It is amazing what your cell phone can recall to your memory.

I forget so many things that happen in my life. I have been terrible too about using my camera. Its so big and bulky to carry around that lately, I don't. Thank heavens that cell phones just drops into your pocket. That is a bad thing too, because pictures aren't as good on the phone and I don't know how to down load them or I forget to. Yesterday, I swore that I took a picture of something I wanted to use on our Christmas card. After looking through all my camera photos, I realized it must be on my cellphone. I had Jay do a download, and I found TONS of photos of great things I had forgotten about! It was awesome to find them so I can share them. They aren't in any order. That is another bad thing, I don't know what dates these things happened. On the bright side, at least I know they did happen.

First up: This is our door mat (old one, after taking this picture I realized it was gross and I got a new one). One day I came home to this. Maylin had decorated it with petals and baby flowers. We let it stay until most of them blew away. She worked really hard on it and it was pretty clever. Most people when they came to our door could tell how important it was to someone and they would politely step over it! Maylin has an awesome imagination!

Picture 2: Maylin is in a phase of wanting two braids or a side pony tail. She wants to wear her hair like that every day. Here is a picture of how cute she is! Don't ya love those ears. She is a doll.

One yearly tradition we do is go to the production of "Eat Like a Pilgrim". It is great. They reenact the first Thanksgiving and you eat food that is similar to what they ate. You eat stewed pumpkin, a mashed corn, turkey, pork, and there are no forks as the people then believed they were a sign of the devil. I am glad we got over that. Eating a salad with a spoon is tough. They have pilgrim games and dances etc. that you can participate in. This year Kenzie took her friend Michael. They had a great time. A highlight was when some of the Puritans came to our table and asked them if they had attended church the required number of times back then. Michael couldn't remember what they said was the required amount and just threw out a number  He was way over the number of sermons that were even taught back then (people were required to attend 11 church services a week back then.) so they said he was lying which carried the penalty of a fine and the stockades. It was pretty funny to watch him. Then they questioned Kenzie to make sure there wasn't any public display of affection between the two. Kenzie about died. We were all laughing! It was great.

I also went with Kenzie's 11th grade (this is 1/2 of them) to the LDS Humanitarian Center where we worked for 5 hours assembling hygiene and school kits that were being sent back east to the Sandy victims. It was awesome to help! The clothes in the background are put in 1,000 pound compressed bunches to go to those in need.

Here the kids tried to put their fellow friend into one of those bundles!

Also, over Thanksgiving I had a little epiphany about my parents. They are pictured below with Kenzie. This is from a trip to see them this summer. They took us to the falls and river that run through their town. Anyway, I really had a great appreciation this holiday for my parents and how they have lived the perfect example of hard work, courage, respect for service, respect for life, respect for other's property and for the willingness to do their best and never give up. My parents are the kind of people that would NEVER, EVER joke about anyone else and their weaknesses. Never. They take care of what they have and take care of other people's property. They are old now, yet they will not give into their age. It is hard for my mom to even walk, but she does anyway. She won't miss out or give up. They feel an honor to be alive and they take advantage of that. They are amazing. I hope I can be somewhat like them.

Also, my car has had trouble all summer. I think I reported a few of the instances on this blog. We spent about $1,800 this summer, only to have it start up with the same problems only 2 months after the last fix-it job. To me, a fix should last longer than that. I got nervous, so I went and bought a new car. I like it a lot, but I miss my old car. I miss the 8th seat. I miss the leg room. I just miss the memories that car had. BUT I am glad for no problems! I am glad I won't get stranded again.....knock on wood. Here is the new car.

I also found this picture. It is from the Dirty Dash I did this summer. It is the mud that is stuck into my hair. Nice isn't it. Can I tell you how hard it was to get off? It was really hard. Multiple washes.

Finally, just a picture of cuteness. Maylin and her little buddy are so cute together. He moves out this next week. We will be sad. He is a doll! Maylin will be lonely.

Okay, there you have it. A few more memories recounted!