Hello! We hope that each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and weekend. Our kids are already counting down to Christmas break and Rachel was disappointed to look at the calendar today and realize there is more than one week of school between Thanksgiving break and Christmas break. :) Clearly, this all indicates that we have had a fantastic break and time at home. It has been fun, but low-key and has offered us plenty of time to relax, play, and laugh together. Here's a rundown of our week...
On Monday, Ziggy had an appointment with the groomer. I did not have high hopes for him keeping much of his fur, and I was right. When I picked him up I was greeted with a mostly shaved dog, with the exception of a perfect plume at the end of his tail. This wasn't the first time he's had to be shaved, and I am certain it won't be the last. However, this is his first time with minimal fur during cold weather and after watching him shiver the rest of Monday, I bought two sweaters for him at Target on Tuesday morning. He LOVES them and we are in love with Ziggy in clothes. He is much happier in his warm state. :) Monday was also my Dad's birthday, and I was able to swing by my parents' house that afternoon and give him a hug and a birthday card and visit for a few minutes. I am so grateful for him. The rest of our Monday was busy and filled to the brim. I went to music class with Gretchen, Marshall finally went back to soccer after missing all of last week, Rachel had dance, and Bridget had the farm. Rachel's carpool friend is in New Zealand for two weeks so Richard and I are the sole drivers for dance and I cannot wait until Sara's family is back! I had to be at the farm with Bridget and Cambria that night and it was COLD! The cold temperatures do not entice those girls to work any faster, and with all their laughing and fun, they stay nice and warm! I was a popsicle by the time we got home just before 9:00 pm. Sigh. Oh, one funny thing from Gretchen. She was with me when we picked Ziggy up from the groomer. Obviously, he looks alot smaller when he is shaved. Also, just recently, Gretchen has started mixing up her pronouns, after saying them correctly for years! This is a great throwback to how Rachel talked for so long, so we only half-heartedly correct her. Anyway, as we were driving home from the groomer, I heard Gretchen say to Ziggy, "Ziggy! Did hers use a shrinker on you?!" Haha! It cracked me up.
Tuesday morning I volunteered in kindergarten. Energy was high that day with it being the last day of school before Thanksgiving. Things were going pretty smoothly until it was time to line up to go home and a little boy punched another boy. The offender refused to go back to his chair or apologize and for a couple of minutes there were two crying boys on the ground with Mrs. Conners in the middle-bless her! Me and the other mom and the classroom aide were trying to pass out cornbread and it was just bananas for a few minutes! Ha! Once we finally made it out of the classroom, I drove carpool home and dropped Gretchen off at Charlie's and picked my Mom and Ben up and we went to the movie theater to see "The Chosen". Ben and my Mom, as well as other adults in my family love this show, but I have not watched one single episode, but after seeing these two episodes of season two, I think I am hooked. It was a fun afternoon out with them as well, and I honestly don't remember spending time with just my Mom and Ben since I was in college...so it's been years! I got home just in time to pick up my girls from school and then be the chauffeur for dance and piano. Once everyone was home by 7:15, life slowed down and we had a nice evening at home as a family.
On Wednesday, Richard didn't have to start work until 10:00 am at home, so with the kids out of school, and work later in the day, that gave us all a slower morning, which was so nice. The majority of my day was spent in the kitchen doing Thanksgiving food prep, but I was never alone. This is our third year where the kids have helped with all the food for our feast, and it was another success. Bridget and Gretchen helped make the apple pie that morning and it turned out great. Bridget and Gretchen did the filling completely by themselves while I worked on the crust. Bridget was so cute with Gretchen, and I loved watching from the sidelines. After lunch, Bridget was off to Cambria's and spent the rest of the day there. Rachel helped me make the sweet potato souffle, rolls, and pumpkin pie. Marshall helped with the raspberry pretzel jello. By the end of the day I was beat, but I was happy we had gotten so much done! Bob and Becky arrived a little before 5:00 and Richard was done working shortly after 7:00 pm. Becky had made an excellent cheesecake dessert for us, which we enjoyed after dinner while playing games.
