What's on My Happy List?

"O Lord, that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with
thankfulness." Shakespeare, Henry VI, part 2

Tis the Season to be Thankful-
I love Thanksgiving!!! It has to be one of my
favorite holidays for sure! I am a descendant of William
Bradford who came over to America with the first
pilgrims on the Mayflower in 1620. After the first year

of terrible hardships and little success, Bradford, who

ended up being governor of Plymouth for many years,

proclaimed the first Thanksgiving in the Colony so that

the pilgrims could demonstrate gratitude for what they

did have. Way to go Will!

One of my favorite Thanksgiving memories is our
traditional sit down breakfast where cinnamon rolls are
always on the menu. Before we eat we take a moment to
reflect on the meaning of the five kernels of corn that have
been placed on each one of our plates...and we read this
little story..."As the legend goes, in what is now New
England, it was customary to place five grains of corn
at each plate on Thanksgiving Day. It was a reminder
of those stark days of the first winter when the Pilgrims'
food was so scarce only five grains of corn at a time were
rationed to each person. The early settlers wanted their
children to remember the sacrifices, sufferings and
hardships that made it possible for a free people to settle
in a free land. They didn't want their descendants to forget
that on the day their ration was reduced to five grains of corn,
only seven healthy colonists remained to take care of the sick,
and nearly half their number lay buried on a windswept hillside."

As we eat we go around the table five times so that each family
member can say five different things they are thankful for....


With Thanksgiving tomorrow I thought I would blog just
a few things on my "grateful for" list....

Autumn, Archuleta, Amazing Race...
Brie, Book of Mormon, BYU, Bond....
Church, Crockpots, Clorox wipes, Cards....
Disneyland, Decorating, Dance recitals....
Emma, Emails, Europe, Eggnog...
Fireplaces, Football, Fashion...
Girlfriends, Grandparents, Gelato, Gift Giving...
Hannah, Heavenly Father, Home, Health, Holidays....
Il Divo, Internet, Ipods...
Jaren, Jalapeno Cheetos, Jeans...
Kyleigh, Kisses, Kinship...
Laughter, Learning, Licorice....
Music, Mimi's Restaurant, Movies....
Novels, No Homework for the kids, Nachos...
Ocean, Oranges, Oprah....
Prophets, Pilates, Paris, Pillows, Photography....
Quilts, Quietness, Quaker Oatmeal...
Reminiscing, Ribbon, Rainstorms...
Savior, Salsa Con Queso, Shoes, Sunday dinners....
Traditions, Tolberones, Temples....
USA, Umbrellas, Understanding...
Volunteering, Vacations, Vacuums...
Westlife, Waffles, Work, Weekends...
XOXO's....
Young Women's, Yogurt, Yes!....
Zermatt, Zucchini Bread.....

Pumpkin-
I love pumpkin...pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie, pumpkin
shakes, pumpkin soup, pumpkin seeds...you name it! Here

is a quick and easy pumpkin cookie recipe that we love.

1 Moist Deluxe Spice Cake Mix
3/4 of a 29 oz. can of Pumpkin
1/2 bag Chocolate Chips

Mix all together. Bake @350 for 10-12 minutes. YUM!



Visiting Teaching Thought-
I gave a baggie full of these treats to my sisters this month
with this Thanksgiving message....
Bugle shaped snack crackers (Horn of Plenty)
Pretzels (arms folded in thanks and prayer)
Candy Corn (represents the first winter when the
pilgrims lived on 5 kernels of corn a day)
Candy fruits (celebration of the harvest)
Peanuts (the potential of next season's harvest,
if planted and well tended)

Happy Thanksgiving!

What's On My Happy List?

Oh Edward..... *sigh* LOL

Kyleigh & I and some of my extended family had
tickets to Celine Dion's "Taking Chances" World Tour
concert here in Salt Lake last night. Unfortunately,
Celine is sick and had to cancel and reschedule for a
date in Feb. We were so disappointed as we have been
waiting A YEAR for this concert. The tickets were
purchased 12 months ago!!! What a bummer! Our only
consolation was that we were able to join in on the
excitement of the release of Twilight and attend a late
night showing with some neighbors and twenty of
their family and friends. They were decked out in
Edward baseball shirts, "bite me" and Twilight shirts
etc. Crack me up! Having not read the books (Kyleigh
has read them enough times for the both of us... LOL ) I
wasn't sure what I was in for. I was really hoping I'd come
away understanding why our society has a crazed obsession
with vampires! My heck...kinda creepy actually!!! But I found
myself very intrigued and entertained during the movie.
Not sure I'm running to read the books yet but I did come
away understanding the lure and why everyone is so fascinated
with it all. I even found myself falling for Edward a few times
throughout the film. Wow! For all you Twilight fanatics out
there, I'm slowly getting "it" (LOL).



