Turkey 4 NINETEEN ...

This year Dwight and I decided to host Thanksgiving Dinner. I must say I am ever so very THANKFUL for the beautiful house we have that is large enough to host dinner for our entire family. We had both sides of the family (Michael’s & Wamhoff’s) join together for ONE dinner. NINETEEN of us together! Oh how I loved this … I’m so over eating twice on holidays.

Thankfully we divided up the cooking between all of us. It would have taken me a week to cook all the food we had. Dwight and I were “Turkey Cooking Virgins” but we followed a recipe I found online at www.allrecipes.com called “The Perfect Turkey”. We figured with a name like that what could go wrong. It was “Perfect” and incredibly moist. Both Dwight and I were amazed at how easy it really was. Buy Fresh and Brine!

The day was wonderful … Fabulous Food … Great Company … truly a very enjoyable Thanksgiving for all of us. I am so THANKFUL God blessed me with an amazing family.

Poudre Pride ...

Dwight dusted off his old practice jersey and steamed his “reward” hat for today’s “Big Game”. Dwight and Justin headed off to see our Alma Mater Poudre Impalas football team play in the semifinal state playoff game against Mullen in Denver.
Dwight has enjoyed following the success of the Poudre football program. Amazing … 20 years later and the coaching staff is pretty much the same as it was when Dwight played in high school. If they make it to STATE Dwight says "he will really break into the archives". I'm not sure if I should hope for a win today or not:-)

10 down ...

I’m 9 weeks into my 10 week “Biggest Loser” weight loss program with my online friends and I must say I am truly proud of myself. Not that I have vigorously worked out over the past 9 weeks but according to the scale I must be doing something right! I have lost 10 pounds in 9 weeks. My goal was to lose 15. If I want to reach my goal I have some work to do this next week. I’m going to try really hard to at least lose 3 lbs by Friday. No Starbucks for me and ……… Ugh … Thanksgiving …. I’ll just have a small piece of pumpkin pie!

What I love about .... CHRISTMAS

Christmas has always been my absolute favorite time of the year. However the last few years have been challenging … adjusting to new family traditions after the death of my mom (2006) then surviving the discouragement of celebrating Christmas in a house half packed as we prepared for the move to our new house (2007).

This year I can honestly say I am SUPER EXCITED for the holidays! I’ve been begging Dwight for a week now to let me get the Christmas decoration down! Well it hasn’t happened so instead of singing Christmas Carols and decorating the house I’m reminiscing about the top 10 things … I love about Chirstmas!

1. Celebrating Jesus Birthday … sharing the true meaning of Christmas with Justin and Makenna
2. Receiving cards/letters/pictures from friends and family… sadly for too many this is the only time of the year we communicate!
3. Savoring the sweet innocence’s of those who really do believe in Santa
4. The magic of Christmas morning and the surprises Santa brings
5. Driving at night and seeing Christmas lights!
6. Decorating the Christmas Tree … each ornament has a memory to go with it!
7. Shopping …looking for that perfect present … sharing gifts with others!
8. Baking Cookies … even more enjoyable now that the kids are eager to help!
9. Reading Christmas Books and Watching Christmas Movies with the kids… makes my childhood come alive!
10. Extended Family Gatherings

Celebrating TWO ...

I can’t believe my baby turned TWO. Last Saturday we had a party at our house to celebrate her birthday. JOHN DEERE PINK was the theme. Dwight set the trailer up for a hay ride and pulled the trailer around the block with the tractor. The kids loved it!! It was super cute to watch the kid’s wave like we were in a parade as we went around the block. Enjoy the slide show!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Time Well Wasted ...

~ Pink Tractor Suckers I made for Makenna's Birthday Party ~

There is a lot I remember about my childhood but some memories stand out more than others … for our family Holidays were always very special … that’s because I had an amazing mother that went out of her way to make it that way. My mom always baked and decorated our birthday cakes and put a lot of thought into making our birthdays unique.

It makes me feel good that I have the time and the creativity to make my own children’s birthdays extra special. I love making special treats for the kid’s party bags. I spend a lot of time making their invitation, treat bags, party decorations and cake. I will confess I know very little about decorating cakes. My kids are lucky they have a very “artsy” Aunt Sheri who loves to decorate their party cakes. I bake them and Aunt Sheri does the fancy decorating.

I know that they are too young to fully understand it right now … I just hope when they grow older and look back they remember how special and unique to them each birthday was. Hopefully my kids will continue to love holidays as much as I do.

~ Makenna loved licking the beaters ~

~ Aunt Sheri decorating Makenna's Cake ~

~ Makenna's 2nd Birthday Cake ~

Two ...

My Darling Makenna,

Mommy can’t believe her little baby is TWO. Time goes by so fast … it seems like it was just yesterday that the 2 of us were stuck in the hospital waiting to see each other face to face. From the moment I saw you I fell in love with your sweet innocence. Your darling button nose and beautiful sweet smile can melt a heart in an instant. Your cuteness has saved you from getting in trouble … many times.

Over this past year you have changed so much. Your endearing personality and extreme strong will shows more and more each day. Most of the time your strong will drives mommy ragged but I truly hope you never lose your determination to stand strong in this tough world. You’re beginning to talk more and more … I can’t wait for you to truly express yourself with words. I can imagine you will have as much to say as your brother does … and that’s A LOT.

Every night mommy checks on you before she goes to sleep and says a little pray that God keeps you safe. I can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for us.

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby … Mommy loves you “all the way to the moon and back”!

~ 1 Year ~

~ 1 week ~


~ 1 Day ~

~ Sweet Dreams ~

Rock - O - Bama ...

I decided to take Justin with me to vote … thinking he might find it interesting to see the process since he is well aware of the election from both media and school. He does great until we are ready to leave … I drop off my election ballot in the box and Justin loudly proclaims … amongst a room of quiet voters … “that sucks … I thought we were going to see Rock-O-Bama here!” Justin did a great job of breaking the silence and gave us all a good laugh.

Memphis Jess Sebesta ...

We thought we were getting a Turkey but instead we got a Little Pumpkin. Our Great Nephew was born last night … 4 weeks early but healthy and he is doing great!

Memphis Jess Sebesta

5 lbs. 15 oz.

19 1/2" Long
October 31st ~ 8:14 Pm

Trick or Treat ...

~ The Gang Ready for Trick or Treating ~

What a beautiful night for Trick or Treating. Honestly I can’t remember a Colorado Halloween when it was this nice outside. 60+ degrees at 6:00 pm is not normal for this time of the year. We took the kids to Laporte and Trick or Treated with the Bigge’s. Makenna still wanted nothing to do with her Dumbo costume … the next best thing I could find in her closet was her cheetah coat.

~ Makenna ~

~ Justin ~