Giving Thanks on our national holiday!

 I love Thanksgiving.  I love the traditions, I love the food and I love focusing on gratitude in our family.

On the morning of Thanksgiving 2012, we wrote notes to our grandparents to express thanks for them.  The kids' notes were cute. I spent the morning cooking ham, making green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and getting the pies ready to go.

Grandma's house is always perfect.  She goes to a lot of time and detail to create a beautiful place for us to eat.  She laid out her nice china and all.

TIME TO EAT!

 The kids were excited for their big meal. 

 And the adults even more excited!

 After dinner, we enjoyed several hours of board games and card games. 

The Day After Thanksgiving

I arose at 6:00am with purpose and headed down to a few stores to buy some deals. Wal-mart was virtually empty from the crazies and I was able to find every one of the Black Friday items I realistically knew I could get.  After another few stops, I was home before Dave left for work.

The kids and I spent the morning putting away our fall/Thanksgiving things and started decorating our home for the Christmas season.  We did a little shopping together and then went over to Grandma Barbie's house again for leftovers and card games until 11:30 pm.  It was so fun!

 Here I am, ready to win the overall game of Phase 10 with this lay. :)

Saturday

The kids and I spent a lazy morning together cooking pancakes and hashbrowns and doing our chores.  In the afternoon, we picked up Grandma Barbie to explore the new outlets in Lehi.  They are AMAZING!  I can't believe I didn't see the construction of them from the new Timpanogos Highway.  We paused in front of the enormous Christmas Tree for a picture together.

Today is Sunday and our Thanksgiving Break is coming to a close.  We went the morning at church, I enjoyed a nap and now we are ready for some ham and brown rice soup before bed.

It has been another low-key but perfect holiday celebration for our little family. 

Welcome to the world, Klein!

Meredith delivered the sweetest little baby boy just 5 days ago.  Welcome to our neighborhood family, Klein!  We love you so much!

Ebelskivers anyone?

 Making breakfast with my little beauty!  She makes everything so much more fun!

Yes Alyssa, I love being your "best friend."

Little Beauties!

 Hot Cocoa Bar at a Relief Society Retreat focusing on Relationships.  This made me so happy!

 Alyssa's outfit for pre-school.  She likes to dress herself.  I try to breathe calmly and just let discover....but it's hard!

HAPPY THANSKGIVING!  Here we are with our cute turkey hat made a Ms. Julie's house!

Building Family Bonds while Building our Basement!

 Five years ago, Dave and I made a decision that has impacted our lives every day since.  During the height of the building empire, we chose to build a spec home to turn around and sell.  To make a long story short, we finished the home just a few weeks after the housing market began showing signs of crashing.  Instead of walking away with 200K, we ended up with a short sale and mountains of debt from the short sale of that home.  During our trial, we have been very blessed with several of these mountainous debts negotiated to smaller amounts....but to put that in perspective, we have pretty much paid out close to 100K out of pocket to date. Today, we are about $5000 away from putting this nightmare behind us.

Now what could I do with 100K?


FINISH THE BASEMENT IN MY HOUSE!  We live in a lovely home with three bedrooms on the main floor and 2400 sq ft of unfinished living space.  In 2006-2007, we started our basement.  Framing- check!  Electrical- check!  Plumbing- check!  Sheet Rock purchased and sitting there- check!  But that is where it stopped and ever since, we haven't dared put a dime into our home until we resolved some of our debts from the spec home.

Until now.

Dave and I decided it is time to start working on our basement and we are soooo excited!  When it is finished, we will have three additional bedrooms, a workout room, a bathroom and a HUGE family room with a bar/kitchenette. 

Jaxson has been Dave's shadow as they have worked on the basement, finishing up some extra electrical.  Instead of hiring it out, we feel we have the ability to do most of it on our own. 

 Dave and Jaxson at the future bar area-

WISH US LUCK!

From 70 to 45 degrees...in a matter of a day!

 November gets tricky where we live!  On the second week of the month, we enjoyed 4 days of 70 degree weather, only to be awakened on Saturday morning by a snowstorm!  The boys quietly got in their snow clothes to sled, but let their presence be known by setting off the house alarm on their way out the door on our only day to sleep in.

 Through the window, I snapped a picture of baby girl and Jax.  Fun morning memories.

Snow Buddies!

It's A Lindsay Halloween!

 WE LOVE HALLOWEEN

Another fun, entertaining, and sugar-filled holiday for the Lindsays!  The kids were dressed as a witch, vampire, pirate and clown.  They were proud of their costumes and loved being in character. 

 Lou Lou is such a crack up!  She wanted to dress up like her mommy so we were both witches!

 Taylor:  11

 Jaxson- 8

 Austin- 6

 Alyssa- 3

 Cutest little Landon!  Cutest 4 year old boy on the planet!

 Creepy Dana, the Zombie!

 Baby Dolls and Zebras!

 I'm so proud of my friends......

 The beautiful Facers!

 Best buddies Preston and Austin

 Austin's best friend and role model:  Landon!

Who Came?  Our FUN, FUN, FUN NEIGHBORHOOD FAMILY!

 Lopez Family

 The Beautiful Hult Family

Gorgeous Alyxis!

 The stunning Ms. Ashlyn!

 Jake and Michelle's Darling Family!

 AHHHHH.....SOUP!

 Katie Girl!

Feeling good about our friendship with the DuJardins..... :)

 

 The incredible Higbee Family!

 I love this picture of Pocahontas holding the zebra, gazing with an unspoken dream.....

 The awesome Pratt Family!

 Cutest 2 year old on the freakin' planet!

 The Lindsay Clan 2012

 Dave dressed as Mitt Romney carrying his "binder of women" and passed out "Vote For Mitt" pins.  He was hysterical!  I was in true character as myself:  die Hexe!  (witch)

 Die Familie Gunter:  ganz schön und direkt zu Hause von Deutschland!

 Yo and Dana aren't creepy at all.....

 The Lee's being attacked by Zombie Yo!

 And last, but not least, Grandma Barbie- the killer insect and Poppie!  Their outfits were adorable!  Many of our friends commented today how funny they both were!

After a fun party, we went trick-or-treating with Cheri and her daughters around the neighborhood for a few hours.  Halloween ended with the tradition of one of my kids puking (Jaxson) all over the toilet as he showered for bed. ;)  It was another great time with the greatest neighbors you could ever ask for!

Here's to tradition!