Gobble...gobble...gobble!

Thanksgiving this year was a huge success!  We decided to organize a Thanksgiving with our fellow Clevelandites who were going to be around for the Holiday.  Tim was a huge help to me, I couldn't have done it without him.   Not to mention our friends.  We had so much help with setting up, eating all of the DELICIOUS food, and cleaning up.  We had it at the church, and had a blast!  There is so much to be thankful for, especially friends who are family during the Holidays!

 A couple of weeks ago, I was not sure if I was going to be able to say it would turn out a success...  Holidays are supposed to be fun, stress free, and relaxing right? Yes, that is true, except for the part where you have to purchase a $30 bird with bones sticking out of it from the store (which was an experience in itself...I had no idea what I was doing, kind of like a turkey with my head cut off...), pull out it's neck and lovely giblets, wash it, then cry your eyes out while you cut the onion and celery to stuff the sweet old bird.  The best part was that Tim and I were doing this about 5:30am Thanksgiving morning, we were quite a sight. 

Here is a visual just to give you an idea...
Actually, this was the night before as we were figuring out a way to
thaw sweet little Tommy the Turkey.

Tom at the Ashworth Spa.  He is in his glory, that is for sure.
Leave it up to my engineering-genius-husband to think of a way to
plug up our sink when I realize we don't have anything to plug it with.
I put my full faith and trust in Tim when it comes
to stuff like this, his ideas (no matter how off the wall they may be) always work!  

I was very kind, and let Tim do most of the honors.  How nice of me, right?!?!

I'm not sure if this was after we had successfully set up the thawing
spa for Tom, but I think it is clear that Tim was relieved, or overjoyed, or...

The final product!!  I almost forgot to take a picture before Tim cut into Tom.  I know
that the pros have leaves and apples and fancy-shmancy decor around their turkeys,
but in reality, this is really how your supposed to dress up a turkey...with nothing at all!  We had so much
help from our parents and grandparents, which I'm sure were thrilled to get the 4th phone call in the same
15 minutes on what to do next when it come to cooking a turkey!
The verdict: It was amazingly tender and moist.  OOOHHH, it was so good!
And yes, it is 4 days after Tom made his debut, and we still have plenty of turkey to go around :)

Here are some pics at the church!  We had SO much yummy food, it was the best :) And yes, 

we needed a separate table for dessert, it was a must.

After we ate, most of us sat around and chatted for a couple of hours.  Each time I thought about

standing up, I realized that I probably couldn't even if I wanted to with the 50 pounds of food in me!!  

I decided to spend the rest of my Christmas money on a Turkey Trot!!  I haven't
been able to run a real race in a long time, and Turkey Trots are probably my favorite race.
This was the 30th annual trot put on in downtown Cleveland, and it was a HUGE event! There were 7,000
runners there, crazy, but awesome!  This is the reason why Tim and I had to wake up at 5:30am to put the turkey
in the oven.  Tim and Max were great sports, and cheered me on.  It was absolutely perfect running weather!!! 

Tim hurried and snapped this shot right at the finish.  There were so many runners,
I didn't even realize I was at the finish line after the 5 miles.
 I saw my time as I crossed, and thought it was
okay, but I wasn't too proud.  I looked online later at the results and had actually run
the race almost 3 minutes faster than I thought.  There was the gun time 39:53 (what I saw at the end of the race), and the
chip time 37:08 (time from when I passed the start and finish line).  It took me almost 3 minutes after the
gun shot to even get to the
starting line because of the crowds!  It was so fun to run one of my favorite races
and do well!

