A time to give thanks.

Thanksgiving was as fabulous as ever. We celebrated with Jason, Abby, Spencer, Sara, Claire, Baby Mary-Katie and the Pratt family. Abby cooked delicious yams and I made Shelley's stuffing, a Henriod tradition. I stuffed myself with red jello and stuffing. It was a perfect day. I made Abby run with me in the morning, she was a champion.

Jason and I went Black Friday shopping and I LOVED it. Maybe I really am a Crookston. We met Emily and Mandi at Target, they graciously stood in line for us. And we met the madness of shopping with pure excitement. I didn't buy any electronics, only 550 count tread sheets. Totally worth it. Emily and Mandi got some great deals for their kids and significant others.

The Thanksgiving weekend was perfect. Lots of relaxation and time with family. We watched movies, ate delicious food, went shopping, went to the Z00 lights and totally enjoyed ourselves.

So much to be thankful for. Here are just a few of the things Mitch and I wrote down for the month of November.

• Grandparents. Mitch's Grandpa Joe died a week before Thanksgiving. During this past month, Mitch has spent a lot of time reflecting on all the wonderful things that Grandpa Joe represented. Grandpa Joe will be forever missed.
• Family. Oh how much we love our families. Both of them, equally. We look forward to being with them. We are so lucky to have Spencer and Sara so close.
• Friends. There are a lot of friends that I consider as part of my family. I would be completely lost without them.
• Exercise, especially running. Mitch has turned into a runner. I love it. Maybe one day I can convince him that we need to run another marathon together.
• Books. We love books.
• School. Mitch is basically the perfect candidate to be a student forever. He loves to learn and loves to teach.
• Dance. This element of my life is crucial. I love dance always, all the time.
• Food. We are foodies, is that even a word? We love to go out to eat, we love to eat with others, we love to share our food with others, if only I really loved to cook. I love to cook when I have endless amounts of time and fresh vegetables. Maybe one day.
• And we are so thankful to have somewhere to call home.

I hope that your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine was. And now, it's time for Christmas. I love Christmas. I started off my Christmas holiday by eating sour Santas from Jolly's. There is no better way to celebrate the Holidays than with food. Oh, and I bought a box of dark chocolate covered Holiday Jo-Jo's from Trader Joe's. So DELICIOUS.

Happy Holidays.

My Niece Tessa

She is so cute!

To Jenna

(This picture perfectly displays my mission. I wore that black sweater for probably 100 days straight. It was a different sweater from the one I shrunk.)

Jenna is my friend, one of my best friends and today is her birthday. We met in 2006 in the MTC, Missionary Training Center, in Provo right before I left to go to Lithuania. We luckily ended up being companions for a large majority of our missions. Jenna and I laughed every single day together. She was my favorite companion and I love her so.

Some of my favorite memories with Jenna include:

• Me, smashed in the bus doors. Jenna laughing.
• Jenna carrying me over a large puddle of water. Jenna peed her skirt, I dropped my Book of Mormon in the large puddle of water and my shoes ended up getting wet. And loads of contact cards floating everywhere.
• Making clay figures for Andi when Jenna was sick. I was bored out of my mind and our clay figures melted in the oven. We are idiots.
• Striped socks! So, so funny.
• Yellow Face.
• Sister Arklys.
• Jolita and Alexandra telling both us we were fat. (Lithuanians are not afraid to be honest, we were fat.)
• My black sweater. (One of the worst days of my mission. I cried for an hour over my wool sweater shrinking in the washer. I obviously didn't know how to do my own laundry. Jenna laughed so hard, she peed her pants.)
• Running in the forest.
• Klaipeda. It was a dream.
• Watching Jenna drive away with President and Sister Watterson on a cold day in February and it was raining. (This was a scene just like from a book, I was in total depression.)
• The fat man on the bus with our Christmas boxes.
• Jenna not able to resist opening all of her presents before Christmas. She was like a kid in a candy store.
• And of course all of the spiritual experiences.
• Jenna rescuing me after my accident. She didn't even skip a beat. She was there in 10 seconds.
• Probably my most favorite memory of all was teaching a woman, who's name I forget, and her crazy obsession with the TV and the bus ride on the way home. I laughed so so so so so so hard.

Happy Birthday Jenna! I love you so.

Breaking Dawn, Part 1

Can't Wait. I am not ashamed.

Prom

Prom was soooo much fun. Probably one of the best nights we have had in DC. Mitch danced the night away like a crazy person and I loved every second of it.

Mitch, me, Vanessa and Cole. We hang out with Vanessa and Cole a lot and we are so happy they are in DC with us. Vanessa and I were actually in China together in 2005!

Here is a picture of Mitch's group, the males, from his first semester. They are all FABULOUS!

Rach.

For some ridiculous reason, this is the only picture I took when Rach was here.

We were at the Raven's game it was freezing, but oh so fun!

Vote.

One of my favorite days of the year.
I voted this morning.
Have you?

Happy Election Day 2011!

Andi.

Lucky for me, Andi is here. I was lucky enough to see her on Saturday night. We ate delicious Thai food, talked politics and fell in love with DC, again. And I got to see Jill. It was a perfect way to end my Saturday.

More pictures to come from Prom. It was oh so fun!

My life.

Wish I was wearing this 80's Prom dress tonight to Mitch's PROM! Purple is my new favorite color.

1. This was part of my latest conversation with my sister-in-law:

Abby: Have you been able to cook this week?
Sarah: Not once. I am pathetic.

I seriously am pathetic, we haven't cooked since last Thursday, eight days ago. You may be wondering what we eat: cereal, milk, more cereal and sandwiches. Great diet. No wonder Mitch always want to go out out.

2. I just ate, tried to eat, a mushy apple. Probably the worst tasting thing in the world. And the worst part of my day. I haven't been to the store to buy real food in three weeks. (Costco organic milk lasts for ages!)

3. I taught dance last night for the first time since May and I loved it so much. I always love teaching. But today I can't move my back or my hips or my thighs for that matter. I think I am a little sore from pilates, ridiculous, but all the same. My body hurts.

4. Mitch and I are going to prom tonight with his school. I am so excited, who doesn't love prom? Still have no idea what I am going to wear.

5. I have always heard people say, "My life is completely out of control. I can't get organized, I never get dinner fixed. I haven't been to the store in weeks. My house is a mess." And I would wonder how on earth people actually felt like that. I have turned into this person. I have no idea when or how it happen. But this is me. My life has zero structure. The only things I get accomplished each day are: work, a little bit of spiritualness (I know this isn't a word, but it's going to have to be for the time being) and most likely exercise. Everything else in my is out of control. I am back to sleeping way less than eight hours a night. I slept for five hours a night all through college and until I moved to Minnesota. Once I got to Minnesota and slept for eight hours a night, I vowed to never sleep less than sever hours a night again! And hear I am, never sleeping eight hours a night. I can't tell you many times I hear people tell me I look tired, it makes you feel like a million bucks. (This is a joke, please laugh). We eat dinnermost nights at ten, my most usual breakfast is a bag of dry cherriors and any type of fruit I can find. I should be more productive on the metro, but I am too focused on listening to Harry Potter. I am obsessed with the books on tape. I have already listened to most of them at least three times.

All in all life is chaos. But don't be confused, good chaos. Chaos full of joy and life.

Did I mention that the Kunz family left? I already miss them and they have only been gone one day.

And to top everything off, I haven't watched my shows in weeks. Good thing next week is looking pretty open, especially since Saturday is my last day of work at J.Crew. Yes, I quit. Yes, I am sad. And yes, I had to quit so that I could have some structure in my life. Just a little would be nice.

Happy weekend to everyone. Tonight think of Mitch and me dancing at Prom. I seriously can't wait.

Happy Weekend.

Claire & Mary Katie

My nieces are the cutest.

Happy Halloween!