Ahhhhh Thanksgiving

We had a great thanksgiving!!! Good food, lots of laughter, pie contest, floor show, gingerbread trees. It couldn't have been a better day. All of our kids and grandkids as well as my mother were here. I love having the family together, its a little bit of heaven for Nick and I. After dinner and while the kids were watching a movie the adults shared what they were thankful for. The rule was that we are all thankful for our families and the gospel, so we had to share something different. Some were thankful for....seasons and nature, technology to keep in touch with family, the opportunity to fast and pray, having good eyesight, living in a free country, modern conveniences, etc. Here are some pictures...this is Amie and Brion's baby Lexie with a ping-pong ball in her mouth (I couldn't resist taking a picture). Allie, Emmie and Kate decorating the gingerbread christmas trees. BTW, the kids liked doing these much better than the houses. They are easier and faster and keep their attention. They turned out pretty darn good too!

Logan, Amie and Landon

Lacee and Dax

Kim and Clay

Okay, so I know we are all waiting to here about the 3rd annual thanksgiving pie contest. Last year you may remember poor, poor, Nick's pie. He was determined to win this year. He thought and he thought and came up with this idea....He would go to Cold Scone and buy some ice cream. I mean, everybody likes ice cream don't they? He bought a graham cracker crust, put the ice cream in it and poured carmel on top with little dollop's of whipped cream. The question is, did he REALLY MAKE A PIE? His comment to this was, "well, I took out the ice cream and let it sit out so I could pour it into the crust." He put so much hard work into that pie. Anyway, this year the pie contest has passed the gender lines, Kim and Adrien decided to enter. Here is the low down: Nick's was a ice cream pie, Jarom's was a "Bubba's Famous Pie" (don't ask, you don't want to know, trust me), Brion's was a lemon coconut pie, Kim's was a apple/rasberry pie, Adrien's was a cream cheese rasberry pie and Brett's was a Banoffee tart (that is sugar cookie crust, carmel with bananas and whipped cream on top, I promise I didn't make it, he did it himself). Here they are:

We had each child vote once for best tasting and presentation. The adults voted top three for each category. Scott, Lacee and Spencer tallied the votes and here they are: First place for presentation was Kim's! She got a box of Whopper's. Drum roll please...First place for best tasting was Adrien! She got a box of Good and Plenty as well as the very, very big prize of the coveted trophy that Brion and Amie found at the D.I. last spring. It stands 7 feet tall and has a lady on top. We will keep it safe and sound for the next year. Take a look--

After the pie contest we had a floor show with the grandkids. Here is Landon singing a song to everyone. Notice Easton on the chair behind him. He is singing to the top of his lungs a different song than Landon was. It was really funny.

Of course the dancing was a hit. Here are all the grandkids (except Clay) dancing to High School musical.

Well, that is it for this year. I'm sad when it is over. I think I will go and take a nap now :)

November 11, 2009 was a very, very special day for our family. Our youngest son, Brett, finished his mission. We had the opportunity to drive down to L.A. California to pick him up. It was a sweet experience for Nick and I. We are so thankful that we were able to see the places that he served, attend the L.A. Temple, San Diego Temple and the St. George Temple with him. He is an amazing young man. We also had a wonderful experience of sitting down with Pres. and Sister Blackburn and listening to them express their love and appreciation for the type of missionary Brett has been. We felt very honored, as we were the only parents they were able to meet with. It did this mom and dad's heart good to hear them talk about Brett. Here are some pictures...This was my first hug from Brett. Right after we picked him up we walked over to the L.A. Temple and did a session. Interestingly enough when we were in the celestial room there were 4-5 people that knew Brett when he served in his different areas, and came up to us to introduce themselves and talk about what kind of a missionary he was while serving in their different wards. It was really neat to meet them. Here is Nick and Brett outside L.A. Temple

Here we are again outside the temple

We took a little side trip down to the San Diego Temple. What a gorgeous temple it is!! In the celestial room you can walk up the stairs to the atrium and then look out the atrium window and see the Angel Moroni. That was really, really neat.

We told Brett that the family was going to get together on Sunday afternoon (we got home on Saturday afternoon), but what he didn't know was the girls had planned a suprise and when he walked into the house all of the family jumped out. He was totally shocked and loved every minute of it. The grandkids were amazing. They were so excited! Some of the grandkids didn't want to let go of him. Here is Scott, Brion, Jarom and Easton taking in the scene.

Landon wouldn't let him go.

Brett played ball, hide and go seek, Wii games, anything and everything the grandkids wanted. No wonder they love him so much. Here is Dax, Logan, Allie and Emmie

This is the sign that they hung up inside the house.

I think it is really neat that instead of "Welcome Home" they put "Well Done", because that is exactly how all of us feel about Brett's service. We feel so blessed to have him home.

Boy, did we have fun on Halloween!! Brion and Amie had a party in the afternoon and everybody dressed up for it (except me....I went as "and old fashioned grammy" per Logan). We had sloppy joes, salad, rootbeer with dry ice, eyeballs (doughnut holes dipped in white chocolate with frosting for the blood shot eyes). We had a dance and Grandma Christofferson read spooky stories to the kids. It was great fun!! It has been the first time since we had grandkids that we were able to see all of them on Halloween. Here is Dax as the red Power Ranger with Easton as a dog (the cutest dog grammy and pa have ever seen!)
Here is the dance. Emmie really gets into it, just like her sisters. There are doing a line dance here with Kim (spider woman) helping.

Clay as Mickey Mouse. He was so interested in the balloons that he didn't even eat (except an eyeball, he loved those)

The rootbeer with the dry ice was a hit!! Here is Allie (fairy) and Landon (the great Harry Potter) with Logan (darth mal)

The kids sitting still, getting ready for the stories to start. Emmie (fairy) Logan, Lexie, Landon, Allie and Kate.

The adult costumes were really funny. Our kids are always commenting on Doug Heffernen from King of Queens. Here is Adrien who is Kari Heffernen, and Jarom who is Doug. He looked just like him...except he had to use a pillow to make a big stomach. He even talked like him. It was really hilarious!

I about died when Brion and Lexie came out. Brion use to work for Fed Ex while he was in college and so he is a Fed Ex guy and they dressed Lexie up as a Fed Ex package. They even had the address where to send her!!

Amie was a gal from the 70's, Amies Brother Ryan was dressed up as some kind of weirdo and Amie's mom was Mary Poppins complete with umbrella. We really had a great time. I am glad that I don't have to put up with the sugar highs that kids get.....I have enough on my hands with all the sugar Nick has had, heaven help me!