Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Okay, maybe Christmas is, but mainly because you can't not like Christmas. But, Thanksgiving is a close second. Paul will tell you that I have a really hard time with Halloween, and that stores completely skip to Christmas. Thanksgiving is awesome! This year we were able to have my parents and six younger brothers come down from Cedar City for Thanksgiving. The kids have been talking about Grandma and Grandpa and the Uncles and how excited they were for a long time! Let me tell you, the days following up to their arrival were some of the longest days of my life! I think I talked to each of the boys to get them to convince Mom and Dad to leave earlier than Wednesday. "You don't really need to go to school on next week. You're not doing anything anyway..." Let's just say that I would make a horrible lawyer or hostage negotiator! They arrived late Wednesday night. I spent Wednesday baking up a storm. I figured out how some people can get all that canning, food prep, and craft stuff done...I spent the evening cleaning up after the hurricane of my children because I wasn't as attentive as I probably should have been while the rolls were in the oven. Thursday was lots of fun. I love Thanksgiving! So, Paul, my Dad, and the boys went to the park for the Turkey Bowl while my mom, the girls, and I stayed at home and got all the food stuff ready so we could eat around 3. We put the turkey in the oven, sliced all the potatoes, got the stuffing started, made the jello salad, and then headed down to the park to see what everyone was doing. The games were starting to settle down and most people were leaving. We kicked the soccer ball around for a little while, visited, and chased butterflies. The twins are now obsessed with catching butterflies and have requested butterfly nets for Christmas. The Uncles and Grandpa stayed at the park for some basketball, while Grandma, Paul, the kids and I went back home to put the kids down for a nap and finish food stuff. Around 3, we ate, we talked, we sat around, we tried to figure out the TV for some football, we ate pie, talked some more, and then went to bed. Friday was pretty nice with breakfast, and a trip up Madera Canyon for a hike. We got home, ate some food, put kids down for a nap...kinda, and went the park for more soccer, frisbee, basketball, and football. After dinner we watched Brave with popcorn and chocolate covered pretzels. And then it was bedtime. I have to say that my kids get way too excited when people come to visit. It took us a little while to get the sweet children to bed. Elin stayed up pretty much an entire night...so did Paul and I. :-/ Saturday was more park stuff, we tried to go swimming but it was locked. We talked, we hung out, my mom and I went grocery shopping, and then we ate pizza, sushi and pie. While Paul put our kids to sleep, we reminisced about not getting grounded, but getting talked to, and told stories of wild shenanigans Mom and Dad now know about ;-) It was a lot of fun! Paul got a phone call from a Stake representative that evening who wanted to meet with both of us the next morning. I was more than a little bit nervous. We got everyone ready for Church and left the kids to come over with my parents a little bit later. Paul is the new Executive Secretary (right before tithing settlement...!) and I'm the 1st counselor for the Young Women. Things are just going to get busier! We were so glad to have family come and visit! We miss them and can't wait for their next visit! Or, our next visit!