thankfulness.

Today was the best Thanksgiving I think I've ever had. My family is just way too much fun - we played whist, ate a lot of delicious homemade food, relaxed, sang and danced, and made a video of the best turkey noises!

And now, here's just a quick list of things I'm thankful for today :)

Mom and Dad. For everything. I wouldn't know where to start, so I'll just say what I think is really important. Both of you have instilled a good work ethic in me, which is something I hope makes you very proud. Mom - thank you for being my biggest role model. I hope to be a lot like you one day. Dad - thanks for all the personality traits you passed down to me genetically. You're my hero and the most hardworking and hilarious person I know. It's my goal to meet a guy as hardworking and hilarious as you are, and then marry him (good luck, KP).

My siblings. I wish I could express how much I love you. My favorite thing about us four is that none of us are exactly the same. The bond we share is incredibly special to me, and I can't wait for all the milestones ahead of us that we will reach together. 

My grandparents. How lucky am I to still have both sets, who all are in relatively good health!? Spending the day with all of you under the same roof was such a treat! 

Russell. Technically you're Gus', but you'll always be my baby. I never thought it was possible to love someone who's not a human being so much. I love when you chase my car to the driveway and let me crouch down to pet you without tackling me. You put a smile on my face each time I see you.

My new friends. The reason I love Crookston so much is because of you. You know who you are. 

My old friends. It's funny how you find out who's not going anywhere. The best friends are the ones you don't have to talk to every single day, and you just pick up where you left off the next time you see each other. It's pretty cool. Again, you know who you are.

Red River. It's the cutest, quaintest little church nestled in a grove of trees - absolutely picturesque. I feel so privileged to have grown up with that kind of church as my backbone because I have learned more about myself walking through those doors than I have in any other space I have encountered in my life. 

Home. Kittson county, the farm, SRR Township, Hallock, what have you. The older I get, the more grateful I am to have grown up where I did. I regret that I didn't appreciate it more when I was growing up. I love coming home, and it's so hard to leave. 

Field experience.  I get a reminder of why I have to take classes that aren't necessarily fun, but pertain to my major. Someday, in the less-than-distant future (like less than 3 years...eeee!) I will have my own classroom and this will all be worth it. The kids melt my heart.

Family living so close. For the most part, all of my extended family lives in about the same area. We are all getting together for a birthday party on Saturday, and I just can't wait. It's extremely rare to celebrate with second and third cousins like we do on a fairly regular basis, and that's so special to me.

Good food, clean water, and my health. I have access to good, nutritious food that I need to start eating more of. I have strong legs that are actually kind of starting to enjoy running. My diabetes has never been this well-managed before. It's time to stop with the self-hate and just strive for optimal wellness! 

College. I'm thankful that I get the opportunity to go to school. I'm also thankful that I got a CA position and will have my own room in McCall Hall next semester! Woohoo!

Oh, and here's a few pics from our fun day.

cousinly cousins.

 

 

Whist and a busch light for me!



The turkey hat. I just can't even.

 

Love,

Kalli

baby bailey beav's 20th birthday.

Beings today is my oldest younger sister's birthday, I thought it might be fun to share a few stories about her over her over the years.

Sorry, these aren't the ones that will be featured in my maid-of-honor speech someday. You're just going to have to attend the reception for that one.

One day, little Bailey (she was probably 4 or 5 or so, as she is in all these stories) walked in the house just shortly after we had gone outside to play. Our parents said, "You're back inside so quick? You must've gotten too cold!" and Bailey said to them, "Yep, and me and Kalli don't know NOTHIN' about the broken clothesline!"

Hahaha.

For Granny's birthday one year, all she wanted to do was have Bailey and me over so we could decorate sugar cookies. We had a sleepover, and when we woke up the next morning, Granny told us that she had to run to the store to get ONE THING (butter or eggs or something) to make the cookies. I, of course, threw a fit and insisted on going with her. Once she said I could come along, Bailey decided that she better join in, too.

Evidently no one wanted to hang out with Papa Ray that day.

Anyways, Granny got us all bundled up in our winter gear and loaded into the car and drove us to the grocery store. Before we went in, she told us (I can still see her wagging her pointer finger at us), "We are absolutely not getting anything except for what we came for. Okay?" "OKAY!" we said. We went in the store and - the way Granny tells it - I went one way, and Bailey went the other way (it's pretty comical to hear watch Granny tell this story because she uses a lot of hand gestures and things). Anyways, I climbed up a pop display that had the cases organized in a stair-like pattern, and Bailey knocked over a bunch of stuff with the shopping cart. Granny was pretty not-happy when she got us back to the house, so we each had to sit in a chair for a timeout. Then, she went into the bathroom and burst out laughing because it was so funny.

