Thanksgiving Traditions

Tradition says that we go to Montana for Thanksgiving.  I like traditions.  I like going to Montana.

The feast is wonderful every year and the noisy crowd of cousins is music to my ears.

Tradition says the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning will be cold.  Really cold.  Christopher and I have done the 10k two years in a row.  I guess you could say that's part of the tradition now.  It's the only 10k I run all year.

Tradition says that our Thanksgiving dinner has all of the trimmings.  And we eat 'til we're stuffed.  Stuffed!

The big boys ate at the adult table because the other 10 cousins filled the "kid table" to capacity.

Tradition says that the variety of pies will accomodate everyone's favorite.  Mine is pumpkin.

This is the pie-maker (and roll-maker and pretty much most-of-the-meal-maker):

I sure appreciate her efforts.

Tradition says that Grandpa will make hotcakes every morning for breakfast.  Unless you're Caleb or Maureen and you prefer french toast.  He'll offer you your choice of breakfast beverage, too.  And if you're Caleb, he'll even put ice in your cup.  The hotcakes are special and the syrup is piping hot and thin as water.

It's funny that all of my pictures of Grandpa show him sitting down.  That's really misleading because tradition says that he cleans up all the grandkid messes and does a lot of dishes and cooking.  He also takes the kids to Exploration Works.  And plunges toilets.

Christopher helped a lot with the dishes, too:

He's kind of a Mr. Fix-it.  He helped replace the forty-year-old thermostat.  Or was it even older than that?  Here's Mr. Fix-it's wife modeling the relic:

Tradition says that I go shopping.  I'm not usually a shopper but with sales tax-free shopping opportunities, shopping is a must!  I've never braved the stores on Black Friday, but on Thanksgiving night, the kids were off swimming and Jon and Christopher went to the movies, so Emily and I decided to "just go see" what was happening at the stores.

(the contents are blurred so that no surprises will be ruined.)

We stayed out 'til midnight and bought sacks full of goodies.  Such fun!

Tradition says that the cousins will have the time of their lives and build fond memories together.  

Many more cousins pictures to come...

Tradition says that we put up the Christmas tree right when we get home from our Thanksgiving trip.  

And that's how we do Thanksgiving.  Because tradition says so.  And because it's just the way we like it.

Released

He came home from church and hung his truck keys on the key rack.  Then he instinctively searched his suit pockets for his church keys before remembering that those Bishop's keys--both physical and spiritual--had just been passed to someone else.

It was an emotional day for sure, a closing of a major chapter in our family's life.  But after nearly 5 1/2 years of diligent service, the time had come for Jon to be released from his calling as Bishop.

The growth we experienced as a family is remarkable, truly an amazing blessing.  Those five-and-a-half years held some of our family's most difficult trials, but we learned a great deal about faith, prayer and the love of our Savior.  Our young children grew older as their father grew to become an amazing leader.  He carried a mighty heavy mantle with such faith and humility.  I'll forever be grateful for the example he showed our children of willing service in the Kingdom of God.

Our children were so young when Jon was called, they scarcely remember life before Dad was the bishop.  On the way to church, Natalie said, "I'm excited to sit by Daddy at church.  I haven't done that my whole life!"  But they loved seeing Dad on the stand.  The older kids loved that interviews with the bishop were interviews with Dad.  His office felt like home to them.  They'll miss that.  However, we all look forward to more time with Dad, especially on Sundays.

It was a long and most wonderful journey.  We each feel privledged to have had the opportunity to travel it.

Birthday Wrap-up

It was quite the birthday week.  With two posts already devoted to our special days, adding another might seem like overkill--and it probably is--but these are moments that need to be captured.

I must admit that it warmed my heart that Alyssa would choose my cooking over any restaurant for her birthday meal.  It might just be that her special diet has made eating out a little less enjoyable, but when the menu is hers for the choosing, the decision is easy: Mom's clam sauce.

(And GF Oreos for dessert.)

She was pretty spoiled this year with some new clothes from us, money from her grandparents and a new iPod touch from her other grandparents.

As for my birthday, Jon did a really great job.  (How sweet was that birthday post?)  He is a thoughtful man, but often at random times.  His thoughtfulness doesn't necessarily coincide with special occasions.  This year, however, he coordinated his thoughtfulness and my birthday beautifully.

We had lunch at my favorite restaurant where he then presented me with a new iPhone!  I was perfectly content with my Stone Age flip phone, but I will admit that it's been fun to have something a little more "modern."  Our waitress--who is practically a good friend now because we are her regulars--saw me open my phone and said, "Oh good, you're not dumb anymore."  (Although I must still be dumb because it took me a minute to get that she was implying that my new smart phone would make me smarter. :))

I tried out my phone's camera right away:

Later that night, Jon and I got to go on a youth temple trip with Caleb and Alyssa.  Caleb's long had a love of the temple and Alyssa now understands why.  She can't wait to go back.

 My birthday fun continued on Friday night, when Jon took me into the city for an authentic Italian dinner followed by an authentic Broadway show.  See what I mean? So thoughtful.  So awesome!

And for the grand birthday week finale, we had Alyssa's birthday party with a few of her favorite friends.  It was rather difficult to schedule since she is at the gym every night, but thanks to Veteran's day, we were able to have her party during the day on Monday at Trampoline Nation.

The girls had a blast!

Hailey K., Alyssa, Trinity and Jasmine with Karlei doing tricks in the background.

Church friends: Rachel, Linsey, Emily and Lydia

Nat doing flips

Lys with buddies from the old gym--Hailey and Jasmine.  Love these girls!

Amari, Linsey, Emily, Rachel, Jasmine, Hailey C., Karlei, Alyssa, Hailey K. and Trinity.  Natalie and Lydia were off to get a drink

Lys chose purple and black for her colors.  I got to the party room to set up and was delighted to see that the walls were purple.  How perfect is that?

We had pizza and an ice cream sundae bar.  It was a perfect birthday party!

I think it's safe to say that we've both been sufficiently celebrated.  Two very happy birthdays, indeed!

Happy Birthday!!

The first week of November is a pretty important one in my home.  You see, we have two birthdays to celebrate.  My wonderful wife ALWAYS gives our children the attention and love they deserve on their special days.  Alyssa had a great day yesterday, of course due to everything that Tara does to make her feel special.

Then Tara's birthday arrives the very next day!  I admit that I am not a party planner and am well aware that I lack the talents in giving off any sort of resemblance to a well planned and coordinated birthday event, with all the wrappings and bows and cute details.  In fact, it is a common joke in our home about any gift I attempt to wrap or make cute in any way.

But I do know what I can give.  My love, gratitude and devotion to my best friend and love of my life!

Remember these days?

Tara and Natalie just before heading off to school.

I cherish and honor you on your birthday!

Happy birthday sweetheart!  I love you!

Elections and Birthdays

Twelve years ago today I had an appointment with my obstetrician.  Though it was the exact date he'd given for my baby to be due, by my calculations she was late.  It was the Monday before an historic election day and the year's first skiff of snow covered the ground.

Convinced that I was leaking amniotic fluid, I'd been to the hospital the previous Saturday, but they soon sent me home as pregnant as I'd arrived.  I'd spent the weekend feeling frustrated and growing increasingly impatient.

When I finally saw my doctor around noon that Monday, I explained what had been happening.  He did a quick exam which included a ph test of the fluid I'd been leaking and announced, "Go directly to the hospital.  Do not pass go.  Do not collect $200." (Good thing my smart mom had advised me to take my hospital bag to the doctor appointment.)

We departed for the hospital and I was on a mission to have that baby before midnight so that we wouldn't spend the rest of our lives sharing a birthday.  I felt strongly that we each needed our own day.

We checked into the hospital at 1:00 in the afternoon and at 5:02 p.m., we welcomed the most perfectly pink princess into our family.  We couldn't have been happier!

The next night, I lay in my hospital bed cuddling the best birthday present I'd ever been given while watching the news coverage of Election Tuesday.  It was a tight race between Al Gore and George W. Bush.  Late into the night it still hadn't been decided.  I soon succumbed to my post-partum exhaustion and decided that I'd just find out who the president was in the morning.  Who knew that the ballot counting would go on for another six weeks!

Today, another presidential election will take place and if all the polls are correct, it will be another very tight race.  We'll be keeping a close eye on the election, no doubt, but our first priority is to celebrate that baby girl who today is a beautiful, twelve year-old young lady.  Oh how we love her!

 Birthday breakfast--gluten-free cinnamon roll and pumpkin spice cocoa.

Sporting her new birthday coat. :)

Happy 12th Birthday, Alyssa!

Our Candy Bar

I wasn't going to sort this year, but then I just couldn't control myself.  I didn't do the usual counting and graphing and because I was working full time last week, couldn't get to the sorting until three days after Halloween, when our stash was already considerably diminished.

I know, sorting is strange.  But something about that giant bowl--I don't believe in the kids keeping their candy separate--with the fruity and chocolate all mixed together feels unorganized and messy to me.  So I sort.  Plus I like to see which brands go first and which last the longest.

I actually did a candy experiment early in the month of October.  I bought a Sam's Club-sized bag of chocolate and sorted each variety into several different containers. (See below)

I set the candy on the table on Monday at 6:03 p.m.  I then recorded the following predictions:

• Reese's would be the first to go and they would all be gone by 9:30 that same evening. (There were more Reese's in the bag than any of the other varieties and they also filled a glass jar which I kept on the coffee table in the living room.)  
• Kit Kat would go second.
• Hershey's third.
• Whoppers fourth.
• Almond Joy last.  (This would be a direct reflection on me since I knew full well I was the only member of the family that likes them.)

The Reese's actually lasted until 2:40 on Wednesday.  Other than that, I was spot on!  We did get some help from our neighborhood kids and Natalie took a couple candy bars a day to her teacher, but the stash was close to gone by the end of that week. 

I even learned one thing from this experiment: none of my kids like Whoppers.  Really?  Doesn't everyone like Whoppers?  Well Jon and I do, so we took care of those.

Our Halloween candy bar is now smaller by four containers.  The Twix, Starburst and Tootsie Rolls were the first to go and there are only four Snickers left.  

Should I make a prediction about how long the rest will last?

Halloween Fun

Costumes weren't allowed at school but since it was "Wacky Wednesday," blue hair was.

I've been teaching 2nd grade all week for a teacher who is on vacation and it just so happens that this particular teacher had planned to do a joint "harvest party" with Natalie's teacher.  They planned a rather extensive festivity that included seven different stations run between the two classrooms.

I love to put on a party, but putting on someone else's party is another thing entirely.  It was mostly run by parent volunteers and I did my best to at least pretend that I knew what was going on when explaining to them what they should do.  Between the prep work and clean-up, it will easily go down as my busiest sub job to date.

But watching kids have fun is ever-so enjoyable and totally worth the throbbing in my legs and feet that I got courtesy of the Halloween holiday.

The donut eating contest was a popular station and easily the most comical--and messy!

I got home from teaching and ran to the store for some candy for trick-or-treaters.  I was feeling somewhat embarrassed about having waited until 4:00 on Halloween to buy the goods, until I found that  half of my neighborhood was at the store for the very same reason.  

I got home and after throwing together a pot of soup, I decided I'd better start working on Caleb's costume.  So I ripped up some clothes, painted him green and called him "The Hulk."  Good enough.

Caleb said he thought he might be too old to trick-or-treat but Hunter had asked him to go with him and he "didn't want to let him down."  What a buddy.  You need a friend to help you gather free candy?  Caleb's there for ya.

I was equally lame with the girls' costumes.  Jon took them to the Halloween store and they each picked their own outfits.  No thoughtful ideas or creativity whatsoever.  

Natalie was a vampire but she left the collar that really made the dress at the gym after she attended a party there last week.  Alyssa was a...skeleton girl?  I don't really know what you call it but she's cute in anything.

The kids couldn't wait to head out with their friends.  They paired off and gathered the goods for over two hours!

We have SO much candy.  I mean, SO much candy!

"But that's what Halloween is all about," Natalie said as she sorted through her mound.

If that's true, then this just may have been our best Halloween yet.