Giving Thanks in November

It seems to me that honoring US Veterans in the early part of November is befitting for the month of our giving thanks. Roger is so proud to have served our country in the US Air Force and often gets a little teary when the flag waves. This year we drove through Snow Canyon, where a 400 pound and 11,700 square foot American flag was strung across the walls, unfurling in the wind.

The weekend before Veteran's Day, we drove to Alpine to see Addie in her middle school play, Heist Quest. 

Addie played Riley, daughter of Medusa. Don't ask me to explain the plot, but Addie was excellent. She delivers her lines so clearly. She's a natural on the stage.

Before the play, Mindy and Jeff took us to a new Indian restaurant near their neighborhood and Jeff's dad, Brent, joined us, Jeff's cute mom, Rosemary, was recovering from knee surgery.

-I think Veteran's Day is one of Roger's favorite holidays. In the morning, he zips into his flight "bag" and heads to Denny's for a free Grand Slam breakfast. This year, an Army vet friend, Dave, joined him and friend, Marine vet Karl. He loves to talk to other vets and others who come up to him and shake his hand, thank him for his service, then talk to him about their service experiences or experiences of their loved ones. I joined him for his free lunch at Olive Garden, a yogurt treat at Menchie's and dinner at In 'n Out after our Come Follow Me  Zoom gathering. Not to mention the other coupons he picked up for other free meals we can use down the road. 

Roger Retires

After 15 years selling commercial real estate for NAI and reaching 80 years old, Roger decided it was time to retire. He is probably the hardest worker I know, beginning as a little boy and through his teens, working hard on the farm, flying and becoming a Captain in the USAF after graduating from college, becoming an account executive for IBM, flying Boeing 727s and marketing for Braniff International Airlines, becoming Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at Murdock Travel, SLC, becoming Vice-President of Sales at Beehive Travel, SLC,  becoming Project Manager of Woodside Homes, SLC, and becoming President/CEO of Sun Hill Homes in St. George, before working for NAI.

After being asked what his favorite food for lunch was and he replied, "Sushi," NAI threw him a Retirement Luncheon at Benja Thai Garden, complete with wonderful tributes, gifts and well wishes. They even presented me with flowers.

The Walters has been a wonderful family to work for, promoting great camaraderie amongst the employees - and they have THE BEST Christmas parties and summer parties! I particularly love the owner, Mark Walter's, wife, Val. Though most of the employees are the ages of our children, they have treated Roger with great respect and have had fun kidding and associating with him.

Missy and Claire flew to St. George to be here when Missy's freshman at Utah Tech daughter, Ellie, ran in a half marathon with 4 of her new friends. They stayed with us a couple nights, went to church with us on Sunday and had dinner, then the 3 girls headed for a day at Disneyland - a little Smith Girl Retreat! They returned Tuesday afternoon and Missy and Claire flew home Wednesday. It was so fun having them here and they had a ball on their little last-minute lark to Disneyland.

For after the race, I made an autumn pasta salad, using the cute pumpkin-shaped macaroni I got at Trader Joe's, baby mozzarella balls, roasted butternut squash, spinach, cranberries, pecans and a maple syrup dressing. And I made maid-rite sliders.

On Sunday, we had our grilled salmon dinner and a dessert I made with homemade vanilla milk cake toasted cubes with vanilla custard, fresh berries and whipped cream. Then off they went to Anaheim to spend all day at Disneyland, until it shut down at night!

Roger and I were invited again this year to view an Aggie game up in the box in the stadium in Logan, so we chose when they played San Diego State. It was an afternoon game, so they had a Mexican lunch for us, which included big chocolate cookies and, of course, Aggie ice cream. We had a big, pleasant surprise when an old Aggie classmate, Dwight Israelsen, and his son, sat by us. The son looked over at me after I sat down, and said, "I know you. Your son, Rick, is in our stake." It turns out that he had been on the high council when Blake received a name and a blessing in Rick and Jodie's home and he was there. At that time, we had visited and discovered that his mom, Kathryn, had been my little sister in my sorority, Kappa Delta. And I knew who she had married, Dwight, who had been Junior Class President. Roger knew of him, also. We had fun talking about school days and he said some very nice things and it was one of those moments in later life when you get a little lift, reminiscing.

We forgot to take pics, but we took USU student grandson, Jared, and wife, McKenna, and USU student grandson, Sam, and girlfriend, Nayeli, to Fredrico's for pizza after the game and had so much fun talking with them! They are all darling!

We're so glad the Aggies won, and they came from behind. It's the first time they have beat San Diego State at home.

Thanksgiving

Roger and I were invited to spend Thanksgiving with Stacy, Tom and the twins, Luke and Max in Gilbert, Az. When we arrived, they were watching the Dancing With the Stars Finale, which evidently our granddaughter, Londyn, who lives nearby, and her cousin, who is  our grandson, Ben, were re-al-ly into this year! It was hilarious watching them jumping up and down, joined by their mom and aunt, Stacy!

Thanksgiving dinner was held at Tom's brother, Jimbo's, and wife, Sham's home in Gilbert. Stacy made Grandma's recipes for 3 pumpkin pies and 2 apple pies. She also made Grandma's famous yams, 2 raspberry pretzel salads and she prepared a turkey to be roasted in a pit the night before Thanksgiving. Jimbo cooked another one on his Traeger grill. 

Of course, it's not Thanksgiving if we don't have a Turkey Bowl the night before. We bowled 2 games and Roger was the winner of the 1st and Stacy, who has never won and has admittedly struggled in bowling, won the 2nd!

Tucker, Londyn, Max's girlfriend, Ivy, Luke, Tom, Stacy, Pam and Roger

Sham and Jimbo invited Sham's mom and dad from Texas and 2 sisters and their families, so we had a great crew. 

Pumpkin pie, cherry pie, apple pie. raspberry pretzel salad, and tres leches cake for Sham's mom, Christine's, birthday

Jimbo lighting the birthday candles

After our delicious dinner and visiting, we all went to see, "Moana 2". Next day, Stacy took Roger and I to see the new"Wicked"movie. She had already seen it, but she loved it so much, she actually went the day after we left with friends, so she saw it 3 times! We all LOVED it! After the movie, we went over to Ryan's for take-out Boca Taqueria food, delicious homemade chocolate mousse pie and a great program Ryan put together about ancestors of mine and Roger's and about us. He showed various pics of them, asking ABCD questions about them and tallying scores to see how the kids did. It was impressive how much they knew about us! It was so, so wonderful to be together with these dear loved ones for this time that we all reflect on our many blessings. Heavenly Father has been so good to us!

Such a great month it has been! Our gratitude for our many blessings of life continues to increase!