Giving Thanks

I had planned to write on the blog after all of our family events this Thanksgiving weekend. I spent Thanksgiving morning visiting with my grandma and uncle and then went out to my cousin's house to see them. Jeff and I had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeff's family. His grandma flew in from Hawaii and his cousins all came over. It was an amazing feast. We ended the night playing wii and talking; all in all a great day.

The Moosman family always does Thanksgiving over the weekend, so we can have as many people there as possible and no one has to fight with which family to go to. This year it was planned to be on Sunday (since the Holy War was to be played Saturday afternoon). Unfortunately, the blizzard came late and we were unable to make the dangerous drive to Utah County. I was so excited to see everyone and was very disappointed by this evil storm. We'll see them all for Christmas in a couple weeks though...blizzard or not.

This weekend has really made us realize all that we have to be thankful for and remembering them helps us get through hard times. My mom and I are in the process of moving into an upstairs apartment at my grandma's house. There have been a series of gang related burglaries in her neighborhood and she is scared and lonely. Since Jeff and I are planning on getting married this is the perfect solution to help out my grandma and my mom. I have been worried what would happen to my mom after I moved out. Knowing that we were moving out in the middle of winter and with snow storms every other day we had so many people offering to help us move. It really makes you know who cares about you.

Jeff and I are so thankful for the Foster family. Danielle and I met in 7th grade Algebra and have been friends ever since. Thinking back to all our great memories through school and our friendship. I know we will be friends for life. She is like a sister to me and I hope she knows how much she means to me. The Fosters have always made us feel a part of their family. They are great examples to us on how we want to raise our family and treat others around us. Dan and Kelly are wonderful parents and are always giving us great advice and support in our relationship. They have such a great testimony of the gospel. Dan baptized me and I know they will be with us when we get sealed together in the temple. I wouldn't want it any other way.

There are so many things I am thankful for that it would take too long to mention. I do want to say that I am so thankful for my friends and family, but especially my mom and Jeff. My mom has raised me basically on her own since I was a baby and I know it hasn't been easy and she has had to make a lot of sacrifices. I want her to know that I really appreciate everything she has ever done for me and for everything I know she will do for me. I know when I am a new mother I will be leaning on her for support and strength. I know there will be many calls to her in the middle of the night and she will always be there for me. I love her and she is the best mom.  In the last 6 years we have been through so many ups in downs, but he is always there to support and care for me. He is the only person who can make me smile when I'm at my lowest. He is the first person I call when I have good or bad news. I don't know what I would do without him in my life. I can't wait for us to be sealed together in the temple, start a family, and just grow old together.

Worries with the Storm

The last couple of days headlines have been plastered with dangerous blizzard and severe storm warnings and as a result businesses closed early (including the Huntsman Institute and government offices), classes were cancelled, and basically the entire city shut down before the storm hit. Does Target shut down? NO! If you ever find yourself in the middle of a natural disaster and need some furniture or hand towels...don't worry because we will still be open. In fact when I called in to find out if we were going to close early the store manager said it would take "an act of god" for us to close early. It didn't matter we had 10 customers in 6 hours and the store was losing a ton of money. One of the customers we had was high off his rocker and thought he was in Idaho... he got very angry and yelled profanities at me for telling him he was in Salt Lake City, Utah. I guess it made him so confused he had to go smoke some more (in our store) and I had to call the police. Oh the things that happen at Target.

Not even close to how bad the roads were at midnight...no tire tracks at all!

Anyways, I was so lucky that I had to be to work at the beginning of the storm and leave after the roads had been covered in snow and ice. Jeff was so worried he texted me constantly making sure I was going to be alright and made me promise that if the roads were really bad to have him come pick me up. He was so concerned and really sweet of him. I knew he would be exhausted from working a 12 hour shift and having to get up early for another shift the next morning, so I didn't want him driving groggy in the middle of the night. Fortunately, no one is on the roads at midnight and I was pretty much able to drive home down the middle of the freeway. (FYI snowplows failed at their job last night.)

Holidays and Growing up

When you are a kid you don't really have a choice of where and what you do on holidays; you're parents have already decided and you just go where you are taken. Well Jeff and I have really realized that this is all about to change. I have two big families where I have always had to split my time on holidays. This has always made my holidays very hectic and involved a lot of driving around. As for Jeff, his family has a lot of traditions they do on holidays just as their family unit, because he's family is really small and he only sees the one set of cousins really. However, this year that is all about to change. We decided this is the first year that we are really going to be playing a balancing act between three families and work. This year Jeff has to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, which really sucks. Fortunately, he gets off work at 3:00. We are going to Thanksgiving this year at the Edminster's and the Longson's possibly for pie. The Moosman's do their Thanksgiving over the weekend after Thanksgiving Day, which works for our large family and easier to work around as a whole family. As for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we still have a lot of kinks to work out so we will see how that all works out when it gets closer. Wish us luck!

Babies Galore

Its no secret that I have a huge family on my dad's side. HUGE might even be an understatement; last time someone gave me a count it was in the 80s and my 70 something year old grandmother is going to be a great great grandmother at the beginning of next year. Since everyone lives in Utah county I don't get to see them very much and its hard to keep track of names and who each baby belongs to. Jeff's entire family, including extended family members, consists of maybe 20 people. When he came to our first family party he didn't know what to do or who was who. I still have to break down who people are and how they are related. I love my family and wouldn't change a thing.

We have always joked that every year there are 2 babies added to our family. This year that has grown. There is a group of cousins that grew up really close and between each baby there being a couple months or so. Now that we are all in our 20s the baby boom has begun. We added sweet Paisley to our family at the beginning of this year. Today my little cousin Cassidee had her little baby girl Addalynn Belle. Congratulations Cassi! I'm glad you and the baby are doing well.

Now there are still 3 more Moosman babies to come!