Early resolution

At the end of November the question was asked in Relief Society - "What are you most thankful for?" My immediate answer - family & friends. As I have reflected on that question over the last few weeks and also prepared for my lesson next week on Elder Worthlins talk "Come What May and Love It" I have been reminded of all the experiences that have come our way this year. It has been a year packed with family trips, moves and additions. Each of these experiences has added greatly to our lives and to our joy. While not all of them have been easy they have all been beneficial. As I study Elder Worthlins talk I realize that I am okay with the come what may part of it, over the years that has become natural to me, it's the "and love it" part that is often missing! In hindsight I can see and love the lessons learned from the challenge but in the middle of it I often lose that ability. So I think for next year that will be one of my resolutions - to develop the ability to love what ever challenge Heavenly Father sends my way while I am in the midst of it. Knowing the magnitude of that perhaps it should be my only resolution!

Shopping or the Zoo, Hmmm. . .

I realize that I am the odd man (or should I say woman?)out when it comes to shopping, I really, really, HATE shopping! So of course when everyone else is going nuts over Black Friday I have absolutley no desire to participate. I have very strong opinions about the greed and materialism involved and how it is destroying our ability to take a day off and just enjoy our families and express gratitude for all that we have. How many people have to give up their family time on Thanksgiving now just to prepare for Friday's insanity? Then on the news we saw reports of stores that chose to stay open on Thanksgiving just to "get a jump" on the competition. Argh!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say we were looking for some other form of entertainment to occupy us on Friday and discovered that the Sacramento Zoo would have free admission all day Friday. They requested you donate a canned food item for the food bank as the price of admission but it was not required. So we packed up a grocery bag with cans (there were 9 of us going), and headed off. We had a great time and my faith in humanity was restored as the zoo was packed with families who had chosen to spend time together having fun rather than fighting for bargains.


Kelly & Kaitlin having fun

Riley & Kevin getting in on the act

I think if we look hard enough we might find these guys in our genealogy!

The whole crew

So much for dinner

Since we now have 11 people eating dinner every night things were getting a little crowded around our table for 6. So we headed off to Home Depot to get oak planks in order to make a new table top that will seat all of us, or so I thought. Little did I know that it wasn't really a table top that was being fashioned but a track base for the race cars. Needless to say the boys are happy and the girls are eating in the kitchen!