Thanksgiving With The Family

We had our Thanksgiving dinner yesterday (Saturday) so our kids could have Thanksgiving on Thursday with the other side. We had SO much fun!!! The weather was good, the food was wonderful, conversation galore and we just enjoyed each other. Here are some pictures~~~This is Papa and Clayton. Clay was as happy as could be until the guys started yelling during the BYU/UofU football game. Here is Kate and Easton having Thanksgiving dinner. They are buddies

Here is our little Lexie. How sweet she is. She slept most of the time she was at our house.

After dinner we all went outside. Nick blew all the leaves in a BIG HUGE pile and the kids were having the time of their lives jumping in them. You see, the grandkids don't have any big trees at their homes and so they don't know what it is like to jump in leaves. Of course, Papa was in the middle of it trying to cover them all up. We told the kids they couldn't jump in the leaves until all of us were out to watch. They were like little lions, pacing, ready to pounce! And they did!! Here is Logan and Emmie

Little Kate didn't like the leaves too much.

Here's Daxton trying to decide whether or not he wants to jump in.

After the leaves some of the family wanted to climb the tree. Jarom showed the little ones how to do it. I remember climbing my tree when I was little. It is a place that is quiet with only the birds singing. I loved it.

Logan is trying his hand at climbing.

Now for the big pie contest~~As you might remember in previous blogs Brion's pie last year really stunk! He forgot the salt in the crust and the sugar in the filling (I mean, what was he thinking). He has never lived it down since, for a whole year mind you. He wasn't taking any chances this year. He made two pies and took them up to Christofferson's (Amie's family) to have them pick which one he should bring to our Thanksgiving dinner. Then he made it for our contest. (I think that borders on cheating, what do you think?) Anyway, there has been a lot of thought and preparation and especially SMACK talk over e-mail on who was going to win this year. Poor Nick, poor, poor Nick. He takes the prize for the Gomer of pies this year. He worked so hard too. He researched on the internet, picked a really great sounding pie, followed the recipe and as he put it, "This really tastes BAD!" His pie was a blueberry sour cream pie with cookie crumblies on top. Poor, poor Nick. Well, lets go on....Jarom made a brownie cheesecake pie (it tasted good, but needed help in the presentation department). Brion made a peanut butter cream pie with oreo cookies on top. Scott made a delicious chocolate cream pie. Kim and Spencer made a wonderful pumpkin cream cheese pie. Each pie was judged on taste and presentation. Poor, poor Nick. We numbered the pies and each had a slice. They were all really, really good except one (poor, poor Nick). Although, Emmie voted for Papa's pie saying, "I voted for you Papa because nobody else wanted to." Well, that says it all doesn't it? The winner....drum roll please.....BRION wins both taste and presentation. Take a look at the pics.

After the pies, while the guys were watching THE game the rest of us made gingerbread houses. This is a tradition that we do every year. Each family gets a kit and decorates it the way they want and then take it home. After we did this I helped the grandkids make mint ornaments for their trees. Here is Daxton by the one he and Lacee made.

Here is Emmie, Adrien and Allie with theirs

Here is Logan, Amie and Landon with thiers.

Well, that is it for this Thanksgiving. It went way too fast. The only thing that would have made it better is if Brett would have been able to be there, but then again, we are happy to have him on his mission. One last thought....Poor, poor Nick.

Brett

Last, but certainly not least, is our wonderful son, Brett. He is serving a mission at the moment in California. We are so thankful he is a part of our family. What would we do without Brett? He has been out on his mission for a year now and is on the backside. I always have conflicted feelings when our sons are just about to come home. We give them to the Lord to take care of, they struggle, they get discouraged, they grow in testimony and strength, and they are happier then they have ever been in their lives, and we hate to have that window close. Of course, we all serve the Lord, but a mission is more focused I think. I remember when Brion was released from his mission in the Stake President's office when he hugged Nick he was shedding a few tears. Nick told him there are even better things to come. Then in the Timpanogos Temple when Brion and Amie got married and Nick and Brion hugged, Brion realized that what was said was true. And so it has been for all of our sons and son-in-law and it will be so for Brett as well. I will tell you this though, this mother's heart is certainly full with gratitude for the kind of son that Brett is. This is at the MTC. I love this picture so much.

