Nice, Noteworthy, Nostalgic NOVEMBER!!!

Aaaaahhhh!!! What a month! Is it that I'm so old now.... or is it that life's just getting better and better every day? Whatever it is, I AM SO THANKFUL!!! We had such a fun November. From the Thankful lists my kids brought home from school, Cute decorated Turkey crafts, beautiful weather allowing us to play- To having family come celebrate the season with us-We were so thankful they could come, and definitely missed those that couldn't. We are SO blessed! We can't wait for Christmas to see the rest of you!!!!!

I like this picture- not because it's an amazing shot....only because it describes our life so well these days! Ever since Jackson has been born, our family has been together so much more. Just his simple bath every night has brought us so much closer- we all want to be a part of it! Yes- he finally graduated from the sink- as almost all the water ended up on the floor with his splashing :) We laugh together more often- and have a little bit more love for each other. Everyone home just can't keep themselves away.

It's just so fun for each of us to be a part of every little detail.

His belly-button went down! Yipee!

This month was a real kick!!! It was such a treat to have Amber and Doug arrive a week before Thanksgiving!! Every year we go to a benefit gala thing- for the Handicapped organization in town - Respite Care. It's one of our favorite events to support- they do so many awesome things with the kids in our community. Anyway- Doug and Amber happened to get here just in time to go with us!!

During that week, Amber even got her braces off! So of course.... we had to celebrate!!

The kids were loving every opportunity to play!

Sydney was the best with Jackson- always so helpful!

The girls even gave a fabulous Family Night Lesson!! Having the New Jersey Doxey's here early, was so much fun! Those little girls are SO stinkin' cute! Doug was able to go around and interview at some offices- so we are crossing our fingers that it

all works out for them to move here!!

And then..... THE PARTY EXPANDED!! The Utah crowd arrived on Tuesday around Midnight!! All so excited to see each other (even though they were dead tired,) they all hung out until wee hours of the night!

The long weekend was a perfect mix of play it hard, yet making time to chillax!

Around the World ping pong- was one of the faves!

We kind of turned it into an ATWPP-Dance. Imagine blasting music and

dancing in between hits! Sweet!!

The intensity was thick- as the last couple players- spun and hit! Caitlin was all over it- and kept winning!

Although, Doug-- fought til the end, and was champion (at least a few of the games :)

It looks like EVERYONE felt like a CHAMPION!!

Meanwhile..... on the side lines. The less intense- were bringin' down the house!

Pulling out all the moves!

I LOVE that we are all DANCING MANIACS!!!

Things got a little wild! With a little rip-ay lip-ay on the Cos-ay!!!

It was so wild- Cher even cut her Eyelid!! NICE!!

After the wild Dancing.... we decided we better get down to business and start thinking about Thanksgiving! Leslie and Dave were in charge of rolls- We whipped up 6 batches at midnight!!! SWEET!!

THANKSGIVING DAY

Turkey Trot--34 people paying for a turkey trot gets a little steep! So we thought we'd do our own in the hood. It turned out to be such a blast!! We marked out our 5k- and assigned a rabbit to lead the way! Bry, Mark, Caitlin and Garrett did a great job helping us all stay on course. With blasting music, the race clock ready, and all 34 lined up (some taking pictures)....We were ready to run WILD!!

It started with a bang! Alyson, Cosi, Kendy, and Josh, Lindsey, Katie and Maddie, and Max leading the way. Everyone did so awesome, and ran with Turkey Day pride!

The Home Stretch!! Some had already finished- but went back to bring others in!!

They gave it their all- and finished strong!!! I wasn't there to see the firsts come in- but I heard it was intense!! Jackson and I had a great run- just behind Tom and Zack- who never stopped once!! Woohooo!! These lady's below- have running fever! They all powered through with VIGOR!!

Afterwards, Deb and Rob led us in some amazing stretches!!

And Cheri-taught us all the "Vidmar Circle of Death!! (Peter Vidmar's daughter is Kendy's friend who lived with them- and taught them this) Push ups galore!!

We couldn't pass up doing a Pyramid!! This was awesome! It only took about 50 retry's!!

