Turkey Times Two

We had two pretty perfect Thanksgivings, each with its own little snafu that we will look back and laugh about for years to come.

The first Thanksgiving was spent in McCall last weekend.  We stayed in Boise for Friday night so that we could continue our annual Warren Miller tradition and then we fittingly headed to the snow on Saturday morning.  The snafu of this Thanksgiving was that we decided to clip Bella's toenails on our own for the first time (she usually gets them done at the pet store).  Lets just say that I wouldn't suggest you bring your pup over for our grooming services.  We had not one, but two toes that bled.  Who knew that a stupid dog toenail would bleed for so long?  After an hour of waiting for it to stop, we put our creative skills to work and wrapped her little feet in washcloths and socks with medical tape around them.  I wish that I'd gotten a picture because looking back it was a pretty funny fiasco and I was also pretty proud of our medical abilities. Finally, we were on our way.

It snowed almost the whole way up to McCall as we rocked out to our Christmas tunes.  It was the first time that it really felt like the holidays.  We made it safely and started in on the cooking right away.  Between 6 adults and 4 kids, I think we had the most side dishes that I've ever seen at a Thanksgiving celebration.  They included stuffing, potatoes, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, green salad, brie and spinach stuffing, and rolls.  It was a feast indeed. 

The boys.

The girls. 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids (looking less and less like kids).

We topped off our visit with a visit from the fox and a nice little walk in the snow.  Watching Bella tromp through the snow just never gets old. It was wonderful to spend the day in such a full house with such great family.

We then celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with my mom.   We started the day off going to the Park with Bella and enjoying the sun.  I have learned to appreicate these sunny days in the fall/winter here in Boise.

 

 Here is a picture of the first turkey that we made here, it was the subject of this celebration's snafu.

What could have gone wrong, you might ask?  Well, this Thanksgiving novice chef cooked it upside down. Yup, how that is possible I still don't really know.  I felt pretty dumb.  But my mom kindly told me that the gourmet chefs tell you to cook it upside down for the juiciest result.  I just thought she was lying to make me feel better so I disappointingly flipped my turkey and put the bird back in the oven so that the the right side could brown up.  Indeed, our turkey ended up being pretty good and extra juicy.   So I was not dumb at all, I was just gourmet!  It was special to be able to celebrate the holiday in our own home and be able to host my mom for the first time for Thanksgiving.  Thanks for coming over Mom to help us celebrate the holiday.

We feel pretty thankful this year.  We know that we are blessed to have so many joyous things fill our life.  We hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving (or two) as well!

Time

Today I am thankful for time.  I had an unexpected day off today and along with it was blessed with the ability to get back on top of my life.  Those of you who spend time with me know that my work life balance is nothing to brag about and that if you ask me what time I am coming home at night when I leave for work in the morning, I generally have no clue and can give a ballpark figure at best.  But what this also means is that some days the work falls from under me due to delays in deals or clients actually taking off for the holidays (like a Thanksgiving miracle).  Today was one of those days and it was awesome. In fact each day this week I left the office by two and ran errands. It is amazing how good it feels to just get stuff done.  My packages that have been sitting there forever are now mailed, my turkey is thawing in its new roaster pan, my table is set because I could not resist laying it out to see how it would look, my kitchen is ready for the cooking to begin tomorrow and I am just so happy. Although I felt bad that I had a sickie husband home today, I loved that I could make him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and to sit and watch a movie with him. I know that almost everyone wishes that there were more hours in each day, but today I will go to bed thinking that I had just enough hours to do everything I wanted.  And for that, I am very very thankful

I am also thankful for these awesome new candle holders that I got on one of my errands, thank you Cost Plus.  I think that I am slightly obsessed considering that I have lit them twice already and have had them less than 24 hours. Hey, whatever makes you happy, right?