Thursday morning we slept in a bit and then Richard went to Dicks to pick up cinnamon rolls for breakfast. :) I got started on rolling out the rolls, which Rachel and Gretchen both helped with. At 11:00, Richard and I started on a brand new quest for us...prepping the turkey. Thankfully, we had Becky in the kitchen with us for moral support! It was an adventure for sure, but in the end, the turkey turned out great. While we waited for the turkey to cook, we walked the dogs and played with them outside, and we played games inside. It was a great way to pass the time. When the turkey was almost done, Bridget helped with the mashed potatoes and gravy, Marshall did the stuffing, and Rachel and I finished the sweet potatoes. We finally sat down for our feast just before 4:00. We ate on my Grandma Yancye's china, and it was a delicious meal. The adults talked about favorite childhood Thanksgiving memories and we also tried to teach the kids some manners. :) The three older kids ate great and I am pretty sure they all tried some of everything. Gretchen, true to her word, just ate rolls and the whipped cream off the chocolate pie. I am pretty sure she had five rolls at dinner. :) When we were done eating, Becky and Richard were so kind to do all the dishes while the rest of us played outside with Leo and Ziggy. Once all that was done, we played more games and eventually dug into the pies. Divine. We all went to bed tired, but very happy that night. We have so much to be thankful for.
Friday morning Richard had to get up and was off to work just after 7:00 am. The rest of us got to sleep in, and we certainly did-the kids and I did not wake up until after 8:00 and it was heavenly. Bob and Becky left just before 9:00 to go back home, so we were on our own. We loved having them here with us for Thanksgiving. They were so helpful and fun and we loved all the games we played and conversations we had. Our Friday was a completely relaxing day, and while the kids probably watched way too much tv, it was exactly what I needed! I picked up a Target order, caught up on laundry and took the girls and the dogs to the park that morning. It was great weather and we played for over an hour. All the girls took bikes or scooters and they had fun riding around while I walked the dogs. Leo is so much fun to play fetch with and Bridget and I loved throwing balls for him all week long, especially at the park, where he had so much room to run. After lunch, I left the kids and went on a bike ride! I got an electric bike for my birthday, but I was too scared to ride it for a while! I finally got the guts to try it out Halloween weekend, but we haven't had great weather to ride in since then, but Friday was my day! It was so much fun! I rode about five miles and made a stop at my parents' house for a great visit with them. It was the best way for me to spend an afternoon. That night, we door-dashed dinner for the kids and I met Richard at Station Park after work. We crushed some Christmas shopping and then had a lovely dinner at Twigs. All went well here at home, and there was only one complaint about Marshall, which is pretty good. :)
Saturday morning we all slept in, this seems to have been a theme for our break! Richard has had the weekend off, and that has been wonderful! We had a late breakfast and then got the dogs out for walks and play time. After lunch we got our house all decorated for Christmas. We have had our trees up, but nothing else. Everyone pitched in and before long it was done! Our friends came to get Leo at 5:00 and he sure was happy to be reunited with them. He is such a good dog, but has way more energy than Ziggy. I fear we might have been boring for him, but we sure enjoyed watching him. After they left, we loaded our winter clothes in the van and drove up to Layton. We grabbed a quick dinner at Culver's and then met Danny's family at the park in Layton that is all lit up. We all bundled up and had the best time walking around to see all the lights. We were worried it might be crowded with it being Thanksgiving weekend, but it was not crowded at all and we had a great time! After the lights, we went to Danny's house for hot chocolate and cousin playtime. Our kids had so much fun together. All seven of them were playing together, and while it was loud and a tad crazy, it made me SO happy to see kids ranging in age from 2 to 14 running around and playing all together. We could have stayed twice the amount of time we did if it weren't for the BYU football game at 9:00 pm! We made it home just before kickoff! Richard and Marshall stayed up and watched the whole game and were happy with the win, though not overly impressed with the team as a whole. :)
We have had a good Sunday today. Marshall was sustained and set apart as the first counselor in the Teacher's Quorum Presidency. We are very excited for this opportunity for him. My parents came over for a little bit this afternoon, and though there were quite the antics going on over here, we sure enjoyed having them. We are gearing up for the return to real life-I have mixed feelings. I am happy for some alone time this week, but getting stressed with the usual quick pace of our life...and all the Christmas things! Maybe I will hibernate until January! But in all seriousness though, I and we have an abundance of things to be thankful for. From the simple moments of laughter and snuggles to the big and the grand of gift giving and vacations. Our life is full, and I am so thankful for it. And, of course, for each of you.
All our love.
Richard, Jenny, Marshall, Bridget, Rachel, and Gretchen :)
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