Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving! I love the whole week of Thanksgiving! It truly is my favorite holiday, I guess because it is centered around being grateful for what we already have - not for what gift we just opened. There are no material gifts involved. I love the thought of millions and millions of people sitting down together with people they love, all at the same time, and just being grateful . That's all. No piles of wrapping paper, kids fighting over toys, trips to the mall.


I found this quote that I love on the Internet last night:


"When you strip away every illusion of success. When all earthen treasures fail. There is only one thing remaining, but that is the greatest treasure of all - the love of God our Creator.

If we are to celebrate Thanksgiving with prayers of praise that will not fade. If we are to give thanks with smiles that are more than superficial, we must set our priorities straight. The essence of Thanksgiving is not to be found in the cost of the goods and services that may fill our horn of plenty. The important things are the resources we bring to adversity. What strength can we call upon when these earthen treasures fail?

When the act of counting our blessings leads to the anxious condition of counting upon our blessings then the meaning of Thanksgiving is diminished. But according to Biblical witness Thanksgiving is something we do when the troubles of the world are still very much with us. It's not a question of waiting for that moment of euphoria when you seem to be carried away on a cresendo of good feeling. To give thanks is to take up the tangled threads of your life and present them to God come what may."


Here are a few pictures from Thanksgivings past:

Goooooooooooo UTES!!!!!

Isn't it awesome when your husband, a die-hard BYU fan, doesn't have any control over your family's blog? Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooo UTES!!!!!



Oh, and isn't it awesome that this same husband and BYU fan has been unknowingly driving around in his car for two days with a big, red "U" on his passenger door (placed there lovingly by Grandpa Osborn - truly the world's biggest Ute fan!!) Nice!

Playin' in the leaves

One thing I do love about our new house is the back yard. There are tonz of trees and a little wooded area that the girls love to go explore in. Eric and I both agreed that our family has spent more time outside in two months than we ever did in any of our other homes (and that's really sayin' something!)

Halloween Marathon

This year, Halloween seemed like it went on, and on, and on! I swear the week of Halloween is more work than Christmas! Between the Trunk-or-treats, school parades, wear your costume to dance class, and oh yeah, then trick-or-treating. Whew! I think we've decided next year that the primary Trunk-or-treat will have to suffice, and we'll just make the kids answer the door and pass out candy on Halloween. Is that so mean?
The only picture of our entire family currently in existence!

Kate with her darling, "Belle-obsessed" cousin Camryn

The Osborn cousins on Halloween at Bryan and Janalyn's house. (Halle's face doesn't really look like that - normally.)

Kate in the Halloween parade at Draper Elementary

Annie in the Halloween Parade at Draper Elementary

Home Sweet Home Depot

Well, as many of you know, we finally moved into our new "old" home on Oct. 9th. We actually spent the four weeks prior to the move living at Home Depot, or at least it seemed like it. We refinished the hardwood floors ourselves, painted the garage floor, painted the kitchen and bathroom cabinets, refinished the girls shower, removed the old carpet ourselves and had new carpet installed, and painted almost the entire home ourselves - with A LOT of help from our awesome family.

I wasn't able to get pictures of my Dad and my brother Bryan painting, or pictures of my Mom, Janalyn and Amy providing countless hours of babysitting, or Dawn unpacking all of my kitchen - and you can see where this is going: we had a lot of help!

We have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, and top on our list is our extended family. I don't know what we did to deserve them, but they have been there for us through thick and thin and I hope they all know how truly grateful we are for helping us and loving us no matter what!

Tiny Dancer

I know I haven't posted in over a month - which is really lame, I know, but I feel like moving is a pretty darn excuse, so there!!! I've got a back log of pictures, so here goes:

Halle started a little weekly dance class in September, which she LOVES, and yes, her teacher looks and sings exactly like Ariel and Gisselle - too cute!!