Be Grateful.

I love Thanksgiving. I love how it kicks off the holiday season. I love being close to family and I love being reminded of all my many blessings.  Robby and I were able to spend 5 days in Seattle this past week and we had such a great time. I love being in the beautiful northwest and spending time with family there. We did so many fun things! 

A trip to Seattle wouldn't be complete for my family without a visit to Ivars. I dream about the clam chowder and fish and chips.

The Thanksgiving tables were so beautiful! I have so many memories of Thanksgiving dinners, with both sets of grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins present. My grandparents are both amazing cooks and they always outdo themselves! I've been so lucky to live near both sets of grandparents for most of my life, and I have the most wonderful memories with them.

We spent most of the evening lounging, tired after our amazing Thanksgiving dinner!

We also visited Snoqualmie Falls. Although cold and wet, it was beautiful! 

When we stopped by my Papa and Nana's house to say goodbye, Nana requested that Robby play us a Christmas song, since we won't be there on Christmas Eve this year.

We also did our annual Christmas tradition with Santa pictures in downtown Seattle, the Carousel at Westlake and of course, burgers and milkshakes at Dick's Drive-In! I was so happy we were able to do this all together, 21 years and counting. 

The trip also included lots of Just Dance on the Wii, black Friday movie shopping, delicious food, late nights, movies, Tripoley tournaments, laughing and so much more. This holiday season, I am so grateful for the memories of this trip! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family.

The Happiest Place on Earth

For Halloween weekend we continued the tradition and went to Disneyland! It wins the award for fastest trip ever, but we had such a blast! We flew to CA on Friday night, played all day Saturday, most of Sunday and flew back to AZ on Sunday night. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Waiting at Disneyland gates at 7 am. A special thank you to our hotel for letting us in an hour early, before everyone else! 

Our awesome glasses for the re-vamped Star Tours ride!

On Thunder Mountain Railroad!

At dinner one night we got fried calamari (delicious by the way) and Robby ate the poor baby squid. It even had all its tentacles. I couldn't stomach it.

 I love all the Halloween decor!

Don't be fooled by our smiles...we were sad to be going home.

We were okay though because we had some treats we got to bring home. Yes, that is one cookie.

We loved everything about this trip! We were woken up by Mickey on the hotel phone, we went on rides over and over until we were sick of them, we walked miles and miles, ate lots of Disneyland food (frozen banana, corn dog, caramel popcorn, churros, etc) and had the best time! Thanks Dan and Sue for the fabulous weekend!

Going to the fair!

This weekend we went to the AZ State Fair and we had so much fun. Someday I'm going to have to take Robby to the Puyallup Fair in Washington, because I still think its the best :)

This picture is for my mom. They only had these 3 baby pigs, no big ones!

This is also for my mom, this baby pig was stuck in the food box! So cute!

We shared a corn dog and a $5 lemonade. Oh fair food and your ridiculous prices. It sure was yummy though!

Why I love what I do

I don't ever want to forget this great feeling, so I'm going to just put it out there. This week was pretty busy for Chandler School District Food and Nutrition Department (where I currently am for my internship). We put on a wellness expo for all of the school district employees. It was such an amazing experience to see this expo behind the scenes and all of the work that goes into it. The district really cares about wellness and it is a great time for me to be part of it.

Here's where my excitement comes in. When I first started my rotation at the beginning of September, the director told me that they wanted me to teach a class, which would be mandatory for all food service employees (about 250). The class would cover a few basic nutrition principles, including: understanding/reading a food label, proper portion control, decreasing saturated fat and sodium in home cooking and safe preparation of fresh fruits and vegetables. I began preparing my class as soon as I started there.

Tuesday was the big day. I taught my class 3 times to a total of about 340 people. It was such an amazing experience! The reason for that is that after the class I had quite a few people come up to me or find me during the day to tell me that I made a difference and that I taught them something new. They told me that they planned to make changes in their lives based on the things they learned in the class. All day, the other dietitians and the director were telling me that they were hearing positive things about my class all over the expo. I felt so good all day. This was the first time I ever really received validation for the things that I was doing from an audience or clientele. My first experience counseling at WIC was good and interesting, but there weren't really any clients that seemed grateful for what I was teaching them. It felt like they were there to get their food vouchers and get out. I am so grateful to have received the thanks and the kind messages after my class, because I felt like I truly made a difference. It feels so good to help others. What a blessing it is.

Pumpkin Patch Love

Before we went to hang out with some friends from our ward, we decided to make our way over to the pumpkin patch! Every time we drive past it from the grocery store, I look at it and mention to Robby that I would like to go there. So, on Saturday afternoon he suggested that we head over there. It was about 100 degrees...yes in October. But we had fun! We can't wait until we can do these kinds of things with our kids someday!

Robby made friends with some piglets!

And I made friends with a cow.

And we went on a hay ride. Don't worry pumpkin patch, we will be back again someday.

Our weakness for good deals...

Last week I knew that I wanted to go get a pizookie (definition: hot cookie with ice cream on top) so I was looking online for the nearest BJ's restaurant and I saw an ad for a deal they have going on right now: $19.95 for 2 salads, a pizza and a pizookie! I sent Robby a text and told him that is what we were going to do.

We love spontaneous dates! They make life fun. 

Then we went to Target to walk around (and use our coupon for free eggs) and this is what happened:

It's okay though...I'm used to it. I wandered over to the books and looked through The Pioneer Woman's Cookbook. 

Robby had his fun, I had mine.