Monday, December 01, 2008

Thanksgiving stuff...

This year we had Thanksgiving up in Payson at Mark's brother Rodney and his wife Cam's house. They have a beautiful home with a gorgeous view. It rained pretty much all day. I loved every minute of it.
I think we had 32 people there total. This is only some of us. Even with that many people we still had loads of leftovers. I made 5 very yummy pies and other people brought pies, cakes and mini cheesecakes, so there was no shortage of desserts to eat after the feast. Why do I always forget to wear stretchy pants on Thanksgiving? Plus we ate Thanksgiving with our friends the Koozer's on Wednesday night. I'm totally afraid to get on the scale, so I'm choosing not to until I have at least a week of aerobics under my belt. By the way, the Koozer's oldest son, Charl got his mission call. He's going to Rome, Italy!!! How neat to get to learn Italian and share the gospel in Italy for 2 years. It will be an amazing experience for him. We are so excited for him!Me and my hubbyOne of the funniest moments was after we had been there for over 2 1/2 hours, Cole says out loud..."Hey mom, there are 2 Cam's!" LOL! We all laughed so hard. I had no idea he didn't know she had a twin sister. And how did he manage to go that long without seeing them together. It was just too funny!
We were suppose to do the turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning, but I haven't been sleeping so I was too tired to get up and do that and still be able to function the rest of the day. I was really looking forward to it. Me, Mark, Chad and Hunter ventured out for some black Friday shopping after a very hearty breakfast at Bill Johnson's to keep us going all day. I got my Christmas tree up and decorated, but none of the other decorations yet.
We had family home evening last night about free agency and choice and accountability and also discussed household chores and responsibilities. Everyone was assigned new chores, so I'll be less stressed trying to do too much around here by myself. We even assigned dish nights, and since there are 7 people living here I only have to do dishes on Monday's. I'm so dang excited!
So how was your Thanksgiving? Are you busy getting ready for Christmas? I finally gave in to the Christmas music. I refuse to listen to it until after Thanksgiving.
I woke up with a cold this morning. I feel ick! I ran up to the store to get some zicam in hopes to knock it down speedy quick. There's NO time to get sick.
I have a strong testimony of tithing. We pay our tithing faithfully. I write a check every Sunday whether there is money in the account or not. I have faith that by the time the check clears, I will have money in the bank to cover it and I always do. Not paying it just isn't an option in my head. It's been a tough year financially for us due to some properties that choose not to pay us the MANY thousands of dollars they owe us. Plus we were suppose to get a $3,000 tax refund in October, but the IRS decided that instead, we owe them like $5,000. How could that be??? So we've been fighting them on it because we knew that we were honest in our dealings with them. So, today in the mail I get a check from them for over $4,000!!! How cool is that?! and who EVER win arguments with the IRS? I actually cried as I sat there at the mailbox because I knew we were going to be able to get all of our bills paid. I know you receive blessings when you do things that require faith, but I surely didn't expect this. I am deeply grateful to my Heavenly Father for watching over my family and blessing us for being faithful when it was so hard to do. Oh happy day!

FYI...when a boy leaves a pen in his pocket and runs it through the laundry, it tends to explode in the dryer resulting in ink stained clothes and ink stained dryer drum. Magic eraser with nail polish remover does a semi-okay job, but the fumes may very well kill ya.

9 comments:

Andi said...

Hi Jolene! Your Thanksgiving looks and sounds wonderful. I love having lots of people around and especially on holidays.

How wonderful about the check. You're living right dear girl!
Looking forward to seeing pictures of your Christmas tree. I should be in the other room hanging ornaments on ours but here I sit at the computer! At least it's up and has lights on it. Not sure when I'll get the rest of the things in place but I'm sure I will.

Love the picture of you and Mark!

chrisg said...

I am so glad you took a pic of the two Cams together ...so funny I am still laughing. I am not sure I could tell them apart. The family looks great and we miss them.
Why isn't Marks tounge sticking out in the picture of you guys?? lol

Allyson said...

Oh man, I've had the ink thing happen to me in the past....and the crayon....you may ask didn't you learn the first time....obviously not!

Those pies look sooooo yummy. Is there anything you can't do?

By the way....The turkey trot was super fun. Next year I would love to run it....HA HA.....I said I would love to run it, it doesn't mean I will.

Hope that Zican is working!

Anonymous said...

Payson looked great! Brian's house was okay but nothing like where you were at. 4 G's, huh?? That's great. It's so hard to actually win against the IRS. I'm glad things went your way.

Briana said...

I must say your stories about those boys of yours freak me out for what I'm in for in the future! I don't know how you manage 5, I can't seem to keep my head above water with 2 boys.

Grandma September said...

Looks like you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! :)

I'm not reading the egg story. You can't make me.

You look fabulous, by the way! :)SO proud of you!

mademoisellechitchat said...

Jolene:

The book of Malachi discusses the need for Christians to tithe; I am a firm believer in this. A man should never rob God; God will INDEED get His $$$ somehow. Therefore, GIVE!!!

Anonymous said...

Magic Eraser got nail polish off of my wooden cabinets before too :)

Wendster said...

That was a great story about the check. I had a similar event and also have a testimony of tithing.