This actually happened at our house this week!Bizarre, I know!  Savannah loves to read, but lately she is usually reading fanfiction on the computer.  Megan can’t be torn away from books she loves, but she is pretty picky about what she finds interesting.  Sarah is kind of the same way – she only finds some books very compelling.  So, it is rare that they are all captivated by a book at the same time – hence the picture.  Cute kids.

It was Thanksgiving this week, of course.  We only had two days of school, but Kevin wanted to get some work in on Wednesday, so we were planning to leave for Las Vegas on Wednesday after lunch.  That was his plan until about 6pm on Tuesday night when his plan suddenly changed to – LET’S LEAVE NOW!!!

Huh? 

It took all us girls some shocked moments before we kicked into gear and started trying to make it a reality.   In a sort of alternate reality experience, we were packed and ready with dinner eaten and the house cleaned up in one hour.   I am still not sure exactly how that worked – unless, of course, it was that everyone was working together on the project instead of me all by myself.  Hmmmm . . . Anyway, the blizzard still caught us and toyed with us and blew us around for about an hour before we broke through it.  After that, we had clear sailing for the next 4 and a half hours to my parents’ home.  Hurray!  AND we had a whole extra day to visit with the fam.  Double, triple Hurray!!  Yay!

I was able to go shopping for Thanksgiving necessities on Wednesday with my mom and dad and even visit some with Amy and her girls Wednesday evening.

On Thursday, we worked on cooking the big meal at three different houses while the cousins played at two different houses.  At 3:00, we packed up our cars and met at the church next to Amy’s house where we had the building reserved for two hours.  Of course, we had to put finishing touches on the food.  But that was how it should be. 

We have the gravy expert: The mashed potato expert: The turkey carving expert:

And what would we do without our fearless “champion of the details, make the idea a reality” expert: My sister, Margaret, and her family came down from Cedar City to be with us, too.  She helped make one of the stellar, juicy turkeys. 

Diane and Jason were there, too, and Diane made very, very yummy sweet potatoes – in her crockpot!  We were all impressed.

My brother Dave came, too!

Uncle Paul held Benjamin.  He is very good with babies.

Here we all are at our tables!  With some family friends thrown in we had 30 people for Thanksgiving dinner!

 

It was very yummy.  Grandpa and Benjamin became fast friends when Grandpa gave him his first roll! Bethany enjoyed sitting next to “my friend!”  This is Amy’s youngest daughter, Emma, who is just one year older than Bethany.  Beth followed her everywhere.  Emma was a good sport about it, too!  That’s a good thing! After dinner, the men did the dishes:

And the lucky ones of us went into the gym to watch some impromptu entertainment dreamed up by the cousins.  Yes, there is only one little boy in that crowd, so forget the basketball court – let’s use the stage!!!!

Afterwards, we went over to Amy’s house for pie.  It was a really nice day.

On Friday, everyone came up to Grandma’s house.  Diane brought a craft for all the kids.  They made dolls out of clothespins and houses out of empty milk cartons.  Grandma had two bins full of adorable fabric scraps and the kids cut and glued and colored and had a marvelous time!

Amy also brought a craft making snowmen out of foam cut-outs.  The kids loved that, too.  What smart sisters I have!

With the kids busy, we had time to visit and watch a bunch of football . . .

. . . and do more eating!

It was so nice to relax and talk and just be together for a little while.

On Saturday we were back on the road heading back to Utah.  Thanks Mom and Dad and Amy and Paul and Margaret and Rick and Diane and Jason and David Jack.  We had a great Thanksgiving!

It was the last of fall’s glory days this week.  So, we took a walk.

 

It was a beautiful day and Bethany and Benjamin so adorable and it was my favorite walk by the river that I’m pretty sure was one of the ways God prepared this place for me as the perfect place to live.  I remember walking the same way when my oldest girls were that small.  I realized that the only way to hold on to the time that seems to be falling so swiftly through my fingers is to do things that are memorable – like taking a walk on my favorite path on a beautiful fall day.  I’m glad I did.

We had a beautiful sunset this week, too!

I bet you are so glad that I took a picture!  Actually, Megan took it and I can’t take any credit.

I am telling you how beautiful fall was this week because this is actually in memoriam.

This is what my world will look like for now on!  For (what seems like) forever!!

At least we got the leaves up yesterday, or as best we could with the wind blowing.  Two weekends is actually not bad considering the size and number of our trees.  I am grateful for that, too.

