Thanksgiving

Before Thanksgiving - I had never been to Rexburg, Idaho. All three of my sisters have at one time or another lived there - but I have never made it up there to visit. This year - four of the five Clason girls (we missed you Toria!) decided to put on a holiday feast and spend the weekend with my sister Cat and brother in law Dan - in icy cold Rexburg.

Only it was wasn't too cold and I saw NO ice at all. A perfect introduction for this sunshine loving girl.

I was introduced to the wonders of WINCO, saw TWO movies at The REX, and had the time of my life cooking and spending time with my sisters.

We made enough food to feed 50, even though we numbered just 8 - and we all enjoyed our fair share of breakfast pie, brunch pie, lunch pie, pre-afternoon-nap pie, post-nap pie, dinner pie, and late-night pie for the next couple of days.

Everything went smoothly for the first 24 hours - then poor little Claire burned her hand on the fireplace glass, Harrison decided to cry and be awake torturing his poor parents from midnight until 4am, Claire didn't want to be left out of nighttime drama and so began a night of throwing up the next night, and we left feeling 100% exhausted but happy at the same time (the life of a mother?? perhaps.)

I loved visiting Rexburg and can't wait to go back this summer and do some sightseeing at Jackson Hole and Yellwstone!

Harrison-isms at 17 months

I just love this picture of Harrison, Claire and I. It really has nothing to do with this post - I just like it.

-------Anyway-------

So our little guy is quite the talker. This makes for some pretty good laughs when words just don't come out quite right.

So I have provided a cheat sheet for those who will be having conversations with him in the near future......

F-Word (you know the one) = Frog, Fox, or Fork depending on context

Heeeeef = Uncle Heath

Nanna = Banana or his actual Nanna (my mom)

Doser = Bulldozer

Tuck = Truck

Ty-ang-ul = Triangle (thanks Sesame Street)

Dye-soar = Dinosaur (always followed by a roar)

Pansss = Pants (translation: get them off me) always followed by a collapse on the floor and tears - he HATES pants

O-gurrt = yogurt

jaf = Giraffe

Guh-ma = Grandma

Guhmpa = Grandpa

Lithey = Aunt Lizzy

Side = Outisde (as in NOW!)

Pow = Snowplow

You get the idea. I love listening to him try to mimic everything I say. It's hilarious.

One other funny story..................

He LOVES animals and ALWAYS points them out as we walk/drive along the street. I laughed so VERY hard the other day when I heard him shout "COW" from the back seat as we were stopped at a stoplight. I looked over to see what he was pointing at and saw this:

He then moo'd all the way up the block.

All I could say was 'YES Harrison ------ that was a cow.'

**This of course is not the ACTUAL dog we saw - but it looked exactly the same and was just as big. Who breeds dalmatians and Great Danes anyway?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I come from a family of artists. Both grandparents on my moms side, my mom and every single one of her siblings, and now my sister.

She is talented beyond words - and is spreading some Christmas cheer for a family who is going through some rough times through her beautiful designs. She has designed several different Holiday cards that are for sale through her blog. She donated all the design time, and a donation will be made to the Nielsen Recovery Fund with every purchase, you pay for printing only. Check them out!

My goal is to get Christmas cards out right after Thanksgiving so everyone will have our new address.....wish me luck!

Throwback Thursday: Back when my hair was blonde

I am NOT the world's best journal keeper - so I have decided to do Throwback Thursday's every week, and pick a random memory/picture and write about it. So if you knew me pre-marriage to Jordan (that is my own definition of 'throwback') then you are fair game and might show up in an incriminating picture. Also.....I will write the story as I remember it - so some facts may be a little off and certain things will be edited out......

Think big hair, velvet prom dresses, braces, perms, Doc Martins, denim shirts, Esprit bags, scrunchies, college dorms, hitchhiking in Hawaii......you get the picture. I would be afraid if you knew me back in the day - I have some doozies in my photo collection.

SO...

I thought I would start out with a pretty mild picture - but one that brings back very fond memories of my family...

Setting: Snake River, Jackson Hole, Wyoming - circa 2001

Cost: One case of beer

My brother Matt spent a couple of summers as a white water river guide on the Snake. So we all entrusted our lives to him, gave the guy at the rental shop a case of beer for payment, and off we went (sorry mom!).

We had such a wonderful time - laughing, getting thrown out of the raft, getting to know Toria (she was dating John at the time), and totally trusting Matt to get us down the river safely. Thank goodness for the Dirty Purple (Matt's life vest) and all its gadgets.

We also explored Jackson, took the tram up to the top of the Tetons and had a rip-roaring time at the Bar-J ranch. It was a perfect weekend with my awesome family.

Dinosaur ROAR!

My mom sent Harrison the cutest little Halloween package.

Contents:

1 tiny pumpkin that fits in his hand (he calls it an apple)

1 gorilla cape (since he now beats his chest and grunts when you ask him what a gorilla says)

1 monkey bath toy (that he makes me wind up 4 million times a day)

1 book - Dinosaur ROAR!

When I first showed him the book he sucked in his breath and then started roaring like a T-Rex. He roars at every page (even though it has been read to him countless times) and still gets so excited every time he sees it. We took it to church last week - BIG mistake - he had himself a little roar-fest on the back row and entertained us all.

Thanks mom! PERFECT gifts for a little person who is ALL BOY.

Privacy Please!

When we moved in to our lovely little home - these wall of bushes line the east side of the lot. While at first glance they look rather lovely - at second glance they are not. They show every second of the fifty-or-so years of neglect they have endured. The base of each bush has grown into thick, weak, wood and the branches are spindly and thinning. And because there were two huge gaps along the side of the property, and Harrison can now walk......a real privacy fence was needed.

Seriously.....this is what we were up against.......

One of the gaps in the "natural fence" as I like to call it - was partially taken up by this lovely dead apple tree. Which according to the little old lady down the street - produced one tiny little apple two years ago. Since then...........nothing.

So.........we recruited our friends and family and got to work............

and then the great stump dig out began (by Jordan)............

FINALLY! We were ready for a fence........

and finally a little tan vinyl privacy!

On a side note......we will be re-planting new shrubs and bushes this spring......we have lots more fencing to do.......and we were thanked by several parents of trick-or-treaters this past Halloween for taking out the scary bushes along the sidewalk that EVERYONE was scared to walk past.