THANKSGIVING 2011

Tony and I left for Layton on Wed. the 23rd after we got off work. Left about 5PM by the time we got everything loaded and stopped by the bank to deposit his check. We ran into a bottleneck just out of Boise that brought us to a standstill several times so that slowed us down. We arrived around 10:30 PM and Jon and Rowan were asleep. We said our "Hello" to Heather and she helped us get our suitcases in and settled and then we all went to sleep.

When I got up Thursday morning, I came upstairs and Rowan saw me and yelled "GRAMMA" and came running to me with outstretched arms!! I picked him up and he turned his face away from me, as if to say ...... "Don't kiss me" but I kissed his cheek anyway! It made me feel good to have him come to me on his own!! Then he proceeded to show me his exercise skills with the rubber band! (see below) lol

We visited in the morning and Heather and I made a Pretzel Jello Salad, the Sweet Potatoes as well as a HUGE relish tray to take to Jon's parents home. Tony worked on some projects Heather needed done around the home. He started by screwing the dishwasher Heather just got, into place. He took all the measurements in the garage and started drawing out the plans for the shelving that needs to be done. (eventually)
Over the course of the weekend Tony replaced a ceiling light for her, cut a piece of plywood for a headboard, and cut a plug into the shelving above the kitchen desk so Jon can install his speakers for music. He was a busy little beaver!

We left a little early on the way to the dinner and went to a place and took pictures of Jon and Heather and Rowan for their Christmas cards.

Rowan found a bunch of leaves and had fun throwing them in the air. I didn't catch any in flight and I must have taken 7 pictures!! lol

I got a cute picture of Rowan while his dad was photographing him!!

Here we are at the Larson's home just getting seated and looking forward to a wonderful meal!

It was delicious!! EVERYONE contributed and it was fantastic!! Tony must be folding his arms to keep himself from diving into the slush in front of him! lol

And this is WHY we all came!! Ham, Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, dressing, a TOTALLY AWESOME VEGETABLE DISH of broccoli, cauliflower and almonds in a delicious white sauce of sorts! There was a wonderful slush drink, cranberries and homemade sweet crescent rolls and all the relish!!
For dessert we had a pick of 4 different pies as well as a pumpkin cake!
We weren't at a loss for food and we went home FULL and Satisfied!

Rowan, however ate part of a roll because he was too busy playing to eat!! So on the way home Heather asked if we would stop at Mickey Dee's for an order of Chicken McNuggets!! We did and he started eating them but fell asleep!! SO CUTE!!

It was a very nice day and we were grateful to be able to spend some time with Jon and Heather and the Larson's. Carol was a fantastic host and their home is beautiful and they were very gracious!!

On Friday, Tony and I decided to do a lot of our visiting with friends and family! We started with my friend Tammy Williams, who lives in Heather's neighborhood. She had never met Tony and so we spent about 45 minutes there and then headed down to Lehi to see Derek and Rachel and family! Rick, Tammy's husband was there as well so Tony went outside with him and told him what he needed to do to hook up their hot tub!!

After our visit with Rick and Tammy we drove to Lehi to see Derek and family!
We arrived at their home around noon and we rang the doorbell and we could hear the kids yell "It's Gramma and Grampa" .............. then we see someone (turns out it was Teancum) peak out the blinds and then he says "That's not Gramma and Grampa" ............ then they let us in and as we were walking to the living room, Helaman says to us ........ "You guys are soooooo old!"
WOW!! Way to deflate the two of us !! It was pretty funny!
We had lunch with the kids and then we went to Lowes and Rachel and Derek picked out some new lights and Tony replaced 4 old ones for them. We had a good visit and were with the kids about 5 hours and then decided we needed to go to Jess and Diane's. We didn't have a current phone number for them so we just dropped in and hoped they were home. We drove to Riverton and they were home!! We ate a cup of Squash soup with them and they asked us if we would go to a movie with them.

I wanted to go to Sandy to visit my little sister so we told them we would meet them at the theater. We went to Lorie and Dave's and Amy was home from BYU for the Thanksgiving weekend so we saw her too! We had a good hour visit with them and then left as they were going to the temple to do initiatory work. We drove to the theater and met up with Jess and Diane again.

We saw "THE HELP". It was excellent. I had read the book and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie!
We visited in the lobby after the movie was over for quite sometime and then decided to head back to Layton. It's funny that so many live there but each one is quite a distance apart so it's still hard (well at least it takes some planning) to see everyone.

We were going to stop at Debbie and Robins but it was too late by the time we finished visiting with Jess and Diane so we went back to Layton.
Saturday, we watched the BSU/WOMING game at Heather & Jon's and I helped Heather make a doll for one of the little girls in her family. After the game we headed back to Bountiful to visit with Diane and Robin. We ended up having Pizza with them and watching a movie at their house. We watched "UNSTOPPABLE" and had a great visit with them and enjoyed the evening.
We got back to Layton around 9PM so Heather and I made some cookies and got ready for Sunday.

Their church wasn't till 11AM so we had plenty of time to sleep in and then I played with Rowan after I was ready. He had a rubber snake and he would throw it down to me from the upper level of the house. I'd throw it back to him and he would say "Scary" and laugh . He had a blast! And I did too! It's so fun to see him smile & laugh so much!

Eventually, it was time to put his shoes on and go to church. He is going to school 2 days a week and it is helping him tremendously! He can count to 10 and he says his letters. His speech has improved 100%. He loves his school and when he gets up he's says "School ?" And his mommy will say "yes today" or "not today". Then he says "School fun". He sings JINGLE BELLS but it sound more like "Twinkle Toes" to me but he can carry a tune really well and you can pick up a lot of words that are correct.
At bedtime he sings "I AM A CHILD OF GOD" and it just melts my heart! He makes his mommy sing it over and over but he sings right along with her and you can definitely tell what he is singing.

I took a picture of the family by their Christmas tree before we went to church.

And again a closeup! It was so fun to be with them for Thanksgiving. Heather said it had been over 7 years since we've spent a Thanksgiving together, so it was time!
We hope all of our family had a great day and we just want you all to know how thankful we are for all our blessing ...... and that means YOU!!