I Am Glad For Many Things, But a Little Sad Too

I am glad for many things, but right now I'm sad for something too.  The thing I'm sad about is that I am out of space for pictures on my blog and despite my best efforts (which are very lame when it comes to technology), I am unable to upload all the pictures I want to.  I will try to forge ahead and show some (but not all that I'd like) of our Thanksgiving extravaganza.  

I am thankful for dessert.  I call the maroon-colored pie harvest blend.  The filling was Asian pear/raspberry/cranberry/cherry/raisin.  It was well-received by some and not so well-received by others.  Some wished that those who did not prefer the pie to keep their preferences to themselves.  I'll not mention any names.  It is enough to say that we missed Jennifer's chocolate pie this year.  I will proudly state that the pumpkin pie turned out better than ever.  The addition of sugar to the pumpkin pie had a dramatically positive effect on it.  Two years ago I forgot the sugar in the pumpkin pie.

 I am thankful for turkeys--especially the turkeys that are related to me.  Liliana and Ruben helped me make turkeys for our Thanksgiving guests.  Enoch and Marianne got turkeys with all turquoise feathers because of their strong belief in turquoise as a traditional autumn color.  Enoch was not with us, but I will deliver that turkey his turquoise turkey just as soon as possible.

 I am thankful for talented children.  Carolina's talent (in our annual Thanksgiving talent show) was this incredible table, chair, and tea set.  She constructed the chair and table all by herself and she painted the tea set.  Unfortunately for this picture, she and Morgan were looking at their mom's camera.  Marcos, never camera-shy, was looking right at his mom too (me!). 

 I am thankful the Johnsons joined us.  They were just as glowing as they appear.  Desi's talent was that amazing scarf she is crocheting.

 I'm thankful for this nutty almost eight-year-old who drew Buzz Lightyear for his talent.

 I'm also thankful for pretty Lili and her drawing talent.  As you can tell, we lost our best brush on our trip to Nauvoo (yes, that was back in September).

 I'm thankful for Morgan's talent of getting seeds to sprout.  Squanto with his habit of burying fish heads with corn seeds has nothing on our Morgan.

The other wonderful things I'm thankful for cannot be pictured at this time--Hyrum and his incredible talent of using his ears to fly and Clarissa and Liberty bringing tears to my eyes with their beautiful music (Liberty on the flute, Clarissa on the guitar and piano and of course, on her vocal chords).  

Perhaps those of you with more blogging experience could offer some help.  I've tried making my photos smaller, but I don't know how. I've tried deleting some photos from my blog, but I am not able to upload more pictures because I have used up all of my space.

My parents still have 10 months (but who's counting?) to go on their mission and I want to keep sharing pictures.  Whatever shall I do?

Ducktails and Bobbysox

Some things you never forget--like how to ride a bike.  I used to think doing a handstand fit into this category, but the other day when I did two for my children, I realized it doesn't.  Although I was able to stay up for a split second, it hurt different parts of my body that haven't been used in a long while--since third grade maybe.

Besides riding a bike, I think being in a play might fit into the "never forget" category.  This week my sister Marianne directed a musical that I was in as a freshman in high school--21 blessed years ago.  My talented neice Desi played Bertha, a nerdy girl who fell in love with a nerdy boy.  I also played Bertha, way back when.  As Desi was saying her lines, I knew them!  Those 21 years melted away and there I was, a freshman in high school.  Isn't that something?  I hadn't reviewed them or tried to remember them, but they were there.  The play was a delight to watch.  Marianne and all her family did  a terrific job:

Deseret was Bertha--the nerdy girl that fell in love with a nerdy boy.



Clarissa was Laura Carter--a high school prodigy with some great rock & roll talent.  My sister Thelma played her back in '91.

Liberty was a cheerleader--the one on the left.  She was very enthusiastic and dear.

Hyrum made the crowd go wild as Elvis.

 

I had to include this one because I love the expression on Robert's face.  He and Marianne played alumni who had come back to the town for Homecoming.

Not only was Hyrum the King of Rock n' Roll, he was also a football player.

 Here are a few more fun shots from the production:

 

Speaking of performances, today was our Primary Program.  Poor little Marcos had been practicing his part "I choose the right by saying my prayers" for weeks.  He knew it so well and always loved saying it.  Of our children who have been in Primary, he is the most comfortable performing and the part was so easy and caused me no worry.