The best part of the race though, was seeing this little guy (and his Daddy) at the finish line!
Of course, the first thing Max did when he saw me was point out the trucks he was seeing...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We are so grateful for all of the blessings
that we enjoy here in Cleveland.  We are so thankful for our family and friends, the gospel, Tim being able
to attend medical school, our health, this beautiful earth, and much more!  We love you all :)

15 Months and Counting!

Max is officially 15 months today! He is the sweetest little thing that ever happened to us, and we are so grateful for him.
He is such a mischievous little boy, and knows it too!  He is always getting into cupboards, drawers, bags, papers, etc...that he shouldn't.  He will make eye contact with whoever caught him, smile, and then run off as fast as he can while waving his hands in the air and mumbling something that sounds like Russian.  
He gives the best kisses, with the fish lips and everything.  Tim and I will usually kiss after we pray, and just from watching us, Max caught on and now will make a kissing noise after every prayer, so great!
Ever since Max fell down our front steps head first, he is deathly afraid of stairs, and will just stand at the top of whatever stair case we are on and look down at his fate...!
He can go down a slide by himself, and even land on his feet...well some of the time.
Max would take his tooth brush everywhere with him if we let him.  He LOVES babies (Max says 'Behbe'), and will always lean his head to one side and talk in a high-pitched-voice anytime we see one.
Snow Bear (Max says him 'Bobehhhhhhh' in a high pitched voice, and gradually will go up in pitch) is still his favorite stuffed animal, although his doggie from Grandma Ashworth is in close second!
Max could stay outside all day and run up the walkways of our neighbors houses.  I don't know what it is, but going up the walkways is apparently 'in' right now with 15 month old kiddos.
 He loves to go up to a tree trunk and hug it while looking up as far as his little eyes will let him.
Max loves to read, and I will catch him sitting down on the floor with tons of books opened while he mumbles in a, once again, high-pitched Russian mumble.  I could watch him for hours.
Max is so sweet to pictures of Jesus, and will always give Him kisses.
Max loves his Daddy, and stops whatever he is doing when he hears those keys in the door at 5 or 6 o'clock.  He'll run to the front door and as soon as Tim is seen, Max will reach for him with his head back and a huge smile on his face!  I think I have teared up only a couple of times watching that...
Max bleeds blue, and could watch BYU Football all day.  He will climb up on Tim's lap and watch the game for a good chunk of the game (don't worry, I have had no influence on this one...)  Everytime he sees a game going on he will throw his arms up in a touchdown (he says 'duhdowh') about 68 times expecting our attention on everyone of them :)
Max loves to eat frozen peas, cubes of cheddar cheese, chicken nuggets, anything sweet, his bottle, tomatoes, grilled cheese sandwiches, graham crackers, raisins, beans, eggs, and anything off the floor.  Tim and I have to applaud and give Max a standing ovation when we try to give him anything besides the food I listed. After our celebration of Max having a bite of whatever he doesn't like, he will nod his head in excitement and clap his hands. It is the only way we won't find it on the floor, gotta love positive reinforcement.
As many of you know, Max is OBSESSED with trucks.  Enough said.   
He can say Dada, shishee (fishy), Duhhhhh (truck), seesishh (Jesus), and Duh for about everything else (his shoes, socks, dog, or anything he points to!)
He is soooo ticklish, and loves when Tim will go to town as the tickle machine.  Tim will also throw him up, spin him around, pull rugs from under his feet, and make him soooo dizzy and then set him down to see how many walls Max will run into...don't worry, Max doesn't get hurt too often when Tim is playing with him!  No really, Max loves it more than anything.

We love you so much Mr. Max, and can't believe how fast you are growing up!!!!  Keep up the good work buddy :)

I took these today right after he woke up from a nap!  Here he is, in all of his glory :)

My day is complete with this face I tell ya!

Don't mind the perfectly matching socks...

 

Dance Like A Monkey!

Well Max can officially be called "Crazy Little Monkey" now!  My sister Elise sent a darling monkey costume for Max, and he LOVED it!  He actually won some costume contests in it, we were so proud :)
Trick-or-Treating was a blast, especially Max and his dad going up to all of the spooky houses.  I stayed behind to take pictures...not because I was scared of the dummy hung by a noose in the tree, or the one in the electric chair that would shoot sparks...or the one with the guillotine... haha!  

Oh what a night!  He was all tuckered out from the fun :)  Sweet Little Monkey!

Speaking of all tuckered out, this is what was happening at the Ashworth's
while Dad was studying in his dungeon, and Max and I were bored.
Who needs bedtime stories, right?
Oh, and excuse Max for the burp at the end...I promise we teach him manners...!