Thanksgiving Report

So here is the low down on the show down: We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Utah. It was kind of nice to feel the cold weather, it really made it seem like the Holidays had arrived. I even got to break out some of my winter sweaters, which I LOVE ( Matt does too...because they are so huggable...any excuse for a hug, I always say). We hit some weather and traffic on the way to Utah, but arrived safely at a very late hour. Did that stop us...no it did not! We continued to stay up until after 2 a.m. (yes, the girls too...what wonderful parents we are. HA!) helping the Jeppson family make pies. It is tradition that all the women in the big Jeppson clan get together the night before Thanksgiving for "pie night". It is very fun, and goofy, mainly because we stay up so late! I was excited to attend this year, since past years I have not been able too. Anyway, we ended up making 4 pumpkin pies, 2 lemon pies, 3 Chocolate pies, 1 Blueberry pie, and 1 banana cream pie. Now you know why we were up so late! Go pie!!

The actual day of Thanksgiving was Heaven! I had my husband home, my girls with me, and we were surrounded by family eating great food. You can't get much better then that! We got to meet our new niece, Shanna, who is a complete little angle. Cora is constantly bugging me now that we need to go to the store and buy our own real baby. Hmmmm....wished it worked that way!

Since Matt missed most of the Holiday season last year ( he practically arrived home for his leave Christmas Eve), I have made it a point to immerse him in Holiday season cheer and activities. Basically this means that I drug him out on "black Friday" to shop! Oh, the cruel one that I am! I actually think he enjoyed it! We were able to leave the kids with my parents, and we got a lot of Christmas shopping done. Even though we arrived late ( no, we did NOT start shopping at 4 a.m.!), we were still able to acquire some sweet door busters. We were very proud! It has been forever since we have been able to shop with just "us", it was kind of romantic. Matt treated me with some fabulous Chinese food for lunch, it was a wonderful date!

Sunday arrived, and back to California we went. Back to 80 degree weather, light jackets in the morning, and shorts and sandals. Hopefully, Utah will cooperate and give us some more winter weather during Christmas. Our drive home was smooth sailing all the way to Las Vegas. It was perfect....Until Vegas! That is when the traffic jam began. We live 2 or 2 1/2 hours from Vegas, but because of the stop and go on the freeway, that is how long it took us to reach the border of California. Then we still had another hour or so of driving, at least. With the slow traffic this took longer then normal also. It was so grueling, Matt commented that he had never seen such a bad traffic jam in his life! Things to learn! Next year we will not travel home on Sunday!

We were sad that the weekend came to a close so quickly. While we got to see many family, we were not able to see everyone, or spend the time we would have liked with everyone. We are looking forward to Christmas back in Utah, and we are looking forward to spending more time with everyone!

Thankful

There are so many things that my family and I are Thankful for this year. The biggest one we are Thankful for would have to be that Matt is here with us this year. Last Thanksgiving was absolutely one of the worst Thanksgivings in my memory. Matt was half way across the world, and I was in Texas by myself with no family nearby with an extremely painful, sprained back. Yet, despite those trying times, I will never forget that Thanksgiving. I learned so much about the meaning of family, humility, and blessings. My family was blessed with Guardian angels while Matt was away...and I first came to realize that, during that hard Thanksgiving day. So this year I am Thankful for Matt being home, Guardian angels that are watching over my friends homes while their dear husbands are far away serving, having a safe shelter over my head, and most importantly I am Thankful for the Lord's plan. Without his grace and Atonement we would not have any of these wonderful blessings. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I hope it is a ...if not joyful, then reflective Holiday for you all.

Haircut...and Make-up??

This posting is for all you TLC's "What not to Wear" watchers and fans.

Cora got her haircut the other day. It was in dire need of being trimmed, and had started to look stringy at the ends...you know what I mean, right? So I decided to give her a trim. She is still young enough so I can get away with trimming it myself. We got her all set up outside, and I started cutting. She is so funny, because she thinks it is going to hurt when I cut her "hairs" off. So she is tensing and bracing herself against that first cut. Snip, "mom, that doesn't hurt, see, I not crying". Later, that day she started saying "mom my hairs are cut, it's time for make-up", or "mom, where's my make-up". It took my awhile to connect the dots. Why is she constantly asking for make-up...I had said nothing about putting make-up on today. So we are sitting around the dinner table and Cora is talking to Matt. She says "dad, my hairs got cut today, but I didn't get make-up yet. I supposed get make-up after hairs cuts". Then it clicked! The great revelation happened, she was talking about what happens in "What Not to Wear" make-overs. I have occasionally flipped TLC on in the afternoons as the girls come home after school and that show is on at that time. I guess I have done it often enough that Cora now associates haircuts with a complete make-over. She wants the whole package: hair, make-up and everything! That is how it is supposed to be done.

