Lights, Lunch, Crepes, & Glitter

This morning we decided to take advantage of the great weather and do some work outside.  I actually pulled some weeds in the front flowerbeds and then decided that we should go ahead and put up our Christmas lights b/c we are going to be busy for the next 3 Saturdays and it’s dark at night when we get home and we didn’t want to put them up in the dark.  Autumn was a good little helper and when I wasn’t looking she “helped” me by putting these lights on this bush for me!  i don’t know if you can see it b/c the lights blend in with the green bush, but she just set them in a pile on top of the bush!  She’s such a funny little bug.

I helped Autumn rearrange her lights on the bush and then when I was testing the other lights to see if they would work or not, Autumn went in the house and came back out w/ her rocking chair and just sat there in the entry way rocking back and forth to the Christmas music I had playing on my laptop!  Who is this cute kid?  What made her think to go get her rocking chair?  She cracks me up!  We had a grand old time putting our Christmas lights out and only got one side of the house done b/c all the lights behind Autumn’s rocking chair wouldn’t light up when we plugged them in.

After we got our lights done, we decided to go on a walk b/c it was so nice outside.  We loved seeing the trees finally starting to change colors.  Fall finally started about 2 weeks ago and will probably last for another week.  We don’t get much of the changing of the seasons, so what little we do get, we enjoy to the fullest.

After that, we got cleaned up and went over to Mom & Dad’s.  Dad got home at 3:00 and we went out to eat at Cheddar’s.

This time I tried something new, b/c Ruthie Dangerfield said it was her favorite thing at Cheddar’s.  It was the Hawaiian chicken salad and it was ok, but the best part was the salad dressing.  Autumn was being a little ham.

After eating, we headed over to a country club to go to a party for the 50th wedding anniversary for Patriarch & Sis. Snyder.  This picture does it no justice, but this tree looked like it was on fire b/c of the gorgeous fall colors.

This is Sis. Snyder and we just love her and Patriarch Snyder SO MUCH!  They are just salt-of-the-earth type people.  I have always felt a special bond w/ Patriarch Snyder ever since he gave me my patriarchal blessing and hand-delivered it to me as soon as he got it.  I look up to them so much.  We didn’t stay for the party b/c we thought it was just an open house but it was a fancy sit down dinner.  I wish I could have gotten a picture of those 2 together, but they were walking around talking to their guests.  I am so happy for them and can only hope that someday I can have a marriage as wonderful as theirs.

When we left, we tried stopping by Nick’s store to pick up a free turkey that his work gives him for being an employee.  But, we were on a road that didn’t go through to the one we needed and ended up near the Asian Market.  Mom wanted to get some thinly sliced meat so we could make Super Samurai Bulgulgi meat, so we went in.  Since it was a Saturday, the place was PACKED!  We were walking down one of the aisles near the live squid and i saw this and just had to laugh.  Amongst all the random and weird types of sauces they had were some generic WalMart brand cans of tomatoes.  As we were checking out, Mom told me to find something new that we wanted to try.  So, I found a box of red bean moki near the front and we got them.  I tried them when we got home and let me just say they were not very good (to me) at all.  They had the texture of playdough and almost made me gag.

As we were walking out of the Asian mall, we saw this little store that was selling stuffed crepes.  Mom was in an adventurous mood and said we should try one.  Autumn loved seeing them put the batter on the big circular cooking pan.

We got the tropical crepe which had kiwi, strawberries, bananas, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and ice cream.  It looked all fancy.  It was ok, but not worth the $6 we paid.  I preferred the nutella crepe that Majda and I got in the center of Ljub.

The display out front was really cool looking and it partly what drew us into the shop.  I do have to say that the guy running the crepe store was super nice and very friendly.

After that, we went to Nick’s store and got our free turkey.  They were a ton of families walking to the shopping centers behind Nick’s work and so Autumn & I went to check it out while Mom opted to sit and wait in the car and read a book.  We went down to where they have a HUGE tree and everyone said they were waiting for it to be lit for Christmas.  It was going to be another 30 minutes before they lit the tree and I was not about to sit around and wait for that.  But, before we left these cute girls dressed as ballerinas were going around handing out these little gold satchels.  It was dark and I didn’t know what was in them (I thought it was candy), but found out when we got back to Mom & Dad’s house b/c there was glitter ALL OVER Autumn’s pants, Autumn’s booster seat, and Mom’s back seat.  We were NOT happy that they had handed out glitter.  I’m not one of those cool Moms that likes creative glittery messes.

As we were walking back to the car, we noticed this huge Christmas tree that was all lit up w/ colored lights and ornaments, so we had to walk over and see it so Autumn could get a picture by it and see the pretty lights.

This isn’t the best picture ever, but they had every branch of these trees covered in lights, which was really cool and the moon was huge and bright (you can’t tell in this picture).  We got home, cleaned up the glitter mess, and just hung out and watched TV and then had macaroni & cheese for dinner.  Today was lots of fun and I’m so excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  They will be here and gone before I can blink an eye.  I plan on enjoying every bit of the holidays that I can.