Thanksgiving

Here is a link to some pictures of our fun Thanksgiving weekend:

http://weir12.blogspot.com/2008/11/thanksgiving.html

It was extra special because my dad was here from Qatar. We started our Thanksgiving holiday on Wednesday. I drove out to Provo to visit my sisters Katie and Melinda and my Dad. We managed to find a pretty dress for Shari's baptism day. It's black velvet with a satin bow and she looks so grown up in it. I know it might be a little contrary to the bridal gown most girls in our ward get for their baptism day but she liked it and it is something she can wear throughout the winter. Wednesday night my sister Shari and her family arrived which was a wonderful surprise. They had been planning on spending Thanksgiving in Elko so we felt really lucky.
Thursday we went up to Kaysville to enjoy a Thanksgiving feast at my Uncle Alan and Aunt Tere's. They really know how to celebrate! It was so much fun and included much eating and playing of Rock Band. The kids all had a blast playing with cousins and my Aunt Tere has the most fun toys in her basement.
Friday everyone came out to our house for another day of fun and eating. I thought I'd end up being so worn out but I was just so happy to have everyone visit. Happiness must generate some extra energy. The party ended at around 4 when we found out Molly received her mission call and it was waiting at the Gough's house in Provo. The Gough's and Dad and Melinda had to hurry home so they could open the call!
It was so special to hear Molly's reaction to Santiago, Chile!! I'm so excited for her and glad we still get her here until March 11 to help her get ready. Congratulations Molly.
Saturday we had to say goodbye to the Kurtz family which was sad. We jumped right into getting the house cleaned up so we could get out the Christmas decorations. They look wonderful. I love Christmas. I'll be posting those pictures soon.
Saturday evening Donald was acting sick and kept me up most of the night. Sunday him and I stayed home from church and today I rushed him to the Dr. He has croup again. Ugh. Right now he's actually sleeping so I get to rest a little myself. For my rest I get to empty the dishwasher, clean the kitchen a little and fold the clothes. So relaxing.
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too.

Montana Trip

Last weekend we traveled to Montana. We left on Thursday after work and spent the night in Idaho. We stayed at a hotel with nice rooms. The best feature (according to Dan) was the large plasma TV's in the rooms. The kids enjoyed having their own room; Rebecca even said that the roll-out bed was more comfortable than her own bed. Donald didn't enjoy the hotel much, but that's probably because he had spent all night strapped down in his car seat instead of crawling around. Shari was really excited about the hotel breakfast. She was so excited, in fact, that she decided to eat enough for three or four breakfasts.

The next day we finished our drive to Hamilton. It was a long drive, but the combination of a portable DVD player and individual headphones for the kids made for a quiet trip. We were up there for Grandma (and great-Grandma) Blodgett's funeral. We went to the family home for the afternoon and visited with aunts, uncles, and cousins. That night we went to another hotel and swam for a while before bed.

The funeral was on Saturday. It started with a family meeting. Dan's dad said a few words at the beginning and then invited people to share their memories. Everyone was kind of emotional, and only RaeAnn managed to say anything. Dan offered a family prayer to end that meeting. The funeral services were nice and gave the kids an opportunity to learn more about their great-grandma. They especially liked to hear how much she liked swimming and music. The cemetary service was next at the Hamilton cemetery and was followed by a lunch back at the church. The whole set of ceremonies was nice and gave us all an opportunity to remember Grandma. It's nice to know that she is back with her husband and other family members, but we will miss her. We are also really glad we got to go visit her last summer when we were able to.

After the ceremony, we went to Blodgett cemetary with the rest of Dan's family. It was nice to visit there and see his mom's gravesite. All of the Blodgett cousins were there, so we got a picture of them (Judy Gail was sleeping, so she missed it).

Sarah also decided to take a picture of all the brothers and sisters that were there (Craig and Brett weren't able to go).

The next morning we got up and started the long drive back home. We ended up making a lot of stops for bathroom breaks, but made it home eventually. The highlight of the trip home was lunch. We stopped at a restaurant in Idaho Falls. The food was good, and the kids had fun playing Mad Libs on their placemats. Of course, our favorite part of the meal was that the restaurant was called "Shari's Restaurant."

Just for a Laugh

My Happy Birthday

It used to be that I would get to the end of a year and think, "Could life possibly get any more difficult?" and then it would. Now I find myself thinking, "Could life possibly be any happier?" and then it is!

Every birthday Dan surprises me with how thoughtful and generous he is. I am so thankful that he loves me and that I found him.
This year he bought me a lovely blue bathrobe. It's so fuzzy and warm all the kids wanted to keep hugging me just to feel my fuzzy bathrobe. It's just what I wanted for my early morning rendezvous with Donald. It's a cold walk from my room to his and my robe keeps me so warm. Dan also bought me the movie Get Smart. We saw it this summer for our anniversary and I thought it was so funny. I also got a beautiful alexandrite necklace. It matches my engagement ring and Valentines Day earrings so when I have the whole set on I feel like royalty.
Dan made me a delicious breakfast of eggs and donuts. Then he took me out to Wingers for lunch. He made me a fudge marble birthday cake and decorated it with M&Ms and a yummy taco dinner. (I hope it's true that you can't gain weight on your birthday.)
Thank you to everyone that wished me a Happy Birthday. I'm blogging to report that it was very happy.
Do I look like I'm 31? I kind of think I look like the Cookie Monster.