Thankfully Jeff and Becca showed up in the middle of it to help us get set up!

This was the best we got....Almost Everyone on top......

Before we crumbled!!! SO FUN!!

And then it was time to get to work!! Let the feast preparation begin!!

Rolls! Rolls! and More Rolls!!!!!

Throughout the day-- we were able to contribute to Ellie's Thankful Turkey!! Thanks Ellie for making this- It was the highlight of the weekend!

All of the kids did a Fabulous Job folding the napkins, setting the tables, and

decorating for our special feast!!

The little ones were an amazing help too! They helped prepare each thing- Here is Paige and Allie helping Debbie with her fresh cranberry sauce! Mmmmm the Best!

And of course..... What's Thanksgiving without a TURKEY BOWL!!

Such Cute Cousins!!

So this time around we had a few concerned there wouldn't be enough food. Doug and Amber were in charge of Potatoes- so when they mentioned they were doing 30 pounds- SOMEONE thought that just wouldn't be enough! So we added another 20 pounds! Potatoes galore! Country potatoes.... Sour Cream and Chive potatoes.....all sorts of yummy potatoes. All I know, is that the potatoes took up all 6 burners!! It wasn't until we were cleaning up and saw - What?-- 4 huge pots of potatoes left??? Let's just say Bry was eating a lot of potatoes the rest of the week!!!

Turkey Carving at its Best!

Finally....Time to EAT!!

We were so thankful Jeff and Becca were able to come up and be with us!!!

Mmmmm Mmmmm Seriously--- Amazing Food!! Everyone chipped in and made an incredibly savory spread!! Consisting of Heavenly appetizers, super moist turkey, awesome potatoes, Cher's (home made bread) stuffing, cinnamon crumble,pecan sweet potatoes, Grandma's orange yams, decadent rolls, perfect broccoli, fresh cranberry sauce, and cranberry slush it was Amazing! And we hadn't even gotten to the 24 pies!

We were all enjoying the moment so much, we forgot about a few rolls!

Afterwards- Everyone was so helpful and got it all cleaned up. What a HUGE help!!

Dorothy who had just had her hysterectomy was even helping-- After you left Dorth, I realized you didn't even get to relax very much!! I'm so sorry!

PIE TIME!!!

Sour cream lemon, Key lime, Sour Cream blueberry, Triple berry, Apple carmel crumble, White chocolate Raspberry (Amazing Amber,) Chocolate Cream, Cranberry Pear (Incredible Becca,) Chocolate Satin, Coconut cream, Pumpkin, all with Breyer's natural vanilla! YUM!

Each night after a long hard play day-- we were even able to sneak in some Bball, and Movies.

The Teenagers even thought of a grand idea- to hit the stores for Black Friday! They were going to go thanksgiving night- but we all got a little tired. So we got up the next morn, and headed to the Nike outlet and other stores! What a hoot! We all got some great buys! However some of the other stores- weren't as good. After shopping for 3 hours-- all the girls decided to get new water bottle cups!! What a find!!

Maddie and Katie in their new duds--tearing up the court!

The best part about this Thanksgiving Break, is that we were all in one house just chillin' together!! So nice to have down time to really spend time together!

The Boys even found the Wii (of which we supposedly gave to another family last year.) Oh well- a few games every once in a while doesn't kill.

The morning workouts were the....best! Morning runs, Hiking Horsetooth, A good run up Coyote Ridge, and best of all.....ZUMBA! I had to laugh. I had Placenta Previa for the first 4 months of my pregnancy. While I was on mild bed rest (no workouts=torture) I happen to be laying down watching something late at night- because I was too sick to sleep. The Zumba infomercial was on, and I couldn't resist. I've only bought 2 infomercial things in my life- and this was one of them. The funny thing was.... I never even opened it. When the doctor gave me the ok to exercise-- I headed straight for the streets. So.... All the lady's joined in, and we had a

ZUMBA PARTY!!

Allie was Amazing!!!!!!

With so many creative brains- we didn't stop!! Here we are all playing German Tag! It was adventurous that's for sure! We only had a few injuries.... several rug burns, and Alice bruised a rib and got the wind knocked out of her. We play hard! Apparently we were going to play another game invented years ago called-- HSOJ (Josh backwards) But the teenagers- were laughing their heads off- and said it might be too vicious for us old adults. When were they playing this game??

