Feasting

Feasting is the best word to describe this past week. Not only did we enjoy delicious Thanksgiving favorites and special treats, but we were able to enjoy the company and support of our family. We've had a hankering for Utah family, and it was wonderful being together with them!

Before we took off on our trip, Boo had a Kindergarten celebration at school. The kids got to watch the turkey being cleaned out, make patterned headbands and pasta necklaces,

Boo and her good friend, Holly

then they helped make cornbread muffins, pumpkin pie filling and even got to shape their own mini-pumpkin pie crust. Isn't that something? I know most schools would NEVER let any of that take place.

The kids' mini-pumpkin pies looked like Kindergarteners made them.

loading up their plates

It was so much fun! The next day the kids had a little Thanksgiving feast in the cafeteria with the families. They got to sing this little song about Thanksgiving. I love Boo's reaction to hugging the boy next to her! If you listen closely, you can hear Boo's singing voice :)



Once we finally arrived in Utah (after a long all-day drive), we were finally able to go to the temple! It is so close, I can't believe it! I made this priority #1, since it had been such a long time since I'd been able to attend. Thanks to Annette and Abby for watching the kids so we could go downtown, enjoy a session, complete some family names, visit the distribution center and grab some Cafe Rio lunch. A true feast for the soul and spirit!

The kids had a few requests, and one of them was to visit Capri, the Sorensen's dog. Yaks loves dogs, and he had so much fun tossing the ball around to his old friend, Capri. When they got home, Yaks said, "Mom, guess what? Capri is four-years-old and I am four years old! Isn't that amazing?"



We all got haircuts, and we visited our neighbor, Dell, and even roamed around Toys "R" Us to give Santa an idea of what we wanted for Christmas. The kids then proceeded to come down with a 12-hour stomach bug, so we weren't able to do all the activities with cousins that we planned.

Miracle #1, it didn't spread to anyone else, and the kids were able to enjoy the early Thanksgiving feast on Wednesday evening. Miracle #2, I accidentally took a tumble down the staircase in the early morning while holding Diddles and a blanket and pillow (dumb thing to do). I could have gotten really hurt, but I walked away with nothing but a colorful bruise on my right bum cheek. It's nice and padded back there. Diddles was a little startled but not hurt. ;)

Speaking of Diddles, if this isn't the cutest...




We got to enjoy two Thanksgivings. We had one Wednesday night with Josh's family.

Josh took his job of carving the turkey VERY seriously.

We got to see grandparents and enjoy a beautiful table and a delicious meal!

We headed up to my parents' house for the remainder of the week. We were a small group this year, consisting of my parents, us, Marie, Emily & Tim.

Dinner was yummy, with unusual favorites that I love, but would quickly be rejected by my own family. Josh was nice and put the kids to bed, so we Harry Potter fans could go catch the movie! Mom and Dad even came! The movie was awesome, but scary. I only saw a few kids there, but it's definitely not a little kid show!

HP fans forever!

The kids had free reign of the toys in the basement. My mom has a gift for finding awesome stuff at DI. This was a new addition - a real wooden pirate ship (probably weighs 10 lbs), complete with a crow's nest, canvas sails and hull openings for the cannon!

"Mom, take a picture of me wiff dis ship!"

Yaks and Boo got to color and decorate gingerbread houses, and help set up the Christmas tree.

We turned Black Friday into White Friday and were able to leave the kids with the girls, and head to the Logan Temple as a family, to do sealings for some 70+ family names. It was a wonderful experience, and I really felt The Spirit in the room. We were particularly touched that the sealer would point out neat things like, "this sister was born in Plymouth, MA in 17_ _. How fitting." "'Baby Boy'...one can only imagine how happy his parents are after having their child for such a short time here on earth, to finally be sealed together." "These are all family names of yours? Well, it wouldn't surprise me if some of them are with us in this room today." I know my Grandma was really happy that some of her work was being done. I could picture her smiling and feel her energetic spirit in my mind. What better way to kick off the holidays than to do service in the temple?

We headed home a day early to beat a storm. We ended up driving home in some pretty crazy conditions anyway, and were really grateful to pull into the driveway safe and sound. With full tummies and hearts, this visit will hopefully tide us over for the long winter!

I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving as well, dear friends!