 

During the first part of Sacrament Meeting, I was in the mothers' lounge, focused on getting Omar to sleep before the program started so I could watch the program and not have to leave.  When I got back into the chapel, it was time for the program.  It was also the time when Marcos always gets his snack.  He wanted his snack.  I didn't think he ought to take it up because I thought his fellow Sunbeams might want it and it would cause problems.  I told Marcos he could have his snack after the program.  He freaked out and cried and I had to take him out.  His part was near the beginning.  He said he wanted me to come up with him.  I did and he went to the microphone and sobbed into it.  He didn't say his part after all that practice and that was that. 

 

I guess there's always next year...and the year after that...until he's 11.

Boise Temple Open House

We had a great trip this week to Boise and Meridian, Idaho where we stayed with my dear cousin Hannah and her darling family:  

Have you ever seen such a cute family?  Their new house is lovely, and they were so hospitable!

We shared the disappointing election results of Tuesday night.  The kids were playing around and the parents were watching TV.  Ruben came over to see how things were going.  He's been wondering lately who his friends would be voting for.  When I told him it looked like President Obama would be re-elected, Ruben scowled and said, "But I'm tired of him being President!"  When you consider that President Obama has been in office for half of Ruben's life, you can see where he's coming from.  Here are some pictures of the kids together:

Marcos and Maisy.  Maisy was determined to not smile--it reminded me of me when I was a kid.

These are all nine of our children together.  Notice Maisy's lovely smile here and remember Ruben's eyes.  You'll need to remember them later when they are closed in another picture.

Hannah, Me, and Ammon.  Hannah and I look more like each other than we look like our own sisters.  When we lived together at BYU, we learned to answer to each other's names as well as our own.

The perfect antidote for the post-election blues was a trip to the LDS Temple in Boise.  We were so glad we go to take our children to see the temple.  The serenity and peace of the temple was a great reminder that God is in His heaven and that He has a plan for us.  That's what will give us peace and security.

Please remember Ruben's eyes from before!  You'll have to remember Edgar's too which are also not shown.

Nevada Day & Halloween

Though Nevada Day once more fell on Halloween (it always has and always will), I did very little to commemorate it.  I did try to croak out the Nevada state song with my children, but alas, my voice is gone and I don't know if it will ever return.  It drives me crazy because I can't sing (and although my voice is not pretty, it is was loud) and so our family home evening hymns are greatly lacking in volume since my voice left.  Halloween, on the other hand, was well celebrated en la casa Cobian.  We had a cousin celebration (and even cancelled school because of it).  My children had a Peter Pan theme.  Liliana was Tiger Lily, Ruben was Peter Pan, Marcos was Captain Hook, and Ammon was the crocodile.  Little Omar was a random pumpkin, but Carolina went trick or treating with us, and she was also a pumpkin.  They were very cute together:

I love how Omar just kind of rolled into Carolina.

Lili made her skirt by herself.  She sews like me--
the seam ripper is her best friend.
  I thought her skirt turned out lovely.

Peter Pan and Iron Man (Luke) were inseparable as always. 
What makes the Iron Man red?
  Isn't that a song from Peter Pan?  If it's not, it ought to be.

Though we never got a hook for our little pirate
 (I was going to let him use my Kitchen
 Aid dough hook since we couldn't find one in the store).
 In the end, it didn't seem to matter.

Never smile at a crocodile!

The Dahl children:  Iron Man Luke, Savannah Strawberry Shortcake,
 and Davy Crockett Isaiah

The Johnsons--Morgan the Mouse, Hyrum proving that Elvis still lives,
 Carolina the Pumpkin, and Liberty, a dear granny

The whole group

Luke with his pumpkin.  He decided he'd rather play with Ruben than carve it.
  Liliana and Isaiah were only too glad to carve it for him.
  They got a little knife-happy (in a very safe way, Cor):

Handsome Isaiah with his pumpkin.

And speaking of pumpkin, let's not forget our annual culinary feast of Dinner in a Pumpkin.  Once again I was the only one in the family that liked it, but oh, how I liked it!  Everyone had to eat a little before they could trick or treat.  Hopefully, someday, my children will come to love it as I have and will force their children to eat it before they go scavenging candy.

Unfortunately, this shows a lot more of my dirty stove than I would have liked!

And as a parting shot, have you ever seen such a handsome baby?  My Grandma Jaynes and I picked this outfit out for Omar when I was 34 weeks pregnant with him.  She bought it for a present for him.  It was the smallest we could find, and it seemed so huge.  Now, Omarcito fits in his handsome vest suit.  He looks like the Prime Minister: