Friday Thanksgiving

In keeping with our family tradition, Thanksgiving was once again celebrated on Friday.  It seems to work out well because there are no scheduling conflicts. This year we ate dinner at Lyf's house. It is a fun place to gather because there is lots of room for the kids to play.  And since we sold our condo, it was also our hotel for the duration of our stay in Utah.

 

Before dinner, I was also able to do some Black Friday shopping. I love to buy clothes on this day of the year. There are great deals and it is not crazy like Walmart or Target.

 

Cayleb, Zach, Tru and Eli had fun jumping on the trampoline.

 

 

The adults were hanging out by the red garage talking and the kids were jumping and playing. The trampoline is set in a hole, to minimize injuries.  Harry's shoe had fallen into the hole and Eli tried to get it out. His head got wedged between the trampoline and the side wall after all the other kids had left.  At first it didn't register in my head, but then I finally realized that he was screaming frantically.  I looked over at the trampoline and saw Eli doing an impersonation of an ostrich.  I ran over there and got him out. The kid was not happy. Poor thing. I felt so bad for him. But he was totally fine.

 

 

It was a great treat to see that Bella was here for the holiday. It was neat to see her again.

 

And a family visit would not be complete without a good dose of wrestling. Eli, Rayder, and Tru had a blast rolling around tackling each other.  The kids also had loads of fun playing Just Dance 3 on the Wii.  It was quite hilarious watching the cousins dance and dance, with great concentration on their faces.

 

We also enjoyed sharing our favorite Youtube videos with each other and playing 8 and Back, of course, and Taboo.

Mary Jane, Lani, Bryn, Kate, and Lindy.

Mizpah and Ash Springs

We decided to go to St. George for Thanksgiving. I didn't want to go the same old way because let's face it, the drive is dreadfully BORING. So we went a longer way on Wednesday afternoon, down south through California. When we got to Mono Lake, we made a left turn. The drive was so beautiful. I only wish it didn't get dark so early in the evening.

 

 

We got to Mono Lake at sunset and the colors were spectacular. The road that connects from here to Nevada is a real gem. There is one stretch that is exceptionally hilly and quite exciting, like a roller coaster. And that would not be an exaggeration.

 

Instead of trying to get to Utah in one stretch, we stayed in Tonopah this time at the Mizpah. It was a fantastic hotel, fully restored to its turn-of-the-century glory. I didn't realize this when we made the reservation, but the hotel is even haunted. But I think the ghosts were visiting family for the Thanksgiving weekend. We did not see any.

 

Of course, we weren't sure if the ghosts would make an appearance or not, so we told the kids about the haunted status of the hotel in the morning. I value sleep too much.

 

 

After a breakfast at McDonald's, we hit the road again. But this time, we made a stop in Ash Springs. This is a one gas station town about two hours from Tonopah. The great thing about this place is that there is a (free) natural hot springs hidden off to the side of the road.

 

And the kids had a blast. The water was warm and the weather was ideal. They swam for at least an hour. No one wanted to get out.

 

When we got to St. George, I really wanted to eat a Thanksgiving dinner at the Golden Corral.  But alas, when we pulled into the parking lot, the line was crazy bananas. Apparently, everyone else in St. George wanted to eat at the Golden Corral as well. What a bummer!  Since Rinar's family does the Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, we had to find somewhere to eat that was open.

 

Rinar's parents joined us and we naturally went to IHOP! Nothing screams Thanksgiving more than pancakes, if you ask me.

Receiving Gifts

Several years ago, my family was driving up to St. George from Las Vegas. We realized as we started out on our journey that we needed some snacks.  Our kids were young and hey, who doesn't need a good snack for a long car drive?  We stopped at the closest gas station we could find, which ended up being in the middle of the rough part of Vegas. It didn't really bother me as it looked a lot like the neighborhood where I grew up.

After perusing the store, we headed to the register to make our purchase. There was a man standing in front of us who seemed a bit down on his luck. He was dirty and a bit raggedy, but still a nice enough guy.  Out of the blue the man decided that he wanted to purchase our items for us.  What!?! If anything, we should have been buying this guy his stuff, as it looked like he needed it a lot more than we did.  After a little bit of an argument, Rinar acquiesced and let the gentleman pay for our food items, which probably equaled about $8 or so.  Rinar graciously said thank you to the man, and we were on our way.

But that has always stayed with me.  This man really wanted to buy our stuff. He wanted to do something nice. I felt a peace inside of me knowing it was the right thingto do, to just graciously accept the gift he was giving us.  It was so very kind.  It was his choice to give it to us. And I have realized over the years that it was not my place to decide whether he should have the right to give me that gift or not. If I didn't let him help us or do something nice for us, I would have robbed him of that joy. I didn't want to do that to him.

I have felt myself in this situation many times. This has been especially true during my first pregnancy. It was 6 weeks of strict bed rest. The ladies in my ward were so kind and brought us dinner every single night. We were inundated with food and kindness. At first it was hard to accept, but it really helped us. Then with the second twin pregnancy, my Relief Society president in Las Vegas would absolutely not accept a no from me, when she offered to have the Relief Society help me.  I realized I had no choice but to say yes. And once again, I had many loving women come to my house everyday to cheer me, clean for me, hold Eli, whatever. It ended up being quite wonderful.

I have been thinking a lot about this because of an incident that happened a few weeks ago. A kid from our ward stopped by to sell tickets for a school fundraiser. It was a wine and dine thing. He was so embarrassed that he was standing at my door because he didn't realize it was my house.  But I was happy to have him and exuberantly bought a couple of tickets. I knew there were several people from my kids' football team that would love to go.  I was just going to give the tickets to one of them, so everyone wins.

After purchasing the tickets and putting them safely away, I got a call from his mother a few hours later. She absolutely refused to accept my generous gift. I tried to explain to her that it was a pleasure to be able to help in some small way, but she would not hear it.  At the risk of being contentious, I just gave up. I was not allowed that joy of being able to help and contribute.

It kind of ticked me off.

Christmas is the season of giving AND receiving.  When someone gives you a gift, instead of making a judgement...I think the best thing to do is to just say thank you.

Don't rob someone else of the joy of giving. Somebody has to receive and it might as well be you.

I mean, the best gift comes from Jesus and I don't know about the rest of you, but I have chosen to receive His gift gratefully and try to remember to say thank you every chance I get.

Pinewood Derby

Well, here is our adieu to the Pinewood Derby. At least, for the next four years. Raef and Zach competed in their last one a couple of weeks ago. It was rough getting there, as we were frantically putting the contraptions together a few hours before the race started. Mama was not too happy.

But somehow it all worked out and the wheels stayed on for all of their races. And amazingly enough, they even won a few.

The boys had a lot of fun.

Thoughts on Pink

Some days, you just HAVE to be pink!

Eagle Co-op Is Done

We wrapped up homeschool co-op on Thursday. It is really nice to be done. I was running out of clever ideas for my class.  Eli took a couple of classes this semester. He has graduated out of the preschool scene.  His first one was a manners class. They did a few skits for their finale and Eli played a rude boy who bumps into a girl and says, "Move it!"  I think this kid has a future on the stage. It was riveting!

I taught a class on Tudor England.  I made up an interactive game I think I will call The Spanish Armada.  It was a lot like Candyland, except a little more violent. Every time they landed on Spanish Armada they would all run around the room and then back to their seats. Many a time someone almost got trampled or did in fact, get trampled.  I was still working out the kinks, okay? Some squares awarded them with candy, a few involved push-ups, jumping jacks, diving under the table. It was VERY educational!

I snuck out the last few minutes of my class to see Eli once again performing with his music class. He was right there in the middle singing a song about Thanksgiving and Jesus. I loved it!

Raef and Zach were in non-performance type classes. Zach learned cooking, textile arts, and earth science. Raef had self-defense, study hall, and then my totally awesome history class. Julia and Harry graduated out of the kiddie room to the preschool room.  It was a great year.  We are looking forward to starting again in February. 

I asked the boys from my class what kind stuff we should do next year. Yes, my class is exclusively for boys about 10 years old.  They want to learn about modern warfare. Oh boy. I am really going to be tapping my dad's prodigious brain cells for good ideas in that arena. It should be interesting.

Oh, Eli!

And...some days, you just don't want to eat black bean soup.

This was THAT day.