Eating and having fun are synonyms. And with Thanksgiving and Christmas, company, and Faith's Birthday this truth was confirmed. Anyway, THAT'S why I am so late in updating my blog... I have been busy eating!
We enjoyed the last leaves of fall.
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We had a field trip to Gettysburg and Abe made a great babysitter.
Grandma and Grandpa Conover came for Thanksgiving.
We teamed up with other Conover locals and not-so-locals and had ourselves a feast!
Pre-feast hike
Post-feast ping-pong
I took a photo of my bird before it was baked and forgot to take one after. The before photo isn't much to look at so I spared the viewer the eye sore but it means something to me. I had the house to myself when I fixed my bird this year and it was moving. It is a treasured experience every year when I decide what I am going to do with it. This year I dry brined my turkey. I rinsed it the next day and rubbed seasonings and butter under the skin before stuffing it with aromatics and putting it in the oven. Even though my mother isn't alive I still bond with her when I get my bird ready. That was her specialty, Thanksgiving. I could never live up to the way she prepared it, but I feel her encouragement as I prepare mine each year. Nothing makes me happier than hosting Thanksgiving Dinner. I now understand how she could happily wake up at 3 am so she could fix it her way, the day of. I am so grateful for this wonderful American tradition. The turkey is a catalyst for so many of my most cherished memories and my most pleasured taste-buds.
These two are a pretty cute rivalry.
The flour game is a Conover tradition and we seem to play it every time Grandma and Grandpa are in town. We do it for family night on occasion and maybe we'd do it more often if it didn't always end with Ethan having to fetch the penny! It always gives us lots of laughs.
The boys decided they would run a hotel to the best of their ability when grandma and grandpa came for their second visit to meet up with Curt. The boys made check-in forms complete with a space for credit card numbers. Unfortunately they didn't get a legitimate number like they were hoping.
They came up with many amenities. They had room service and turn-down service.
Every night while guests were here I had a Hershey bar on my pillow. I think they did that for everyone,
I didn't check, I didn't want to feel guilty for eating mine!
I wish this service continued but I suppose all good things must come to an end. They were great bell hops. We noticed Dylan having a hard time breaking character, I had to tell him to relax and enjoy the company!
Dylan is always happy to challenge an innocent victim to a game of chess.
"Christmas comes this time each year," is the silliest phrase to Chris and I, and has, in result, nearly spoiled the entire Little Saint Nick song, by the Beach Boys, to the point that we change the song.
Well, Grandpa and Uncle Curt share the same taste in Christmas music,
and both happen to love that song and got everyone to sing along.
I think I like it more now. We sang it a lot. :) Perhaps now we'll associate it with a fun visit.
Channing had lots of laughs as Grandma dragged him around by his hood.
We went to the Reston Zoo for something to do.
It was cute to see the animals there and of course it brought to mind the
Savior being born amongst the animals in the stable. Its amazing how some Christmas traditions don't really trace back to Jesus.This experience did, and I like the idea of making this a new Christmas tradition.
Deidre and I took Faith to the Nutcracker for a girl date. We had a nice time and Faith was very attentive. It was during her nap time but it kept her happily awake. Faith knows the story well and she gave me a play by play when it was familiar to her.
Temple trip with the family. Aunt Pam and Uncle Glenn were there as well and it was so fun.
Pam made us laugh as always.
Channing is our biggest mess maker. May be world's biggest mess maker. I dare anyone to put their mess maker against ours. I'm pretty sure Channing would win. This is the fun he makes with his sippy cup. Even Channing takes precaution around his own mess. Too bad he forgot to open the umbrella, though.
Faith in her Christmas dress, avoiding the camera as usual.
Channing making out with the mirror... as usual.
The boys had a fun time buying/making gifts for everyone this Christmas.
They were pleased with what they received from eachother as well.
My girl is 3!
Did I mention she likes The Nutcracker?
I bought these cupcake toppers when I was pregnant with her.
So the question is: Did I condition her to like it or does she like it on her own?
Maybe both. But her dancing never stops and I couldn't have conditioned that.
She will make me drop whatever I am doing to clap when she takes a bow.
The boys are very supportive of her and I like that they don't act disgusted by it.
We are always glad to have grandma as a guest... in any form.
Aren't these two fun? Above and below!
In the beginning of December I was able to ride a bus with Mormons Helping Hands to the Peninsula of Rockaway, New York to help in the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.
I was really hoping to get a chance to go north and help in some way and I was so grateful that Chris could keep the kids so I could have the freedom to go. My group was tasked with cleaning a boys home that was right on the coast. It needed to be cleaned before the boys could return home. It was sad to think of them already not having a family and then having to be uprooted from the only stability they had.
I hope they are home now. The trip gave me so much appreciation for what we have.
On the 4th of December, Chris was getting ready for work and decided to wear a different uniform than usual. He wore his camo two piece, opposed to his one piece flight suit. He left work to head home and took a different route than usual. He approached a dead stand still in traffic and knew there had been an accident. He was too far back to see what the hold up was but felt a strong prompting to get out of his car and run toward it. When he arrived at the scene he saw a man pinned under his motorcycle with a long thick trail of blood. He also saw many people standing around doing nothing. They were in shock. Chris swiftly responded by asking if anyone had dialed 911, no one had. The woman calling couldn't think of where they were so he told her the exact location to report to the operator.Then he approached the victim and started to lift the motorcycle, he needed help and a few men joined in. Chris took off his top camo shirt and used it to tend to the man's head wounds and make a pillow. Then he found the main source of the blood and held his hand in the gaping wound trying to slow the loss. All of traffic was bottle necked and he told other by- standards how to direct traffic to loosen things up so the responders could get through. The victim was able to tell him his wife's cell number and Chris kept her in the loop. Once the man was life-flighted out and had received treatment in the hospital they called Chris to thank him and let him know that he had saved his life. Chris, Dylan and Faith went to the hospital to visit him and drop off some cards the kids had made. This man's physicians came in to tell Chris that if it wasn't for him the victim would have died. He had 4 broken back bones, nine broken ribs, a punctured lung from a rib, broken hip (that was where all of the blood was coming from), crushed left arm, broken collar bone, and other lacerations and contusions. The doctors removed a liter and a half of blood from his lung. They told Chris that because he was able to coach the victim through breathing and slow his loss of blood in addition to him helping break up traffic so the authorities could make a clearing for the helicopter, this man lived. We are so proud of the role Chris was able to play that day.
