I am Thankful for...

Weston and I went to my parent's house for Thanksgiving this past weekend and spent 4 fabulous days in the snow-filled country that is my hometown :) We left right after we got out of classes on Tuesday to try to beat the huge blizzard home and did so in excellent fashion.

We had San Francisco Supper on Wednesday night and even my dad joined in!!!

Twila's utensil was a spatula. She tried to fit the whole thing in her mouth

Then we measured heights, with is completely normal in my family as children grow taller than their parents at a young age.

Twila measuring Taylor, her 16 year old son

Twila fits in perfectly with her 13 year old daughter and 11 year old son

And 4 of my sisters, their families, and 3 of my friends came for Thanksgiving Dinner (really lunch) on Thursday.

Martin from Slovakia enjoys his pie

We went sledding after dinner and scavaged for pants that would fit everyone. My favorite were Tobi's bright purple rain pants. I'm pretty sure they are meant for a 13 year old girl, but he pulled them off in all his German glory!!!!!

Martin, Cal, Me, Weston and Tobi

Cal, Martin and Tobi and went down together... it didn't end well

This is what happened when we tried to help each other up the hill. We went tumbling down.

Weston and I

Cal, Tobi and Martin sporting their winter clothes we found

Sledding with the kids and the neighbor's dog

There Martin goes!!!

Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner

It's official, I worry too much, and I can be a mom now. Or at least have a church position that deals with taking care of people, because I just cooked my first Thanksgiving Dinner all by myself!!! I did the turkey, sweet potato pie, deviled eggs (which I forgot to take out), potatoes and gravy, ham, stuffing, fruit salad (which I forgot to take out)... we also had pie that people brought, and Shpretzel... or something like that from Germany.

Compared to last year the presentation was lacking; it looked like we had a lot less food, but the people and conversation was SOSOSOOSOSO much better!!! The pool table worked perfectly as a serving table, and people actually sat next to each other instead of like little wallflowers planted a foot or two between each other. I'm pretty sure this was the best night I've had in a long time!

Holding hands

Sometimes I wish there was a "pause" button with life. Maybe that is what journaling is all about a little pause in time when we can look back and say, "=) I remember that!"

I want to share a little glimpse into our lives over the past 2 months. It is really just a snapshot.

Benjamin is in school along with full time work and everything else. Sometimes tells me he might fail this semester. He won't. I can understand what he is saying, sometimes giving up seems like the better option. But it isn't. He will pass his classes.

This photo was taken about 3 hours before I had Isaac.

If you are wondering, we did have him in the hospital.

Oh, and we named him Isaac. =) Abbie was adamant that she was not going to like him. She even told us, before he was born, that he could only stay 1 day.

If you haven't noticed, Abbie adores Isaac!!! She is an excellent big sister. The other day my visiting teachers came over and Abbie was at the table, but she was keeping a close eye on the VTers to make sure they didn't try to take her brother. =)

We can't wait to see everyone over the holidays.

Grandma Mills

I was in Ogden at a training and decided to pop over to see Grandma Mills. What was meant to be a 45 minute to hour visit ended up being five hours. I met her at her salon and chatted with her while she got her hair permed. When having her hair rinsed grandma plugged her ears so water wouldn't get inside, she looked so darn cute. When having her hair rinsed she likes it cool, bordering on cold. I think that is funny because, in that situation, I really like my water super hot.

After the salon I drove grandma home, back to the complex she lived in years ago, the one with the sliding glass door in the lobby/main room area, and the ducks in the river. We stopped in to see Aunt Amy then went to dinner with Aunt Penni. Apparently, Penni and I have a lot in common when it comes to Behavior Plans and mental health work. We talked for nearly an hour. That was the first real adult conversation I've ever had with Aunt Penni, I'm glad we got that time to spend together and get to know one another a little better.

I really liked the time I got to spend with Grandma. She and I have always had a special bond... One time I jumped out from behind a curtain and she called me a "little shit" then laughed and laughed because I had scared her so badly.

There's just something about holding grandma's hand, seeing her fiery red hair, and smelling that wonderful Grandma Mills smell. It's just.... happy.

Penni & Doreen were both in town for a few days so Dad went down to SLC and they had some photos taken.

I am SO grateful for family, especially our family. I love them with everything that I have.

Practicum update

Practicum is going... well... different.

We've already gone through two social workers (one was laid off and the other needed full time work so she quit) and our Director/my supervisor's job was just dissolved... so right now I don't have a supervisor. The remaining social worker can supervise my daily work and goals and what not, and one of the big wigs in Ogden is also a social worker and, for the time being, will supervise me once a week when he comes to Logan and will sign off on all my time cards and what not for school.

Even through I am just an intern I am the Volunteer Coordinator, an actual position within the company. This is the first time they've had an intern have such a big responsibility. Two weeks ago I finished training new volunteers (12 hours spread over 3 days) and have been taking them out on visits recently. I've also been working on phone calls, mailers, etc with them. Not the funnest in the world, but I'm glad to have a heavier responsibility.

Speaking of phone calls, last week I made a phone call to a man a year after his mother passed away to see how he was coping (standard with our bereavement program) and I asked for the father, who was listed first in the paperwork... bad news was the father had passed away about a month after the mother had. Can you imagine getting a phone call asking for the deceased? I felt like such an idiot. No one had updated the file so there was no way I would have known the father had also passed away. Luckily I was quick on my feet and it ended up being a decent conversation.

