Holidays

On November 22nd we celebrated Korinne's 11th birthday.  She partied all day long starting with an early breakfast before school with Dad.

After school she brought Jenna and her cousins Abigail with her to the mall where she got her ears pierced.

Her face in this picture says it all.  Fortunately she survived and now has pierced ears.

After returning from the mall the whole family and Tiffany and Abigail went to Firehouse for her birthday dinner.

Then it was back to the house for ice cream and presents.

She was thrilled to get some Converse high tops, a gift card to Swig and some gel pens and an adult coloring book.

It was a full day for Korinne.  She is so much fun to have in our family and we are glad she had such a fun birthday.

The next afternoon we were off to Rexburg to start our Thanksgiving festivities.  Heather did such a good job blogging about the holiday I decided to use a good portion of her write up for our blog, too.
"We enjoyed listening to stories about G-ma and G-pa P's recent 21-day cruise where they visited a few countries including Italy, Greece, Cypress, Oman, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Suez Canal, Jordan and Sicily.  Still recovering from jet-lag, the 'party' ended earlier than usual so we could get some sleep before heading to Brent & Kathy's place the next morning.

Aaron & Anna peeling potatoes in Kathy's kitchen

Cassidy with mom, Larah L. - snacking

Awkward hug from Aaron to Hilary & Adam (roll-maker)

Hilary, Kristen, Tiffany, Heather - kitchen pose

Quinn & Jameson - crafts/kids playing in the garage

Jenna, Cassidy, Anna, Abigail, Brinley, Oakley - cousins

Shawn, Britton, Jantzen, Aaron - watching football

Anna & Brinley - chow time!

 It always is a tasty feast!  And I'm sure this is Aaron's plate since he makes it look so nice:).

Chocolates for later - mailed a box to Tanner.  He was really happy to receive them!

Steve & Kristen family group shot

Jeff, Jake, Logan, Dustin - brothers

Brent and Kathy had every member of their family in attendance so they took some family pictures.

 I can only recall one other year where all four of my Lewis cousins were together for Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed catching up with those we don't see very often.

Plenty of talking/eating all day

For the first time in over a decade (or two), we didn't go bowling!  Apparently, there is a new owner of the bowling alley and he doesn't open up on Thanksgiving Day (imagine that?).  Instead, Dad took Tiffany, Hilary, Mom and me on a family history tour down memory lane and through town.  I had seen some of these places before but not all at the same time so it was really helpful to put timeframes into context better.  Hilary recorded some of the information on her phone (thank goodness) but I can recall a little bit of the history.

Parley Preston Price's homestead

We drove by the Wapello elementary school (no pic) but the original school Dad attended is no longer standing.  The land where it stood is now part of the baseball field.  He also showed us the nearby LDS church where he could go for Primary classes once a week with most of the other children from school.  Years ago, primary was held after school and not on Sundays.  When Dad's family moved from Wapello and into town (Blackfoot) around age 8 (3rd grade), he no longer attended primary on a regular basis.  Dad recalled occasionally riding a pony to school along the railroad tracks that run along the old Yellowstone Highway.  Other children did the same.  They would hitch up their animals to posts near the school.  Most days, Dad would take a bus to school but had to walk quite a distance down a dirt road (once lined with trees) from his grandpa's homestead.  He recalled just how bitter cold the winter mornings were while waiting for the bus to come. Dad would walk the lane along with his cousins who lived in the nicer, larger home on the property (pictured).  The chicken coop on the land was turned into a house where Bill & June (my grandparents) lived and raised Steve & Kathy until moving into town.  The larger home was 'given' to Bill's older brother, Preston (went by Duber) then sold by Pa (Parley Preston Price) and Duber moved his family to Mackay.  These two brothers (Bill & Duber) had an interesting relationship and partnered in several business situations though Bill didn't come out ahead from them (unlike Duber).  Regardless, Bill was a loyal brother and seemed to 'forgive' Duber time and again.  Someday we'll get the real stories...

Home on Archer Street in town

Leaving the farm and moving to town was a big change for Dad's family.  This white house has been added on to a few times but from the angled front door, that square represents the original house my Dad lived in from age 8 until 12 when he moved to University Ave

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Not far from where my Dad lived on Archer, my Mom grew up in this house on Ash Street.  Her Dad (Bob Kerr) made several additions to the home and always seemed to have a project in the works.  This was a lovely home in its day and unique due to Bob's ambition and Aloha's vision.  They raised their own five children (Steve, Kristen, Greg, Kathy, Jackie) in this home until building a larger home on Airport Road across town.  My mother was in the 8th grade when she moved into the custom-built brown home on Airport Road and lived there until she went away to college at BYU (Provo).

This church building has also been added on to but the stain-glass windows seen from the road are part of the original building.  Interesting to note is the fact that my parents were actually in the same ward for several years but never met each other because my Dad's family was not active in church.  Thanks to a diligent home teacher, my Dad was baptized (in the old tabernacle) at the age of 10.  Mom knew nothing about his baptism though they would have been in primary together had Dad attended.  Their paths did not cross again until high school.

After the family history tour, we returned to Brent & Kathy's for the traditional pinatas.  Kids lined up from youngest to oldest to take their swings.  It took the younger kids a few rounds before finally breaking their piñata open.  The line-up for the older kids was a different experience.  Fourth in the line-up, Jantzen never did get a chance to swing. That piñata burst open quickly!

After pie and chocolates, a few Black Friday shoppers headed out.  The P clan eventually made their way back to our house where they spent the night.  The following morning, the older cousins attempted to perform baptisms at the temple but changed plans and went to breakfast since there was a 3-hour wait.  Cousins played, we power-walked the neighborhood a few times, I foot-zoned, we all ate another round of Thanksgiving yumminess then everybody headed out Friday afternoon.  The roads were clear and the sun was shining!  Always fun when family comes to town."

Elsie, Jenna, Jameson, Korinne, Abigail

Thanks for the guest entry, Heather.  I was started to get behind.  The weather couldn't have been better and the kids were even able to play outside. We got home on Saturday morning and have been trying to get into the Christmas swing of things ever since.  The holidays are a busy time of year when you have multiple kids that are involved in all sorts of things so we look forward to some crazy nights in the month of December.