Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a long time since I've posted to my blog.  I love to read what is going on in everyone else's lives, but I have neglected to share any of the happenings in ours.  Many things have happened since March!  Easter came and went; Jared came home from deployment; we went on a cruise up and down the coast of Norway; visited Normandy and Paris France; we enjoyed a fun visit from my parents and Cindy where we went to Switzerland, Berlin, and many other places; we filled up our quarter jar, we just finished celebrating our 3rd wedding anniversay in London, England; and we have mourned the death of Jared's grandfather.  I will try to document each of these events in future posts as many people have been asking for pictures.

This year we started our Thanksgiving celebrations at  the Beck's house for the Night before Thanksgiving = Adults PIE NIGHT event.  Here's how it works: Most people get so stuffed from their Thanksgiving Feast, that the pies don't get the amount of attention and appreciation that they deserve. SO, one of our friends put together pie night the night BEFORE Thanksgiving so we can fully appreciate the PIE!   Here are the rules: 

1.  Each couple brings ONE pie to share.  I brought a Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake (it is one of my new favorite pies)! 

Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake from Our Best Bites!
http://www.ourbestbites.com/2011/11/layered-pumpkin-pie-toffee-cheesecake/

2. If you have any leftover pie at the end of the evening, you MUST take it home with you.  Jared was worried that we would come home with half the pie, but it was actually gone before everyone had shown up to try it.
3. If you are not here to celebrate pie night with them next year, you must host your own, wherever you are!  I don't know if we will be faithful in keeping up this new tradition, but we had  a great time being a part of theirs.  Jared and I left there having eaten so much pie that we didn't care if we had any on Thanksgiving.

For Thanksgiving, we went to one of Jared's coworker's house.   We ate some good food, played some fun games, let out a few laughs, and came home stuffed.  However, it just wasn't the same as being home with our family and  living in America where you can watch an afternoon/evening game of football.  We are looking forward to going home to Idaho to be with family for Christmas this year.

This past year, we have had our share of trials, but we have also been very blessed!  I could write a long list of things that I am grateful for, but I will just name a few.  It has been wonderful to be back together as a family again, to have good health to provide for our needs, to have the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, and to have such great family and friends who continually support us.

Tammy

The Final Coke Jar Posting

I've had several people ask me if I ever got our Coke jar filled up, and the answer is YES!  It took longer than expected, but it did happen by the end of September 2011.  We were quite happy with the results too.  However, it was a tedious process to complete.  First, we had to stack the quarters into dollars, then into stacks to $10, and lastly put them into the paper wraps and take them to the bank to trade for dollars.  I was so excited to put all this money into a heavy duty back pack and haul it up three floors to turn in until I started working with the cranky teller.  Once I told her what I needed, she started getting mad at me--telling me they were about ready to close (there was 20 minutes), that I should be bringing this money in each month so it could earn interest (a whopping $0.50), etc.  By the time I left the bank, I drove home in tears.  I couldn't understand why the lady couldn't just be happy that someone was actually saving money.  I was glad that I did it, but it really dampered my spirit on wanting to start saving again.

Month 1 and 2

Month 3 and 4

Month 5 and 6

Month 7 and 8

Month 9 and Final product!

Any idea how many quarters this jar can hold? To our surprise, we came home with $2,000 and some change!! We decided to save half of it and went to London, England, with the half of it for our anniversary.

Tammy