All my patients are as well as can be expected for their stage in life. One of my favorites was transferred to SLC to be closer to her daughters and grandchildren. I was SO sad, but glad the last time I saw her she was extremely lucid. When I was leaving the facility she said "oh, you're going so soon?" even thought I'd been there for over an hour. When I told her I had other things to get to she said "oh, well I'm glad you came. You're one my favorite." I heard her dementia was a little worse over the next few days, when we realized the move was eminent, so I decided to have my last interaction and memory with her be a good one. I feel guilty for not seeing her again, but I'd rather have a good memory of her. Is that selfish of me?

I want to start doing more social work type visits (i.e. admits, assessments, bereavement visits, etc.) I've only gone to one admit, two assessments, and about 5 bereavements... and I've been there for 5 months already. Hopefully that all picks up soon. We just went paperless so everyone is figuring out the handheld and computer systems, so I'm waiting not-so-patiently for the time when everyone is comfortable enough with their own things that they'll take me along on their visits again. It'll most likely happen next semester.

This video is when the semester first began and I'd just started working in the office on a regular basis. I'd done everything I need to for the day and still had about an hour to kill before I could leave...

Simply You Photography - Greeting cards

So, I have a friend who does Simply You Photography. She's made quite a few examples of holiday greeting cards, that are super cute. You just email her photos and specifies and she'll send you a PDF of the finished product then you just go to any photo printing area (i.e. wal-mart, Lee's, etc.) and print them off. She only charges $15 and the designs really are cute. If you want to look goHERE.

Remember that game you used to play when you were a kid because it was one of the only games that was shoved in your grandma's closet that you were allowed to get out when you went to visit? Yeah, me too! And guess what!?!? It's on sale again! I don't know where my brother got it, but I played it this weekend.

Guess what? Even Weston played! It took Ayva all weekend to talk to him, but the pink fish he caught, caught her attention and she deemed it necessary to bestow a smile and chatted with him.

He also played Deer Hunt with Zane, and even let him almost win a few times. It was pretty much an unspoken agreement that Weston could shoot all the deer and moose, but Zane got all the bears.

Zane's favorite, FAVORITE game on the Wii that we brought (aka my brother and his wife couldn't wait to play the one they bought for Christmas so they pretended like we brought ours to let them play), was boxing. He was a crazy little punching maniac!!! The next morning he woke up and said "Daddy, I think my back and my bones are broken; they hurt" ... his muscles were sore from playing so hard!

Picnics at the Park

I am a terrible blogger. I know you know that... but I felt like telling you anyway. The month of October was a fun one, and November is going pretty grand so far as well! I've had the fabulous opportunity of hanging out with Rebecca and her cute family recently, and 2 big events happened in their family.

First, Abbie turned 2!!!

This was right before she blew out her candles. I dare say this little girl likes the spotlight. SO cute!!!

2nd thing to happen:

Little Isaac Benjamin joined the family! I hope you are all excited to meet him. I suggested his name :)

Abbie is a really good, VERY protective big sister :)

This photo was taken today on his 1 month 1 day birthday! He is getting SO big!!!

On the 16th of October... or maybe it was the 26th.... anyway, my staff put on a Haunted House. My area was a wedding reception gone wrong, and I was the angered slash dead bride.

You can't see it, but my dress is all ripped up and covered in "blood". Not bad huh?

On the 29th Weston and I went to Salt Lake for his cousin's annual Halloween party and coordinated our costumes: we were police officers!!! I'm telling you, seeing that boy in uniform *whistles*

After the party we left bright and early for Tiffany's wedding which was super beautiful!!!! She seems happy :) I didn't have my camera so you'll have to wait for Alisha to download hers.

Today Rebecca and I were going to go to Indian Oven for lunch, but then we decided to go to Olive Garden, and then we decided to get sandwiches at Subway with giftcards that Weston's mom got us (thanks Mama Shauna!!!) and eat it at the park. We walked from Rebecca's to Subway but never made it to the park because we discovered this on the sidewalk:

Who needs a park when you've got millions and bajillions of leaves!?!?!? So we had our picnic on a little knoll by the Albertson's parking lot. Watching Abbie bury herself in leaves and run up and down the hill was priceless!!!!!

South Pacific (from Uncle Nick)

Kate, Uncle Nick's daughter is in their high school production of South Pacific. Here are some details he told me while we were facebook chatting. I took out all my questions so it may seem a little out of order, but all the details are there :)

Kate's show is getting close I hope you all can still come.

it goes on the 18th, 19th, 20th and 22nd.

it starts exactly the week just before thanksgiving

so it runs Thursday night (18th), Friday night, Saturday night and monday night.

it starts at 7:00 pm at Mountain View High School.

It is just a little over 1/2 mile from the I15 freeway.

You would take the Orem Center Street Exit and just go east until you see the high school on your right hand (south) side of the street.

It is going to be pretty darn good.

She has the lead role. Nelly the nurse.

The setting is World war II in the (Obviously LOL) south pacific.

It is of course a love story but also about how some of the islanders helped us win the war.

I hope you can come.

I'm helping coach the vocals and helping with some of the acting so I'll be there pretty much evey night.

I'm trying to help them do a better job.

it's been a lot of fun and has kept me busy while looking for a new job.

It is a fun story and there is some GREAT music.

she has worked really hard on it. . . she is very good.

tell everyone they should come because it is going to be really good

Anthony & I are thinking of going the 19th or 20th if I can get off work. This is Kate's last HS production... lets all support her the best we can!!