The Thanksgiving Practical Joke

College is the time for practical jokes, right? During my freshman year at BYU (a really long time ago) my roommates and some of the guys from our Y-Group honed our practical joking skills. We were really good. We put Kool aid on their towels one Wednesday night (the only time girls were allowed in the upper levels of DT). They put alum on the frosted animals cookies that we were known to consume by the pound. We even sent one poor fellow hiking up to the Y, at dawn, in the rain to meet his mysterious and illusive admirer. Obviously, she wasn't there. Even if she had existed, would she really have hiked to the Y by herself in the rain? I don't think so. But the rain provided a good excuse and the guy didn't figure out that he had been pranked.

That fall semester my roommates and friends were making plans for Thanksgiving. Some were headed home to California. Others were spending the holiday with grandparents and relatives in Utah. One of my roommates was from Oklahoma. She wasn't going home for Thanksgiving so I invited her to spend the holiday with my family who lived just a few hours away from Provo.

One of the guys from our Y Group (the gullible, love-struck, hiker. I'll call him Dean*) was from the South East and he wasn't able to go home. He was in our apartment one afternoon in early November whining about his misfortune. Dean was the only guy from our group that didn't have plans for the holiday and he wasn't looking forward to eating Thanksgiving dinner in the Morris Center Cafeteria by himself. Ignoring the dangers of bringing home a guy that I wasn't even remotely interested in, I took pity on the poor, pathetic soul and invited him to join my roommate and me for Thanksgiving with my family. Dean quickly accepted. Since my grandparents were picking me, my cousin and roommate up from Provo and driving us home, I didn't have room for this guy in the car so I gave him a list of people I knew from my home town and let him find his own ride.

But I warned him that my family was a little strange and before he made up his mind to spend Thanksgiving with us, he should know that my family had this crazy tradition dating back sixty some years. During the Great Depression, they had gathered together all the food to have a big, fantastic celebration on Thanksgiving Day but then they had to go hungry for several days afterward. In remembrance of all our ancestors had suffered during the lean times and to be thankful for what we now had in abundance, my family fasted for the three days following our giant Thanksgiving feast. I was strangely convincing as I told this tall tale. (I think my dad and brothers would in reality pass out cold if they had to go without food for more than one Fast Sunday a month.) Dean was horrified but claimed that he still wanted to join my family for the holiday.

Dean found a ride to my hometown that actually left Provo several hours earlier than I did and Dean arrived at my home and met my family before I got there. By the time my roommate and I got home, my mom, who is too nice and honest, had already informed Dean that my family was not seriously insane and that there would be plenty of food to eat every day. The suitcase of food that Dean brought along would not be necessary.

Not only that, my youngest (darling) sister was just a kid and a notorious tattle tale. She told him all about the joke we had played on him with the notes from the secret admirer and the hike to the Y. Until that moment, he had assumed that the secret admirer was just too shy to reveal herself--yet. In fact, since he had told none of us about the hike on that wet morning or the notes, none of us should have even known about it. I certainly shouldn't have been including the (I thought funny) details in my letters home. (I really was a freshman a long time ago. Long distance calls were still expensive; cell phones were extremely rare and very large and the internet was just an idea. So yes, I wrote letters. Real ones. On paper. Put a stamp on the envelope and sent it in the mailbox. Archaic.)

And so the joke was on me. I stopped writing detailed letters to my family of the fun times at college. We didn't play nearly as many practical jokes on each other, especially now that Gullible Dean was on to us. And until I met Utah Dad a few years later, I NEVER took another guy (friend or beau) home to meet my family.

*Not his real name.

Be Thankful

Growing Up *Sniff*

Earlier this week, Amberly and I had an impromptu photo shoot so that I could test some settings on my camera. She'd been playing dress-up earlier and had changed into a sun dress that I usually require her to wear over a T-shirt. It was definitely not sun dress weather either. Her hair had some serious fly-aways and should have been combed but it wasn't intended to be a real photo session.

But I am so glad that I took these shots this week. Do you see those pearly-white little baby teeth in her  smile? So cute. She's still a little girl in first grade. By Wednesday night Amberly had a loose tooth. All day yesterday she wiggled it with her fingers and her tongue. She even drew a picture of her mouth (it was kind of gross). By bed time it was just barely hanging on. Utah Dad could have yanked it out so easily but she wouldn't let him near her mouth. "I like to wiggle it," she told us. I snapped a few pictures of the loose tooth this morning before she headed off to school to wiggle it some more.

Like most moms I experience a mixture of pleasure and sorrow as my children reach new growth  milestones. Amberly is so excited and a little of that can't help but rub off. I certainly do not want to make her feel bad about growing up. At the same time, I'm a bit sad to see her cute little baby teeth go. And I'm seriously dreading the future orthodontist bills. Utah Dad and I both required extensive orthodontist work to get our straight smiles, so I know what to expect.

In the meantime, we'll celebrate each new milestone with our beautiful daughter and look forward to another visit from the tooth fairy.

The Ecostore Gift Certificate Winner

The winner of the $25 Gift Certificate to Ecostore USA is . . .