Go girls Go, a bragging moment

The girls have been doing remarkably well this year...so far. Matt and I have been really relieved, especially since we weren't sure how the stress of moving and getting settled again as a family would impact them. The girls never cease to amaze us, they have taken everything in stride. They transitioned really well to their new schools, and are succeeding in their classrooms.

Hannah's first grade picture.

She really loves her teacher this year. Last year she had Ms. Hensley for Kindergarten, and this year she has Ms. Hamblet...she frequently gets the two names confused. We like to tease her about that. She is doing really well, and is finally picking up reading. She can pretty much sound out anything now, although she really doesn't like to work that hard! She is almost always on the "good" color at school, and has only brought home one bad report since the beginning of school! Since she is on the good color so often, she earns prizes like sitting in the teachers chair during class, or eating lunch in the class room. Both she enjoys completely! She has an awesome teacher this year. I made a surprise visit to her class the other day, and walked in to a room full of fun! The stereo is blasting Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", and all the kids are deeply involved in their projects. No one even noticed me for the first couple of minutes. A super fun classroom!

Anya's third grade picture.

She is doing really well in class too! Her Teacher is wonderful, and is constantly looking for ways to challenge Anya. She has recently had her reading level retested, and is now not allowed to read anything below a 6th grade level in the Accelerated Reading Program. She can read as high as the 7.5 grade level in the AR program. Yes, soon my 3rd grader will be smarter then her mama...probably before she hits 5th grade! She has recently participated in a Spelling Bee. She has moved up, and is now one of two kids representing third grade at the school wide spelling bee. She is very excited about that!

Anya recently entered a creative poster project in the fire prevention awareness contest. She won second place out of the whole school. Of course, I forgot to take a picture of her poster! She did a cartoon strip style, and each character was doing something that would cause a fire. It was very comical and creative. Besides her ribbon, she won a free pass to the movie theatre, a free sandwich at Burger King, and a free meal at Chili's. Sign me up!


Hannah was recently recognized at her school for having perfect attendance. She was very proud of this, and insisted that we display her certificate on the refrigerator for almost a month. She loves anything that puts her in the spot light, and will frequently remind us of past good deeds. "mom", she will say, " remember when I did....". Yes, Hannah, we remember and we are very proud of you!



So the older Jeppson girls are doing better then we had dared hope for. It is fun to see them settled, with new friends and hobbies. They are each progressing well with their piano lessons, and will be performing in a Christmas program next month. Next project...teach these girls how to ride a bike!

Buying a Car...Boring

So we recently bought Matt a new car. It is a Scion TC coupe, very fun and slightly sporty...which is what Matt wanted. Leading up to the actual buying of said car was completely excruciating. Especially if you ask the girls. "Is buying a car fun?", you ask. They respond "NO...BORING!". Above is a picture of the girls at the dealership...waiting for the long transaction to be completed. Next is Matt with his new car, whom the girls have named "Junior". Don't ask!

We finally got a Jumpoline

Ever since Matt came home the kids have been begging to get a Trampoline. Matt decided that we would get the girls one after finished our move to California. Well, three months later we finally got our Jumpoline (what Cora was first calling it, the kids have since corrected her...I wish they hadn't, it was so cute!). Last week we received notice from Walmart that our tramp had arrived. So, last Friday we drove the 30 miles to the nearest Walmart ( yes, our nearest Walmart is 30 miles away...can you believe it! At least I don't shop there very often, or I would be hurting!), and picked up our Tramp, had a delicious dinner and drove home. The next day, Saturday, was spent setting up the thing. It took Matt and I almost all afternoon. Matt was very put out that it caused him to miss most of the BYU game...cheers to DVR, at least the game was recorded for later! After being patient all afternoon, the girls were finally able to give the tramp a test run. Below is the video of the "inaugural jump". There was even time left over in the afternoon for Matt and Anya to get in a quick round of golf at the little course here. Since then, we have barely been able to keep the girls off, the LOVE it! Which we knew they would. Matt and I are all for an activity that gets them away from the TV and Nintendo DS, and outside exercising!

Jumpoline

Here is some footage of the kids on their new "jumpoline" as Cora calls it. They will jump all day if we let them...in all kinds of weather!