Lights

The Monday after Thanksgiving, the 6 of us went to Temple Square for FHE.   We like to go early in the season because 1: It is not crowded, and 2: It is not freezing.  We started off with Chik-Fil-A because we love that place and it is near a Trax station.  Of course we rode Trax because the kids still think it is really cool.  

We spent a couple of hours at the Square admiring the Temple, the lights, the nativity, the Visitor's Center, and the Tabernacle.  We actually took some time and talked about the building of the Temple, some of the scripture stories, and the pioneers.  It's so nice having the kids a little older because they are interested and understanding and have questions and great conversations.  It was a great experience and absolutely beautiful.  I remember feeling so overwhelmed with happiness and how good life is.  

The kids got to hear all about our wedding day in the SLC Temple and also about our wedding reception and dinner when we went to the Joseph Smith Building.  We even took them into the exact room and reminisced.  It's hard to believe it has been 15 years!

Empire Room at the JSB

Something else that made me really happy was seeing the progress at City Creek, downtown's new shopping district which opens in about 3 months.  I saw the Nordstrom sign through the window and it made me smile.  Oh how I've missed shopping at Crossroads!

A fantastic evening for sure.  In fact, we have booked hotel rooms at the Little America Hotel for next week so we can go back again and shop and eat too!

We love Gargoza!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving {and a day after Black Friday}, we wanted to get out and do something with the cousins before they had to fly back home.  There wasn't enough to snow to snowmobile, there were too many little ones to go ice skating, we had already gone bowling, and didn't want to go to a movie.  Luckily, Millie remembered seeing a bunch of people tubing when we were driving up Parley's canyon a few days earlier.  She suggested we go tubing.

So, we scrounged together all of the snow gear we could muster up and headed to Gargoza Park! Thanks to Grandma the kids all had awesome new hats to wear.  We spent the next 2 hours on the awesome tube hill.  There was something for everyone.  We got there just as the sun was setting...and while it was chilly...it was so much fun that the kids didn't even notice.  The bigger kids were off on their own.  The grown-ups took shifts with the younger ones between the warm yurt with hot cocoa and playing outside.

We decided that going here was going to be a new tradition for our family.  It was an evening we won't soon forget.

S and W with their new mohawk hats

Alix

Going up the hill on a standing escalator

Quinny loved that part!  Of course her new hat had kitten ears

Weeeee!  Alix, Quin, Bode going down the small hill

BS pulling them around

They have a carousel thing that takes you around and around and around

Millie, Ellie, Caitlyn

Alix and Cambree

One of the best things was that a huge group could go down the big hills together!

Thanksgiving

Silly Grandpa thought it was really funny to make this pumpkin a real "Tom Turkey!"
In this pic it's hard to see, but look where the stem is :)

Thanksgiving was fantastic - not only the day, but the entire weekend.  We headed up to the cabin Wednesday evening and met up with everybody.  Nate's girls had just landed from Minnesota and we were so thrilled to see them and spend the holiday with them.  G-pa & G-ma had the place so cozy and decked out...it was very welcoming.  And they had finished the 2 new Murphy beds so everyone had a nice bed to sleep in.  Of course the kids were wired and it took forever before they finally went to sleep.  The women stayed up making as many preparations as possible for the feast the next day.

Thursday morning the kids were anxious to go outside.  Unfortunately there wasn't enough snow to go snowmobiling and sledding, but they had fun rolling in it and making a darling snowman family:  

Millie, Sambo, Ellie, Quin, Caitlyn, Will, Alix, Cambree

 While the grown-ups cut, sliced, diced, sautee'd, roasted, mashed, stirred, chopped, mixed, whipped, poured, and set tables - the kids stayed busy playing Pilgrim Memory game, Turkey Bingo, and Pin the Feather on the Turkey.

Can you spot BS?  Yep he's in the background taking a nap amongst all of the chaos!

Looks like he woke up to be the Bingo caller

Caitlyn and Millie helped me with the kid's drinks and the favors.  These are little Black Cherry Shasta soda cans.

"Goodies to Gobble"
Gummie Bears and Sixlets for the kidlets

Chocolate covered Cinnamon Bears and Orange Sticks for the Adults

They did a great job with the place settings too!

Will's precious Turkey Leg!  He belongs at Disneyland with that thing!


The kids table.  Uncle Denny and Aunt Marcia joined us with their clan for dinner. 

  After the feast and some lounging around, we all walked to the other cabin for DESSERT!  Aunt Marcia and her crew had a fabulous spread of pies, cakes, and ice creams!  YUM.  It was great to be all together at the cabin again!

At 10:30 that night, BS and I set out for Black Friday shopping.  Somehow Caitlyn, Mills, and Ellie talked us into letting them come with us.  Mostly the girls would walk around the store for a bit then get back in the car and listen to music while they waited for us in the massive check-out lines.  They did get some cat naps in between stores.  We went to Walmart and the Outlets in Park City, then down Parley's canyon to Walmart and Target in Fort Union, then to Fashion Place Mall and Toys R Us in Murray.  We got home at 5:00 am!  But boy did we save $$$$!  Here they are at Toys R Us at 4 am:

 Friday was Uncle Kirk's birthday so we went to Fat Cats in Ogden for some bowling!  There was a balloon guy there that made some cool stuff.   Fun times!

November stuff

I think November 2011 set the record for the fastest month ever.  A good month, but fast.  Too fast.  I'm sure it has something to do with two weddings and a birth in the family, cousins here from Minnesota, championship football games, and of course Thanksgiving.  I am in Christmas mode and totally excited for the upcoming holiday...but getting anxiety about it coming too quickly because that means that it comes to an end too quickly.  

But this year the kids start Christmas break on December 16th so that is a good thing!  18 days off!  So hopefully that will allow enough time to do lots of fun stuff with the kids {and nothing}.

I am trying to catch up the past month so I can start posting about December happenings.

We checked the kids out of school at lunch time and went as a family to the State High School Football Championship Game!  The Lone Peak Knights were playing so naturally we wanted to go cheer them on.  It was at the Rice Eccles Stadium at the U.  It was an exciting, awesome game and they WON!  It brought back memories for BS and I, remembering when he was a high school Senior playing at his football championship game, while I was a 16 year old cheerleader on the sidelines.  I remember feeling so lucky to be dating him.  Anyway, here are our cute rug-rats at the game: 

 

On November 17th Jenny and Jordan were married.  It was a special and unforgettable moment having all 8 of Sam's siblings and spouses together in the temple during their ceremony.  What a remarkable day!  We are so glad to have Jordan and Megan {Sean's new wife} in our family.  Here are a few snapshots:

All 14 grandchildren!

Beautiful M at the reception.  She caught the bouquet!!!  Hopefully that mean nothing.

She LOVES babies.  She couldn't get enough of baby Landon born 11/2

Beautiful Q in her fancy dress

I hosted Bunko and instead of actually playing the game, we got crafty and made these cute pumpkins made out of paperback books.  Everyone went home with a new festive decoration.  They are easy to make - so much so, that Millie and some friends got together and made some too.

Quincy asked me to post a picture of her holding Casper so we could see how big he is getting.  This was taken the day before Halloween so he is a whole month older.  We are not cat people, but sure seem to be liking this one.  He is good and easy to care for.  Quincy, being the animal lover she is,  has a playmate for hours.  The best thing is he can be outside most of the time and you don't have to worry about him at all.  He has cozy quarters in the garage.   He must be out hunting all night long because he sleeps during the day except when Quinny plays with him.