Thanksgiving 2021

Thanksgiving 2021 was wonderful!

About four years ago, our big family (37 before the grandchildren started getting married and having children 

and living in four states and counting), decided we were too large to gather all together 

for the Thanksgiving weekend.

So, each year since then, Roger and I have traveled to spend the holiday 

with different ones of our children and their families.

We were excited to head to my old stomping grounds in Idaho and be with Missy, Jedd, Ellie, Anderson and Claire. Jared is in Arizona and Sam is in Bolivia serving their Church missions. 

On the evening of the day we arrived at their home in Boise, we fixed Missy's yummy hot chocolate and put it in thermoses and headed for Caldwell, my home town. 

It seems Caldwell has become quite famous and a true destination with their Indian Creek Park Lights Display.

Of course, we took lots of pics - 

I love the colors of lights they used and there were many, many all along Indian Creek.

It was a fairy wonderland!

 

Aren't the female Smiths so cute?

On Thanksgiving morning, we gathered in the living room to talk to Jared and Sam on Zoom 

from Arizona and Bolivia, all of us hooked in together at once.

How we adore these two precious young men!

Each of the kids was assigned different tasks for the Thanksgiving feast. 

Claire set the table with her Mom's fine china.

We each signed three feathers with things we are grateful for on this cute turkey.

Missy made wonderful rolls, a fresh raspberry jello salad and tried a new Southern stuffing with cornbread, pine nuts and craisins. Ellie made a tossed salad with mandarin oranges, pomegranates and sugared almonds. Roger and I made candied yams and whipped cream for the pumpkin and pecan pies.

Jedd roasted a wonderful brined turkey.

What a delicious feast we had together!

The clean-up crew was impressive!

Per tradition, we went to a movie that afternoon - Disney's, "Encanto".

We had so much fun being with the kids and chatting with Missy and Jedd during our three-day stay. 

They are a happy, easy family to be around and they make us feel so welcome.

Claire made a fort out of this box. 

She and Anderson are always creating things out of their imaginations.

I have included pics of our other kids' Thanksgivings.

Rick and Jodie took all of their kids to Watercolor, Florida. They stayed in one of the homes that Jake, Sydney's husband, manages in his property management business. Their little family was invited to Thanksgiving dinner with Rick's family and all of the cousins and Syd and Jake's two precious boys had such fun together!

They took lots of pics on the beautiful, white sand beach.

Rick and Jodie

Joe and Sadie

Josh and Jaylene

Everyone fought over holding little Henry!

The guys golfed.

Blakey has three sisters who adore him!

Sydney, Jake, Charlie and Henry on blessing day

Ryan, Emily and family spent Thanksgiving at Emily's family's beach house on Coronado Island. 

They invited Anna's boyfriend, Jack, and his parents. 

Judging from the video we saw, they prepared a delicious dinner and loved spending time with each other 

and getting to know Jack's parents.

They all worked out in the Del Coronado's gym together.

Stacy and Tom's family spent Thanksgiving in Mesa and they sent us pics from their Turkey Bowl, 

another family tradition.

Maddy and Stacy

Jimbo and Tom

Londyn and Tucker

Mindy, Jeff and kids traveled to Washington, DC, and NYC over the Thanksgiving holiday with Jeff's sister, Emily and her family.

They went to Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Mindy sent a pic of  the Papa Smurf balloon 

because that is what the girls called Roger growing up.

They said they ate their Thanksgiving feast on the floor of Grand Central Station.

That will make for a memorable Thanksgiving for those cousins!

They enjoyed many famous sites and sights on their trip!

Our family enjoyed Thanksgiving from coast to coast with much variety. 

But what was the same was the gratitude we all felt for our many, many blessings! 

 

Veteran's Day, Aggie Night, A Visit to Mickelsen's and Katie's Return

Roger looks forward to Veterans Day every year! 

He loves to zip on his flight suit, then make the rounds for all of the free food offerings to all the vets. He shakes lots of hands, gets lots of, "Thank you for your service," and he even had a patriotic woman ask if she could sing to him as we were entering and she was leaving Olive Garden. He said, "Of course," so she came up to him and sang, "God Bless America," in a warbly but true voice.

We hosted Aggie Night and I fixed marinated shrimp street tacos with slaw, black bean casserole, 

rice and tomatillo salsa and Mary and Bob brought chips. 

Anne and Jay brought a delicious very berry pie and ice cream. 

We enjoy these dear friends so much!

We headed north for 11 days the week before Thanksgiving week. 

First stop was Mickelsen's to work on Patty's book she is putting together of Mom and Dad's life. 

Kay and Joan have been typing the verbiage of tributes and write-ups about their lives and I have been editing. 

She was up through the 60s telling their life stories with pics, and we edited and revamped and discussed much 

for a couple of days while our husbands played golf. 

