Thanksgiving round one and a trip to the park

Harrison plays around with uncle Aaron

We celebrated Thanksgiving last Sunday with my mom and Larry and Larry's son Kevin and his wife Candace and there kids. It was way fun. I made pumpkin cheesecake and cranberry sausage stuffing which were huge hits and a blackberry peach pie that was just a bit on the watery side. Oh well. Next time wait until the peaches are defrosted before putting them in the pie. Harrison had a great time playing with the kids and eating turkey and stuffing from the comfort of his stroller. Since we now have Thanksgiving day free we decided (knock on wood) to take Harrison on his first road trip to Utah to spend the holiday with Cory's family. Pictures forthcoming...hopefully not all of Harrison screaming from the back seat.

Jonathan would slap the exercise ball while Harrison stood against it. Harrison found this to be SO much fun.

The big table
Yum Yum turkey!

Today Harrison and I celebrated the beautiful 70 degree weather by going to Chaparral park. I had some dried bread left over from stuffing and I thought it would be fun to feed the ducks.

Birds!!!!

Look mom, birds!!!

I'm just going to go get some birds

Grass is fun!!!

Ducks and birds were attacking us. The birds would snatch the ducks bread right out of the air. It was pretty impressive.


Enjoying the wildlife

I don't know if you can tell in this pic but his 12 m pants are a bit big. Saggy pants already!!!!
And of course--the swings!! Harrison loves swinging. The picture doesn't really show his joy, I'm working on posting a video :)

Ten Things I love About Having a Ten Month Old

Harrison is just SO much fun lately!!! I'd thought I'd list some of the things he's doing now that make me so happy :)

1. He wants to be held. Today we were grocery shopping and he got pretty tired so he was grabbing at me and whining because he wanted me to hold him. It's novel right now so I love it.
2. He can get around. He's pretty good at regular crawling but then sometimes he'll go back to the army crawl. And he's getting better and better and climbing on things and leaning against them to get from place to place. And he is loving the walker more and more. Except when he runs it into something and can't figure out how to back up. It's super cute.
3. He loves new things. It's SO much fun to see all of the new things he learns and discovers on a daily basis. Everything is so exciting and he's so curious.
4. He eats everything. We're trying to transition away from baby food to some regular foods. He pretty much loves everything. It's fun introducing him to new things and seeing the shocked look on his face when he tries something weird to him.
5. Talking. I LOVE his talking voice. When he's saying something to himself we can't understand. It's the best when it's a whisper.
6. He imitates me. I make weird noises, he makes weird noises. I sing, he sings--yesterday I sware he was trying to make the duck sound on my ringtone.
7. He makes this adorable happy grunting noise when he's happy or satisfied. SO CUTE.
8. He's a genius. He's figured out how to put the right shapes in the right holes in his toys. Must take after his daddy :)
9. He loves to be thrown up in the air, tossed around, danced with, etc. I can always make him smile and laugh.
10. When I put socks on him, he pulls them off and puts them in his mouth and starts running around. It's hilarious.

I know the days that Harrison and I get to hang out like this are numbered. I'm so grateful for all of the fun we get to have together and that I get to be his mom.

And here are some fun random pictures from my phone.

new tricks

So, last week I broke down and bought Harrison the second toy I've ever purchased for full price (you'd be amazed at what you can get at the thrift store for like $1.99). A walker. He loves it, but mostly to play with the little balls and shapes and stuff..... and of course to turn it over and try to break it. For walking he really prefers a chair. Please try to ignore the wet spots on his jammies...I promise those are from the pears he just ate and are not what you are thinking.

Harrison REALLY wants to inherit his mom's bad habits....

Yummy McYummerton

I made this for dinner last night and for being really easy and relatively healthy (I say relatively because I did saute the sugar snap peas in some butter for a couple of minutes just to soften them up...) it was SO good!! TRY IT!!!! YOU'LL LIKE IT!!!

I also added some red pepper flakes to the dressing to spice it up.

(from All Recipes)

Almond Chicken Salad
Ingredients

• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 large carrot, shredded
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 pound sugar snap peas, halved
• 2 cups chopped, cooked chicken breast meat
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds, toasted
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
• 1 tablespoon ground dry mustard

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the onions, carrot, red pepper, peas, chicken, cilantro and almonds. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, vinegar, sesame oil, teriyaki sauce and dry mustard until smooth. Pour over salad mixture and toss until coated. Serve in pita pockets or on a bed of lettuce.

I know rich people are evil, but....SHEESH!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091102/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_taxes

Reading this article about how proposed healthcare legislation is going to be paid for by taxing the rich made me both happy and sad.

Happy because it quotes my former boss, Dave Camp, who now apparently is the top Republican on Ways and Means--yay for Dave Camp!

Sad because I find it just a little bit ridiculous that Democrats think all of the country's problems can be solved by piling more and more taxes on the rich. This healthcare bill apparently targets individuals making more than $500,000 a year and couples making more than a million. And it's not indexed for inflation. So, just like the AMT, when incomes go up but buying power doesn't, more and more people who are less and less rich will be hit by the tax. Awesome. And for a family of four making 5 million a year, they would be hit with over FOUR HUNDRED THOUSAND in ADDITIONAL taxes (with the healthcare bill tax and other tax increases Obama is proposing). I know that five million dollars is a ridiculously absurd amount of money. But it just seems to go against everything I believe in about this country that one rich family should be forced to pay for the healthcare of (probably) hundreds of people. Why doesn't Obama just tell us how much we can make according to his idea of what is appropriate? That's pretty much what's happening.

I firmly believe that everyone should pay their fair share. Taxes are important and necessary (I really do believe this, I spent two months this summer researching just why taxes are not a bad thing in themselves). But the rich are already taxed. A lot. And don't feed me some story about how they dont' pay any taxes because unlike the masses they can afford sophisticated tax advisors who find loopholes for them. I don't buy that excuse. Taxing the rich wouldn't be such a go-to solution if it didn't work as a revenue raiser.

Where is the motivation to get educated, work hard, think creatively in your job, become better at ALL at work if the government is going to take the money away when they decide that you are too rich for your own good? Why can't we (as Mormons at least, or even as Christians) follow our church's commandment to give to the poor as much as we can. I want to give. And I want to experience the blessings to be found from serving and giving more and more, as much as my means allow. But I want to CHOOSE to give. This kind of stuff is what makes me conservative.

Sorry to rant. I love my liberal friends. I know many of their views derive from a sincere love for people less fortunate. But I'm sure they remember what it felt like to be in the minority. And sometimes ranting is just necessary.

Thanks for reading. And here is a cute picture of my baby. Have a nice day.