Minimalism

Have you ever dreamed you could just go through your house and get rid of everything except the bare necessities? Have nothing on your countertops, neat and tidy drawers, an almost empty garage.

I do.   I day dream about it all the time.

Could I live just fine with two pairs of pants a few shirts, ONE pair of pajamas?  Do I need five mixing spoons, five mixing bowls, twenty-five cutting knives, etc etc...?  The answer is no.  But how do you get rid of stuff that is GOOD STUFF?  And how do you prevent your husband from freaking out when you give away three pairs of ugly shoes he bought on his mission?

Think of all the time you'd save cleaning and emptying a dishwasher if you just hand washed the 4 cups, bowls, plates you used?  How many less loads of laundry if you and your kids had only a few sets of clothes.  How many less toys to clean up at the end of the day. How many less cupboards and bins filled with junk that you probably only use once a year?

These are the things I think about when I sit and stare at my house.

Turkey Day

Yes, I'm slacking on the blogging I'm aware.  But I have good excuses.
Flus.  Holidays.  Colds.
Lots of fun, and lots of not fun.

For Thanksgiving weekend we first visited Phil's brother Tyler and his fam in Eagle Mountain and then spent the rest of the time with my family in Farmington.  Two of my older sisters and their families were there as well as my parents who flew up from Cali to be with us all.

We decided to start a new tradition of holding our family Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving, knowing that our families are all getting older and we'll start wanting to have Christmas in our own homes.  So we exchanged gifts and wore Christmas jammies and did that whole bit, and it was really fun.  My big sister Kristen is amazing and hosts it all and lets the kids just run down her home without blinking an eye.
The food was great too.  We opted out of the turkey this year and my dad made dutch oven ribs and bbqd trip tip with my sisters amazing rolls and pies.  Ya I'm not exactly the best at any of those things so I provided the pickles and olives and stuffing  LOL! I'm so lame. Oh and I lied, my dad couldn't NOT have turkey on Thanksgiving so he also bbqd a large turkey breast for anyone who wanted some :)

The downer of the event was that the flu hit us and slowly trickled through the family until just about everyone had it.  It wasn't a nice flu.  Violent both ends flu, but at least it only lasted 24 hours.  It took a few days to get energy back though after and then me and the boys came down with colds immediately after.  Lucky Phil has stayed healthy through it all.  I don't think it's luck though.  He needs to be healthy for his finals and so the Lord is watching over him!

There are 9 more days of school this semester and then we are off on our winter adventures.  Phil's sister Jessica will be getting married in Salt Lake and then we are spending some much needed relax time at a resort. Then we will make the long drive to Washington to spend Christmas with Phil's whole family.  It will be one loud, rambunctious home!
Can't wait!
And I will try to get pictures of Phil and I this holiday!