Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving was so much fun!  Marcus and Ethan flew home and it was so good being all together again.  We ate a Thanksgivng lunch/feast after the boys finished playing in the Turkey Bowl.  I'm pretty sure my boys favorite day of the whole year is Thanksgiving because they get to play football.

It must be mentioned that the turkey was delicious even though I had to quickly fall back on Plan B after I woke up at 7am to turn on the smoker and discovered my neighbor was already smoking her bird! I had no idea that was her plan! I ended up baking my turkey the old fashioned way in my oven and all was well. 

While I slaved away in the kitchen, Randy packed up all the ski gear for a family of seven and packed our car to the gills for our drive to Whistler. The boys cleaned the kitchen without their shirts on because apparently that’s the way we roll 😂

Traffic was a nightmare and took an extra 90 minutes but we made it, along with several Thanksgiving pies, all in one piece. 

I skied by myself for quite awhile. It was peaceful. But so is reading a book. I prefer reading!

No-shave November resulted in Marcus’s epic mustache. Thankfully it was temporary. 

Ice cream with our friends 

Henry spent one day in ski school and can now conquer the lifts and all the green runs independently. We had a few other families hang out with us this year so we all had plenty of people to ski with and we hosted a big game/pie night in our hotel room. Even though we were all exhausted and would’ve liked going to bed instead. But hey, the teens loved it!

We skied a lot, hot tubbed and swam a lot, and walked through Whistler Village a lot. The exchange great is awesome right now so we did more shopping than planned and now I’m the proud owner of new ski gear! And it’s life changing! And cute! Maybe I’ll like skiing after all. 

Let’s not forget eating dinner on Thanksgiving day at McDonald’s. My boys were thrilled and considered this their real “feast”. I ordered nothing and at some of their fries 

Leg wrestling. Marcus is undefeated. 

Loading up all the gear is always the worst. 

We found this tiny branch to attend sacrament meeting in Squamish. There were 8 people there besides our family so we almost doubled their numbers. Bless these faithful Saints for being so welcoming. 

Ordering their McDonald’s feast

We had a great trip but paid the price for doing a trip with December Leigh’s around the corner. I was basically a week behind all month. But I think the trip was worth it  maybe. 

Thanksgiving 2021

I can't celebrate Christmas if I haven't posted about Thanksgiving on the blog so here we go!  Two days after our quick Utah trip, the Johnson's drove up for Thanksgiving.  I tell people the Johnson's aren't like family.   They're more like friends to us because we choose to hang out together because we have so much fun so there's no obligation.  

April posted much more about our good times on her blog.  I felt like I ran around all day every day with nothing to show for it except for producing large quantities of food.  Anyway, they came and we all hung around having a great time mountain biking, relaxing, hot tubbing, riding the e-bikes, playing games, and eating a lot of food.

The little boys waiting to eat but threatened with their very lives if they touched anything.  So they safely chose to sit in the corner and wait.

Look at their empty plates!  I slave for hours on food my boys don't even like.  Marcus had the nerve to suggest a true feast would be all-you-can-eat at McDonald's.  I have no words.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, even though the gravy didn't turn out.  I smoked my first whole turkey and it was so juicy we didn't know what to think.  It's funny how much effort goes into making a juicy turkey.  We all grew up eating dry turkey doused with plenty of gravy so when I serve something flavorful and tender, we all suspect there must be something wrong with it or that it needs another hour in the oven. The best part about dinner was laughing so hard as we heard Alexa cheerfully announce, "One hundred farts coming your way!"  and then she played one hundred different far sounds, all met with giggles and laughter from the obnoxious little boys table.  

The after-dinner entertainment: Wrestling!

The goal was to get the other person's sock off.  Thankfully Marcus's boot didn't seriously injure anyone.

On a whim we decided to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island.  The Johnson's never leave Sammamish when they come so they got to see a lot more of WA than usual.

card games pass the time nicely

Bold and Cover Your Assets are the recent favorite card games

We discovered Faye Bainbridge Park and it's awesome!

