Random stuff

Because my parents found out that they were moving to Utah in January, last Thanksgiving we went to Arizona for the last supper. I can't remember the last time that I was down there for Thanksgiving, and it was really nice to be home. It was special K, Raeody, Meanagan and Ryan and I (Rimy). Kind of a small group, but actually really nice. They just had Mac and Raegan and it was timed perfectly so that they were both down for naps at the time of the eating. It was so quiet and nice with just adults. Seriously, it doesn't sound like a lot of fun, and usually I'm one for family chaos, but it was probably one of the best Thanksgivings I've ever had.

My mom let me decorate the table which I super loved. I have no idea why I think it's so fun to arrange plates etc, but I do. Ryan even helped stick the apples.

While we were down there Ryan went to Bass pro shop with my dad. well, they had to get matching fleece jackets. And if you know my dad, you know that he never buys just one of something when he's buying it for someone else, and you know that he loves to match, so they got three each. Green, brown and black. Ryan actually wore his fleece jackets quite often last winter.
I'm not sure how often dad wore them -he may have needed something a bit heavier for his first Salt Lake winter, but here he is in AZ flashing some sort of gang symbol, no doubt.

So,....I happened upon an estate sale like none other last fall. The old man that had passed away was a nutcracker collector. It's true. There were THOUSANDS of nut crackers that his children were trying to get rid of. thousands. all shapes and sizes and nationalities. I was lucky enough to come away with these two big boys. Take a closer look at the picture. They really are pretty big. (although I have to say, his biggest was about six feet tall. Amazing. So I have a special place in my heart for nutcrackers at Christmas because my grandma had some big ones that she would always put out at Christmas and of course the care bear nutcracker movie that we would watch over and over again. I named mine (the one on the right) Dimitri -or Dimka for short, ( I was reading the Vampire Academy at the time of the purchase) and I told Ryan he could name the other one. He named it....Creepy. He apparently does not have a soft spot in his heart for nutcrackers. -I should probably make him watch the carebear nutcracker movie with me. So we now have Creepy and Dimitri. at Christmas time.