After the timeout was over, Bailey said to Granny, "I'm sorry Granny, but it wasn't me driving the cart. It was my blankie."

Hahaha. Ahhh. This kid. I tell you what, you can't make this stuff up.

Whale watching in Massachusetts with our good friend, Lolli, who has put up with a lot of our arguments over the years. Thank you, Loll; without you, one of us would probably be dead right now.

One more before I close for the day (this is my personal favorite):

When our neighbors Terry and Joan were putting their house in, we had to dig a hole in our yard so they could hook up to our water line. This created a mucky mess sinkhole-type thing and Bailey and I had STRICT instructions not to go anywhere NEAR it.

Obviously that didn't happen, or there wouldn't be a story, now would there?

Nannie was a new baby, so Mom was in the house with her, when all the sudden she heard some kind of yelling or screaming or something outside. I'm not sure how it went down from there, but Bailey got stuck in that sinkhole we were NOT supposed to have anything to do with, Auntie Janet wound up saving her, and Mom was BEYOND pissed.

Also, I'm pretty sure there's still a little Barney-the-dinosaur purple mud boot buried in our yard on the north side somewhere.

About a decade and a half later (so only recently), we were sitting around the table reminiscing about this funny story (because Mom is finally able to laugh about it now) and I said, "Well, Mom...you know why Bailey went into the mud, don't you?"

Mom: "No, why?"

Bailey and I looked at each other and smiled and I said, "Because I had some silk sunflowers and I picked one apart and threw it in there and told Bailey to go get it."

HAHAHA.

:)

Other things we have done together over the years: the reason I got weaned off the bottle when I was a 19-month-old was because I whacked her over the head with it the day my parents brought her home from the hospital. One day, Bailey got sick of me picking on her all the time, so while I was laying on the floor with my head propped up on my hands watching Barney, she snuck up on the couch and jumped on top of me (I threw a fit, of course). Also, on an outing with Grandma HA to the Farmer's Store, I tipped over our shopping cart with her (Bailey, not Grandma) in it. To punish us when we would fight, Mom and Dad would make us do chores together holding hands. And let me tell you, it's not overly easy to dump a bucket of water in for the pigs when you've only got one good hand. Usually we would head back to the house laughing and skipping. I cut her curly red ringlets one day when MOM was gone and DAD was "watching us" when we were playing salon - they never grew back the same way, and I'm pretty sure she's just starting to get over it, maybe. Over the last 20 years, we've kicked, scratched, pinched, punched, screamed profanities at each other, cried together, laughed together, and (even sometimes) cuddled together. And there is no one else I would have rather done any of these things with.

Happy birthday, dear sister. I love you more than you will ever know.

[This one's my favorite.]

Love,

Kalli

floaty ghost [or, my totally adorby dorbs DIY halloween costume]

So, we've all seen this floating around on Pinterest:

VIA

And I decided I just had to have one for myself.

Like always, I enlisted in Granny's help for this project :) I absolutely love sewing dates and miss them so much now that I am at school.

I went to JoAnn fabrics and found some of what Granny calls "crushed tulle". It's really soft and lightweight, which makes it really drapey and flowy, as opposed to regular tulle like the little girl in the picture, so it doesn't stick out quite like that.

We sewed a tube to put the elastic through for the top of the cover up. Before we put the elastic through, however, we had to sew the tulle to the bottom of the tube.

I let Granny put the elastic through. Maybe someday I'll do it myself.

I also let her start sewing the tulle on for me.

She's a good granny. :)

The next thing we did was cut the eyes and mouth out for the ghost face. I wish I had a video of us deciding where to place the eyes, because it was quite funny - Granny thought one eye should go over each of my, well...you know. Haha. We get to giggling so much - I actually think I like spending time with her more than actually sewing.

After we got the eyes and mouth cut out, we sat across the table from each other and sewed them on.

I outlined them with silver glitter glue shortly before I wore the costume.

Under the costume, I wore an old white dress I had from high school.

And that's my DIY floaty ghost Halloween costume! Super, super cute.

:)

Love,

Kalli