Thanksgiving

We had a very neat Thanksgiving this year.  JD had Wednesday-Friday off of school this week which has been amazing.  We slept in, and watched the dog show champion be selected in the morning. Afterwards we had a delicious dinner with some friends in the ward.  The McNeils made a HUGE dinner of ham, turkey, potatoes, yams, beans, etc Whitings brought delicious stuffing, and the Parades family brought a dish that I can't pronounce that is native to their country of Peru, that was SO good.  We got to hear about the Parades family conversion and it was an amazing dinner.  Afterwards we got to hang out with the Whitings for a while since their 2 year old was sick and they couldn't come to the dinner portion.  We feel so blessed to have such good friends here, to have the Gospel in our lives, and to have each other.  It was a really good holiday.

Picture Notes: birds in the grocery store parking lot and Peruvian cuisine.

9/11

For 9/11 we drove down to Salt Lake and attended Music and the Spoken Word, afterwards we went up and walked around the State Capitol building. It was nice being in a place of the Spirit as well as a place that represents the freedoms of this country on a day commemorating so much hurt and pain.

I was reading an article not too long ago that followed a kid who was born on 9/11. It was really humbling to realize that 10 years had passed since 9/11 and outside of that, how much the world has really changed as a result of that day. These kids don't know what it is like to not be at war, or that the only metal detector you used to walk through was at the airport not such things as sporting events and General Conference. Speaking of flying, you didn't used to have to strip down to nothing but socks, shirt, and pants and babies and toddlers weren't on the suspect list. They will never be able to greet a loved one at the terminal as they get off the plane. Terrorist is an everyday word now. Such places as Iraq and Afghanistan are always in the news.

I am grateful to be a citizen of a country that stands for freedoms and encourages opportunities of choice. Despite the changes that have happened, this country is still based on the founding father's goal of democracy and freedom. I am proud to be an American. :)