Some of my favorite things

Tuesday I went to see Twilight for the second time with my sister and some ladies from the ward. I had such a great time. I seen it for the first time opening day, Friday afternoon with Ryan and some other great friends, especially Becki by beloved Twilight freak- thanks for the t-shirt!!. I am looking forward to seeing it again!! Ryan had not read the books but had received a play by play while Jenn and myself were reading it. He enjoyed the movie so much that we is now reading the books. Ryan and I love the VAMPIRE THING!! Our first date we went to see Bram Stoker's Dracula. I am glad I was able to share this with him. We are both hopeless romantics and vampires need love too. One can not live on blood alone. Sam is begging to see it the next time. When I was reading she would grab on of the other books and snuggle up on the couch and pretend to read and then listen with passion as I told the story to Ryan and her later. Hopefully Santa will bring her mama the soundtrack...which Ryan and I both love!!

Yesterday we spend Thanksgiving with family...only three different stops this year. We had a delicious dinner at my Dad's and were able to spend sometime talking with my Grandparents and listening to them tell stories of when their children were growing up. I love listening to them. They are so sweet and you can tell they still really love another. I hope Ryan and I are that wonderful together when we are that age after 50+ years of marriage.

Well it has finally happened. Most people that know us have heard all about Layla refusing to walk and my growing frustration with the foster dogs we have been lending our home to. Our family has sheltered 6 dogs: Mustang, Chief (Sam's favorite)Sasha, Foxy (my favorite), Max (we were able to name him) & Benny and helped them find wonderful homes. I finally had to tell Ryan we could not do it any more with all the mud being tracked in from the backyard, Layla was eating mud pies every morning , afternoon and evening and I was spending all day long cleaning up after the dogs. I have yet to tell Sam that we are not getting another foster dog anytime soon. She is so passionate about these dogs and finding them a family to love. She is certainly her Dad's soft hearted daughter. If it were up to them we would live on a farm with every kind of dog, a few cats, horses and whatever else they could squeeze into the barn.

My biggest joy is that within the last day or two Layla has been working to master the art of WALKING!! She is zipping around the house and carrying her baby and purse, already. She is adorable, really too cute for words. I think she has finally realized that she will need to walk to keep up with Sam. Layla and Sam are so cute together, they laugh constantly together over nothing sometimes. When they get laughing Ryan and I just look at each other and laugh too, which makes them laugh even harder.

In the last few months Ryan has been working hard to get the yard improvements done before the snow falls. Ryan and our friend Simon has now finished the sprinkling system, the new fence is done with the new dog run too. The RV and extended patio has been poured and we just got the patio covered on Tuesday. The girls think it is an extension of the family room. They want to be out there every moment. I am hoping all these improvements will help us to use our back yard more all year long, especially Spring thru Fall. The yard looks really good and I am excited to get started planting in the spring...I hope Simon will help me pick out some fabulous shrubbery, etc. He is a master Gardner and I have been sharing my hopes for my yard since the day we bought the house and now it is time to make my dream a reality and I am excited!!!