Thanksgiving 2014

I guess since it's been two months, Christmas is over and the kids are back in school its time to update the blog!

After school one day Ashley and Kate decided to challenge each other to do wheat grass shots at Juice it Up. There was a lot of stalling on Kate's part but in the end she ended up drinking it. I joined in just to show her I wasn't a coward. It was as nasty as it sounded and tasted just like grass.

The week of Thanksgiving the kids have school off. Since I was preparing for 3 Thanksgiving celebrations that week I didn't have much time to take them anywhere fun. 

The weekend before Thanksgiving we got to host Jolene's sweet 16 birthday party.

Cousins came and lots of friends.

Pizza and games and lots of fun.

The whole gang.

I'm sure some of her friends think our family is a little crazy :)

We also got out to do a hike at Sycamore Canyon, with Cassidy and the Riouxs.

The dog was in heaven running all over the place. 

A great day for a hike.

Thanksgiving #1 was a mutual night where we hosted guest from our ward 

(mostly the retired and single elderly)

We had our guests sit among the youth and there were get to know you questions on the table for everyone to ask each other. It turned out fun! We decided we wanted to do it next year too but not on Thanksgiving week.

Thanksgiving #2

Two days later Jeff and I hosted Thanksgiving for his family. This is my picture of my messy kitchen. Didn't get many pictures of anything else. 

We did get a couple of pictures. 

We didn't have as many people at Thanksgiving as we normally do but it was plenty busy.

Thanksgiving #3

The day after Thanksgiving we headed up to Big Bear to meet the rest of my family for Thanksgiving with them. Robert made a beautiful turkey. Taylor couldn't make it since he had to work every day. His life is so busy there are times we don't see him much any more!

Yum!

We ended up staying at a cabin for a couple of days. It was big enough that we all had our own beds and places to hang out and play games. Perfect!

After dinner we went to the town and watched the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony and enjoyed free hot chocolate and cookies. 

Piggy back rides...some heavier than others.

The Tree...

Afterward we had fun playing games and relaxing.

The next day we went and tried out the Alpine Slides.

A bit pricey but fun!

What happens when the line gets bogged down and people can't stop in time... (thats a shoe print)

After the slides we went to the nature center and checked it out and then went on a ranger lead nature hike (amid grumbling from the older kids)

That night some went back to do the snow sledding while the rest of us watched a movie. Then we all had smores.

Sunday morning.

Local ward

Our last meal before we went home. It was a great weekend!

The next Tuesday mutual was combined with Canyon Crest ward and we had the girls paint sets for our upcoming ward Christmas Party. 

They did a great job.

Afterward we did a get to know you white elephant gift exchange. 

The girls would pull out a paper that said something like "everyone who is a senior switch presents"  If they didn't have anyone to switch with there was extras in the middle. 

Ashley and I went to her school play to see her friends perform. They did a great job! I had fun going with her and hanging out with the other parents that were there too.

 A random picture Ashley got of us at a restaurant. When we want to go out to dinner on the weekend it's usually just Ashley with us. Jacob just wants us to bring him leftovers and Taylor....

his life is school and delivering and making pizzas. He will bring home pizza and Calzones he's made sometimes. So know he knows how to cook pizza parlor items and he's becoming an expert at washing dishes. His free time usually involves something without us, ha ha.

Mutual night to the Mission Inn! Our car full of girls and Soli's first activity!

We had a nice group there!

The plan was to carol. So we didn't have a certain spot so we caroled right there to get in the spirit.

The lights are always beautiful!!

It was karaoke night so some of the youth sang...

Two nights later we were back at the Mission Inn with Ashley for her choir concert.

She had gotten her dress the day before. I subbed the day of the concert and then I had to come home and quickly hem it since it would've been dragging 2 feet behind her. Then we raced to the Mission Inn to meet her choir group. 

They did a great job!

So proud of you Ashley

Getting ready for Christmas at our house. I love making scrapbook pages from the Christmas Cards from the year before. I hang it on the fridge and I love looking at it all month. 

Our ward Christmas party with the sets that the Young Women painted. 

The sets were supposed to represent various Inn's that Joseph would knock on and the innkeepers would open them and say there wasn't enough room. 

It was a cute program. We loved it. The only downside was the cottonballs all over the church afterward from the sheep costumes ;)