Give Thanks! And a broken finger!

This Thanksgiving has been one of my most memorable in a long time. It was so much fun! My parents reserved the church and we set up all the tables so we could eat "Family Style" with about 25 or us. It was a blast! Thanks mom and dad!

One thing about living far away and not being able to come home very often is that all my nieces and nephews grow so much. I was blown away with how grown up everyone is getting, especially Jenessa, Ali and Emily. They are teenagers and they are gorgeous girls!!!

This is a picture of Thatcher and Regan meeting for the first time. They were born 3 days apart.

After dinner, we set up a game table and everyone played and played. It was one of my favorite things. We also played basketball (lightning is a family favorite), volleyball and a highly dangerous game of base soccer (or kick ball) as Jason calls it. All the adults joined in and we started making rules like: if you kicked it off the walls and someone caught it you are out, if you hit the backboard on a fly it is a home run, if it hits the ceiling then you are out. Everyone started kicking so hard and trying to ricochet the soccer ball off 2-3 different walls...anyway, it was while I was trying to catch one of these that I actually broke my finger!!! It hurt soooo bad. I immediately ran out of the gym because I didn't want everyone to make a big fuss and stuck my finger in the drinking fountain. After about 5 minutes I could tell it was swelling up so badly, that I decided I needed to wrestle my wedding ring off before it would need to be cut off. It took me a few minutes and a lot of pain but I was able to get it off. I waited to go to the doctor until we got home to Seattle 5 days later and had it x-rayed. Sure enough I had broken it. This was my first official broken bone. (I think I broke my pinky toe in high school because it hurt like "another brother's mother" for about 6 months, but I never had it x-rayed and so I am not sure.)
After games, we had a really really fun family talent show. I didn't get a picture of everyone but this is a picture of Ali doing a ballet routine. I think everyone did something...except Jason!!! How ironic is that?!?! One of the most talented people I know and he wouldn't participate. :) jk. I think it was because I didn't give him much time to prepare. That afternoon I think I said something like "So, what are you going to do for the talent show?" His response was, "What talent show?"
This is a picture of Boo (Danielle) singing a song. She was really good! I did the Fools Lip Sync with my sister, Kelly and my niece, Jenessa. (Its my old standby, good in a pinch talent), Dallin sang the ABC's and said the first Article of Faith. He also learned how to run and jump off the stage from my older nephews. One thing is for certain, that boy is NOT afraid of jumping!

I know, I know - here it is December and I am finally blogging about Halloween! Ha, how do you like that?!? It seems like I didn't blog for awhile and then it got to be that I had too many things that I needed to blog about. And somehow, blogging seemed to slip from the list of "things I want to do" to the "another thing I have to do" list. So here I sit (on the floor in my bathroom of all places) and on December 2, 2007 I can put a check mark next to the...To Do: "blog about Halloween" list.This is a cute picture of Dallin and Thatcher at the Halloween Trunk or Treat at our new ward, Issaquah 6th ward. Dallin is now so happy because he gets to go to nursery with his best friend Preston Matthews. Dallin was spiderman and Thatcher was Robin.
Dallin loved the kids costume parade. He would walk across the stage and everyone would cheer and then he would run around and get back in line. He must have "paraded" 4-5 times.
During the month of October, Susann was on a trip to the Cambodian orphanage for 3 weeks and so Jason and I were in charge! :) We got a feel for what it will be like to have 4 kids and to have a couple pre-teens. It was fun! Jacoba and Kooper are really really great kids. This is us carving pumpkins.
A few days before Halloween we were "Boo-ed" with Halloween Oreos. This is a picture of Dallin trying to hoard the cookies and stash them while I was in the shower. Caught red handed!
Thatcher's great discovery this halloween was CANDY! I don't think I let Dallin have ANY candy until he was almost 2! This is a picture to show how standards can relax as the number of children increases. Thatcher is 9 months old and is now addicted to suckers. If he happens to see a sucker or see anyone with a sucker, he morphs into this crazy, lunatic baby trying to do everything he can to GET TO THAT SUCKER! If this behavior persists I am going to have to search for an S.A. group. Sucker's Annonymous. It's almost that bad. :)