Our day of Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we decided to invite some dear friends to our home to celebrate and give thanks with us. We have spent the last few years with these friends on this particular holiday but always had a different host who has since moved away to Arizona, but we decided that fact would not detour us from getting together. Our table was full, not only with good company and food but it seems there is an abundant of blessings for each of us to express gratitude for.

We had five guests total this year which meant we had to set up a table for the kids. Austin, Zachariah, Janelle and Malia all got to sit at their own table.

Mary Richards and our sweet "Leisie jo" helping out in the kitchen to get all the last minute stuff from the kitchen to the tables. These two even did a batch of dishes prior to the meal, to make cleanup easier later on.

My sweet sister I visit teach Jenny Johnson, Zachariah, Bill Richards, Malia and Janelle take some time to enjoy each others company over some yummy pistachios.

Royce carved our turkey this year, someone was lucky to get the whole leg off the serving platter.

Mary Richards, myself and my sweet friend Georgia (Elise is the background) take a moment to say cheese to the camera. The three of us made a wonderful Thanksgiving meal as well as some sweet memories. I have so much to be grateful for. I know I am blessed immensely. I have a truly amazing husband who I love with all my heart and soul, I am so grateful he choose me to be his bride. I have 5 wonderful children who are such an inspiration and example to me. I pray and hope they continue to make the good choices that they do and continue to do the things that make our heavenly father happy. I am blessed with wonderful friends like Mary, Georgia, Bill, Bruce and Jenny as well as many many others. Our entire family in general is very healthy, for this I am deeply grateful. Most importantly I am grateful for my savior and for the joy I have in my life because of the relationship I have with him. I am grateful for all the bounty we are so generously blessed with. I pray that I may always live in Thanksgiving daily. It is said that "Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character." We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves and they tend to be more humble, more joyful and more likable. I pray that I am always one of these people, that all who know me are touched in a way that is always uplifting.

Our 15th Wedding Anniversary

Royce and I celebrated our 15Th wedding anniversary on the 17Th of this month. This year it fell on a Wednesday and we really didn't celebrate until the week-end. Royce took me away for the night on Friday out to a little tiny coastal town called Shelter Cove. It is about a 2 hour drive form our house to where we stayed. Here we are right before we left for our fabulous dinner.

This is a view from the balcony off our room looking to the north. There was a storm blowing in and the sky turned these amazing colors. The room we stayed in was beautiful (I didn't get any good pictures of it.) We had a jacuzzi tub for two (and you could see this view from our tub) a dry infrared sauna (the heat felt AMAZING) a gas fire place and this incredible view..we even left the sliding glass door open so we could sleep to the sound of the ocean

One of the panoramic pictures Royce took of our view and the sky changing, it was very impressive.
I just love how the clouds look here as they roll over the King Mountain Range off of the Pacific Ocean.
This is Shelter Cove's light house, it is very bright at night and really sticks out against the landscape.
Royce and I Saturday morning, braving some rain and lots of cold wind, because there was even a bigger storm rolling in this morning, compared to the night before.

As we drove back over the King Mountain Range to get home, we drove through snow. It was cold but very pretty. The time together was very much enjoyed and something we are already talking about doing again soon. I love being married to Royce and I love all that we share with one another. I love the family we have created, the goals we have accomplished and for all that our lives are so richly blessed with. We truly are an amazing team together and compliment each other in a way that can only be described as "we are meant to be together, we are perfect for one another." I am so very grateful that we will be a couple for all eternity. We look forward to many more journeys with one another, many more goals to fulfill, many more memories to make. I am deeply grateful that Royce chose me to be his bride and that he was persistent in "wooing" me...I am grateful that I let him in. I love you Royce!

Austin turns 17!

Austin turned 17 on Monday the 15Th of November. We celebrated his day on Sunday afternoon and evening, when we could really spend some good quality time as a family. This year Austin chose lamb chops, steamed broccoli, salad, Turkish rice and the special Turkish yogurt sauce for our lamb. He chose an Oreo Chocolate cake for his birthday cake this year as well. Here he is opening his first gift which was a pair of casual shoes made by Dickie's as well as a nice pair of running shoes.

He also got a school spirit shirt with Logger print decal on it.

Austin has been wanting a watch for a while, we got him a really nice Timex, here he is absolutely delighted that he found it in the bottom of his gift bag. In case some are wondering..he chose to wear the elastic on the bottom of his nose in a minor protest to having to wear the birthday hat in order to open his gifts, it looks very silly if you ask me.

Elise gave Austin this book as well and the sequel, he has really wanted these two books for a long time, something Elise knew that we didn't! He was very delighted with her gifts to him.

Here's Austin thinking long and hard about his wish, he did blow out ALL of his candles, I hope his wish come's true for him.

Our very happy birthday..Young Man. Austin is such a sweet son who is making good choices that are sure to lead him on to a very bright and blessed future. We are deeply blessed to have Austin in our family and are so grateful to our father in heaven for sending him to us. We love you Austin very much and are so pleased with the fine Young Man you are becoming. Thank you for being who you are and for being the amazing honorable young man that you are, you are an exceptional person. Happy 17Th birthday son.