myself from crying, especially with him looking so cute in his uniform that I never get to see him in.

I know, I know, I'm a little, just a little ridiculous.  I just love McKay a lot.  The reason McKay got to head over to D.C. for a "free vacation" was to report his research to the Pentagon.  I say "free vacation," because his company put him up in a super nice suite right across from the Pentagon where he worked for a few hours each day, and then explored around D.C the rest of the time.  While at the Pentagon, McKay informed me that he had to do a lot of saluting, being the lowest ranking officer there, but enjoyed roaming around the building seeing where all the big-wigs worked.  In the end I was a little sad I couldn't go on "vacation" with him and see the Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian, Lincoln Memorial, Capitol Building, Constitution and White House, but was happy he got to.

Happy Veterans Day!

When it Rains it Pours

I'd love to say that we have been enjoying the soothing pitter patter of rain on our roof along with its fresh, sweet aroma, however, the only showers that have come our way are of the baby and bridal kind - and it's been pouring!  I guess I should be grateful that it is sunny and warm here everyday, but my heart yearns for one of those nice long Michigan rainstorms...oh how it yearns!

Luckily, that void has been filled with wonderful parties and wonderful friends!  This summer so many of my close friends and family included me in their celebrations for their exciting new chapters of life!

This party was for Jackie in anticipation of the arrival of her beautiful baby girl.  I loved the feminine colors at this baby shower.  The hanging decorations were balloons covered in tissue paper.  Amazing - I know!  And the food was incredible.  Most of the food was vegan or made with only natural sweeteners.

The next baby shower was for this momma-to-be who I absolutely adore and am so grateful to be able to call family - she married McKay's cousin.

Her little baby boy was an absolute miracle who would not be alive today had it not been for the little whisperings of the Holy Ghost and the in tune spirit of this lovely lady.  She strongly felt like she needed to go in immediately (and I mean that instant) to get her 7-month-along baby checked out.  She took that feeling seriously and a few short hours later Tommy was born, very early, but alive.  Had she not listened to those promptings and gone in right then, the doctors said she would have miscarried.

Little children's toys spray painted gold - Adorable!

I took home two of the fighter air planes that I thought looked the highest tech for McKay, which he was excited to get, but of course McKay informed me that I didn't pick the coolest ones.  Apparently, I still have much to learn about fighter jets!

The last, but not least of the baby shower extravaganza month, was for my dear friend Carolyn.  Her theme was "Come Fly With Me" and she used little hot air balloons everywhere.  It was quite magical.  

I can now proudly say that I know how to shop for baby showers.  Before the first baby shower, I walked up and down the baby aisle at the grocery store for 40 minutes thinking, "what the heck do I get for a baby shower?"  I called my mom, hoping for this incredible advice to come from an experienced mother, but was quickly disappointed when she responded with, "Oh, I never know what to get for those things."  In my desperation, I started putting myself in the mother-to-be's shoes and thought of what I would want.  First thought: Clothes! (which is my answer to most things)  Second thought: Diapers!  I am practical...sometimes, after all.  So that's what I got, with the addition of a few cutesy things I found along the way like soft blankies, accessories, spoons and such!

I took a sneak peek into my friend's new baby room and just about died.  It could be straight out of a design magazine!

The last shower of the summer was a bridal shower for my cousin's awesome new bride, Courtney.  She did all the music for my wedding and I love her to death!  My cousin got lucky!

My aunt and cousins came to our neck of the woods for a change!  What a treat!  Some of these ladies I hadn't seen since last Thanksgiving!

After my bridal shower and our wedding, I remember McKay and I sitting in out honeymoon cabin talking about the generosity of all our family and guests during that time and being overcome with the feeling of gratitude.  It made me want to give back something to each of those people who did so much for us.  Knowing that we couldn't, except for maybe a thank you card and a hug, we both felt strongly that we would always try to give back to others the same kindness and generosity that we had received.  Now, more than ever, when I get a shower or wedding invitation I can't wait to figure out how I can, in the smallest degree, make that event just as special for them as mine was for me.  I love showers!

Disneyland Again

My first time to Disneyland was pure magic!  After arriving home all I wanted to do was go back!  McKay had a slightly different experience.  He very much dislikes long lines...very much, and was slightly put off by all the tests of his patience, especially the time that Space Mountain broke down three times while we were waiting in line.  Not a good time for McKay.  While I dreamt of the next time that we would go, he vowed never to return to Disneyland until we had kids old enough to appreciate it.  I, however, am very persuasive, and am hoping that I will be able to change his mind before we leave LA.  Until then, I have to jump at any opportunity I have to go to Disneyland with friends or family.  Luckily, that came quick for me when my awesome cousin came up with her whole adorable little family.  Disneyland here we come!

 My new favorite ride is the tea cups.  I was laughing so hard that I was crying by the end of the ride, and if I had rode it any longer probably would have wet myself.  Good thing it is only 1 1/2 minutes long.

 Her little girl is so cute!  She quickly became my BFF.

 The Little Mermaid ride was a definite fav for this little lady.  Every time we got off the ride (yes there were multiple times), she would try to enter again through the exit.  We asked the ride workers on multiple occasions if we could just stay on the ride and go around over and over.  It would have been so much easier.

Purely Enthralled! 

My cousin and I were so sure that we were going to be the ones on the Grizzly River Rapids ride that would not get wet.  So sure.  We strategically placed ourselves where we thought that we would be least exposed to the elements.  Epic fail.  Not only were we soaked all the way through, but we, amazingly, were the only ones that got wet!  And remained wet until bed time.

 Isn't the castle beautiful at night!  While my cousin and her husband rode on one last ride for the day I sat with my cousin's little girl on the castle's bridge and naturally, we talked about princes and princesses.  That's when she informed me that she wanted to get married there one day.  I told her that one day she would find her prince, but that she would get married in a much better castle than this one.  Her eyes got big and I'm pretty sure I blew her toddler mind at that moment, but it's was the truth!

I love my family and am so grateful that we have even better castles, called temples, where families can be sealed together forever!  After our beautiful day at Disneyland we were all ready for some well deserved sleepy time, some just couldn't make it back to the hotel in time.