A Thanksgiving Toast

To my first time participating in the Mesa Turkey Trot {2 mile fun run}, and learning what a bib is.

To being 14 minutes late, running it solo anyways, and passing up a few grandparents and small children along the way.

To the beautiful Arizona weather that enabled us to eat and play comfortably outside.

To time spent playing with cousins.

To having a Thanksgiving assignment other than my usual vegetable or orange jello salad.

To food so delicious, that every morsel was accounted for.

To fitting in three family gatherings in one day, that kept us busy, but also reminded us how much we have to be thankful for.

Mint To Be

With Christmas rapidly approaching, and since I am feeling festively plump today, I have decided to honor everything mint. If you are not a mint lover, you may not appreciate this, but maybe I can convert you to the green side:)

Mind-Altering Mint Oreos

I discovered these puppies during my last grocery haul at WalMart. The girls were somewhere in between getting ran over by my cart, and everyone else's in the store, and my sanity was quickly declining. Now I NEVER buy oreos......never.......ever! Only because I know that I will have to come to terms with the small print on the back. That day, my happiness meant more than the small print, and so they made it into my cart. Try them, but be careful.

Pleasantly Peppermint Ice Cream

This has always been one of my holiday favorites, along with an occasional egg nog or pumpkin roll. While some like mint chocolate chip, I prefer chocolate free peppermint variety or the mint ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery. Lucky for us, Dreyer's makes peppermint in slow churned which is half the fat, so you don't have to feel so guilty when going back for that second helping.

Mouthwatering Mint Brownies

I've had these on a few occasions and found them to be so delicious, when made correctly. FYI the smooth green filling can not be subsituted with your favorite mint toothpaste.

Moisturizing Mint Lip Balm

Chap stick to me is just as essential as water and air to breathe. I keep several around the house and in my purse in case of a sudden chap attack. As we all know neglecting the lip's need for moisture can result in ones "lips hurting real bad." Burt's Bees and Bath and Body works carry several different mint flavored balms, from chap sticks to lipsticks. The one pictured above is my favorite.

Pedicure Perfect Peppermint Foot Scrub

After a long day on your feet, there's nothing like giving your talons a little TLC. Start off with a peppermint foot scrub, followed by some peppermint foot lotion. Your tootsies will be in hoof heaven. Gotta love that.

Perfectly Peppermint Hot Chocolate

I know they make mint cocoa mixes, but I'm a fan of making a delicious hot cocoa and then dropping in a miniature candy cane. By the time it's cooled off enough to drink, the candy has already dissolved and created a delicious mint flavor.MMMmmmm.

Do you have any mint favorites?

FHE

Our family home evening included Chic-Fil-A ice cream, playing in the play area, and Kevin and I discussing our talks for this upcoming Sunday. There's nothing like delicious ice cream to soothe your nervousness.

What did you do for Family Night?

An Award

Amy at It's a Lovelly life, was kind enough to give me this blog award.

I'd like to thank Amy for her sweet award,

and blogger for providing my blog,

and my husband for giving me good looking children to blog about.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

With the award, comes the fun task of answering the following questions in one word, or pretty close.

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your hair? grease lightning
3. Your mother? wise
4. Your father? tall
5. Your favorite food? turkey subs
6. Your dream last night? no clue
7. Your favorite drink? strawberry lemonade
8. Your dream/goal? homebirth/vbac
9. What room are you in? kitchen
10. Your hobby? writing
11. Your fear? my inadequacies
12. Where do you want to be in six years? bigger home
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something you aren’t? perfect
15. Muffins? Lemon Poppy seed
16. Wish list item? secret
17. Where did you grow up? Mesa
18. Last thing you did? phone call
19. What are you wearing? smelly gym clothes
20. TV? too much
21. Your pets? stink
22. Your friends? kind
23. Your life? blessed
24. Your mood? content
25. Missing someone? Lewis Family
26. Vehicle? Sienna
27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes
28. Your favorite store? thrift
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When was the last time you laughed? last night
31. When was the last time you cried? last night
32. Your best friend? Kevin
33. One place that you go over and over? el bano
34. One person who e-mails me regularly? Dad
35. Favorite place to eat? Ned's Krazy Subs

I follow about a kazillion blogs, and I truly enjoy reading them all. I will nominate two that have inspired me lately.

Terresa at The Chocolate Chip Waffle for her beautiful writing, and for inspiring me to take writing classes to improve my own talents.

Teea at The Lamb Fam for her amazing example of strength throughout hard challenges, and her ability to write about life's experiences openly and honestly.

From The Book Of Brooke

"Brookie, who are your friends?"

"BOYS mommy, BOYS!"

When Billy Met Fairy

This was the first year that our whole family dressed up for Halloween, and it was really fun to finally get everyone into the spirit of the holiday. A family theme was what we had originally intended, but we ended up going with what came easy and inexpensive.

While attending my nephews baptism a few weeks back, my sister mentioned to me that Kevin looked a lot like Billy Mays. With his blue shirt, khaki pants, and 2 day scruff I had to agree. That was the beginning of Billy.

As for the girls, well they seem to be a little more high maintenance when it comes to costumes. I was hoping for something a little more light weight than last years costumes, (as I expected it to be another warm Halloween) and I wanted something that they would actually enjoy wearing. After finding two pairs of wings and two dresses at a thrift store, we settled on fairies.

This left me very confused as to how I was going to link Billy Mays to fairies with my costume. I decided not to pursue any cleaning product costumes, and to just join the girls in their fairydom.

A Tooth Fairy seemed mature enough, and fit quite nicely.

And so you see what happens when Billy Mays meets the Tooth Fairy, and they fall in love.

We enjoyed several Halloween activities this year.
The girls got to frost and decorate cookies on three different occasions, which made them very happy.

We had a family Halloween Party for the first time where we carved pumpkins, and made paper witches shoes.

some of the attendees included:

Sally & Jack,

two Inn-N-Out workers with their cute Double Double,

and a professional chef.

We also attended two trunk or treats, and came away with a pretty decent stash of candy.

I can't wait until next year!