Thanksgiving Feast

I wrote this blog last week but couldn't get the my computer to recognize my camera. For some reason it works now (thank goodness).

Phew! That was amazing! I have never hosted a Thanksgiving feast at my house before. It was a lot of work but very rewarding. We had 24 people over. That included many of Jarin's family members, Scott, Maran, Hannah, and two friends brought by Chalyce and Courtney. The food was incredible. We had a very yummy turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, two kinds of fruit salads, broccoli salad, rolls, homemade gravy, stuffing, a green bean casserole, homemade macaroni and cheese, pies, pies, and more pies. Did I miss anything? It was wonderful. After lunch/dinner, we went to see the "Bee" movie with Jarin's family. It was pretty good. Kids and adults enjoyed it alike (however half of us were falling asleep due to the tryptophan in the turkey). We weren't in a rush ever and the day was just perfect. Here are some pictures. I didn't take as many as I had intended. I wish I would have taken a picture of the tables prior to eating so you could see how we fit that many people in such little space. These will have to do.

Courtney and his friend Diane. She brought some yummy homemade macaroni and cheese.

This is a picture of Chalyce's friend Mark. He is an amazing pianist. He accompanied Jarin's song "The Spirit of Nativity" while he was hearing Jarin sing and play it on his guitar for the first time. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Halloween

We had a cute little lamb (I think), a beautiful princess, a mighty ninja, and Skullzor the scary dude. We found Sienna's costume in our closet full of dress-ups. I'm not sure where we got it from and if it is a lamb or white teddy bear costume. But she was cute and warm anyway. Kamrie's costume came from Grandpa Price last Christmas. She was very excited to wear make-up and had sparkles all over her face and hair. This is the third year in a row that she has been some kind of princess. I keep trying to convince her to be something else, but she just loves princesses. I'm afraid we're in for it when she becomes a teenager. Dallin found his costume at Target. I think he was more excited to buy the little ninja swords than the costume. He likes to play fight with Taylor and his buddies. I'm not sure if he was just playing the part in his pictures or if he just couldn't see with that costume and without his glasses. Taylor wanted to be something "scary" this year. I tried to suggest two other costumes we already had in the dress-up closet--Sulley from Monsters, Inc. or Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. Unfortunately he is old enough now that anything cutesie is WAY OUT. Then I tried to convince him to be something funny or cool like Napoleon Dynamite or a hippie. But he would have nothing to do with those either. I can't stand scary costumes. Fortunately, I don't think he scared anyone with that smile and those glasses (although Hannah doesn't look so sure in the picture). It was fun to have Scott, Maran, and Hannah come over for a pizza dinner and trick or treating. It was a perfect Halloween. The weather was much better than in the past and because the time change isn't until this Sunday, it was actually somewhat light out when we started. We all had a great time. Now we have to just control the sugar consumption. We have way too much candy because they did a trunk or treat on Tuesday as well. We let them pick about 15-20 pieces of candy that they just can't do without and keep them in their pumpkins. The rest of it went into a community pile. I have hidden that. For now they get to pick five pieces of candy a day to eat at their leisure. I'm not sure how long I will let that go on. I'm hoping the excitement of it all will fade soon. It's a good thing they have dentist appointments in a couple of weeks.