Buenos Dias Thanksgiving

Aah...Thanksgiving. You know, that holiday when the weather is just starting to be bitter cold, but you still play football with numb hands, and then go home and eat yourself unconscious. Unless you're spending Thanksgiving in Arizona, in which case it's mid-70's--just enough to work up a sweat while playing basketball games like "21" and "Knock Out" in the backyard. (The eating until unconscious part remains the same however.)

Max discovered a wonderful Thanksgiving tradition: pie.



Ali, Kaitlyn, and Max discovered (er, met) the first non-Nathan and Megan grandchild in the family--Bryan and Camille's son, Tytan. They did their best to love and adore him (which wasn't very hard). Max kept calling him "baby Ty Ty" all weekend long.


In addition to the pie and the basketball playing, the kids alternated having fun on each of the other entertaining items in Grandpa and Grandma's backyard and inside the house .


All three enjoyed playing in the pond, although Max probably enjoyed it the most. (It was a little too cold for me to get in, but I couldn't stop the kids from trying it out.)


Kaitlyn really enjoyed learning "Chopsticks" (or as she calls it, "Chop Fingers") and a few other simple songs on the piano.


Ali loved learning how to do mind-boggling and parent-scaring acrobatics on the trampoline.


I enjoyed taking the family to one of the cool teenage hangouts from when I was younger: Golf N' Stuff. It turns out that it wasn't quite as cool (or as cheap) as I remembered it. But, we did have a great time playing 6 or 8 holes on the 18-hole course, and chasing Max around for the other 10 or 12 holes. Oh yeah, and Kaitlyn was cold (see photo below).


Of course, Thanksgiving is about family as well. Megan's brother and sister-in-law live about 45 minute south of my parents, and my folks were gracious and invited them to join us for Thanksgiving dinner.

The following Monday we went down to play at their house for the day. They had a little puppy named "Penny" that Kaitlyn and Max were terrified of and screamed if it barked or walked by them. Alison, however, made a friend for life and literally cried when we left and had to leave the dog behind. She cuddled and pet it the whole time we were there!

Of course, we had a great time with my family as well. We stayed up until maybe 2:00 a.m. every night playing Boggle and checking the answers via computer programs my little brother had created.

We made sure to visit our ward at church and we made time to see old family friends to decorate cookies and to have dinner. We also took advantage of the opportunity to take several hundred family photos (yielding several where everyone is actually smiling and looking at the camera).


So, let's recap: We ate. We played. We enjoyed family and friends. We sure have a lot of things to be thankful for...

Coming soon: a post about Kaitlyn's surprise birthday party. Coming eventually: a post about Christmas.