I'd Like One Roadtrip, Please

I had no idea how stifled I've felt here in Garden City this year until gas got cheap. As the price has gone down, I keep thinking, 'wow, I can go there or there or there and it will only cost me $20. Let's go.' I can now get a tank of gas (for a minivan) for less than $30, more like $25. I'm so ready to get out of here. In fact, because of that, we've decided to leave for the Christmas holidays. We had planned on staying here but now we're heading up to Cheyenne, WY for Christmas and then onto Leavenworth, KS for New Years. We are taking advantage of the crappy economy (cheap gas prices) and getting the heck out of here. Which makes me think of another point. Although the economy has gone down the flusher, it's definitely helped our 'personal economy'--cheap gas, great sales--I'll take it.

Kids Say and Do The Darndest Things

I love hearing funny things that kids say. Every parent has cute stories to share about their children. Here's a couple from our kids this past week. Adam has learned to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". He likes to sing it this way, "...buy me some peanuts and crack the nuts..." (instead of crackerjacks). Matthew got up on Monday and told me it was morning time because he didn't have anymore yawns.

November = Gratitude

We're trying to teach Adam and Matthew more about gratitude and being thankful. So, for the month of November, we are doing a couple of projects. The first is a 'gratitude' chart. I bought a posterboard and made a big grid on it (400+ squares). Each time someone shows gratitude or says 'thank you' we put a check in a square. We are trying to fill it up by Thanksgiving. The other project is a 'gratitude' journal. Each night during dinner we individually say what we are grateful for that day. We made a little booklet to write in so we have a record of it. Last night Adam said, "I am grateful that I tried my dinner and I didn't die." Ha-ha!! (See Nov. 5th post)

Obama Mania

I know lots of people having been posting about the election, so what's one more? I'm so excited that Obama won. I voted for him. To all my Mormon, Republican friends and relatives--don't pass out. I took a lot of time this election deciding who I wanted to vote for. In fact, I told myself I wasn't going to decide until Tuesday morning because I wanted to be open-minded to both candidates during the entire campaign and I really wanted to vote from my heart. I didn't want to vote for a candidate just because everyone was telling me who to vote for. I wanted to vote for who I WANTED. I felt this campaign season wasn't as negative as past ones. I think that speaks to the character of both Obama and McCain. I have always been a fan of McCain. I lived in Arizona for 10 years and he was my senator. I voted for him for President back in 2000. However, this year, I just felt like Obama had a better grasp of what America needs right now. I like his stance on immigration, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his economic plan. I also think he really values collaboration and we, as a country, need that with the rest of the world. I'm by no means an expert on international affairs, but I have lived in three others countries besides the U.S. and have relatives in both Europe and South America. Most of the nations in those two continents are more socialistic that America and the people tend to dislike our politics. I think, because Obama leans more toward socialistic ideals, he can help unite us with the rest of the world. I do have high expectations for Obama. I really felt like when I voted for him, I was putting my trust and faith in him to change and improve America. I think he is really reaching out to everyone and sending out a "call to arms", meaning he expects us to rise and help him improve America. I get the sense that his presidency will expect more out of us as a population and doesn't want to be viewed as simply the politicians in D.C. that have little, if none, contact with the 'real folk'. Most of you and especially those that are much more political-savvy than me may think my writings are juvenile, and perhaps they are, but that's how I feel and I do my best to express them.

Dinner Update

Two or three weeks ago I posted that I was going to try (or demand) something new with getting my boys to eat dinner. If they eat their dinners every night, Sunday thru Friday, then on Saturday they get to have a Happy Meal. It's working! The first week they tanked. Only Rob and I got something on Saturday. (Side note--we didn't eat Happy Meals but Chinese instead.) The second week Adam and Matt did better. And this week has been great. I've intentionally cooked dishes that they wouldn't try before--one a chicken dish with a creamy mushroom sauce and the other sloppy joes. They tried them both AND really liked them. In fact, they asked for seconds, even thirds on the sloppy joes. Matt keeps reminding us that we get to go to McDonalds if we eat our dinner. Tomorrow I'm going to try a potato chowder. Neither of them like soup, but that's because they haven't been willing to try it. They do realize they only have two more dinners to go 'til Saturday so I'm hoping they eat it. We'll see how it goes.

So Cute and Dapper

Here are some photos of Matthew before church yesterday. He just looked so cute I had to take some pictures.

Trick or Treat

Adam and Matthew had lots of fun trick-or-treating last night. The weather was great. We didn't even need jackets. They were so excited they ran from house to house. Rob and I just stayed on the sidewalk while they went as fast as they could. They're old enough now that they can walk the entire time and don't need us to hold them.

Matt dressed up as Diego. He's with the pumpkin he designed and carved.

Adam is Ben 10. Great pose, eh!

Here they are after two hours of trick-or-treating. Quite a stash! Adam ended up with 6 lbs. of candy and Matt had 5 lbs.