November from Mark and Linda

Hi everyone,
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Looking back, November was an interesting month...full of highs and lows.

Here's a recap:

Lows:
I hurt my back on Halloween night and was in bad shape for a week.

I went from the jubilant high of attending the rally for Paul Ryan to feeling the anguish of Romney's loss the next day. On my birthday! Being home alone was horrible. Still dealing with it.

Mom went to the hospital with diverticulitis. So awful to watch her suffer.....

Highs:
Toni surprised me for my 60th birthday! When i opened the door at 8 on Sunday evening i couldn't have been more shocked. I bawled! She had all sorts of things planned for the next day:
manicures
lunch at Miss Spensers Tea Room way out in the country
the Paul Ryan rally
take out from PF Changs- eating it in our jammies in front of the TV
lots of talking
breakfast on my bday morning at Panera...hot chocolate of course and a pastry

 Mom treated me to lunch at Mimi's for my birthday:

Mark came home with flowers. For my birthday present: He forgave my debt!!! I bawled.

I got a new calling: Primary Presidency Counselor. This was my last day with my sweet little CTR 4 class:

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Grandma Cottrell would be proud of me: She always said that when i got married i couldn't boil water. And now i am cooking for 20 people and it all tasted great.

Highlights included:
Claire and Calvin here
Eileen's mom Yolanda here
Mom able to come after getting out of the hospital
lots of crockpotted food which really helped!: potatoes, sweet potatoes, all the veggies, ham etc

We took the kids to see Santa

Julie announced that they are having baby #3 next June!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I FINALLYYYYYY got my etsy shop up and running. I am just starting out with 7 Bible flannel board stories. This has been hanging over my head all year...so YAY!!!!  Here's the link for my store:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/LindyJDesign

All of my patterns are free to the family. Just email me and tell me if you would like any:
Linda@Cottinjohn.com

This is our November...over and out.