Thanksgiving

We had a great turkey day. We had our annual Thanksgiving FHE and made our turkeys. I realized as I was spending hours cutting, coloring, pasting and all that goes into them how very ugly they are. I pictured Alyssa bringing home her fiance and apologizing for the fact that he would have to do one of the dog ugly turkeys her mom makes them do every year. But I guess that's part of the tradition, too. While it's been a difficult year, I think it makes us appreciate things more. Like having a roof over our heads, good health and all the little day to day things that make our lives so nice. We really have been blessed.

We went up to Salt Lake and spent the night with our good friends. The boys went to a hockey game that night while the girls spent time dressing up and singing along to Taylor Swift. Nicole and I watched a movie and went to bed. The next day was spent mostly laying around and preparing for the big meal. And it was so good! Christian helped Michael make a pomegranate pie which was very tasty. It's fun to enjoy a really good meal and stuff yourselves once a year. It was a very nice, relaxing time. Thanks, guys!

Discoveries

So, my husband spends 2 days taking care of the kids and the house (kind of) and I am not only totally forgotten, but shunned. I walked in the door Tuesday night and Alivia said, "Mommy," and then promptly went back to what she was doing. The other kids didn't even look up. But then Alivia wouldn't come close to me for the next few days. It took me an hour to convince her to come to me even after bribes of candy and watching Dora. She only wanted Scott. Which makes me think, why are all of a mother's sacrifices so soon forgotten? Years of changing diapers, cleaning throw up and constant care. But then I realized, maybe the reason they act so upset is because they feel more betrayed because it was their mother that left them. So not only do they act nonchalant, but thay may even cry when you try to hold them. That's what I'll tell myself anyway.

This week I also discovered you can survive the really gross thought of having a tube draining out your side and your husband removing it. He was excited when the doctor told him he could. I was not so much. But my body and our relationship survived it.

Now slowly moving back into regular routine. There is no end to the dressup in our house, and last night the girls were having a lot of fun so I had to take some pictures.

Turkey Bowl

Every Thanksgiving Scott's family gets together for their annual Turkey Bowl. We haven't been able to make it for the last few years so he was excited to go this time. It was a little cold (just kidding--totally freezing) but I took the kids and we went and cheered for our daddy for a little bit. I thought he looked pretty darn good. And his team won, at least according to them. I didn't keep very good score. Then we went over to his aunt's house for a great turkey dinner and it was fun to see everyone. His cousin just returned from a mission and there was a lot of family around. I feel bad whenever we go anywhere though. We just seem to have so many kids! We fill up whatever house we're at.

It's weird to watch time go by and the generations change and shift life situations. I can remember when my parents were at this stage in their life with young kids and here I am in it and watching our parents move into their role as grandparents. Sometimes it makes time seem so fleeting.

Today the kids did their primary program. I must admit I was disappointed that they didn't get to give their lines they had memorized. Alyssa and Christian read theirs and the teacher helped Amber with hers before she really had a chance. But they were stinking cute, of course.

Tomorrow is surgery. I will be so excited to get it over with and move on. Scott is so cute and keeps telling me not to die. It will be nice to have this over with. But I am going to savor my last trip (REALLY) to the hospital. Order ice cold cranberry juice and morphine all I want :)

Halloween

I was a total slacker this year for Halloween. I didn't get the kids' costumes until the week of and candy until the day of and only got a couple pictures. I'm not sure what happened. But the pictures I got turned out really cute. Alyssa and Christian had a history fair on Friday and dressed up in historical garb. I did Alyssa's hair up in 2 buns on each side of her head for medieval times and Christian was an Indian for the War of 1812. Amber had a costume parade at her school where all the kids go through all the classrooms and show off their costumes. She was Belle this year. And they had a story time at the library for Livi (the butterfly) which I thought would be story time but silly me it was trick-or-treating. She got to go to classrooms and they gave out candy. The next day I volunteered to help at a carnival at the school which turned out to be a lot more work than I thought but it was fun. And then we went to the church for trunk or treat and MORE candy. I think by the time I dress up the kids a couple times each and buy candy and decorate and everything else I am so ready for it to be over.

Christian lost his tooth two days later (no link to the huge amount of sugar that had just entered his body, I'm sure) and he looks so funny without it. I can't believe my baby boy is getting so big.

I spoke in church today on preparing names to take to the temple and I am so excited because I found a whole side of my mom's family that hasn't had their temple work done. The names are all there with all the information, all I have to do is print it off and go. I was really not interested in this topic before but I feel like it was inspired now. So to all my family reading this--I'm giving you names to take from now on!