Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It started off by making pies with my brother Darren. We have a history of making several trips to the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving. This year was no exception! Evern with my most careful planning of ingredients, we still made 2 or 3 trips to Smiths. It was totally worth it though. We made the most delicious Raspberry/Blackberry pie. We even had to do the lattice top crust, which was a little stressful....but thanks to the Food Network I had an inkling on how to accomplish it! Who says TV is a waste of time?

On Thanksgiving day, we said a blessing on the food and were all ready to dig in, when Darren announced "Hold on, I have to take a picture of the food first!" Talk about torture, we couldn't taste anything until he was done! I can understand though, we always take pictures of our food. It's just something we do!!

Lillie enjoyed some real good food, not just that nasty pureed baby food stuff! Although Sam couldn't help himself, he stuck the tip of the Whip Cream can in her mouth and pushed the nozzle. Lille enjoyed a huge mouthful of Whip Cream.

After we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves, my two brothers and I braved the crowds and went to the Black Friday (but on Thursday) at Walmart. Let me just tell you, I usually do the Black Friday thing every year but this was my first experience at Walmart. Oh my word. I can understand how people get trampled! It was the worst experience in human nature EVAH! Curtis wanted some Xbox games and controllers. Well, we got there right as the pallet of electronics was opened and the ROAR of the crowd as it descended upon the goods stopped me dead in my tracks. I saw video games being thrown in the air and I even saw a shoe fly high. All I could do was laugh. For some reason, people kept shoving Darren with their shopping carts. Darren was so ticked and kept telling people off. Again, I laughed. Curtis saw a controller on the ground, amidst the hundreds of people, so he got on his hands and knees and crawled towards it! That right there was cause for a belly laugh! After Walmart we headed over to Target. Oh how I love Target on Black Friday (again, Thursday). Totally organized, people are not animals, their checkout lines go super fast....it was so fun! I even ran into my Sister-in-law and niece! Oh, and I scored a Ninja blender for $29. Yay for me! We made a smoothie last night with it and it blended like buttah! Friday morning my parents, brother, and I went to the Park City outlets for more shopping. It was early, but fun! At one point Darren and I lost my parents. Darren asked me where I thought they'd be. I pointed at a kitchen store and said "there.". We walked over and found them buying a meat thermometer. Oh yeah, the folks can smell a kitchen store a mile away! ha ha! While I was busy tracking down lost parents, Sam was at his sisters house looking at old pictures. Old pictures are so fun! Too bad digital pictures are just stored on hard drives, phones, and memory cards. There is nothing quite like pulling out old photo albums and laughing! Sam when he was a kid:

I don't know who the baby is... Maybe his niece Tera?? Check out Sam's face here. I get this look from my boys on a daily basis!

On Friday night, Sam's sister (who was visiting from St George) wanted to see the lights at Temple Square. I was hesitant because it was the first night the lights were on and I knew it would be crowded. We forged ahead and braved the crowds regardless. It WAS crowded, but it wasn't "Walmart-on-black-Friday" crowded so I was able to relax and enjoy myself!

Sam's nephew, Cory, had a minor incident. He was walking along a rock ledge, about 2-3 feet above the sidewalk. He decided to take a flying leap off the ledge....but he didn't see the sign above his head. He jumped up and smacked the top of his head...hard. Sorry buddy! What is that phrase? Look before you leap? Good lesson for us all!

Finally, on Saturday, we went to our favorite Get-Your-Energy-Out place: Airborne Sports Arena! We took Darren's 3 boys and my 3 boys. Jumping for an hour is a great way to let boys be boys! Cameron enjoyed a zip line for kids under 8 and a little rock climbing wall. It was a blast!

And now Thanksgiving is over. We are all feeling exhausted at this house, but it was worth it. Very fun weekend!! Now to convince my husband we need to get out the Christmas decor...wish me luck!

Cousins Dinner...Sweet Style

Last weekend Sam's cousin hosted a cousins dinner at her house. No kids preferred which was nice because then the adults could actually visit without all the chaos. It was fun and fancy! Have you ever been to the lookout point above the state capitol? You might refer to it as the make-out point? Oh NOW you remember it huh?? ha ha! Well, let's just say we were really close to that location. It was beautiful!

We did bring Lillie, she was putting the moves on her Great-Aunt Belva! Seriously, she never snuggles but she knew a good thing when she had Belva holding her.

I think Belva would have held her all night, but she got too heavy to hold. Seriously, the girl is large and in charge: 92 percentile for height and 62 percentile for weight. My boys were always 50/50 so she is messing with me! It was a fun night, thanks for opening your home to us cousin "M"!:

We got slammed with snow this week. It's been a welcome change for me, the few days prior to the storm we were in the 70's. It was bizarre! However, I always cringe when I hear the words "Mom, can I go play in the snow?". You know what that means....I have to find boots, snow pants, gloves, hats, and coats for all three boys. And, since it's the first storm of the season, I have to HOPE and PRAY I have something that fits all three boys! It took me an hour to round everything up. Then they played for about 20 minutes and were ready to come back inside. Happens every time. It drives me crazy!