Cosi- in between bases!

Enjoying the beautiful 68 degree weather!

Garrett was on a mission to make the basket while he zipped!

We went from one thing to the next!

Here we are playing Around the World TENNIS!!

TOO FUN!!

Josh at his finest!

We did hair in the Kitchen--just because!! Sweet!

And we even squoze in some time to do braces. Suddenly Mark had Leslie in the chair- she had no idea she was getting them- but he thought they were a must to help her bite.

It just kept getting funnier and funnier as the days rolled on.

The teenagers thought Jackson could use some hair!!

Which led to........

ROB needing some hair too!

And of course DAVE!!

MARK :)

BRY :) :)

GREG :)

JOSH :)

GARY :)

ROB needed more hair!

Then we thought why not GO ALL OUT!!!!

All the gals helped with the arrangements......

Voila!!! A room full of beautifully groomed Men!!

I couldn't resist naming them:

Ronda, Marge, Pat, Dixie, and Laverne

As the weekend came to a close- we tried to squeeze something into every last minute! We couldn't have everyone leave without playing 4 Square! So, Deb ran to target and picked up a ball-- and we had the most glorious hootin' hollarin' time ever!! What a fun game all together!

Imagine Blasting Music (all the teeny bopper songs of course) and everyone all lined up- waiting their turn to go in. It was a super quick turn around with us all changing partners along the way. WHAT A SCREAM!!!

Smiles had by ALL!! :)

I don't know who took this pictures- but obviously I was having a blast!

And just like that the weekend was over! 5 days together- living it up!! After Sacrament meeting I ran back to help them get off- but couldn't stay too long, because I had to get back to church for a Farewell/ Homecoming in another ward. So I said my goodbyes. After church, we were all so sad- driving into the garage- because all the cars were gone. As we walked in.... we walked into THIS!! So-- So Sweet! Zack and Tom- are truly best of friends!!

And- a good old Hardy Har Har Laugh- with This!!!

Nothing else but a....

MASHED POTATO SNOW MAN!!!

With a burnt cookie on top! :)

I ran to grab my camera- to get a picture, but my memory card was full. So I scrolled through to see what we could delete--- and of course...... They had all taken a picture for me on their way out!!! Ha Ha Ha Ha HAHaHAH hahahaha! What a good Laugh!!

Epic-- truly Epic!!

Creativity at it's finest!! However..... Bry, I thought you were all going to take a bag of potatoes in each car- with a few straws??!!?? :)

And just like that.... Thanksgiving is over!! We have incredibly GRATEFUL hearts to have such awesome Family in our lives (on both sides!!) What amazing times- and what a gift to live each day!!! Our Temple President's wife (Our neighbor's and friends -The Baer's Mom) was just killed in a car accident. We went to her funeral- and it was of course incredible! So inspiring!! It just makes me realize how short life is.... and how grateful I am to have such amazing relationships in my life!!!! It's all that matters in life! All the moments we have with each other-- make life so complete!!

And Now on to CHRISTMAS!!!!

Here we are setting up the kids favorite Christmas decoration ever--- The village!!! It can be a little hairy setting it up- but the smile on their faces are worth it!!!! Thanks Meemaw and Grandpa for this memory!!

Zack's year to put the Star on the fancy tree!

It's funny- Allie needed new jammies- since she has been growing so much! So- I grabbed some Christmas ones--she ran and put them on, and said- take a picture! The Joy- sign was just sitting on the counter waiting for me to put it somewhere. After I took it I realized. Oh perfect!!! I've actually had this word in my mind a lot these days!!! Throughout my whole pregnancy I heard a voice telling me how much Joy this little baby would bring to our family!! Wow, I had no--idea!! Josh, Maddie, Zack and Allie, and Jackson are the best!

I am so grateful for them every day!!

I hope this season I can forget about the riff- raff! And not get too stressed out.

I hope I enjoy these little ones,

BECAUSE.....EVERY. DAY. MATTERS!!!