Thanksgiving Recap - Part 2

Day 4/Friday:  Check out day.

Got off to a slightly tense start when Tami had a pregnancy scare. (Which started the night before)

No, not the kind where you’re scared you’re pregnant.  The kind where you’re pregnant and scared that something is wrong with the pregnancy.  Wes took her to Urgent Care and everything is okay for the time being.  The high altitude, dehydration and probably stress and overwork were causing some issues.  But there were some fervent prayers, a Priesthood blessing, and tears and the baby is okay and staying put.  Okay, now I’m crying again.  Moving on. 

This changed the plans a little and instead of going straight to Monterey, we went to Sam and Ad’s house for a driving break.  They have a super cool house on a beautiful piece of land in Nor Cal.  Plus, they’re into preparedness so it was cool to see their awesome crawl space filled with food and water and talk to Adrienne about how she has prepared her family for just about anything.  For one thing, they have a huge garden bursting with fresh food.  They also have this super cool wood burning stove.  It heats most of their downstairs PLUS you can COOK on it.   Tami and I were both staring at it enviously and thinking how much different life could have been after the earthquake if we’d had a wood burning stove for warmth and cooking purposes.

It's definitely going on my "dream house ideas" pin board.

After spending the afternoon and evening at Sam's, we hopped back in the car and headed to Monterey.

Wes just finished "school" in Monterey.  He learned Spanish at the Defense Language Institute to prepare him for his next assignment in Argentina.  They leave in January and we're a little (a lot) bit heart-broken that they wont be just up the (relative) street from us anymore.

We're hoping to go visit them there next year though, so that is a small consolation.  We also get to see them one more time on their way out of town so we're not too filled with despair.

Day 5/Saturday:  We took our time getting up and ready and headed to Monterey Bay Aquarium.  I've been here a few times before and have great memories of my visits.  I hope my kids will now too.

Camille trying out Max's wheel chair

Waiting for the shark show to start

Coincidently, I also ran into Claudia, my dad's wife, with a few of her kids and grandkids!  They live in Clovis but were in town to visit the aquarium too.

The new Sea Horse exhibit was amazing!

The Jelly Fish exhibit is always a crowd pleaser...

And now the boy/girl thing has official become "awkward".

I love Sea Turtles...

Baby Gray checking out the baby grays.

Gabe stayed in this position for quite awhile...

It was SUPER crowded, but we managed to have a great time regardless.  We put Tami in a wheel chair, Max in a wheel chair, (he twisted his ankle the night before and REALLY wanted a wheel chair--whether or not he needed it is debatable.) and Gray in a stroller and stormed our way through the whole place.  

It was a fun day and we were glad we braved the crowds.  (I don't know if Wes and Tami were since they have season passes and can go when it's not crowded...)

Day 6/Sunday:  Time for our fun to come to an end.  We had to drive home.  We ditched out on church so we could get on the road and drove all day getting home after 9p.m.

It was a great trip and we're so glad we did it!
Thank you Tami and Wes (and Sam and Adrienne) for your generosity in sharing your Timeshare/Holiday/Family Time/and Home.
You guys are the best!  We love you!!!

This year, I'm thankful for UBER FAMILY!!!

Thanksgiving Recap - Part 1

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We just returned from a great week with the Wes and Tami family.   (You know the guy who has a job much cooler than your job?  That's Wes.  See the above link.)

You may recall that they are the friends who stayed with us after the earthquake.  They used some Timeshare points to get condos in Lake Tahoe and asked us --while we were still in Japan-- if we wanted to join them for Thanksgiving.

We considered the fall-out if we chose to spend our first major holiday in the states with friends instead of family...

Then we realized that they ARE our family:  Uber Family.  Earthquake Family.  Japan Family.  Just family.  And hey, they asked us first.  So we said YES!

(Plus, we're also FUTURE family since we're planning for our kids to inter-marry--just to make things more official.)

