I am so glad that we pause once a year to gather with our family and openly count our blessings.
The biggest one is we all really love and like each other and like to be together,
and we are all grounded in the unifying gospel of Jesus Christ.
Every other year, our five kids and families are on the same schedule
with the other side of their families to spend Thanksgiving together with us.
And then, the next year, we all spend some days after Christmas together.
Missy, Jedd and family and Mindy, Jeff and family arrived late Tuesday night,
and Wednesday morning we hit it with making up schedules, finalizing menus,
taking yet another trip to Costco (Roger and I had made previous ones), etc.
The pic below is the very best part of this grand adventure
of feeding and planning activities for the 35 of us!
(Our oldest grandson, Josh, is serving an LDS mission in Hong Kong
and our oldest granddaughter is married and living in Hong Kong with her husband, Jake -
what is it about Hong Kong, anyway?)
Missy and I made up our schedules and posted them on the wall.
Can you tell that Missy and I, true Aggies, made up the schedule?
Rick, Jodie and family arrived Wednesday after noon, and Jodie immediately got to work
making three batches of her delicious homemade rolls.
Wonder Woman!
Our artistic Sadie got to work making a beautiful flower arrangement for the table.
Jared is one of our cute bookworms.
Blakey got Grandma's iPad humming!
We set up the three tables for the next day.
Techie experts Jeff and Jedd went to Costco with Roger to pick out a new tv -
this one got moved into the bedroom (still works, but has issues) and the bedroom one (about 20 years old),
had bit the dust.
After we all enjoyed dinner at a Peruvian restaurant (Rick was happy!),
the kids started dancing
to the cranked up music on our Echo.
Rick started break dancing and doing his famous floor spin.
Okay, Dad, watch this!
Sadie and Charlie busted some good moves!
Go, darling dancer Claire!
Everybody got into the action.
Spinning is fun!
C'mon, Mom!
Three dancing dolls!
Note Fi's zip sleeper is on backwards - on purpose.
She was unzipping herself out of them during the night and they would find her
curled up in her bed in the mornings naked with her little diapered bum in the air!
Rick's nickname for Missy when she was a little girl was Chewbacca,
because she had so much hair.
In his honor, she wore her new Chewbacca jammies!
And speaking of Star Wars,
how about this turkey?
We put two turkeys and two turkey breasts on at midnight,
about when Ryan, Emily and family and Tom, Stacy and family arrived.
Next morning, we all went into high gear to cook our brains out, as the schedule said!
These resourceful Stratford's found a good place to peel Idaho potatoes,
which were a gift from our friends, the Cranny's.
Rog is a pro turkey carver.
The cousins just hung out together, waiting for the big feast.
Of course, the football games were blasting on the new tv.
Okay, I think we're about ready!
hot rolls, check.
Grandma Stratford's apple pie, which she sent down frozen, then we baked it up, check.
Two homemade (by Stacy) pumpkin pies, check!
And Anna, Katie and Londyn helped me assemble the pilgrim muddy buddy favors.
Check.
It's ready!
Gather for Grandpa's blessing on the food,
and let's eat!
Most of the grandkids are in the pic -
oh, how we love them!
After dinner, we headed across the street to the Sunbrook Center to take a group pic.
Missy set the camera up on a tripod, set the timer, made a funny face at all of us,
ran to get in the pic and click!
Okay, best smiles on this one!
Our talented photographer daughter, Missy, took some other great shots!
Rick's family will have Josh in the pic next year!
The photographer and her handsome husband
Super couple Mindy and Jeff
We just hung out together the rest of this special day.
Cousins played together . . .
. . . and some of us collapsed after preparing and eating the Thanksgiving Feast!
Some headed for a favorite spot, what we call The Narrows. . .
. . . and some got in some great cuddle time!
The Turkey Bowl has been a tradition in our family since our family attended one
that Ryan and his friends in high school started in Ogden.
Now it just doesn't feel like Thanksgiving unless we have a Turkey Bowl.
So Roger arranged with the owner of Dixie Bowl to reserve some lanes
with bumpers on the ones for the little kids.
I had hurt my back a few weeks before and didn't dare try to bowl, so Sadie was Grandpa's partner this year.
All ready?
Go!
Spares and strikes abounded.
Mindy has been the notorious low adult scorer,
so the winners every year we have had the Turkey Bowl, Rick and Jodie,
gave her some pointers.
Strike!
And guess what!
Mindy and Jeff were the winners!
To say Mindy was ecstatic is greatly understating it!
Even the other bowling patrons were cheering!
The Champs!
Anna was the Junior Winner!
After a quick turkey dinner left-over lunch (best part of Thanksgiving dinner),
the kids and some of the adults headed to the new All Abilities Park.
Then we all headed to the movies to see Disney's, " Moana."
We had a delicious white chili dinner . . .
. . . then our annual Cousins Talent Show.
I just have pics taken by Mindy.
Here is Fiona singing, "Kinkle, Kinkle Little Stao."
Charlie balanced a Q-tip on his head while he sang about his friend, Jimmy . . .
. . . and Jack and Addie had a conversation in Mandarin,
which Addie thought was hilarious
because of one of her replies, which they then translated for us!
Each of the kids participated and got thunderous applause when they played the piano,
danced, performed gymnastics, or recited something, and Sadie passed around pics
of some beautiful flower arrangements she has done.
Stacy got Sydney and Jake in Hong Kong on iChat, and Syd sang for us
and Jake said funny phrases with his British accent, then said them in an American accent.
So glad they got to join us!
We missed Josh's fabulous piano playing!
We passed out to the adults some money attached to giant packages of Twizzlers.
After she received her chocolate Santa and money, we received a beautiful love picture from Addie.
Fiona immediately got started on her chocolate Santa.
Mindy and Jeff set up a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle and with some help,
they finished it Friday night.
Saturday morning was probably the highlight for us.
We, with all of our kids and their spouses,
did sealings in the St. George Temple of names of ancestors our kids had found on Family Search.
That afternoon, it was a tennis tournament with the adults and the kids (wish we had gotten pics!)
and watching football games.
Oh, and maybe a little snoozing!
We had just one casualty - a twisted ankle at the end of the tennis tourney.
Missy, Jedd and kids left first, late that afternoon.
There were lots of hugs and kisses.
Before Ry and Em and kids and Tom and Stacy and kids left for Mesa
and Rick and Jodie and kids left for SLC, we had dinner at the Habit.
To say that I am thankful for my kids and grandkids would be a huge understatement.
Roger and I sat on the couch in a kind of exhausted afterglow the rest of the evening.
So worth it, so worth it!
