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

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:

Take a look at hermanahoughton.blogspot.com.

ELDER HOUGHTON:

Take a look at elderlukehoughton.blogspot.com.

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

A Few Things That Make October Amazing

General Conference 
(See Last Post)
Homecoming Week
Every high school has a homecoming week, and this week just happened to be it for mine! At my school, themes are chosen for each day and everybody gets dressed up (or should). We had Tie Dye Day, Dress-Like-A-Teacher Day, Halloween Day, Throwback/Retro Day, and Spirit Day. Now, in the history of our family, we have this pair of pants from the late 80's-early 90's that Mom bought just before our parents got married. They've been worn a couple of times for dress-up days over the years. Technically they belong to Dad, who still wears them when he's on vacation. I couldn't Not use them, sooooo...

The Primary Program!
In our church, we have one Sunday a year that is put on by the primary (children 12 and under) of the ward (with much help from their leaders, of course). Today was our ward's program, and it was AWESOME! The children sing songs (some of the best songs ever written!), share their testimonies and experiences, and make everybody else in the room wish they were a little kid again! Not only are they sweet little kids that love the Gospel, but they are also funny little kids that make silly faces and start to get bashful in front of a room full of people. It's so cute!
Birthdays
October is the ultimate birthday month. In other words, my birthday is in October! I always forget how exciting birthdays are until they get really close! Especially this year because I'm going to be old enough to get my driver's license! AH!

Autumn
This is mostly self-explanatory.

I love Autumn!

Halloween
Even though I don't get to go trick or treating anymore, Halloween is still fun. We have an annual neighborhood dinner and Mom always makes pumpkin soup on Halloween night. And the candy is always good too. :)

Needless to say, I am pretty happy with this month.

-Tess

P.S. I didn't take any of those pictures of Autumn, although I wish I had.