You can't tell Patty not to fuss about fixing meals; she always prepares excellent food when you stay with her.

We are having Hal's favorite, Reuben sandwiches, and butternut squash soup.

We are so proud of our "Miss Kate"!!!

She was originally assigned to Japan for her Church mission, she MTCed at home and studied Japanese, 

then was sent to NYC because Covid closed Japan.

She has had the most upbeat, beautiful attitude and the most amazing conversion experiences with those tough New Yorkers, spreading her deep love for God, Christ and ALL of Their people!

Her teary talk in Sacrament meeting (and Zoom) reflected on that love and inspired many.

After the meeting, Jodie and Rick hosted a wonderful get-together where we got to catch up with relatives and friends. What a heart-warming day it was!

 

We got a pic with granddaughter Londyn and her boyfriend, Tucker. They are so cute and happy together!

We love and adore this granddaughter!

Rick and Jodie make an amazing support team!

As they were cleaning up after, Roger took some pics of this close mother/daughter duo.

We left Rick and Jodie's Tuesday; they left for Watercolor, Florida, with all of their family 

to spend a long Thanksgiving weekend and we left for Missy/Jedd's in Boise.

Stay tuned . . .

 

Finally, Fall!

Taylor, my sister, Joan's, youngest, married Brittany in the Meridian Temple on October 15. 

They both have their Masters of Accountancy from BYU and met at church, 

while working for different firms in San Francisco. 

They moved to Boise (both are originally from there) and they can now work from home. 

It's such a beautiful temple, they're a darling couple and all of our siblings and spouses were thrilled to be there!

Ahh! All together again! After the beautiful marriage ceremony, we all enjoyed delicious Italian food 

at a wedding luncheon, then, that evening, the reception was held at Two Rivers Clubhouse, 

where some favorite foods of the bride and groom were served (mini Cinnabon rolls, Chick-Fil-A sandwiches, 

banana pudding, etc.) and Taylor's sister, Whitney, entertained us with jazz, 

singing and playing the piano. She's amazing!

Roger and I got to stay with Missy, Jedd and kids for a couple of days. Just 3 kids are left at home, 

with Jared and Sam on their Church missions. All of us drove to downtown Boise Saturday morning, 

thinking the weekly street festival was still on (it said so on line). 

No festival, but as we walked around the streets, we walked down a graffiti alley set aside for artists 

to express themselves with paint and we took this pic of Ellie, Anders and Claire. 

Right after this, a heart-warming (for this grandma) thing happened!

As we passed in front of a bookstore with enticing window displays, all three kids got excited (Claire jumped up and down) to go in. We spent almost an hour in there with each of us perusing through books.

These Smith kids have each checked out books from the public library since they could read - 

I think even before that.

We then enjoyed a tasty lunch at Westside Drive-in, featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

After church next day and a delicious meal, we drove to stay at Rick's. Roger met with his siblings about his mom's estate and selling her home before we returned home to St. George.

Roger's mom's home

Fall is glorious this year and Roger went on a gorgeous hike in Zion National Park with some branch members with "professional" hiker, Scott Morgan, as their guide.

Here is some of the glorious beauty they saw:

Now I'll skip ahead to yet another trip up north for Roger to meet with his siblings about his mom's estate and to go to a Jazz game. Rick has 4 tickets for 5 games this year with great seats, and they include buffet dinner at Vivint Arena. He was so nice to invite Roger and me.

Roger took a pic of the view out their home's side window - 

the autumn leaves look so pretty! In the lot visible next to their house, 

they are building a pool house and putting in a swimming pool and pickle ball court.

It was a close game, exciting until the end, and the Jazz beat the Sacramento Kings. 

Sooo noisy and sooo fun!

On the drive back to St George, our Mercedes' odometer hit 300,000 miles!

Well done, good and faithful servant! We love this car! 

It has kept us traveling comfortably on countless road trips!

A couple of fun get-togethers lately - our "Come Follow Me" group met for dinner at The Ledges restaurant . . .

. . . and Jim and Kathy invited us to see Kristin Chenoweth perform at Tuacahn, having gotten tickets months ago. 

We took them for dinner at Wood, Rye and Ash before the concert.

She is one. amazing. performer! We absolutely loved her and her show! She is so darned likeable! 

She was engaged a week ago and did a duet with her fiancee (he plays guitar beautifully!). 

The musicians with her were superb, especially her two back-up singers, one a Black woman wailer. 

Blew our socks off!

Sunday was our stake conference and we watched on Zoom and enjoyed a big brunch 

with my newly-discovered recipe for pancakes, egg, bacon cooked on our grill, potato rounds 

in our air fryer and raspberries and strawberries. Yum! 

We never have big breakfasts - I know, way too much food and it tasted so good!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner!