Where's his reindeer???

I took the boys out today for a "quick trip" to Michael's and Joann's to get a few crafting supplies. As we were walking out "Santa" in street clothes drives past us and parks next to us. As I'm buckling Owen in, Santa gets out of his van and walks past Liam; who stops him and says, "where are your weindeer?"

I flash a look at Santa, not certain what he will say, to which he looks at Liam and reply's: "they're back at home taking a nap so they're ready for their big day."

THANK YOU SANTA in street clothes, and (Ms. Claus who also passed!)

To which Liam says "Oh!" Santa drives a car too?
Me: "Sure he does, there's no where to park reindeer at the mall."

Satisfied...

Disclaimer: This is not the guy we saw, but he was Merry like this guy.

Dr. we need you STAT!

Nate and I were in charge of the Turkey this year and Nate really wanted to do an injectable marinade. Here is a video of him prepping the pt.
We hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. We are so thankful to have you all as friends or family.
Love, Jenn, Nate Liam and Owen

A liitle Somethin on the side

A friend of mine got the cutest little necklace a few years ago and after coveting it and wanting one for myself, I decided that I'd learn to make some myself. I made a couple and got such good feedback that I opened a store on Etsy. (Just click on Magnolia Vali and it will take you there.)
I named it Magnolia Vali (Magnolia for a New Orleans memento and Vali is Val and Ali together, for my Mom and Sis.)
It just opened this week and I have had a lot of fun with it especially with the Twilight movie opening.

Here are a few that I have made so far. They are really fun and inexpensive they make for great stocking stuffers, girlfriend gifts, babysitter gifts....

These are the "Non Twilight" themed pendants



These are the Twilight themed pendnats

Where did November Go?

Lets start back to the tenth.
While Marie was still campaigning she had planned to get out of UT ASAP after the election, Win or Lose. She called and told me they were also going to take a detour and ride the train down to see us as well.
It just so happened that it was going to fall 2 days before Nate's 30Th birthday. I decided that it would be more fun to surprise him so I kept it a secret for months. (Not an easy thing for me since I can't buy any of his Christmas presents until the week before. I get too excited and try and coerce him into opening them.)
I finally told Liam a few days before that they were coming, thinking "oh he won't understand my secrets safe with him..."
The night before they came in, I was getting him ready for bed and he says, "Mama my Nana and Bompa come tomorrow to sleep in my bed and surprise dada?" I quickly cover his mouth and reiterate that it's a surprise and not to say ANYTHING to Dada. (luckily Nate was on the phone with his attending and missed the whole conversation.
The next evening we picked them up at the station and I called Nate to tell him I "didn't want to cook dinner tonight so did he want to meet me somewhere." He bit! Any reason to not have to do dishes (that's his job and he's wonderful at it!) is a good enough excuse for him!
I got a table with the boys and after he came in and sat down, his parents came walking through the door. He said to himself, "Hmmm those people look really familiar" (the lighting was dark) then he thought "WAIT isn't that my parents? Are we in UT? (Looks down,) NO still in scrubs and can see the hospital from here. Looks at me and I'm recording it (but it was too dark to see:(
I say HAPPY BIRTHDAY and Liam Screams Surprise Dada!

Liam was so excited to have visitors all for himself. They brought him a Disney/Pixar sticker book and that is how he and Dan spent most of the time when we were at the house. However, since Dan wears glasses, Liam had to too! All we had were sunglasses bu tit did the trick.


Nate worked the next day, but we took the kids up to Lancaster to ride the train. Liam was in heaven. And it was the perfect thing to do on a cold day.


I had talked Nate into getting his birthday off before his parents came out. He was a little confused as to why I'd want him to get a weekday off and not a weekend, but nonetheless did it for me. Now he understood why.
We went to breakfast at our favorite place here in Hershey. I salivate just thinking about it. Then HAD to do a quick ride at Chocolate World to get our free chocolate.

Then Marie took me to get a birthmark off my hand.
I've always had my "chocolate mark" on the palm of my hand, but after two babies, it's no longer flat and smooth, so we decided to get it off just to be safe.
In high school I had 15 moles taken off at one time. This was going to be a cake walk compared to that. (yes I have that many moles, and more. The Liddell's are basically one big mole with a little skin on the side.) When I went in for my pre-OP appointment (which I thought was weird, Just take the thing off in clinic already. You know it's hard to find a babysitter during the day.) They said it was an "out Pt. procedure done at the O.P. surgical center...WHAT, for a MOLE???
They asked if I wanted a little general anesthesia and I laughed out loud and seriously thought they'd all gone cuckoo. And told them local would be just fine.
BAD MISTAKE! First off I had to strip down to a gown and wasn't prepared to have to do this, then they took me into an O.R. and they were all in surgical garb. The whole set up. Then he starts to inject my hand. In the past they just numbed the mole itself and then a little snip snip and stitch stitch and I was done.
NOPE, they had to get my WHOLE hand numb and that seriously hurts big time. Where was that propophal when I needed it??
Anyways. Now it's gone and to tell you the truth, I'm a little sad about it. It's been there my whole life and just like that POOF it's no more.
I don't recommend getting hand surgery when you have a child that can't walk it makes for some serious pain. Good thing Nate's parent's were here to help me! (THANKS!)



I was full of surprises for this 30th birthday. Nate has been wanting a Wii so bad for a few years, but even more once they released Rock band. It's been out of our price range and was always a "wish but never gonna happen item."
Not only that but good luck finding one. Oh but I did, back in JULY. That's right I bought it in July for his November birthday. It sat under our bed for 4 months. He never had a clue. This is the longest I've gone without telling him what i got him for his birthday. And trust me, there were times that I almost caved and said guess what you're getting for your birthday...Let's open it and play:)
He was so surprised and that made it totally worth it. The funny thing is, he told me he couldn't decide if he was happy or depressed that he got the one thing he really wanted for his 30th birthday, which was the same thing he wanted for his 10th. A video game.
He didn't get rock band yet. That will have wait for Christmas. But until then we will all have sore arms from playing tennis.

That night the P's took us to a great Mediterranean place for dinner and to see Eagle eye (which we didn't know anything about and were pleasantly surprised. It was actually entertaining, although completely not probable.) I almost fell asleep from the percocet, but pulled through to the end.

The next day Nate was on call so we took take out to him so he didn't have to eat in the cafeteria AGAIN. Liam loves doing this and was really excited to take Nana and Bompa to Dada's house the hos- i- pal.


And then they were gone, just like that. Back on the train and flying home to UT. Liam cried for a straight hour after they left. It's in those moments that I really want to end up back in UT after residency.

Then a few days later it was my birthday and I was just happy that I was still a year younger than Nate:)

The Votes are in!

After deciding to run as the democratic candidate for the Utah State house of Representatives in District 46. Nate's mom; Marie Poulson, the rest of her family, friends, neighbors and volunteers, can hang up their campaign shoes. The long months of campaigning are finally over and maybe Marie will get some sleep, but only until January when Marie will take her seat at the House.
That's right folks:

SHE WON!!!

We are so proud of Marie and all her hard work. She has never been in politics before, what an accomplishment! We know that she will do a great job for district 46 and we wanted to tell her

congratulations.

We look forward to this new endeavor and can't wait to support her in her "new job!"

We love you Nana! You always have our vote. And thanks to all my friends and family who helped with her campaign; and obviously thanks for voting for her, even though some of you have never voted for a democrat before. That was a big leap for some of you, and I wanted you to know we appreciate it. We know she's the right lady for the job!

A few minutes of retrospection

A few years ago I remember sitting in a tiny room in a crowded house on the outskirts of Hanau Germany. Sitting across from me was a young man who I had gotten to know on the streets of Hanau. He lived tiny room that he shared with another person. He was from the Sudan, and we spent a few afternoons talking about what it was to live in a country torn by civil war. For the last decade a large group of Muslims have aggressively attempted to oust Sudanese Christians from many areas in the Sudan. These are the type of stories you read about in the newspaper while you are eating breakfast and shake your head, "Tsk tsk, that's terrible," you think to yourself, and then go about your daily business. But this was not the case for my friend.

He told me how Muslim rebels broke into his house late one night when he was 14 years old. He slept in the same room as his parents, and they screamed for him to run. As his mother was crying out, telling her how much she loved him, she was struck in the head by gun fire. His father was also mortally wounded. He described to me how he ran as fast as he could for miles, and spent the early hours of the morning weeping as he scrubbed his mother's blood and grey matter out of his clothing. He fled to Germany, and was living on government assistance, and was terrified that he might be extradited, because he knew what was waiting for him back home. He had brothers and sisters, but he had no idea where they were or whether they were alive.

Another woman I met was from El Salvador. One afternoon, while we were talking about where we were from and what it was like for us when we were kids, she asked to see my passport. When I lived in Germany I carried it around with me all the time, so I had it on me. I passed it across the table, and she sat there holding it, staring at it silently. Then she looked up at me. "Do you have any idea how bad so many people I know want one of these? I love where I grew up, but I would trade places with you in a second and never look back. You should feel lucky every day that you have one of these. Because of it, you have opportunities that very few people in the world enjoy."

Today when I finished with work I stopped at a local fire station. Multiple members of my community, who gave their time without compensation, greeted me there. I showed them my ID and they showed me a booth. I went inside and drew the curtains, and, in the culmination of a few months of thinking and forming my opinion, I got to choose who I would trust to help form the construct of my future. I made my mark and left the booth. The people I voted for may win or lose, but I got to give my say.

Tomorrow, we will have a new president elect. We will new representatives in every level of government. I am keeping my fingers crossed here, but I think there will be no coup, no violent uprising, no gunmen in the streets. This will happen because of the system of government that we have, and the millions of men and women who agree to uphold that system.

There are plenty of imperfections, plenty of annoyances and injustices. There are failures and incongruities and mishaps. All of these things frustrate us, anger us, and over time they steal our hope. I hope all of us will take minute to remember, especially on days like today, that in spite of all the bad things that we focus on, the end result is still, by the standards of the rest of the world, nothing short if miraculous.

By the way.... I wrote in President Palmer. Yes, I know the probability is low that a fictional character will win the presidency, but I am still keeping my fingers crossed.

All things Halloween

Hershey truly is one of the best cities to live in if you enjoy Halloween (Or the Fall harvest for that matter.)

There is always something to do Fall or Halloween related the entire month, so that's exactly what we did. Here are some of the photos we took of all the festivities.

We went to many a Halloween party, Hershey Park in the dark, the Hershey Parade (it wasn't any Mardi Gras parade, but fun all the same), pumpkin picking, Maize going, retirement home visiting, trunk O treating, and we even got the bragging rights for best pumpkin. (although it was my brothers family's idea and won them the same title last year. The reproduction was just as impressive! Thanks J, D, Joss, Cami and Tess.)

My favorite sayings from these events were:

"oh a Knight and a Dragon; now I get it. Cute"

"I'm so cold mama, lets go home and get toasty warm."

"I'm a Knight and Owen's a Dragon Raaarrrr"

"He said he likes-A my Costune" (imagine an Italian accent)

"I'm Buzz Lightyear...To infinity and beyond." (all this while wearing his costume inside the store. And running through the store flying"

"Mama, I'm hungry. I need, I need, Chocolate."

"No Mama Knights don't wear those shoes, they wear Crocs."

"That Granma took my candy bag. (No Liam we made them for the Grandmas and Grandpas.)"

And I wish so bad I had it on video when we went to one of the houses where the bowl had a hand that flipped down on yours when you reached in.
Liam unsuspecting reaches in, it snaps down he screams, runs, and grabs some random guys leg and screams, "It's too scary, it got me." (and we get to hear the story from him every couple of hours.)


All that being said, I am happy to have the month over with. I'm worn out, pumkin'd out, putting my kids in a costume everyday out, (liam ended up being, a Knight, Buzz lightyear and a cowboy. He will be sad to see it go and not have an excuse to wear a costume everywhere we go.) and last but certainly not least, I don't think my thighs can take anymore candy.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com