This is when Brett was about 1 1/2 years old. He has always loved animals, gardening (as our neighbors can tell it has been neglected since he left) and just being a homebody. Although, we use to have what we called "Brett alerts". Brett had a tendency to escape and it was difficult to keep track of him. One time we couldn't find him and had looked all over the neighborhood. Finally, Jarom went down to the softball fields by the park which was a good choice because as he was walking towards the stands there were Brett's shoes and socks, a little ways down was his shirt and Jarom thought, "he is not going to have any clothes on!!" But he found him before he could remove his pants. That is why I confess that I have to dye my hair. BTW, that is our cat in the background and she is still alive.

I love this picture. Brett is always happy, very seldom onery. I remember taking him to swimming lessons when he was about 4 or 5 and they would play ring-around-the-rosy and then go under the water. Well, he was always smiling and laughing even when he went under and then when he came up he was still smiling!!! I think they had to refill the pool each time he got out for all the water he swallowed~~~Ewww

Brett and Scott have been close and he wanted Scott to baptize him. Brett's very good friend, Mark Pratt was baptized the same day by his brother Scott as well.

Here Brett is outside the Timpanogos Temple

This was a neat experience for Brett~~For graduation we gave him a church history trip that the American Fork seminaries put on each year for graduating seniors. All of our neices as well as Kim went on them. They travel by bus and visit every church history spot clear to Sharon, Vermont. Plus they take in a play on Broadway and a baseball game in NYC. Here he is at Kirtland with John and Carol Cluff. Brett has always loved the Cluffs.

Here is Brett's LA mission president and his wife.

These next few pictures are of the MTC

I love this picture, it should be a postcard, don't you think?

This was his first area, Compton, California. He loved this area.

We are so grateful that the Lord blessed us with Brett. He has brought so much joy and happiness to our family and we love him more than tongue can tell.

Spencer and Kim Family

Kim has always been a delight to our whole family. She has never taken any guff from her brothers and can pretty much hold her own. She is the apple of her Dad's eye, but to her credit, has never taken advantage of that. She grew up playing with trucks and balls and playing very little with dolls. Her brothers made sure she was tough! I love the above picture of Kim and Spencer. This was taken outside the Temple on their wedding day. It's funny, Kim's brothers always had a silly name for each of the boys Kim dated, (most of them were derogatory, if you know what I mean) except for Spencer, they liked him right off the bat. They make such a cute couple. Spencer graduated from UVU and works for Symantec. Kim is currently a stay at home mom. This next picture is of Kim when she was about 3 or 4. Isn't she cute?

Here Kim is playing high school softball. She was the best bunter on the team.

Here she is playing 2nd base fielding a ball. One time when she was playing she jammed her thumb pretty bad. Nick and I weren't there, but Scott was, and she went over to him and he jerked it back into place and she went back out and finished the game. She didn't even cry. She is a tough nut! Notice her eyes are right where they are supposed to be, on the ball!

Here she is at her high school graduation night. She and Scott have been very close throughout the years. He was a senior when she was a freshman while in H.S. and Scott was very protective of her, sometimes TOO protective, right Kim?

Here is a special day when they blessed little Clay. Don't they look happy? They are both really good parents indeed!

Here is little Clay when he was about 3 months old. He has dark features and bright blue eyes. He is a very handsome baby (I was going to say beautiful, but I think Spencer wouldn't like that).
Here he is at 6 months~~Isn't Kim a fantastic photographer? She has taken all of his baby pictures and I think she is very, very talented. I think she should go into business. Clay is such a happy baby. We had him for a few days and he was a total joy to tend. He does like to flirt with girls/women with his shy smile.

Here is our happy, happy family. Kim and Spencer compliment each other and make a wonderful eternal couple. We are so thankful for them. We love them more than tongue can tell (that is a saying in our family started a few generations back)