A Thanksgiving Day

We are back from our trip to Utah where we enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving with all of our children and grandchildren. It's been several years since we've been able to do this, so it was a great visit. Tiring, but fun! Seven grandchildren all at one time can be spirited, and noisy! A lot of fun, though.

Since there isn't enough room, or beds, for everyone to stay with family, a few of us stayed at a motel in Provo.  It was very nice, with a cozy sitting area in the lobby.  It was priced well, pet friendly, and even provided a full breakfast every morning. Tara and Katie thought it was great fun meeting us in the breakfast dining room at the motel every morning. The only down side was that we had to drive back and forth each day, about 25 miles.

The motel lobby.  A great place to sit and enjoy the warm fire.

Kevin and Jesi cooked the full Thanksgiving meal and I didn't have to cook anything! That was really nice. I didn't know what to do with myself so I just spent time taking pictures.  I managed to get all of the grandkids together for a picture - not easy to do!

They are all getting too big!

They were having fun playing some kind of game!

Silly Odin & serious Levi

Five silly girls

After dinner the kids had a fun ride as they all piled in the chair while Kevin spun them around till they were dizzy!

Some after dinner conversation.  Looks like it's serious!

By the end of the day everyone was tired.  Since Kevin did most of the work, he was especially tired!

We let him sleep!

A Fun Project

Kayla and Marissa came over for a visit a few nights ago.  I wanted to provide them an activity to have some fun with, so I decided to help them make some Christmas cards to give out.

I had some supplies for the project but not everything the girls needed, so we headed out to a few craft stores.  First we went to Joann's to pick up some Christmas themed paper that was on sale.  When we finished there we headed over to Michaels to pick up a few more supplies. While shopping at Michaels we found some packages of stickers to use, and some Christmas themed rubber stamps.

After we finished our shopping and ate some dinner, the girls got busy working on their cards.

The girls really enjoy working on crafts.  They especially liked the cute Christmas stamps we bought. The stamps came in a package which included several different types of santa's, christmas trees, ribbon-wrapped packages, snowmen, holly, and even a cute reindeer - we all thought it was the cutest!

Looks like lots of hard work went into these cards!

And some fun too!

When the girls were all finished each had made three cards to give out.  They all turned out really cute and the girls had a lot of fun working on their projects.

The finished cards, all ready to give out.

Thirty Years

I don't believe my "baby" turned 30 on Tuesday!  In honor of the event we had a small birthday dinner / get together for him on Monday since that's his day off.

The "birthday boy" came over in the early afternoon and helped to cook his own dinner!  He peeled and sliced apples for his birthday pie and helped make the pie crust.  He also peeled potatoes and mashed them when they were ready, then sliced the roast when it was done. After all that work, he even loaded the dishwasher!  We had an enjoyable time working together though, and I don't think he minded, as he enjoys cooking and baking - and giving his mom a hard time while at it!

In between all of the work, everyone spent time visiting.  The girls of course, were busy playing inside and out.  It wasn't too cold outside so they could go out and play on the patio.  When they are all four together they always keep themselves entertained - and without much conflict, mostly!

We ate dinner fairly early, and everyone was too stuffed to have the birthday pie and ice cream right away.  The girls wanted to give presents, so Jason opened his gifts.

We got the girls to sit with Jason and took some pictures.  I love my iphone, except for the camera!  It's picture taking ability leaves much to be desired.  I have been in the habit of using the iphone camera because it's so easy to send pictures from.  From now on I am gonna pull out my "real"camera. Jennifer took some pictures also and I wanted her to send me some, however, she used her iphone also and they weren't much better.  So these posted pictures leave much to be desired.

Blurry, blurry!  Does anyone else have this problem or is it just me and Jennifer?

Jason finally got to have a few quiet minutes to drink a hot cup of coffee and relax.

It was getting late by the time everyone left.  The girls had school the next day and it probably wasn't very easy to get them up in the morning!

Good thing they all live close by and no one had a long drive home.

P S  Here is a picture from the party that Jennifer just sent me.  It turned out pretty good so wanted to add it to the post.

And More Halloween Fun

Believe it or not, I do have other grandchildren besides "the girls."  When I checked my email today I found a message from a daughter-in-law.  She had included some Halloween pictures of the grandkids in Utah.  So I wanted to post their Halloween fun.  Of course, looking at their costumes, it isn't easy to tell who is who, except for princess Ashley.

Odin & Ashley

There are a couple of extra friends in this picture, including the one in back holding the red sword, or is that a light saber?  Sorry Darth Vader!  Standing up front though, are Ashley the princess, Levi (not sure what he is, skeleton?), the boy in blue is a friend, and Odin, on the end, is a ninja.  The cute decorated front porch is daughter-in-law, Jesi's project.  She loves to decorate for every holiday.

I thought they all looked well dressed for the occasion.  It was a cold night for them and they all were wearing thermals under their costumes.  At least it didn't snow on them!

I don't get to visit with these three grandkids very much so I'm glad that we will be heading to Utah for Thanksgiving.

Can you believe it, November is already here!