Thanksgiving Weekend

I am thankful that there's a whole long weekend dedicated to being thankful! I am so thankful that I live in such a beautiful place, that fall leaves are magical and that we had beautiful weather this weekend.

Weekend preparations started in earnest on Thursday night - the girls cleaned the basement and Ken did some shopping. On Friday Ken did more shopping and we finished cleaning up the basement so that Anders wouldn't have to stay in a garbage dump! We should have taken before and after pics!

Friday after school I had a beautiful walk with Milo. 

On Friday evening Fiona and I picked up Anders from the Ajax Go station so he could spend some time with us. Oh and Ken made a delicious pulled pork on Friday. We had pulled pork sandwiches with Anders and they were divine. After dinner we played Cards Against Humanity Family Edition. It was fun. 

Saturday morning Ken and I walked the dog and then he made a yummy breakfast for everyone. And then we all piled in the car and drove to Peterborough. We went to the new location of the Canoe Museum in the new building. It was so beautiful. Ken and I weren't if we liked the set up as much in the new place. The building is gorgeous, but the actual museum space is smaller. I enjoyed it, but wished that they old exhibits were there too. 

After visiting the museum we went to the Riverview Zoo. We hadn't been there in years. It's such a cute zoo. It's free, and it's really well maintained. When the girls were little we went on the little train and they played in the playgrounds. It's right on the river and it's a beautiful location. Anders is studying to be a vet in university and he loves zoo animals. It was perfect - except that Alice had a headache, so we drove to a Rexall to get some tylenol and missed some of the zoo, but thankfully Alice felt better and was able to enjoy some of the zoo.

After enjoying the zoo we drove back west to Oshawa and went to Chick-Fil-A. Anders had never been. We enjoyed our dinner and then it was time to go home and walk Milo.

Alice and Anders came with me to walk Milo and it was a fun walk. The sky was beautiful again. Anders ran around with Milo it was awesome. And Alice and Anders rolled down the hill. It made me laugh.

On the way to church on Sunday we dropped Anders off at the Go Station. He was heading downtown to meet up with a friend and then his brother Konrad was going to pick him up to go to their Uncle's in Hamilton, on their Dad's side of the family, to have Thanksgiving Dinner. Sunday at our house was pretty quiet. Lots of laundry and dog walks and church of course. We sang Gethsemane as a congregation and it was so lovely. It felt so lovely singing this as a congregation today. And then Ken started all the turkey prep because he's awesome like that.

Monday was quiet-ish too. There was cleaning, cooking, dog walking and general slowness - I suppose Ken might disagree with the general slowness - he did so much cooking and cleaning! Fiona and I took the dog to Greenwood and had a beautiful walk in the forest. It was so pretty and so pretty. The missionaries - Elder Shultz and Elder Hall, from Germany and Idaho respectively, arrived around 5:00 and Andrew came at 5:20. We had an amazing dinner - thank you chef Ken and great conversation and laughs.  

I am so thankful for my family. I am so thankful for fall. I'm thankful for turkey and gravy and mashed potatoes. I'm thankful to be a Mom, I'm thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for my Ken. I'm so thankful for this life that I get to lead!

(Oh, and Mom and CJ weren't at Thanksgiving Dinner because they're in Korea.)

General Conference Weekend

Saturday morning started with a sunrise walk. It was so fun and beautiful. Fiona, Ken, Milo and I walked down to the beach and it was just awesome!

At 9 a.m. Alice had an orthodontic appointment. She opted for purple and orange wires today for Halloween and also because it looks pretty - she'll have them until December.

Then we were off to Newcastle to go to the Harvest Festival. Kate and I picked out gf/dairy free treats at Buddha Belly, Milo got his nails trimmed and got an awesome hot dog costume. We saw the Stahlers which was fun, but didn't see Mme Rossen - maybe next year.

Then it was home to watch the first session of general conference. I love love love that I can watch on my couch, I can take notes, my family can flit in and out and I can just hear it, feel it and love it. Ken decided he would work on a puzzle so he could stay awake. I gave him his Christmas puzzle a little early - since I'd already purchased it for him!

By the end of three sessions he'd almost finished the whole puzzle. I'm thinking for April conference we need a bigger puzzle... 1000 pieces is not enough!

Sunday started with a beautiful walk through Greenwood. I love walking there. I sometimes wish there was a different off leash forest that was as close, but there isn't, and I don't really need a different place. It was a beautiful day again.

On the way home I asked Ken to drive to the end of Lakeridge because I wanted to see the water. He obliged. It was then that I decided that I wanted to walk home from Lynde Shores for my afternoon walk.

We got home to discover that Ken's puzzle had been finished without him. He was a little miffed...

Ken hennaed my hair.

And we watched more conference. Fiona decided she needed her own puzzle.

Ken decided to do the door puzzle again, the puzzle thing really worked!

And after the "morning" session (10 am in Utah, noon here) Ken dropped Fiona and I off at Halls road in Whitby to walk home - it was about 5 kms.

We had a lovely walk home and made it with ten minutes to spare.

I love watching these two and their sweet realtionship.

The promised rain did eventually come - it was quite the downpour. I was glad it didn't impact our walk!

The dog stole my spot!

Kate made a few appearances to help her Dad with his puzzling. 

I loved today's laundry treasures!

I read a chapter of The Magician's Elephant before bed and I loved this quote. 

This weekend was full and magical. I love love love General Conference. I love the fall. I love my family. I love my Heavenly Father and His church. I'm so grateful that I am able to watch all of General Conference and just revel in the beauty of the messages of hope in Christ. 

My next step... to return to these messages. To look over my notes. To see how I can be better. To hold on to the peace that I felt this weekend, and be brave enough to share it with others!