I took Ben to his 6 month doctor check-up.  (I know he is 7 months, but I’m behind, remember?)  It was actually quite convenient because he got sick just a couple of days before.  (I think I might be taking my Polyanna mode a little too far, huh?)  Early in the week Ben started coughing that seal-bark cough that really can only mean croup.  Yikes!  He sounded scary, but he was still as cheerful as the day is long.  We listened to him and watched him carefully and ran the humidifier in his room.  By the time he saw the doctor, he was pretty much out of the danger zone.  Actually that is even why we went on the walk – for some good cold air!  Now he seems to have just a regular cold – runny nose and a bit of a productive cough.    He also thinks he is hot stuff because he can crawl anywhere – including under the desk where little things like paper clips and tacks fall down unnoticed.  So, the fact that Ben is still alive is another thing for which I am grateful today.

Sarah and Kevin had some more basketball games this week including a quick tournament on Saturday.  Out of three games this week, they lost two and won one.  Sarah does not like losing.  Nor does she like really mean girls who push and kick and give dirty looks.  She is having to deal with both.

Not today, though.

Today she is making cookies with her sister, Megan and the dubious help of Calianne.  Yipee!  Snickerdoodles!

Mariah thinks the snow is fabulous!

 

Cheyenne is playing with Ben.

Savannah was on the computer, but I kicked her off.  Now she is telling me it is time for choir!

Bethany is sleeping and Dad is trying, too as well.  Poor guy.  Sundays are the loudest days in our house.  Especially when we are all inside because of that awful white stuff.

This week, at least we are going to run away.  Las Vegas – I am thankful for your warm Novembers! 

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Look at those fancy girls! Cheyenne and Calianne went to a birthday party on Saturday at a spa! Don't they look adorable? They had such fun. Cali thought it was terrific! I had to grab Cheyenne for a picture before she ran to the bathroom to wash it off! Too funny!

Well, you know we couldn’t go too long without doing sports in our family -- though, I must say it was rather nice to sit back and take a deep breath for a few weeks. Sarah and Dad are doing basketball in Mapleton for the next 5 or 6 weeks and games started on Tuesday night! Kevin is coaching and this year, Sarah is playing on the 7th and 8th grade team. Wow! The level of play is a lot more advanced. It is sure fun to watch! They won Tuesday and lost Thursday. Sarah hasn’t been feeling well this week because she has a nasty cold, but she is still giving it her all. She posts up under the basket, gets those rebounds (she really fights! you should see her!), and throws out to the guard who is already flying down the lane, counting on her. It’s worth all the hassle of doing sports again. ;)

It was also leaf time at our house this weekend. We all helped rake up the backyard on Friday night and Sarah, Savannah, and Dad finished the front and the back on Saturday. It is a BIG job! That’s what happens when you have BIG trees – hundreds of pounds of leaves. The job isn’t done even, of course, but it’s a good start. Kevin spent all day outside Saturday doing yard work (except for the ward football game in the morning, of course). He really worked hard.

Megan actually showed me this giant leaf, but she didn’t want to have her picture taken with it. ?? It would have been a lot easier to get a picture of her with the leaf. The above shot is what Beth did when I told her to put the leaf next to her face. Heh, heh. Take two! :)

Our Primary Program was today at church. Everyone did great. All the kids got to say a bit at the microphone and they were all adorable (especially Cheyenne and Calianne!). Megan and Mariah got to sing in some small groups and Mariah got to do sign language by herself for “I’ll Walk With You.” It turned out really well. I sat on the stand with my class and got to watch all the adults’ faces as they reacted to the children. What a lot of happy smiles in sacrament meeting!

So, the big, BIG news of the week is that Benjamin is crawling!

His siblings (and others) have been “helping.”

I am not sure if him being able to crawl is helping me or not, though!

Here is a video of the kid in action. He is not quite a speed demon, yet, but he is definitely on the move!

Guess what we did this weekend?

It involved trees!

And ladders!

And lots of cheerful helpers!

We went apple picking, of course. Which translates into applesauce making, too, but I didn’t take any pictures because I didn’t have time going back and forth between boiling pots and crying babies. Naturally! A friend of mine offered us the apples off of her grandfather’s trees. She said that if no one came to get them, they’d just keep falling and go to waste. Well, you know how hard a time I have saying no to such offers, even though sometimes I think I should!

