Gobble Gobble

We headed up to Rexburg on Tuesday after school to start the Thanksgiving festivities a bit early.  It didn't take long for Jameson to find the trains at Aunt Heather's house.

As if often the case Adam's work phone starting ringing as soon as we left town.  He spent most of Wednesday working from this couch.  I had to take a picture of his hair sticking up after wearing a hat during a walk around the neighborhood.  Adam left it sticking up all day just to remind everyone how "wild and crazy" he truly is. :-)

Jenna, Korinne and Anna found time to do a little reading.

Thursday morning Adam had to start the rolls at Heather and Aaron's house and then we had to make the unprecedented transfer to Blackfoot as the rolls were rising.  We stayed in Rexburg because some "big" storm was supposed to hit, but in the end it never materialized. 

Upon arrival at my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Brent's house the kids immediately found the extra large Jenga set my Uncle made.

It kept them occupied for a long time.  There was also a puzzle set up and a foosball table to keep everyone entertained.

Phew, the rolls made it to Blackfoot safely.

My Aunt Kathy showed us a caricature they paid to have made of them on a street in San Franscisco. We laughed and laughed because it looks absolutely nothing like them. Apparently the guy only knew how to draw one face and then just made it into a male and a female and charged money for it.

The "Cupboard of Dreams"

Jenna likes puzzles and it didn't take long for her to start in on one.

Jameson checking out this year's Thanksgiving pinatas.

I'm usually full long before dinner is actually done, the hors d'oeurves are just too yummy and I can never stop snacking.

Adam with the "homemade" rootbeer.  

Homemade is in quotes because my cousin Dustin confessed when it was all said and done that this year they fibbed a little bit.  Instead of actually making the rootbeer like usual they discovered it was cheaper to just buy a bunch of 2 liter of rootbeer and put some dry ice in it for effect.  Funny, no one even noticed.

Aaron has decided he wants to get a gun so my cousins were sharing their wealth of information about guns and letting him try out a few.  No worries, it wasn't loaded.  Between my Uncle and cousins they own more guns than you can imagine. Yes, our family supports the NRA. :-)

Marci and Larah

Ah, finally ready to start digging in.

My Aunt always invites her cousin Janet for Thanksgiving.  Janet is the only full cousin of my Dad and Kathy on their mother's side of the family.

At 4 p.m. we were at Starlite Lanes.  There are several large extended family groups that have the same Thanksgiving bowling tradition as us and the owner is very accommodating.  He opened the alley at 4 p.m. just for us.  He is retiring soon so we aren't sure how long we will enjoy this privilege.

Jenna and Korinne's bowling group.

My cousins Logan and Dustin and their wives Jessica and Larah

Jameson's bowling group, Oakley, Quinn and Jmo.

Britton's bowling group, Jantzen, Parker and Jaxon. Jenna trying to photobomb in the back.

Grandma and Grandpa

The women's final score.  This year it was Heather, my Mom, Me, Kathy, Brinley and Marci.  My Mom won . . .again.  I was tied with my Mom up until the 8th frame when things started to go a little downhill for me.  I finished in 4th place behind my Mom, Heather and Marci.  I'm just happy I scored over 100 this year. :-)

Pinata time.

Korinne and Jmo were in the younger group.

Jenna and Britton were in the older group and had to wear blindfolds.

There was plenty of candy to go around.  Grandma hit the after Halloween sales so they got the "good stuff".

We stayed at Kathy's house that night and then got up to go home first thing in the morning.  The weather was FREEZING.  So cold that we scrapped the fireworks because no one wanted to stand in the cold. When Adam went out to start the car our battery was dead.  Apparently we forgot to turn off an indoor light the night before. Oops.

My Uncle Brent to the rescue.  If I remember correctly we had a few dead batteries last year, too.

On Friday night Adam's sister Kirsti and  her family arrived.  They stopped over for a few nights on their way to take their daughter Terrika back to school in Provo.  Adam, Britton, Topher, Terrika and Cassidy all went to the BYU/USU football game on Saturday.  It was absolutely fuh-reezing. In fact, I think it was about 18 degrees outside when the game finally ended. Brrrr.

The rest of the night was spent in front of the fireplace with their coats still on. It took them awhile to recover from sitting in the cold for a few hours.

Britton stayed in front of the space heater for a long time trying to warm up.

Kirsti and I were smart enough to stay home from the game. :-)

Well into the night these 3 spent most of their time in front of the fireplace.  It was fun to have them visit even just for a little while.  When they pulled out on Sunday morning it was back to real life for us after a week of non-stop playing.

Jenna was great and got the house all decorated for Christmas as soon as we got back from Blackfoot. Have I mentioned lately how nice it is to have her around? :-)