The Curse of November and Ruth is Thankful

We are not that busy for the holidays. We aren't going out of town. We're not in charge of making a huge feast for Thanksgiving (only contributing a few dishes to one). And yet, I have been feeling the rush of the holidays and have been neglecting my blogging duties. Sorry!

On a completely different note, we've been telling Ruth about how we spend our time around Thanksgiving thinking about all the things we're thankful for. She wanted to compile a list of the things she's thankful for and put it here on the blog for all the world to see. So here it is:

The sun,
Food I have.
I like everything so you might as well hear the rest.
I love my mommy so much so I'm thankful for her.
I'm thankful for the stores
and lemonade stands,
beautiful winter,
squirrels,
gazelles,
turkey we eat at thanksgiving,
beautiful sheep at the farm,
mice,
the things on TV,
things that make me happy like cats, dogs, puppy dogs and lots more
so don't go away until I'm done.
I'm thankful for stories,
my friends,
my grandmas,
my grandpas,
my little cousins,
and thats all!

Ruth has an announcement...

Dreams

Today while driving in the car a love song came on on the radio. Ruth got this very dreamy look in her eyes. After a minute or so of the song she said this:

"Guess what I'm going to do tomorrow. I am going to start looking at all the men that are grown-ups and if I find a handsome one I'm going to marry him when I grow up. As long as he's not already married."

So watch out men! Ruth is on the hunt!

What About Bob?

This is a picture of my dad when he was on his mission (for the LDS church) in Taiwan (back in 1977-ish). Ain't he handsome?

Today is my dad's birthday. He is turning 27 years old. My dad is an amazing person. If you don't know him then you should do all in your power to get to know him because he's cool.

Here are some memories I have of my dad (in no particular order):

• We used to play 'tickle monster' after dinner. He'd tickle us and we'd do our best to (not) get away.
• We had a dog named Wicket. Whenever we'd take him camping, my dad would always let him off his leash. I would freak out and worry that he would run away or get lost and my dad would always be so calm and unworried.
• All my cousins call my dad "Uncle Bob." It makes sense that they call him that because that's his name, but I'd always get jealous that I couldn't call him that too.
• When I was a kid my dad knew EVERYTHING. Even after I got married I'd always say to my husband "Let's call my dad, he'd know the answer."
• Dad always has good advice.
  
• Whenever we were driving in the car my dad would always reach over and slap my mom on the leg. (it was a love slap, don't worry). I always knew that that was his way of saying 'I love you' to her.
• We used to always walk hand-in-hand. Then I went to college and decided I was too old for that so we graduated to walking arm-in-arm.
• Dad has always worked so hard for our family. He's pretty smart too. Just ask me someday what he does for a living and you'll be impressed!

I love you, Dad! Hope you had a great day!

History

Say what you will, but history has been made.

Spontaneous Saturday--Picture OVERLOAD!

Today was our first annual Spontaneous Saturday. We woke up and said: "Let's go to Amarillo today." Then we said: "What are we going to do in Amarillo?" Our reply to each other was: "I don't know, I guess we'll find out when we get there." So we went. We had adventures!

The first thing we found when we got to Amarillo (a 2 hour drive north of Lubbock) was a Discovery Center!

The kids loved the silly little fake letter things they had out front. If you can't tell, this is a letter 'D'

Gareth's FAVORITE toy these days are balls. When he saw these huge balls out front of the Discovery Center he took off running. "Balls!" was all he could say.

Boy in a bubble...

Girl in a bubble...
Putting a dead body together...
Discovering a dead body...
Ruth learns what clouds feel like. "It doesn't feel like anything!" (I think she was disappointed)
Our next stop was The Big Texan. This is a place we've seen on the Food Network. They are the home of the free 72 0z steak (if you eat it ALL plus a salad, baked potato and three shrimps in one hour). No, we didn't take up that challenge but it was fun to watch two other people take it up.
The guy is holding his spatula above a 72 oz steak. You can only see half of it because of the spatula.
The guy in the green has been at it for 45 minutes. He's looking a little green. The other guy just started. Makes me sick just thinking about it.
I loved the HUGE rocking chair so I took many pictures of it.

Everything's bigger in Texas
We were rushing to get home in time to watch the Tech vs. Texas game and we had a blow-out. Luckily we survived!

A very nice State Trooper came and parked his car behind us and put his lights on to keep us safe. Since Jonesy had the changing of the tire under control the only thing the officer could do was stand there and listen to Ruth tell him scary stories from Halloween. He was a real trooper (hahaha! I made a pun!). Let's hope this tire is covered under warranty...can't afford a new one!
We finally made it home just in time for the second half of the big game. WoW! That was a great game! If you missed it, I feel sorry for you. The last minute and a half was so intense. I am a little annoyed at the crowd for being silly and forgetting that it's not smart to jump onto the field and tear down the goal posts BEFORE THE GAME IS ACTUALLY OVER! Some people don't realize that after a touchdown the scoring team gets to try for an extra point. Even if there is only one second left in the game.

And thus ends our Spontaneous Saturday. We are cured of all spontaneity for at least another 6 months. Unless we decide to be spontaneous.

Oh, check the next post for some videos of our day!

Spontaneous Saturday--Videos!

Nose-blowing