With the big rivalry game this afternoon, I couldn't help but
be involved in some neighborhood shenanigans last night.
Before we left for the movie, we planted this goofy looking
scarecrow dressed in cougar blue on a "U" neighbor's lawn.
The sign said Win or Lose I'd rather have a brain of straw than
be a "YEWT"...Better Dead than Red....Rise and Shout...Go
Cougars!!!! hehehe....


When we arrived back home from the movie
around 12:30 am we found out we had been
"U"d! LOL

What's On My Happy List?

Musical Heaven- This past week has got to have been the

best musical week of my life! Between David's debut album

release last week and IL DIVO's fifth album hitting the shelves

in the U.S. two days ago....holy who ha people! Is there such

a thing as being musically drunk? If so, I'm deliriously happy

being so. Very pleased with both CD's. They are bound to be

chart toppers...David is already #2 on billboard and "the boys"

are already #1 in several European countries. Whoot!

Young Womens in Excellence- We recently held

our YW's in Excellence program where we had an enjoyable

time expanding on our theme...The worth of souls is great in

the sight of God...D&C 18:10. We played on the word "sole".

Thanks to my shoe obsessed friend, I was inspired by one of

her favorite pair of shoes to carry out our theme.

The invites that we made...

Our French shoe parlor...

The Fashion "Shoe" (Show) we had was a hit. We found the

cutest script where it had the girls strutting the red carpet

modeling different pair of shoes ranging from go go boots,

glass slippers, wrestling shoes and so forth. Each pair of shoes

symbolized different characteristics of the girls and the seven

YW values.

The Young Women had to display a 10 hour project that

they are working on or have completed with their Personal

Progress. Kyleigh and McKenzie chose the value Individual

Worth and talked about their experience being in the

Shakespearean Festival this summer. They did a great job

decorating their table. Along with their project each girl also

got to display their favorite pair of shoes....

Our YW's President and the Bishop gave spiritual messages

on the worth of our "soles".... very sweet and touching.

Our Handouts and Treats....

We had little red boxes tied with black and white zebra ribbon

with nutter butters, in the shape of a "sole" inside, to give to

the girls, as well as a pair of fuzzy socks to warm their "soles".

What's on My Happy List?

James Bond!
Jaren and I are anxiously awaiting tomorrow night's
release of the new James Bond movie....Quantum of Solace..
Whoot! We've waited two years for this and have had this
date night marked on the calendar for months!!!! Can't wait. :)

What's on My Happy List?

The CD Launch Party
Here I am, in my sickly state drugged up with cough medicine, pictured with the two ladies that I was in cahoots with in planning the party. This was just moments before we were able to purchase our David CD's! A Wal-Mart employee seriously guarded the CD's for hours as we were not allowed to buy them until 12:01 A.M. and literally not a moment sooner! LOL








Fans were walking away with handfuls of C.D.'s. I think Mr.
Bart here had about 20 in his hands ready to buy! Crack me
up!


Coolest cake ever!




Our Asian Star dinner before we hit Walmart....

A few party favors and a gift to me from a fellow FOD'er.....

It's a Christmas American Idol ornament of David. You

push the button and Ryan Seacrest says his infamous line...

THIS IS AMERICAN IDOL! Only a true American Idol

fanatic would appreciate that. I love it!



Miss Evelyn a little embarrassed that she remembered

David's High School locker number!

Here she is with the grand prize after answering the

most questions correct in our David quiz. A generous fan

in Oregon made this David collage and sent it for the party.

What's On My Happy List?

Waiting for 11-11

GGGAAAAHHHHH! Just a little over 24 hours until album release day! Finally! Whoot! Whoot! A friend emailed me this advice to help me cope these last few hours until his CD is in hand...."have Jaren steal some sedatives for you so can make it through the next few hours!!!!" LOL We have a huge CD launch party planned for tomorrow night. I've arranged for 50 die hard "Archie Fans" to eat at one of David's favorite restaurants......Asian Star, where the manager is offering us a special David Archuleta menu. :) After we'll head to the new Wal-Mart Super Center where FOX 13 will capture all us fanatics waiting patiently (or not!) until we can purchase his CD at midnight. Midnight madness! Since Wal-Mart is selling David's Cd with an extra bonus track, every Wal-Mart in the state of Utah will be holding David parties...

10 Years of Themed Halloween Fun!