Sunday, November 24, 2013

Giving Thanks

One of the best ways to celebrate Thanksgiving is with family around! So, this year, we are going to have a family reunion (on Dad's side) during Thanksgiving week. Now, we have lots to be thankful for, so I'm going to put some pictures of some things that we are especially thankful for (I know, that's kind of the same thing as I did in the last post, but most of those pictures were from the internet. This time they'll be from us!).

Mom and Dad. They've been married for 23 years as of yesterday!



Water Polo.




Sunsets.



What we were doing last Thanksgiving.









Families can be together forever!


Fresh CA Fruit!


Eggs. I can say that now that Luke is gone for a while.



 Bountiful Harvests (not our's, but we appreciate them anyhow).


You should see this sometime. It's amazing!


Family Goofballs!


Fresh Flowers (these actually are from our garden).


Our two missionaries!


Good- no,  GREAT- food.


Fun-to-take-pictures-with architecture.


Road Trips! 


Backpacking in the Mountians. 



If you go to an amusement park with me, you must ride the swings. It is not an option.



 Whenever we get a chance to do the hang-out-the-windows thing, we do it.


What can I say? We're water people.
 


 Smiles and Toothpaste and Teeth!


Even though it is rough at times, we love to learn!


Mmmmmm...


 Holding small children is wonderful. You know.


Opportunities to be creative don't come too often.







Oh, Disney. These are two of my favorite characters!


We have this amazing violin (and piano for Levi) teacher for many, many years. She's amazing.


Clean humor is very important to us.


 The Ocean! Natural beauty is everywhere, not only at home!



Taking naps on top of big rocks. (Warning: Sunburns happen fast on top of rocks...)

That's just an itty-bitty glimpse of the things we appreciate in this huge, beautiful world around us.

Remember to have an attitude of gratitude, this week especially.

- Tess




Sunday, November 10, 2013

Our Favorite Things


DAD:
Retaining Walls... We had to build another one yesterday...

Orchards - He wants one.

MOM:
Her children doing this.
Letters from her missionaries!
HERMANA HOUGHTON:
ELDER HOUGHTON:

MARTA:
She's been missing spiced up food ever since she went to college.
Marta loves satiny-smooth fabric.
TESS (ME):
Yeah...
If you don't love them, then...

LEVI:
This is something close to his dream piano, but he likes pianos in general, too.
Levi's been into air-soft stuff lately. We just tell him not to shoot his eye out.
ALL OF US:

Music!
Brown Paper Packages! Mom wraps our birthday presents like this now. :)
The True Gospel!
Your Favorite Blog-Post-Maker, Tess