We are SO glad we went.  We had a blast.  Here's a quick(longish) re-cap:

Thanksgiving Tahoe Vacation

Day 1/Tuesday:  Leave at 6:30 a.m.  Drive a new way up the 395.  Drive drive, drive drive drive, 

Breakfast at Denny’s, drive on windy road, stop for Sam to puke, drive drive drive.

Really pretty scenery, stop for ice ball fight,

drive drive drive, 12 different pee breaks, drive, drive, drive, stop at an antique store, drive drive drive.

Arrive in Tahoe.  Papa Murphy’s for dinner.  Meet up with Tami and Wes, check in to our BEAUTIFUL condo.  {This is the second time Doug and I have stayed in a time share condo in Tahoe and, again, it was awesome.} We had a two room suite, Tami and Wes had a two room suite, and Wes’ brother Sam, wife Adrienne, and their eight kids had a three room suite.  If we ever buy a time share, it will be in Tahoe.  It was awesome.

(We met Sam and Adrienne when we went to Monterey for Camille’s baptism a few months ago and our kids were excited to see each other again.)

Day 2/Wednesday:  We visited the lake (right across the street from our condo)

It was a little chilly, but super-duper beautiful!

And only one kid (Sammy) fell in the frozen lake.

 relaxed, hung out, made pies, watched HGTV and YouTube videos,

Doug and Wes are such a cute couple!

went in the hot tub,

and went shopping for groceries and supplies.  (I made two America’s Test Kitchen Chocolate Cream Pies.  No Peanut Butter pie this year…I thought it would be too hard in a condo kitchen.  I’ll make it for Christmas!)

Day 3/Thursday:  Tami made stuffing and we got it in the Turkey and in the oven early.  (I was in charge of the turkey, which is the easiest thing ever) and Adrienne did potatoes.  Tami made apple pies the day before and the rolls were from Costco this year.  Oh, and Doug made Raspberry Jello which is always a crowd pleaser...

Wes, Doug and Sam (Sam is Wes' older brother)

Lunch/dinner was at 2 and a huge success.  Everything tasted fabulous and there were plenty of left-overs.

Lots of kids having lots of fun!

Tami, Me, Adrienne

Mini Wes and Mini Doug (Sam Jr. and Max)

To top off a perfect day, Guillotine and Rummikub were both played multiple times.

With one major exception, it was a fabulous day!

And that exception is...a story for tomorrow!

To Be Continued... 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I am thankful for the five men in my life...

 (Max is trying to break into a bottle of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider)

 and I'm thankful for PIE!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!
P.S.  Don't forget to become a "Follower" to be entered to win a prize!

I Am Thankful for Pot-Lucks!

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving this year.

Yes, Thanksgiving Dinner in the High School cafeteria may seem unconventional to some, but my philosophy has always been "The More, The Merrier." (Doesn't seem like very good grammar now that I type it out.)

(FYI--The 12,000+ kids in attendance-not pictured-spent most of their time either in the "Movie Theater" (a large utility closet) or the gym (which was filled with toys)--leaving the adults free to chat, relax, and play card games after dinner.)

It probably stems from my upbringing. Every other year we got together with my mom's family for a huge meal at a local church cultural hall. The "off" years, we were home with anyone and everyone who didn't have another place to go. Cousins attending BYU or Ricks college, random roommates of said cousins and siblings, visiting relatives, Honduran refugees...

One year we even hosted two inmates from the local prison. I still remember them smoking out on our porch swing. Good times.

(At least for me. My only responsibilities were eating, playing, and occasionally arranging the gourds in the cornucopia. My mom got to do all the cooking and all the cleaning up. Poor woman! I appreciate you a lot more now Mom!!! And I'm thankful for Doug who can cook. And clean!!!)

Anyway, that's why a quiet Thanksgiving at home doesn't appeal to me. I like to be surrounded by lots of people. And lots of pies. Fortunately, there are a lot of cool people around here to be surrounded by. And they brought lots of pies!

A good time (and a full belly) was had by all!!!

(Doesn't seem like very good grammar...again.)

And on an unrelated note, here are a few reasons I'm okay with having a(nother) baby boy:

And a few reasons I still plan to adopt a girl:

Happy Thanksgiving!!!