While the boys were pretending to be rugged, I took some pictures of Lillie. Awwww, she is fun. Have I told you she is my best baby of all my kiddos? She is so happy and energetic, I have just loved having her around! She is now 10 months old and has 6 teeth. Hilarious goofy grins!

Now let's go back to July 2012: See what I mean about Lillie being goofy? Ha Ha! She is 6 1/2 months old here:

We decided to go camping just with our little family. We found a fantastic camping spot at the Spruces campground and enjoyed every minute of it! Well, that's kind of a lie. Lillie was a terrible sleeper, besides that part, it was amazing! More than half way through our 3 day adventure I realized I had been using the mens bathroom instead of the womens. Whoops. No wonder I never had to wait! Never a line until I started using the womens bathroom. Oh well, you win some, you lose some!

Here's how Cameron stayed cool this summer: Sitting in a bucket full of water, putting his feet in the kiddie pool, and sitting under the trampoline. Whatever floats your boat, right?

Oh look, sometimes he ventured into the water!

This summer we decided to try and clean up the trashy east side of our house. We got a great start on it. Cleared out all the weeds and tree stumps, tore out the dead vine and chain link fence....Sam, Curtis, and my Dad build a retaining wall against the house and Sam built a wooden fence/gate. Next year we will build a shed and patio. I love checking stuff off my "to do" list! I can't find any after pictures right now but here are a few "during" pictures.

We kept finding ourselves in the canyons this summer to stay cool. We went to Lisa Falls: This picture makes me laugh because it looks super imposed. I swear we were there!

We also walked around Silver Lake. I think it was my first time walking around the lake where I did not see a moose. Bummer! However, I'm glad Cameron didn't fall in the lake this time. That was an unfortunate experience for all!

Hey look, I got am caught up through July! Go me!

Some More Catch Up....And Halloween

Halloween was great fun this year! The high that day was 75 degrees! Global warming? Prolly. I'm not going to lie, it was real purdy. Sam and I were invited to a Halloween party a few days before Halloween. I'm not really into dressing up, but the host of the party asked guests to dress up as a famous duo. Due to the afro of mine, we had to go with Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein. Lucky for me, I have very creative friends who know how to put together a costume. Plus, we found a wedding dress at Savers for $11!! SCORE!

Here's my creative friend. She and her husband went as Drew Carey and Mimi. Hilarious!

The party was a blast, tons of hilarious games (eating a donut off a string, while wearing vampire teeth! So hard!!) plus a competitive game of Fear Factor. I just looked through the pictures and almost started dry heaving just looking at the stuff people ate! At the end of the party, Sam showed everyone how he made his chest look so big for his Frankenstein costume. ha ha ha! Greatest goodwill find ever!

Now I'm looking back to June of 2012 for some randomness: We went to Lagoon with our friends, the Colasurdo's.

It was scorching hot, like 105 degrees. However, every fiber of my being got drenched on Rattlesnake Rapids. I looked like a hot mess, but I didn't feel like one! ha ha!

Think about all the disgusting and dirty hands that have gripped this bar...and my son puts his mouth on it! AGHHHHH!

In July of this year, we had the Sweet family campout at Willard Bay. I've never been to Willard Bay. The beach was fun but it was sooooo HOT and the campground is right next to the freeway. We all had a good laugh (cry) about not sleeping. :) Here's my niece, Chelsea. ha ha!

Here's how I managed to stay cool without ripping somebody's head off.

Here is my brother-in-law James. He was our entertainment while we stayed cool in the water. Everybody needs a James in their life. He's always good for a laugh!

We had a ton of rafts and canoes so we basically let the kids go crazy and use up all their energy. It was perfect!

The next day after the Sweet campout, Parker got baptized! Yay for turning 8 years old!!! We were all a little fried and tired but it was a great experience!

It rained a little bit but that's okay, it felt good on our sunburns!

The most tender part of the day was when Parker bore his testimony to the family. We had Carson do the same thing when he was baptized. It was so sweet. Parker was nervous but we just told him to say what was in his heart. He gave the most eloquent testimony and talked about how he felt so good inside. It was a tear-jerker for sure!

Play time.

There is Uncle James, chasing Cameron down the street...

My kids love to egg him on...obviously!

This picture was taken in July and I just NOW noticed the photo bomb by my nephew Spencer! Hilarious!

That's a good place to stop for now. More to come from July in another post...