Primary Performance

This is one day I wish I could bring a camera into the chapel! It's been 4 years since I've been able to see my kids perform in a primary program.
We missed the year after hurricane Katrina because we had almost no primary and I left Mississippi right before they finally decided to do one, and 2006 and 2007 the kids happened to be with Parker on primary performance Sunday, so I've been looking forward to this all year! Shari was asked to give a talk about looking forward to her Baptism. She did a beautiful job and had the longest part in the program. Rebecca had a part about Alma and how Heavenly Father answered the prayers of Alma and his people when they were in bondage. It was so beautiful because I know she has such a strong testimony of prayer. Adrian's part was about preparing for his mission by being faithful and obedient! I was so excited because most days he says he'd rather play football than go on a mission. It was Adrian's first primary program and he used to never sing, so it was extra special to see him singing along, knowing all the words. Charlie got through his part without making any funny sounds into the microphone or cracking any jokes, but the congregation still managed to laugh a little because he's just so darn cute.
I breathed easier once Charlie moved away from the microphone but little did I know it was just the beginning. They started singing Called to Serve and Charlie had no idea what the words were so he just sang AAHHH as loud as he could. He stayed on rhythm and tune and when they got to the "onward ever onwards" he knew the words so he sang and danced. The funny thing was they had him right next to the stairs leaving the stand so I was scared the whole time he was going to dance his way down the stairs. He didn't know the words to any of the other songs so he continued to wow us with his beautiful AAAHHHs and everyone around us was laughing so hard. Not to mention the fact that he didn't always stop singing when everyone else did. At one point he was so wiggly he knocked his chair down the stairs next to him and soon after that a member of our bishopric had to stop him from hanging off the front of the stand. Then Charlie was invited to sit next to the bishopric and he was bribed with a mint so he sat still for the rest of the program.
Sacrament meeting goes by so fast on Primary Program Sunday.

My next favorite weekend story also has to do with my rowdy boys. On Saturday night the boys were playing rowdy with Dan so he decided to have a "who can hit the lightest" contest. So Charlie hit Dan really light and then Adrian hit Dan even lighter and then Dan shoved them both and knocked them on their backs. They thought it was so hilarious because, apparently that is how boys like to play. We thought at that point they got the joke and would hit harder in the next round. Dan challenged them to another contest of who can hit the lightest and they were both super careful and Dan knocked them off their feet. By then me and Dan were laughing so hard and Adrian yells, "Dad keeps letting us win!!" They wanted to keep playing and loved getting knocked over and everytime they won! I just love boys.

Happy Birthday Shari

Our little Shari turned 8 yesterday! She celebrated in true Shari style. She wanted to bring something to hand out to her class. I was against sweets and candy so she wanted to bring little stretchy sticky plastic bugs and reptiles. They were a huge hit. When I went to pick her up from school I kept seeing frogs and lizards held by kids of all ages. I asked Shari how so many kids got her stretchy animals and she said that after class people thought they were so cool they kept coming up to her and asking her if they could have one and of course, she kept giving them away. She ended up bringing enough home that I was able to bribe everyone to get their jobs and homework done so they could have one too.
For dinner she wanted crock-pot italian chicken, or as we like to call it "Aunt Shari's chicken". For her birthday cake she wanted cinnamon streusel cake with cookie dough ice cream on the side. It was an interesting combination. I loved it because it involved no frosting and I could make it at the last minute because breakfast cake is always better warm. Then she got to play with her presents until bed time. She is a super sweet 8 year old.

Here she is before unwrapping presents.

Shari got a shirt, a peek-a-boo petites doll playset

and some dolls to go with it. Could it be my 7 month old is

almost as big as my 8 year old! He looks so huge.

I think Shari is fascinated by fire. She blew out

her candles so slowly. I don't think anyone ever told

her she has to blow them all out at once.

I wish I knew what her wish was.

This morning we finished off her cake for breakfast. She said the prayer and it was so sweet. She prayed that she would have a good baptism and asked Heavenly Father to help her be a good member of the church. Where did I get this girl? She is such an angel.
For those of you who might be able to make it, we are going to be having her baptism December 6. She's so excited!

Halloween

Halloween finally arrived last night; not nearly fast enough for Charlie. We started the night by having homemade jack 'o lantern pizza.


Everyone got dressed up in their costumes. Rebecca was a bat princess, Shari was a chubby witch, Adrian was a baseball player, and Charlie was a ninja.



Rebecca went trick-or-treating with her friend Mikayla in Stockton. The rest of us went around our neighborhood. It rained a little bit off and on, but everyone had a good time. The kids started out by running from house to house and were so excited to see all the decorations. As the night went on, they slowed down to a walk, and were soon tired of carrying their bags that had too much candy.

For more pictures, you can see the album at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/SarahDBlodgett/Halloween200802