Thanksgiving 2010

The day before Thanksgiving we drove 12 hours strait down the 75 to Lolly's older brother Jon's house to spend Thanksgiving weekend with cousins!

It was well worth the trip.

Thanksgiving morning I had fun doing all the Anderson girl's and Ellie's hair for the holiday. They are so precious, it was fun to spend time being girly with the girlies. 

Aunt Kristy made a fun Thanksgiving turkey out of fruit shish kabobs for an appetizer while the party was arriving (which included most of her siblings and her parents) and while everyone was waiting for the feeding frenzy to begin.

Trevor Jon and Uncle Jon taking a spin on the lawn mower.

Sterling's First Thanksgiving!

Yum!

Turkey and football seem to go very well together.

Ryan loved tagging along with his older cousins; Scott, Dallin, and Tyler.

Trevor found himself in the middle of a bunch of girls his age.

He didn't complain.

Kristy's brother, Taylor, and the Dessert spread.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I took a few pictures of all the gorgeous West Girls.

Kristy, my sister-in-law, is in the middle in brown, her three sisters and her sister-in-law (far left) and her mom.

So much room to run!

More beautiful West girls, all born the same year.

You may ask, where were all the boys while we were taking pictures outside?

Football goes well with Turkey, and Nintendo goes well with Pie.

The Friday after Thanksgiving began with all fo us making use of the exercise room.

The girls begged me, and I begged the boys into doing a Zumba workout.

Kristy and I also got to go for a run, which I loved. They live in such a beautiful place!

After everyone cleaned up and got ready, we went to see...

Tangled in 3D!

The Soulier kids had never been to a 3D movie before, and we all had a wonderful time.

I loved watching the kids try to grab things, it was as entertaining as the movie!

We also got out the craft supplies and made Indian Dream Catchers and Heidi taught Ellie and I how to make these Christmas Tree ornaments.

Super adorable Katie Jane on her bike.

Thanksgiving was all it is meant to be;

relaxing, time with family, fun, and scrumptious.

Pre-Thanksgiving

Some of our Pre-Thanksgiving festivities included Trevor having a Thanksgiving feast and party dressed in a Pilgrim's hat at Preschool. He even ate on a place mat with a turkey made out of his hand. Thank you, Sara, for such a wonderful party!

Lolly Mom also got to make over 50 dream catcher crafts and take the Native American Artifacts box to Ellie and Ryan's classrooms for an Art Mom Presentation. It turned out to be so neat! The box was full of real Native American art and artifacts that the kids could pass around including; sand art, weaving, metal baskets, arrowheads, rag dolls, embroidery, bead work, totem pole carving, real sheep wool, snake vertebrae, bear claws, feathers, and a real dream catcher etc. etc. Then the kids all made their own dream catchers, and we learned about how the Native American grandmothers would make one for each newborn baby so it would catch the bad dreams and the baby could sleep peacefully. I love being able to volunteer in the classroom! I enjoy getting to know their teachers and classmates, and being able to learn about and present art is an added bonus.

These are Ry's new winter pajamas. Very appropriately, "Dad's Rock Star."

Trevor has to have his picture taken whenever anyone else does.

He has been wearing this Superman cape every day lately!

He loves to play pretend, and is always telling me what super powers he has. Usually he has 10 powers; lava power, water power, gooey power, wind power, lightening power, etc.

He also has "homework" like the big kids now (I bought a Preschool workbook for him).

He loves it and it makes him feel so grown up, which lately he really is!

He has also started to have Word Wall words and we are playing reading games most every day. He is picking it up so quickly and is very ready to read.

Sterling also had his

FIRST HAIR CUT.

Before the Buzz.

After the Buzz.

His old man, comb over needed some help.

He's our army crawlin' charmer!

 He has started talking now, and his first word besides "Ma, ma" and "Da, da" was "Jesus."

There is a large framed picture of Jesus with children on the wall above his changing table, and after I would change his diaper and stand him up he would point to it. So, I started telling him, "Jesus." He started copying me, and it is so precious.

The Saturday before Thanksgiving we spent the day decorating for Christmas!

We wanted to come home to our decorations after spending Thanksgiving in Georgia.

We also tried something new, by giving our kids their Christmas pajamas the day we decorate for Christmas so they can wear them all throughout the month and the holidays. We've never bought new Christmas pajamas before, but they all needed pajamas this year so it worked out and of course they loved it.

After the house was all decorated,  we made red and green popcorn, drank hot chocolate, and watched the Polar Express.

It was a super, fun kick-off to the holiday season!

Come on Over!

Throughout the second week in November,

our house was filled with visitors!

Trevor's "Learning Box" Preschool was at our house on Tuesday and Thursday.

It has been such a fabulous experience for Trevor, and I loved having my turn to teach.

The 6 three year olds are adorable together, and they all love to learn and are doing so well in Preschool. We learned about our 5 Senses, and when I was getting Trevor out of the car the other day he said, "I see things, and hear them, and smell them while we were driving!"   

During the week we also had a service activity, raking leaves, for Young Womens.

I love serving in the Young Womens, these girls are seriously amazing!

Then, the best visitor of all came....UNCLE BRIAN!

For both Rob and his brother Brian's birthdays their parents gave them tickets to the Utah versus Notre Dame football game at Notre Dame stadium. 

Brian flew out to our house, and we got to play in the backyard and eat dinner with him before he and Rob drove 4 hours to meet up with their Dad at the game.

When in the backyard, the boys were amazed by Brian's athletic abilities, and how he can balance a bat on his nose. Then he said, "Hey, check this out!" and he hit a baseball, but as he did the bat broke and half of it went flying across the yard with the ball. I guess you had to be there, but it was pretty funny.

Brian, Robert and Dad Soulier had a good time together, even though Utah lost and it was pouring rain almost the entire game. After the game, they went out to dinner and had a great time talking despite the loss.

While they were gone on Friday night, we had all the 'date night trade' kids over, which meant games, popcorn and movies! 

Saturday morning we had the Cardon's over for half the day while their parents went to the temple (and did some Christmas shopping). I was thinking of how to make the day go smoothly the night before as I fell asleep, and we ended up trying something new I hadn't done before, "Sticker Stations."

When they go to our house I gave them each a paper with 10 things to do on it. After we did each activity they got a sticker. Then their paper with all 10 stickers became their movie ticket after lunch. It was super fun! The day went by happily and everyone had a great time. We also cleaned up as we ended each activity, and I was able to keep on top of the mess 8 kids can make. Bonus!

 After half the kids went home and only the permanent residents remained, Brian and Rob came home from their adventures and we were able to celebrate Brian's birthday with him on Sunday after church. 

Happy 22nd Birthday, Brian!

 (Gluten-free Chocolate cake, with strawberry filling, yum yum)

Brian showed us pictures from his mission on his laptop, which was wonderful. We loved hearing his mission stories. He also went Home Teaching with Rob, and we all played a Book of Mormon trivia game on DVD. 

 Brian also wrestled the boys, and they were in Heaven!

We loved having Uncle Brian all to ourselves. :)

He has been in many prayers, and very missed since he went back to Utah.

 

 We love you, Uncle Brian!!



If any one else wants to visit, come on over!