Thanksgiving and Snow!

Our Thanksgiving was a little more quiet this year.  It's the "off year" so the party wasn't as massive as the last... only like 20 of us, which is considered a small party in our family!  With Mom's illness this year, I volunteered to cook the turkey again, vowing not to dry it out.  I did everything, thawed it slowly, brined it for 12 hours, took it out of the oven the minute the timer popped, let it sit for 30 minutes... and it was still dry.  Ugh.  What's the secret?!

It was snowing this year, but this time I remembered to bring the kids' snow stuff so they could play outside at Grandma's house.  But it was also blowing, which makes playing in the snow less fun.  Oh well!  Plenty to do inside.  I'm so thankful for my little family... and my bigger family!  I hope grandma makes a full recovery so we can spend more Thanksgivings like this!

Birthday Week

We started off the week with Bevan's birthday on Sunday.  We woke him up with German pancakes and presents: candy and wireless earbuds!  Yay!  I feel like we're just fully grasping bluetooth technology, which has been around for several years, but finally getting super cheap.  Anyway, after church we headed down to the Hawkins for dinner and cake.  The whole family was there and we had a good time!  I can't believe Bevan is now 41.  Nothing will ever slow him down!

We decided to combine Tommy and Drew's birthdays into one party.  I feel like this will be happening a lot in the future anyway, might as well get used to it!  Beverly and Lloyd came up on Wednesday for pizza and cupcakes (They also came up again on Sunday for Anna's birthday.  They're such troopers!).  The boys got some new cool toys like tools and a lawnmower!

And finally on Saturday, was lovely Anna's birthday!  Her party was a last-minute adventure, but we had a good turnout with some new friends I've never met.  I didn't even have to plan games because they made their own games.  She's been obsessed with unicorns and LOL's (still don't get the fad).  Instead of making a custom BT chocolate cake (which half of it gets wasted by unappreciative birthday guests) I just bought a cheap, single layer, birthday cake and it all got eaten in one shot!  Great, no leftovers.  It was wonderful!  I gave the girls flashlights and headlamps and they ran around outside the rest of the evening.  I'm sure our neighbors think we're psycho.

And that wraps up birthday week.  Thanksgiving isn't until next week, it's super late this year.  Hopefully we can recover in time for Christmas.  Oh, I can't wait until Christmas!  It's so much fun with kids.

Sunny Day for BYU Football!

I think it was Nora who had the great idea to go to the last BYU football game as a big family! Vanessa and her kids were coming down from Pocatello (they were playing ISU) and turned it into a party! 23 tickets total, not including Bevan who already had his primo sideline ticket and baby Tommy who is barely under the age of 2 (if it was the airport, they would’ve asked for his birth certificate).

The day was gorgeous! It was almost too hot for long-sleeves. Those north end zone bleachers sure do bake in the sun. I didn’t watch much of the game, there was so much else going on! The kids had plenty of room to run around, that’s for sure. Bevan came to sit with us after half time and brought his “unlimited refills” soda cup. It was eventually seized by the cousins who kept refilling it and passing it around! I believe the final tally was 7 refills. It’s a good thing we’re not afraid of sharing straws. I was amazed how good my kids were. They had so many cousins keeping an eye on them. Except in the end, nobody had an eye on Dallin. The game ended and we all drifted out under the portal. I got a little nervous at first. I’ve learned over the years that Dallin is never gone for good, so I wasn’t full-on worried. I just didn’t expect to finally find him ON THE FIELD! Yep, he somehow got down onto the field! We saw him for a minute, and then an attendant ushered him off. We all bolted down the concourse to catch him in time. Luckily, he ran right into Bevan and we all were together again… well except for Grandpa Chuck, who was left up in the bleachers. But it was okay because at least HE had a cell phone! I never did find out how Dallin got on the field in the first place. Did he walk down that long spiral concourse to the bottom level or did he climb down seats and over the railing? He wouldn’t say!

Veterans Day

The 3rd grade class at Midway Elementary has the amazing opportunity to put on the yearly patriotic program.  It was Anna's turn!  They had it the Friday before Veteran's Day and it was so neat to have actual veterans at the program.  The class spends so much time getting ready and memorizing ALL of the anthems of the different branches of the military.  We were so lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Hawkins come up!  Grandpa served in the military and got to stand up when they sang his anthem.  It was a real tear-jerker.  Don't blink!

On Monday (actual Veteran's Day), we held Activity Days on top of Memorial Hill.  I came up with a scavenger hunt that required the girls to explore all the monuments and find some names.  There is such a rich history of service men and women from Wasatch County serving in every war dating back to the War of 1812.  It was a beautiful afternoon, which isn't too common in November.
That evening, we went to another patriotic program put on by my friend (and ministering angel) Sonnet.  She runs a dance/ show choir studio and does a fantastic job with all those kids.  I recognized so many of local kids and love to see such budding talent!  Happy Veteran's Day!