Kerri

Kerri said...
I don't know why I ever enter. I never win.
November 16, 2009 12:00 PM

Hey! Kerri you won one. Persistence paid off. The odds weren't bad this time either. Drop me a line with your info so you can claim your prize. And have a great Friday too. (Kerri is a good friend of mine. I recently had the privilege of photographing her family. You can check out more pictures from the session here.)

Thanks for Thanksgiving -- Children's Book Review

My mom teaches elementary school so I've been ordering books through her Scholastic book orders since I first had children. When our kids went to school, we started ordering through their teachers. Utah Dad, the kids and I love to look through each book order. We circle all the books we would like to buy and then narrow it down to the two or three that our budget allows. I usually pick books by well known authors, award winners or books from my own childhood (nostalgia is a great sales-motivator).

Occasionally, I order an unknown book just for fun. When Neal was in preschool, a book called Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes caught my eye. Most likely, it was the special 99 cent book.

I fell in love. It's darling. Markes's beautiful yet uncomplicated poetry inspires gratitude (my children need constant reminders to be grateful) for the simple things and for childhood and for family and for everything I hold dear.

But it is the artwork by Doris Barrette that I love the most. I wish I could live in the world Barrette creates with her illustrations. It's cozy and warm. It's a hug. It's a family. It's autumn (my favorite). It's Thanksgiving (my favorite). It's turkey and pumpkin pie (my favorite). I can only try to recreate it in my own home. So, I pull my little ones on my lap in our favorite chair and read them this delightful book.

Ecostore USA - Review and Give-away

There are two things that I can count on as a mother. The first is that by the end of the day (or maybe even as early as breakfast) at least one of my kids is going to need a bath. As in really NEED a bath. For example, here are a few pictures I took of Lilly the other morning after she enjoyed a slice of cinnamon toast. Her face is covered in sticky, buttery sugar and cinnamon. Oh, and don't forget the boogers. It seems like we've always got the boogers.

Oh no. The tongue. She's got to taste that mess.

The second thing that I can count on, is the laundry. The laundry is my nemesis. I'll spare you an actual picture. Each week, I do an average of six loads of laundry. I wash a white load, a dark-colored load, a light-colored load, a pink load (yes, an entire load of pink clothes--who would have thought), a load of jeans, and sometimes even a red load (for being BYU fans we seem to have a lot of red clothes). I also wash an average of two loads of towels each week--one bath towels, one kitchen towels. And the sheets. Oh, the sheets. I have a high-efficiency-large-capacity-front-loading washing machine and I stuff it full with each load. The crazy thing is, Utah Dad works from home and we usually spend our days in jammies. I can't even imagine how much laundry families have when they actually get dressed all the time.

And we all know that unless we have the entire family go naked for a day (I've considered it) we will never ever be completely caught up on laundry. I'm lucky that my husband is willing to help fold and put away the clothes because I HATE it. Someday, I will require my children to wash their own clothes. For now, I have them help by sorting the dirty laundry and putting their clean clothes away in the drawers.

When Ecostore USA contacted me and asked me which two of their products I would like to try, obviously it only took me a moment to choose the Baby Wash and the Laundry Detergent. Ecostore USA sells plant and mineral based cleaning products that are free from toxic chemicals. Their products are gentle, safe and effective.

Several members of my family, including Utah Dad, have very sensitive skin and allergies to some of the chemicals used in many of the supermarket brands. I was interested to see how they reacted to the organic products from Ecostore USA. Lilly has suffered from skin rashes off and on for the past year. She has taken several baths using the Ecostore Baby Wash and hasn't had any negative reactions. That's good enough for me. She also ends up nice and clean and smelling fresh and lemony (it reminds me of Little House on the Prairie).

The Ecostore Laundry Powder has also been effective. I've used it to wash all the clothes for the past two weeks and I've been very happy with the results. My whites are white. The minor stains are gone (fortunately I haven't had to test it on any major stains lately). The clothes smell nice and fresh. And I rather enjoyed sleeping between the fresh-scented sheets this week. Utah Dad hasn't complained of any itches either and believe me if he was itching he would be complaining.

Ecostore products are ultra concentrated so you can use much less of the product to get the job done. It also means smaller boxes to store on my shelf. And the price isn't bad, either.

Which leads me to the fun part. Ecostore USA is offering a $25 dollar Ecostore USA gift certificate to one reader of my blog.

Here are the rules to be eligible. They're easy.

1. Check out the Ecostore USA blog. While you're there, feel free to sign up for their newsletter so that you can receive updates about their products.

2. Come back here and leave a comment on this post.

As always, you can get extra chances to win by being/becoming a follower; posting about the give-away on your blog; adding the Utah Mom's Life button to your blog; telling your friends on Facebook; etc.  Just be sure to come back here and add another comment on this post.

Entries must be received by Thursday, November 19th at 11:59 p.m. (MST). The winner will be announced on Friday, November 20th whenever I wake up and get around to doing it. Good luck.

The Winner of "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee"

The winner of a copy of The Blessing of a Skinned Knee by Wendy Mogel is

Mandy

Mandy said: "I would love to win this book!"

Congratulations, Mandy. Send me an email with your information so you can start enjoying and learning from this awesome book asap.

And check back later today for information about the next give-away.