Snow in Utah: Thanksgiving 2013, Day 2

Saturday, November 23, 2013

We started this Saturday morning out early at Aubrey's volleyball game.  

She was able to talk the whole sha-bang-alang-gang into attending.

Everyone was completely engrossed in the game.

Aubrey did a fantastic job!

That afternoon Sam, Teresa and Alaina arrived from Ohio!

We invited friends and family over to visit.  It was a wonderful afternoon and we had so much fun spending time with everyone.

Katie, Carla, Kay

Over the summer Zac spend many days with Uncle Buck learning how to carve.  Here they are showing off their skills.

Do I have anything in my teeth?  Wait what???

Switch places, this is my better side!  Hey, I know what will make this picture better!

Henry's older brothers are very into light sabers.  When we were at Build a Bear the day before Farrah found Henry a perfect light saber.  He loved it!

Something interesting happening upstairs!

Twinkies!

That night my mom and Lauren stayed home with the two babies and we went to see Catching Fire.

Who are all those good looking people, you ask.  See the answers below!

Back row: My Dear Husband Steve, my cousin Alisha (my dad's sister's daughter) and her son Porter, brother-in-law Bart, sister Farrah, great aunt Verdene (my mom's mom's sister) and great uncle Fred, brother Sam, sister-in-law Teresa and baby Alaina, son Zac

Middle: great uncle Buck, Alisha's daughter Emma, Great Aunt June (my mom's dad's sister), Alisha's daughter Ellie, Me!, my Addy, mom Kay, sister Lauren, my Emily

Bottom: my Aubrey, nephew Matthew, nephew Gabe (their brother Henry was sleeping)

Snow in Utah: Thanksgiving 2013, Day 1

Friday, November 22, 2013

We were blessed to have most of my family come visit us for Thanksgiving.  My sister Farrah and her family came from Texas and my brother Sam and his family came from Ohio.  We had a blast being together and I was finally able to meet the cute face pictured above.  Henry was born last January and this was the first time we met him.  Isn't he adorable???

The day the Maldonados were supposed to arrive (Thursday the 21st) we had a ridiculous wind storm.  It wasn't as bad as the Wind Storm of  '11, but it was pretty bad.  I left my house that evening to drive to pick up my sister Lauren and I didn't get very far before I turned around and came back home because I thought the wind was going to flip my van over (I'm so not kidding).  It did knock the power out for about 24 hours. Farrah's plane was delayed and they didn't get in until the middle of the night and they had to settle themselves into a dark, cold, powerless house.  The next day my kids had to leave their cousins and go to school (poor things-I did let them skip a day the next week).  My mom and Lauren came over to visit their boys.

After school the girls went straight for the sweet stuff.

Addy's Birthday fell on Thanksgiving.  All she wanted was to go to Build a Bear and bring to life a new friend.  We weren't going to have time to go next week, so we talked the whole gang into accompanying us downtown for the adventure.   You can read all about the full trip by clicking here.

 We picked Zac up from school on our way downtown.  When we got to the mall, he said he was starving. I took pity on him since we all ate before we left and he came straight from school.  So while we were building a bear, I gave him the only cash I had, a 20 dollar bill, and told him to go to the food court and buy a SNACK off the DOLLAR menu.  Apparently that wasn't specific enough for him.  When he came back he handed my my change: $6.   I was like, "What is this?"  He said, "That's your change."  I questioned him how $6 was my change from a $1ish purchase.  He said he ordered off the dollar menu.  6 cheeseburgers, some fries, oh, and a Blizzard from DQ.  I guess to a growing, starving teenage boy, that qualifies as a snack. After we left Build a Bear, we wandered around the mall for a bit.

At Charming Charlies Aubrey begged me to buy her this tiara.  I told her no, but I would take a lovely picture of her wearing it.  As demonstrated below, I kept my promise.  What is that large pink monstrosity, you ask?  That is Addy's car that she picked out at Build a Bear, her Birthday present from my mom and Lauren.  I refused to let her get it and tried to help her pick out something a little less gigantic.  But alas, I had brought the whole entourage with me and none of them were on my side.  So we left with one happy girl and one huge mode of transportation for a stuffed bunny.  But!  As everyone pointed out to me, it is big enough to hold two stuffed animals, so really it is a space saving device.  

 That evening we came home and played games.

And this was the birth of "Speed Rummikub".  I made up and awesome, fast paced version of the game which I think I should copyright and market.  Everyone who plays it loves it.  And after you play it you will never want to play regular boring old Rummikub again (unless you are lame).  I promise!

Bart (when he wasn't being assaulted with the nerf gun) and Farrah made Cookie Monsters for us that night.  OH!  MY!  Fantastic cookies from my sister Kristy's (we missed you) recipe box.  I think each cookie has about a pound of butter in it.  Top each giant buttery cookie with hot fudge, ice cream and whipped cream.  Mmmmm!  Cookie coma heaven.

Happy Birthday Meagan

My niece Meagan had a Birthday right before Christmas.  We were lucky enough to be able to travel to St. Louis the day after Christmas to spend some time with her.  She and my Emily and BFC's (Best Friend Cousins).  I love to watch them together and I can't believe they are so grown up.  Where has the time gone?  Meagan you are a beautiful young woman.  Happy Late Birthday!  Here is your Birthday video:

\Click here to see all my Birthday Videos.

Happy Incredibly Extremely Late Birthday Scott

One year ago I decided to make a video for each member of my family on their Birthday in 2013.  I didn't do the math before I publicly made that declaration.  If I had done the math I would have realized that over the course of the year I would be making 47 videos!  First of all, I am so happy to have so much family.  Secondly, I have enjoyed reliving memories over the last year through pictures.  I feel so much closer to all of you after this year because I have spent so much time looking at your face!

I knew that the highest concentration of birth dates in our family fell in the months of November and December.  Good thing I don't have anything else going on in those months, right???  I had these grandiose plans of having all the videos finished for the year before the holidays hit.  And as many of my grandiose plans go, well....let's just say life happened and the videos didn't.  I had more grand plans of finishing them between Christmas and New Years.  But then on Christmas Day Steve and I had another grand idea of driving to St. Louis.  15 hours later we were in the car and on our way.  Hey!  And grandiose plan that actually worked!

Any hoo.  My dear Brother in Law Scott, who is married to my sister Kristy, celebrated his Birthday a whole whopping month ago.  So Happy Birthday!  Really really super late...Here's your Birthday Video:

42 down, 5 more to go!

Want proof of all those videos?  Click here!