The kids loved it! Well, one didn’t, but the rest did. They were such good sports when I told them we were making applesauce on Saturday (and apple picking Friday afternoon!) and they just did what I asked and laughed and joked with each other throughout the whole project. What good kids I have! Sarah had to leave toward the end and Savannah fizzled out and opted to help with the babies, but Megan came through for me and took over the boiling of the apples while I worked on processing toward the end. I was so impressed! It really is a LOT of hours in a row. The twins helped, too – Cheyenne especially. And when Mariah’s friends came over she was generous enough to give them a turn or two at the crank. (I love putting neighbor kids to work!) By the end of the day Saturday we had 65 quarts. Many thanks to Gwen and the Sargents for the apples – and to my family for their stick-to-it-iveness.

As for the rest of the week, well the big news there is that on Tuesday, Savannah got braces!

She has let us know how painful it is and how much she hates it and that we don’t appreciate how hard it is not to be able to eat anything solid, but on the whole, she is being a really good sport about it. I even think she looks rather good in them, which is too bad, since you can’t go around in them forever, huh? lol! On Friday night, she and a couple friends went to the movies for a “Pity Party.” You gotta do something fun for yourself when you’re doing something hard, right?

This week Sarah and Savannah had Young Women in Excellence and they both spoke about a project they had done for personal progress. I was so proud of both of them. They’re growing into beautiful ladies and doing good things. They’re amazing!

Even my youngest daughter is amazing as she stepped up to help me while I was busy making dinner this week. She noticed that I had stopped feeding Ben but that the baby food was still right there with the spoon right near by . . .

On Monday of this week, we had a special visitor come to our house.

This is Wei Chin or Eric as he is known in the United States.  About 20 years ago he was a university student in Taiwan when his friend invited him to a meeting with a certain Elder Skinner.   Today he is married, has three children, and is a stake president in Taiwan.  What a thrill for Kevin and for all of us to see some of the fruits of his missionary labors!  He is here with some exchange students.  We made him some fried chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy and then had a family home evening where he told of his conversion and bore testimony.  It was wonderful!  Hurrah for Elder Skinner!  Hurrah for Wei Chin!

 

I neglected to mention last week that Calianne got her hairs cut!  Isn’t she cute?  She has been growing out her bangs for quite awhile and with her new haircut she feels that they are officially gone!  Cheyenne has kept her bangs short and her hair long.  Now they are much easier for other people to tell apart, but I didn’t have anything to do with it!  I just let them be who they want to be. . .

 

Well, it was the week of Halloween!!  So, we finally harvested the only thing we managed to grow in our garden this year.  We planted tomatoes, cucumbers, mini watermelons, cantaloupe, spaghetti squash, zucchini, yellow squash, and . . . pumpkins.  I did get one or two zucchini and squash.  I got maybe ten tomatoes.  (Hello???)  Thank goodness for the pumpkins.  We got ten in our tiny garden.  They made us feel better! 

And they saved us money on jack o’ lanterns!

I love carving jack ‘o lanterns.  It is such a fun tradition – creative, inexpensive, involves nature.  Wonderful!

Okay, enough pumpkin pictures.  On to costumes!

Savannah and Sarah actually got to dress up to multiple themes over at the junior high.  They dressed up as their teachers for one of the days.

Yes, Savannah is wearing make-up, heels, and has her hair pulled back.  She was mistaken for a student teacher more than once – which she loved.  The heels?  Not so much!

I didn’t get Savannah dressed for “freestyle day” but here is Sarah in all her free-loving crazy style!  Yes, she is wearing a skirt on her shoulders.

My four elementary students got to dress up on Thursday.  There was no school on Friday because of parent-teacher conferences.  Fun times.  Devil, Vampire, Cowgirl, and yes, a Crescent Moon (she came up with that all on her own!)

  On Saturday, everyone dressed up again to go trick or treating, of course.  This time Bethany got to get in on the act.  She dressed up multiple times throughout the week and was so excited to finally go!  Everyone who was treated to her little voice crying, “Trick or Treat!” was instantly enchanted.  No matter how cute the older ones dress, there is nothing like the two-year-old trick or treater!

Benjamin didn’t get dressed up.  He stayed home with Dad and Savannah passed out candy to all the trick or treaters.  His sisters shared their costumes with him, regardless.

 

Benjamin has mastered rolling from his back to his stomach.  He already had the roll from his stomach to back.  So that means he kind of gets around.  The boy can log roll!  He also puts everything . . . EVERYTHING into his mouth.  These are not good combinations to have happening right at leaf time.  The fallen leaves from autumn get tracked into our home and guess what I end up digging out of the back of Ben’s throat?  Poor guy.  Poor me.  I figure we have a week, maybe two before he starts to crawl.  Hopefully, he’ll grow out of putting everything in his mouth by then.  :)  I crack myself up.