OKLAHOMA

That's where we're moving in May!
It doesn't sound exciting to me necessarily, but we're still excited. Ben got an internship offer at a nice practice there, as well as Kentucky and New Jersey, and after a lot of thought and prayer we decided this would be the place.
The selling point for Cody was the "bugs with honey in their bottoms," also known as lightning bugs-they have them:)

Black Friday FYI

In case you were wondering, getting up at 4 a.m. for Black Friday is not worth the trouble. Stay in your nice warm bed and get up at 10 a.m., and get the EXACT SAME deals.

I got up at 4, and then got stuck in the snow on a remote road. A half an hour later, with the help of Bill and Danny- some super nice guys, and incidentally the only two I saw on the road, I was dug out and back on the road, I got to the store to see mediocre deals-the same ones that everyone else who was there a half hour before me got. There might possibly even be better deals online!

And while I'm thinking about it, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner with our 'family' (friends) in Pullman. I'm pretty sure that Sam and McCall have fed us dinner more times than I could count and they are amazing cooks so naturally we had Thanksgiving with them:)! But I do have to give credit to Mike and Kate, you guys are awesome cooks too. We had it at our church building, which I was nervous about, but seriously was the best thing we could have done. The first thing Cody said to me when he woke up was "Mom I had so much fun yesterday. I got three drinks (out of the drinking fountain) and ran everywhere."

Thankful Turkey

We thought we'd do something fun this month to think of things we're thankful for...a thankful turkey!

Not just any turkey, a huge one right on our family room wall.



I had to take pictures of the things the kids wrote just for memories' sake. Half the time I think Cody just said whatever he was holding at the moment, but still-he's thankful for it.

I know there are so many things to be thankful for including our faith, family and friends. There are a few material things I really am thankful for, such as the heaters in our house, a roof over our heads and a car to get us from a to b. But for the most part they aren't things, which is lucky because we're students, and having nothing means nothing because no things are that important.

Now for journaling purposes...I'm putting the next part in. Seriously though, it's long and just for me so it's not necessary to read.

Ben: This may sound cliche but I truly do feel lucky to have married Ben. I didn't really realize how big of a decision marriage was when I went into it, but it worked out well! Some things I am grateful for about Ben: Ben is disciplined, loyal and determined. He works long days and gets up early and I have NEVER ONCE heard him complain about all the things he has to do. He just does what he has to do, even if it means getting up at 3 am like he did the other day. I love that Ben is opinionated (I do and I don't, but I mostly do!). I'm a 'white/blue' personality and I just appreciate his 'red-ness.' I really do appreciate his honesty, even if it's that he doesn't like what I made for dinner. Ben is always honest. I am thankful for his hard work and that he takes time for us too. Every night when he gets home, even if it's late or been a long day he'll wrestle or play ball with Cody and Macey. He doesn't feel obligated, even though he's doing me a favor by giving me a short break; he truly loves it. I am thankful that Ben loves being a dad.

Cody: I love his unconditional love. I love that he still loves to be hugged in the morning. I love that he knows that I'm honery in the morning and if he wakes up really early he just crawls into bed with me (squirming) and lets me slowly wake up. I am thankful that he is patient with me. I am thankful for his ability to truly laugh at things. He has such a fun, contagious laugh when he really laughs. I am thankful that he really loves other people and is very accepting. If you take time to get to know Cody, he is kind, accepting, sweet, and loves to have FUN. I love that he loves all things boy - bikes, cars, trucks, trains, airplanes, batman, wrestling, etc. If I ask him what he did somewhere he inevitably says, "nothing," but if he wants to tell me something he is so animated and expressive and uses his hands a LOT to describe things. Oh- lately he asks WHY to EVERYTHING. I knew that would happen. People aren't kidding, it is exhausting, but cute that they are so curious about EVERYTHING.

Macey: I am thankful for her brilliant intensity. I am thankful for her loudness, which brings so much humor into my life at this point in her uninhibited life. I am thankful for her ability to learn, she counts and knows a lot of her ABC's-mostly from Cody, who she loves. She constantly is serving him-bringing him drinks and his blanket and she even wants to be batman just like him. I love her singing, loud as it may be - it just makes me smile. I love her methodical approach to life - everything has to be 'right.' I love that she has to give Ben a big "squeeze hug" every time he comes or goes. Macey truly loves people, AFTER she has decided they can be friends. She WILL NOT like you when she meets you, until she thinks about it-so maybe it means more! Her prayer tonight, without any help from me, went like this: "Heavenly Father, thank you for Cody, and daddy. Thank you for me. Thank you for mommy. Thank you for our family. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for our family."

Yes, I'm thankful for our family, too.

The Gospel: I'm Carrie, I'm the wife of a vet student, mother of two, runner (okay, sometimes), craft-attempter, and I'm a mormon. (I just looked at mormon.org:)) But really, I love the message of the gospel. I am thankful that I know that I'm a literal Child of God. I love that I know where I've been and I know where I'm going. I am thankful to know that I will always be with my family. I love that we have living prophets on earth that share with us what the Lord wants us to know as a church, and I also love that we can pray to Heavenly Father and know that he will guide us as an individual. I love the Book of Mormon. I'm thankful, although I don't fully comprehend it, for Christ's sacrifice for me.

T-Shirt to Skirt and other Creations

I admit, I get obsessed. And mostly obsessed with Repurposing, being a student with not just a small creative budget, but ZERO creative budget. Bless my family for letting me get it out of my system. Here are some of the latest creations. And, just for the fun of it, I will put how much each thing costs.

T-Shirt to Skirt

Cost: Unwanted t-shirts

Ben gave me a pile of 10 t-shirts to take to Goodwill and I couldn't do it because it looked like good usable material to me. Make fun of me, but I should have been born during the great depression. Luckily, I'm not a pack rat because Ben can't handle it. Anyway. I had a skirt from DownEast Outfitters, used as the inspiration:

And someday I will draw a little scaled pattern for the skirt because it is SO easy and fast to make. You need 2 or 3 (or however many colors you want) shirts. Cut them up, sew them together...voila.

Jewelry Frame HolderCost: $3.00

This wasn't my idea, it was for super Saturday and I love it! (You can use chicken wire, or this stuff from Ace that's for screen doors)

Crochet Doily Earrings

Cost: $1.25

Batman Capes

Cost: Not much, I got 15 yards of perfect black material for $2.50!

They're not quite done...but will be soon!

Sweater Bag

Cost: Free

I got this one from makeit-loveit.com. Use a too-short or unwanted sweater, cut it up, sew it together.

I also did a little kitchen reorganizing this week. I took a picture of one of my drawers just because I love before and after pictures. This is actually quite unimpressive, but I feel better and you get the idea.

And last but not Least:

Pumpkin Cookies

These are the EASIEST cookies in the world to make, and good...they're almost gone!

Ingredients

Spice Cake

Small can of pumpkin

chocolate chips.

Mix together and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

48 Days

until Christmas!

We just had super saturday this weekend - those blocks were one of the crafts! It was fun and I'm so glad it's over...it's a LOT of work to plan.

We also had a visitor-Ben's mom planned it for this weekend so she could spend time with the kiddos while I was busy. So thoughtful. She must have read 100 books to the kids during her time here. We had a wonderful time and the weather was so nice a couple of days, we even got to go to the park.





We also watched My Name is Khan, recommended by Erica and loved it. I recommend it, if you have 3 hours of time.

Out of the Blue

Driving in the car, this random conversation occurred:
Cody: "I'm a good boy."
Macey: "No, Cody's Batman."
Cody: "Ya, I'm Batman."
*******
And...we're all feeling better for the most part. Yea-no more throwing up!

Prehistoric Halloween

Cody and Macey roamed around as little dinosaurs to three parties to celebrate. First was a preschool party, then playgroup, then our ward party on Saturday night.

It rained that night so the trunk or treat turned into a hallway candy party. I sat and handed out candy while Cody and Ben went around gathering. Macey decided to hang out by me and quietly opened at least 10 boxes of candy while I handed it out.

There were lots of games and candy. Macey successfully stuffed an entire (small) donut into her mouth in the donut eating contest. Cody loved the fishing and bean bag toss for playdoh.

I was a vet simply because I didn't want to miss out on an opportunity to dress comfortably and this way I wasn't a party poop. Speaking of-Macey and Cody are sick. Macey's bum is raw and Cody has thrown up in every room of our house today. I Hope no one else gets sick, but I'm afraid it's inevitable. Sorry we didn't know sooner!

Ben was scheduled to work during our ward party, but really didn't want to miss it and was able to switch shifts-which meant he worked ALL night and only slept two hours the next day. phew. We sure love him!