Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is my kind of holiday-- full of family, love, food, laughter, pies, and gratitude. (Oh, and midnight shopping sprees)

Gavin, Jack and Ryan started off the day with a Turkey Trot 5K this morning. A first for the boys but sounds like it won't be the last!

Pre-race Turkey picture

Post-race...still smiling

We hosted the Seal Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. It was so nice to have everyone here (except Laurie and Lily who were out of town) to enjoy this time of year together.

Nan and Papa with all their grandkids

All of the Seal Family

Gavin and his 5 brothers

We spent the evening up at my parent's home for a second round of Thanksgiving dinner and more pies!

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids (minus the Rushings, of course!) Morgan and Grace had been in the dress up box by the time this picture was taken.

Grandma with the newest grandbabies--Abi, Luke and Mia

We have been talking about gratitude and 'giving thanks in all things' in Primary this month, in particular-- thankful to be a beloved child of God; thankful for my body; thankful to know Heavenly Father loves all of his children and I can show respect and kindness to all of God's children. I just want to add that I am so thankful for all of my blessings, especially my family. I have been blessed with six amazing children that bring me so much joy, the BEST husband, wonderful parents and in-laws, knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and a country full of freedoms. I have so much to be thankful for this year!

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We are (definitely) in good hands

We went to the movie Bolt today with 300 of Gavin's closest friends and their families, courtesy of Gavin and Allstate Insurance. He reserved an entire theater for his clients to show his appreciation for their loyalty and business over the past ten years. It was so much fun! They even provided drinks, popcorn and a raffle. They handed out VIP lanyards for everyone to wear. Jack was so excited about his--"Wow. I've never been a VIP before!" Once we were all in the theater, Gavin took a few minutes to speak to everyone and do the raffle. The kids were so excited to see their dad up there in front of everyone. It was such a cute show and a great event! Gavin is by far the BEST Allstate insurance agent (and I am not biased)! He rocks my world!

Hadley and Rilee posing by the welcome sign

Jack and his friends helped people find the Allstate table inside the theater

Ryan and Hadley all ready to watch the show in 3-D

Counting my Blessings

I am dragging today after quite the adrenaline rush right before I went to bed. I had just finished watching a show and everyone was already asleep in the house. When someone rang my doorbell and knocked on the door. It was 11:30 at night. We had Gavin's brother Brendan staying with us last week so I thought it must have been him getting in late since he was in Las Vegas yesterday morning. I walked up to the door and had my hand on the lock to unlock it when I saw this scary guy look at me through the side lite window with this great big smile. I ran up the stairs as fast as I could and woke up Gavin. There's this scary guy standing on our porch ringing our doorbell. Should I call 911? I think he told me no, but I was already on the phone. I was so scared I couldn't even remember my house number. The dispatch operator asked me for a description. What a good test of what we remember when we see something for a fraction of a second. I was only able to remember that he had dark black curly hair that went down his neck, a baseball cap on, and probably in his 30s. He stayed there on my porch the whole time I was on the phone but I could only see a little of his jacket since he was directly behind my door. Three police cars arrived moments later and found him in the street in front of my house. He had a little boy with him too that appeared (with no coat on) when the police arrived. I watched the scene from my living room window. How did I forget his black beard?The police were out in the street with him for over an hour and had him in handcuffs while they went through all of his pockets and gave him a breathalyzer test. They eventually gave him a ticket for public intoxication (and told him he was lucky they found him walking and not driving or he would be going to jail), took off the handcuffs, and let him get in a car with his girlfriend (one of the police officers left and returned with her in his car), and followed him out of our street. Still not sure what he wanted or why he was on my porch. (Maybe our gigantic blow up turkey on our lawn made him think we would be a nice family willing to help out someone in need, not a crazy paranoid mom that would immediately call 911) . If I wouldn't have panicked so much I could have thought rationally and used the intercom system to ask him what he needed. After he left with the police escort I went to each of my children's rooms to make sure everyone was still in their beds. I was so relieved and overwhelmed with gratitude to find all of my children sound asleep, safe in their home and beds. I am also very grateful for the police officers that responded so quickly to my call.

10 months already?

My sweet little Mimi

You have grown up so much in these past few months, busy discovering so many new things. You are now crawling everywhere and just today discovered the stairs and showed interest in falling down them. You are able to pull yourself up to a standing position and love to pull yourself up to me wherever I am. Your sleeping habits prove that you are our last little one--very spoiled even in the middle of the night. We finally moved you into the big crib out of our room this month. It is still an ongoing process. You still like to wake up several times in the night and we are trying to break that habit by letting you cry it out. It was the sweetest thing though to go in your room the other night when you were crying and find you standing up in your crib like a big girl (even though you didn't know how to get back down). You are a great eater and yell whenever someone is eating and not offering some to you. You love to wave bye-bye and night-night and just learned how to wave with opening and closing your hand. You are trying more and more to 'talk' to us and mostly say ma-ma all day. You are still a great nurser and haven't wanted anything to do with a bottle these past few weeks. All these new milestones make me realize that my little baby is growing up very quickly . I love that you still adore me and always want me near! I hope that bond remains strong throughout our lives!

I love you, Mia!

Mom