Quality Time with Marie and Other Novemberings

I am spending some quality time with good ol' Marie Callinder and the chocolate pie I bought and brought home from my family Thanksgiving feast. I did in fact MAKE a pie for Thanksgiving, and I'm pleased to report that it was consumed:). Back to Marie and I and our close relationship: Doug is blown away by the amount of chocolate + sugar I can consume without getting sick. If you have to have a talent, does it have to be one that contributes to weight gain? I'm still faithful to Marie, regardless of the inevitable consequences. That's love.

Here's a pictographic update of things we've been up to during November:

First of all, Isaac got a fun zoo experience with his cousins. Nothing beats living a block away from the Idaho Falls Zoo, but we settled for a 40-minute drive to the petting zoo at Thanksgiving Point. The goat found an opening in the fence and is risking his neck to get the stale corn Isaac is offering him.

We also did our best to support the Cougs on their ill-fated game day against Utah. Doug made blue blueberry pancakes in honor of the occasion and we invited our upstairs neighbors, the Nordfelts, to celebrate blue-pancake day with us.


This was a really good day for me because, despite the fact that we had a lot to do that day, Doug made it pleasant. Doug had a flag football game--which he won and which was especially cool because there were 19 members of the Sheide clan at the game! We had the Nordfelts over for brunch and we had the Bowens over for the big game. A lot of you know that this combination of events = zero time to do a LOT of cooking and cleaning. Doug was our brunch chef and he helped clean up so the day wasn't stressful for me.

November really has centered around football, food, and family: Here is a picture of Doug and Isaac on an "airplane" after Doug's turkey bowl game.

And here we have the awesome table settings at Peanut and Eric's house. I should have taken pictures of the spread--it was quintessential and inspiring. I wish I'd taken more leftovers.So that takes us to today, and to two little kids in a crib. I let Isaac sleep with Lucy in her crib because I completely trust him around her.That previous statement was a lie. How on earth am I going to keep Lucy alive and unharmed with her 2-year-old brother nearby?

Even though Lucy's in my arms and I can only type with one hand, I'd like to write something less "new mom of 2" and more "daughter-of-God Tara." I am so thankful for two awesome talks in the conference Ensign. One is "You Know Enough" by Elder Anderson and the other in the Relief Society general broadcast talk by Elder Uchdorf. Both hit home and I'd recommend them to anyone who isn't as mindful of Christ as they'd like to be. Thank goodness for the gospel, without which I would be a completely selfish creature.