{quick look back}

Happy New Year to you all from my family and me! But, before we get too far into 2012 I realized that I wanted to take a quick second to let you know what I was thankful for in 2011. So here are my 11 thankful moments from 2011.

1. Celebrating the twins' 3rd birthday. I'm thankful for everyday with them!

2. Celebrating my 5th anniversary with my husband. We didn't get to take that trip to New Orleans, but we'll get there soon!

3. Having our Baskin Robbins next to a doughnut shop. If they had not come in at 4am to make the doughnuts, who knows how much damage the fire would have done.

4. No one was hurt during the fire. Buildings can be (and were) rebuilt.

5. Getting this opportunity with lobotoME. If I didn't have such an amazing support group, I never could have pulled this off.

6. FaceTime!! I love that my kids can talk to their grandparents so easily. Which reminds me, we need to do this again tomorrow. We even talked to my mom when she was in Paris celebrating her 60th birthday!

7. Aggies win the Meineke Car Care Bowl!! Hey, it's a big deal to us Aggies. :-)

8. Getting to see so many family members over the holidays. Not everyone made it this year, but I'm thankful for the ones who did.

9. Being able to leave a job that made me unhappy, and doing it on my terms. I knew I needed to leave for awhile, but didn't want to jump to another job that would be more of the same. I knew I needed out of the office.

10. Discovering my CSA. I can't honestly say that no food has been wasted, but we're getting better. Looking forward to the spring season.

11. Ending the year with a family full of healthy people. Even my 84 year-old grandparents are still going strong and coming with us to Disney World!

image by October Dawn

{giving thanks & the best cranberry recipe ever}

This year has been such an incredible roller coaster ride, that I don't even know where to start. Rather than reliving it all, I'll just start with now. I'm so excited that I'm spending the entire week with the kids and most of that week at my parents' house. The bonus there is that I don't have to compete with our Baskin Robbins for my husband's attention! It's also great because while my mom visits a lot (thank goodness!), I don't get to see my dad as much. AND we have extended family coming as well. I just love the holidays and all the craziness it brings.

My only goal for this next week is to watch my food intake! Yes, I believe that you should enjoy Thanksgiving dinner and that there is no room for calorie counting at that table. However, I still need to have limits! Especially since our Thanksgiving involves at least two family dinners and two football games. With all the changes in the last year, my eating/exercise has not been as well maintained as I would like. So, we'll take it one week at a time. This week my goals are simple. One piece of pumpkin pie, with whipped cream (because I'm human). Shakeology for breakfast everyday. Watch the carbs. Workout everyday. Probably Turbo Fire. And ChaLean Extreme. And maybe I'll crash a Zumba class with some friends back home here.

Now for the best cranberry salad recipe ever. I make this for every pot luck/Thanksgiving dinner we are invited to. It's from my Great Grandmother, but it's not a family secret! I pass out the recipe to anyone who will take it. Nothing would make me more happy than to have the entire country eating this next Thursday!! Seriously, just try it.

1 lb. cranberries - ground up (we use a mini-Cuisinart)
2 C. sugar
1 small can crushed pineapple
Mix the above together and set for one hour
Then add:
1 C. chopped celery
1 C. chopped apple
1 C. chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, whatever)
1 box red jello dissolved in 1 C. hot water (we use cranberry jello if we can find it. Cherry works too)
Chill till set

The great thing about this is you can make it the day before Thanksgiving and keep it in the fridge. One less thing to worry about on Thursday! At Thanksgiving dinner I will pour this on my turkey and eat them together. And I've been known to eat a small bowl of it by itself for a snack. We've also made it with Splenda to cut the calories. It has a slightly different consistency, but still tastes yummy!!

image from here

{ river trip }

Some pics from our river trip this weekend! I don't think the kids had any fun, do you?!?!

{ my heart belongs to... }

my boys....

and this sweet little girl.

hope you all get to spend the weekend with the ones you love.

{ family photos }

We did an impromptu family photo shoot with Will's brother Todd who is a professional photographer on Thanksgiving Day. Here are a couple of them.... Thanks Todd! {If any of you live in Colorado, I can't recommend him enough as a photographer (and I'm not just saying that because he's my brother in law) }.