Our last Thanksgiving together.  I am definitely feeling the pangs of separation as each day brings us a day closer to Marcus's graduation, mission, then life.  I'm excited and sad all at the same time.

Henry already knows Uncle Toby = a Good Time.  He watched in awe as Uncle Toby skipped rocks

Some things never change, like Ethan climbing on top of everything!

We had to try out Moira's ice cream shop near the ferry terminal.  It was delicious!  We had no problem eating in the forbidden seating area.  People in WA are still very terrified of Covid, even though most are vaccinated.  

Walking back to the ferry in the rain

The Cuzins watching all the cars drive onto the ferry.  We walked on while Randy and Toby drove with the cars.  It never gets old seeing how many cars can fit on the boat.  

We lucked out.  We were the last of the cars to get on and the first to get off.

Henry ate every M&M from this jar.  It's mounted on a board that allows one candy out at a time and Henry was obsessed with it.  I found him hiding upstairs with it.

We went to the Snowflake Lane Parade in Bellevue.  It wasn't cold but it was windy and one of the floats tipped over.  It was hilarious!

The parade isn't that great but it's good enough and a great way to kick of the Christmas season.

The wind kept blowing her dress up and my boys thought it was hilarious

The kids will tell you it was stupid but don't let them fool you.  They had fun.

We will always remember the time we got totally lost walking aimlessly through parking garages and stairwells trying to beat the crowds at the elevators.  Eventually we ended up back at the elevators to get to our cars.  

We did the polar bear plunge and I have no photos of the event but let me just say that it's painful and a little scary.  I seriously wonder why my heart doesn't stop from the shock of the cold water.  But it's a fun tradition my boys won't ever do unless we are with the Johnson's.

The Quick Trip to Utah

Dad and Kathy are done learning how to be missionaries and are currently driving across the country to New York and I still haven't posted about the weekend in UT to celebrate them and say goodbye.  It was a blur of activity and eating, just like every other time we get together.  

Friday night we went out to dinner with all the adults while the kids had cousin time.  

On Saturday, Dad made his homemade giant pancakes for everyone and then we went to an indoor trampoline park that was especially fun due to the lack of staff and rules.  Basically we all got to do whatever we wanted and no one got hurt.  Win!

Uncle Dan and Uncle Toby know how to have fun!

Parker climbed all the way across this thing and had no idea that's almost impossible!

April and Laura and I did the fastest shopping trip known to man.  I got some new clothes and worked up a sweat from literally running around trying stuff on.  I hate shopping but getting it done fast sure is fun!  Marcus and Kate were still bored.  Meanwhile all the dads and big boys were mountain biking.  Marcus is sick of missing out on the action with his bum foot.

We gathered for family pictures with all of the Bingham's which meant our group was HUGE!  But don't worry, even with the photographer taking any and all pictures, we still forgot to get one with just the Spjute's.  We were smacking our foreheads on that one.

I love these sisters of mine! (April, Laura, me, Alicia, with room for Linz on the end)

We had pizza and games at a church after pictures.  Chaos reigned supreme!

My people

Sunday morning we got to hear Dad and Kathy speak.  They both did a great job but it was weird sitting in the same chapel of my youth surrounded by family members.  The last time we were all there together like that was for my mom's funeral, and the time before that was for Lindsey's funeral.  

It's always good to see Grandma!

After church we gathered for more food while we visited with a few friends and family.  Randy and my dad along with brothers and in-laws gave me a powerful priesthood blessing which has helped me tremendously.  I've mentally put my melanoma in a box on the shelf and will deal with it on January 6th.  

I also need to mention that I am the Relief Society President in my ward.  I didn't think the calling would keep me as busy as it has.  I was so wrong!  Some days I'm just slammed!  But I actually enjoy it.  I get to talk to lots of women, help people, and witness all the good going on.  But man, it's hard to find time to blog!

And less than 48 hours later, we were back at the airport.  Marcus gets us through security fast with his scooter that he doesn't really need.  We were thankful and it helped Henry a ton!