 

Tomorrow I will celebrate my second Thanksgiving of 2011 and host my first ever!  It will be a tiny gathering of me, Chris and my mom, but that sounds just about perfect for cooking my first turkey.  Hope everyone else is enjoying this time as much as I am.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Becko Does BSU Football

We were lucky enough to be blessed with a second trip from Becko this year.  Becky, an avid sports fan, came up for BSU's highly anticipated BSU v. TCU game.  It was quite fitting that she came up for an "orange out" because she runs orange through and through since she works for the SF Giants.  Because of Becky, we have so many good memories going to AT&T ball park and enjoying Giants games, so we were both pretty excited to be able to show her our town's teams.  Although the game ended in a pretty devastating loss, our weekend with Becko made up for it.  

I had to work on Friday so Chis and Becky spent the afternoon golfing a cold 8 holes.  Ruby, the golf cart, does actually have a heater and doors.  However, as they were pulling out of the driveway Chris thought it was warm enough to warrant removing the doors.  Becky, being the sweet girl that she is, probably didn't have the heart to tell Chris that a heater in a golf car is probably not much good without doors.  Brrrrrr.  They made the best of it it and probably froze a little in the process.  I was released from work and we got to meet up for dinner and Boise's best frozen yogurt, which is what I am sure our frozen Becko really needed. 

Chris and Becko attended the game the next day while I watched from warmer quarters.  It was a great game, but due to BSU's unfortunate kicking talent (sorry, but it is pretty bad), they ended up losing the game and their shot at a national championship title.  I think that they still had fun at the game despite the loss and Chris and I were both thrilled to show off Boise's pride and joy. 

Chris and I argue often over whose friend Becky really is.  Truth is, she is of course a very good friend to both of us.  But I lived with her and I still claim her as my own, which means I was pretty jealous of the golf time and game time that those two got together.  So on Sunday I took Becky where I knew Chris would not follow so that we could  have some girl time - we went shoe shopping. As sad as it is to say, shoe shopping is what made me miss having Becky around the most.  I miss the time doing silly girl things together. It was so so nice to get a weekend with a girl who we both love so much.  

And what is a Becko visit without some trampoline time. 

Thanks for coming to visit us! And thanks for the pics too.

100 Things

When I thought about what I wanted to write about being thankful for this week, I thought of about 100 things. So I thought why not write about all of them.  I cannot call it being thankful for the small things because I recognize that some of these are quite significant.  So here they are, in no particular order, 100 things/experiences that I am thankful for this year.

1. Morning sister talks.
2. Living in a city that I love.
3. A warm fire place.
4. Mint chocolate chip ice cream.
5. The candor of inspiring bloggers who open their hearts to strangers (this one changed me and I bet it will you too).
6. A wonderfully supportive family. 
7. A job that makes me use my brain every day.
8. Attending four beautiful weddings.
9. Seeing the fall colors back East.
10. Books probably written for tweens that I love (the Hunger Games was my series this year).
11. Morning walks with the Bels.
12. Discovering Brandi Carlile's music. 
13. Heated seats. 
14. Being able to say that I am in my 20s, I still have a month left people.
15. Getting to see the ocean.
16. My camera, best buy ever!
17. The Squeezebox, one of the few technologies I use every single day.
18. Fall walks. 
19. My big bath tub.
20. Being able to run Hood to Coast with such an awesome group of friends.  
21. Eating dinner on the patio. 
22. Seeing my friends become moms.
23. Soaking up the sun's summer rays.
24. Uggs.
25. Good professional mentors.
26. Christmas cards. 
27. That Bella still jumps high for her "dinner."
28. Fresh paint. 
29. Sushi. 
30. Weekends at Priest Lake.
31. Kim's lasagna.
32. The Dan Patrick Show.
33. Having Chris wash Bella for three months. 
34. Learning to golf.
35. My health. 
36. Post-it flags, I use them every day. 
37. Being able to travel to Phoenix, Sun Valley, Priest Lake, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, North Carolina, McCall and Denver in one year. 
38. The Oprah show, I am not afraid to say that I miss it dearly.
39. The magic of the first snowfall at our house.  
40. Black and white photography. 
41. Sweet potato fries. 
42. Our new porch swing.
43. Naps.
44. Our house.
45. The smell of freshly cut grass. 
46. Passing the Idaho state bar exam.
47. The courage of Chris to take a new job. 
48. Warren Miller ski films.
49. Hearing Sophie, Tyler, and Owen stories.
50. Chocolate. 
51. A great group of friends. 
52. Getting my hands dirty in my garden. 
53. GPS directions. 
54. Fishing dates with the huz.
55. Getting post cards, it seems like an art that is almost dead, but thanks to Kiki I still get a couple a year.
56. Redbox.
57. The webcasts of John Ortberg and the peace that they bring me.
58. That I have the privilege of living in the United States.
59. The service of those who protect this country.
    
60. NBC Nightly News.
61. Forgiveness.
62. Friends who made the trip to Boise to see us (including Becky's second visit, blog post to come).
63. Learning something new every single day. 
64. Ruby.
65. Amazon.com and the time that it gives me. 
66. Bananas and peanut butter. 
67. Our dreamboard.
68. Check ups at the dentist with no cavities. 
69. Washers, our favorite yard game.
70. The spring in my step when I wear new shoes for the first time. 
71. My bird feeders. 
72. Good neighbors.
73. Learning from my own mistakes. 
74. Learning from the mistakes of others. 
75. Costco's wool socks. 
76. My crockpot.
77. Shooting stars.
78. A warm cup of coffee, the newspaper and CBS Sunday Morning.
79. Chris' hard work to keep our yard looking great.
80. BBQ. 
81. College Game Day and maybe Kurk Herbstreit too.
82. Caprese salad with fresh basil and tomatoes from my garden. 
83. Making our yard our own.
84. Skiing.
85. BSU football, even with a devastating loss. 
86. The smell of the woods. 
87. Homemade chicken tortilla soup on a fall day. 
88. My glasses.
89. The shoe rack that Chris made.
90. Reminiscing with old friends.
91. Summer bike rides.
92. The sound of crickets and frogs at night.
93. Bonfires.
94. Modern Family. 
95. Spring bulbs and my new awesome bulb planting tool.
96. Sitting on the porch with a Popsicle after a run.
97. Homemade zucchini bread. 
98. 5 full years of marriage. 
99. Seeing the sun rise over Tablerock from my office.
100. Being able to document my life on this blog.

I am a lucky and grateful girl.

Thankful for the Huz

I have seen a trend picking up the past years of people posting on Facebook about things that they are thankful for each day in November.  I will not post daily, but I think it is a good thing to step back and take the time to reflect on the blessings that I have in my life during this month of November.  Today I will write about my other half, my better half. 

Chris (AKA the "Huz" and "Johnson") is quite simply a wonderful man and a wonderful husband.  He has my back if I ever need support, but he is also not afraid to tell me when I am being foolish.  He is not a man of many words himself, but he listens to my stories like he has all the time in the world.  He spends days like today when I had to go in to work making (yes, making) a picture frame and a new shoe rack that I requested.  He tackles the task of trimming my mom's tree like it is his job. 

 

My favorite moments in life are when the two of us start laughing over something stupid and sink to the floor in tears unable to speak.  Nobody else would find what we laugh about even funny, but that is why I love the guy so much.  He gets me and makes my heart smile.  We have a phrase in the Johnson household that you use when you get that overwhelming feeling of love.  It is not the same as the "I love you" that you give every day; it by nature should not be used every day.  It need not be reciprocated the moment is it uttered and almost takes away from the meaning if it is reciprocated. The phrase is heart overload.  And today I have heart overload for this man.  Thank you for all that you are, Chris.

Pumpkin Party

Getting ready for Halloween came a little late for us this year, like October 30th late.  Chris has put up with another month of a crazy work schedule for me, but we did make a little time to celebrate Halloween.  I love carving pumpkins and even though it took me until October 30th to buy the perfect pumpkin, which was semi-ruined when it rolled over on the way home and the stem popped off, we did it.  I may have burned the pumpkin seeds, but our little guys turned out pretty cute if you ask me, although not fancy which seems to be the trend.

We also had a Halloween dinner with my Dad and Robin.   I think a new tradition was born that night and next year I look forward to contributing to the goolish food and bringing my real camera to capture it all.  

My niece Kia is getting so big. Love this cute girl.  And click here for the cutest robots (including one fallen one) and the cutest "Sophie" you will ever see.  They all crack me up.  Wonder what our new baby niece or nephew will be next year. . .