Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving! We have so much to be thankful for and we love this holiday because it reminds us to focus on expressing our gratitude. In the most recent General Conference, President Monson said "Sincerely giving thanks not only helps us recognize our blessings, but it also unlocks the doors of Heaven and helps us feel God's love." Although we would have loved to be around family this Thanksgiving, we definitely felt God's love for us as we took time over this past week to reflect on all of the many blessings He has given us.

It ended up being just us five for dinner. Our menu consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, Lion House rolls, green Jello, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, sparkling cider, pumpkin pie, and blueberry pie. What a feast!

The next morning we went out shopping--mostly for the sport of it all. Later that afternoon we went sledding using Julia's new birthday sled. Even though we only stayed out for about 30 minutes (it started getting pretty cold), we had a lot of fun.

Joshua and Julia

Rebecca and Ethan

Then on Saturday we got our Christmas tree. Because we weren't really sure on the regulations for cutting down trees in the National Forests here (we're not familiar with the boundaries), we were hoping to find a tree at a local tree farm. That is what we did last year and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any in Anchorage. However, Lowes saved the day with some newly cut trees. We were able to get our tree, set it up, and decorate it that night.

Other exciting news: today after church we saw a moose running in toward the parking lot. It was a big bull with huge antlers. It stopped abruptly right before the church parking lot, turned around and then ran back off the same way it came--it looked so funny! Our current Moose count is: Joshua--9, Rebecca--5, Julia--6, Ethan--5, Christian--?

Christian Crawling

Christian has started crawling. It is not your typical crawl, but at least he is getting where he wants to go on his own. Although he has always been happy, he seems a little happier now that he can get around.

One year older and wiser too

Last week Julia turned four years old. We celebrated by opening presents first thing in the morning (at her request of course), going to an indoor kids' water park (it included two kids' pools, water slides, and a huge pirate ship), and enjoying some of Julia's favorite meals (breakfast cake and sausage for breakfast and macaroni and cheese for dinner). She then got to stay up as late as she wanted and she made it through two movies: Aristocats and Beauty and the Beast. She had a great time and we loved seeing her so delighted. She really is growing up!

She was really excited to open presents, but surprisingly patient--maybe because she had snuck out and saw us putting together her new bicycle the night before.

Playing with and wearing some of her new things.

Insisting that Ethan not blow out the candles!

6'1"?

So we've been waiting for Ethan to turn two and a half so that we could try out the height prediction theory--you double his height at 30 months to find his adult height (with girls you do it at 24 months). So Ethan was 36.5"--check back with us in about 16 years to see if it's accurate! Julia's at 24 months was 34.5".