Thanksgiving 2009

We spent Thanksgiving in Idaho this year with my sisters families, my parents drove up from California and picked up my grandparents in St. George on the way. Everyone was there!

We also celebrated my grandparents birthdays while we were all together. My grandpa turned 84 and my grandma turned 79. All of us kids are especially close to our grandparents since they lived across the street from us while we grew up.

This picture would be complete with all 12 grandkids, if Landon was in it.

We had a pie contest with my sisters, my mom and I.

We asked my grandpa and grandma to be the judges, we gave them a sample of each dessert. My grandma is the QUEEN of pie making, she is known for her famous pies. My grandpa was the stake patriarch back home, and when people would come to receive their blessings she would make them a pie. She was known in our stake for being one of the best pie makers!

As they started to sample the pies, they found it hard to choose which one they liked. So we decided to do a secret ballot, everyone wrote down on a piece of paper which one they liked the best! We had a tie between two desserts, my sister's coconut cream pie, and my moms chocolate trifle. I later found out that Rich voted for my mom's dessert! I'm not surprised, he's not a fan of cheesecake, but I thought I would atleast have his vote!

Landon waiting patiently for someone to feed him...

Holly cutting the turkey...

The table...

Everyone had a pumpkin cookie name tag on their plate...

Dishes, Dishes and more dishes!

The highlight of Thanksgiving for Rich was probably playing football the morning of Thanksgiving with my brother-in-law Josh and his friends. He said it was probably one of the funnest games he's played in. The day after Thanksgiving Rich and all the guys went clay pigeon shooting. When they got home, they watched all the kids while the girls went and saw "Blideside". I LOVED the movie!! You gotta go see it.

My sisters, Caroline and Lauren

Look at the size of those Idaho potatoes! They were so fresh, they still had mud all over them.

Anytime my grandma saw dishes in the sink she was all over it! And... she washes them the old fashioned way, no dishwasher!! She thinks it's just as easy, I beg to differ!

Making a thanksgiving craft

Consequences of a long shower...

I don't know if you can see very well in this picture, but there are hundreds of little beads all over my kitchen floor. I should have taken a panoramic picture so you could see that my entire kitchen floor was covered with craft beads!!
This is my dilemma, I like to take long showers in the morning before I start my day. It's the one small moment in the day just to myself. I even give myself a little pep talk in the shower, I really do! I tell myself... my kids are going to spill milk today, they are going to make messes, they are going to fight, color on the walls and they will do things that will test my patience. Then I say a small prayer that I will not lose my temper and that I will be a good mom and have a good day. But when I take 20 minutes in the shower instead of a quick 5 minute shower, I can always count on coming out to a BIG disaster! It usually involves the boys trying to pour milk themselves, crayons on the walls or the couch, cereal mushed up all in the carpet or something is broken. The other day Blake got my lipstick out of my purse and colored all over the wall! (Thank goodness for magic erasers.) My kids know that once I hit the shower the house is theirs! I sometimes wonder if my long showers are worth the mess at the end. What do you think? I'm thinking they are worth it, because every morning when I'm in the shower I KNOW my boys are up to something, but I still continue to take my long shower. Maybe it's because I know what's waiting for me when I get out.

Halloween 2009