Thanksgiving 2012

This year I made a "Thankful Tree" for November.  

The boys and I took a walk after Hurricane Sandy and collected many sticks that were still laying on the ground from the storm.  This tree is definitely symbolic of the blessings we received during the storm.  I thought it very fitting for the purpose it was being used.

I cut out leaves from scrapbook paper and every day each of us wrote something we were grateful for that day.  By the end of the month we knew how truly blessed we are and how much God loves us!

We traveled to Michigan for Thanksgiving as usual.  Our first stop was Jen's house.  Xavier and Amelia were inseparable.  

Our next stop was Kendra's house.  We went to this place called Treehouse.  The kids had a blast climbing and sliding and running and jumping on all the play equipment.  We also went to church with Kendra. 

Third stop was John's house.  Before we came to Michigan all Gavin could talk about was seeing Eli.  He was going to "jump" on Eli and "wrestle" Eli.  Here you can see they were instant buds.  We got to see Eli play basketball for his school.  He had a great game!

Xavier and Abbi had a blast together.  They are wearing their Jedi robes and reading a Star Wars book together.

Little Jedi bookworms.  I love it!  It sure made me miss living in Michigan and being closer to the cousins.

Eli took the boys for a ride on the lawnmower.

Fourth stop Gramma and Grampa's house!!  This is not your ordinary Thanksgiving.  To the boys delight we pulled up to this in the yard.  It was definitely a highlight to the boys visit.

Checking it out up close and personal.

There are 5 kiddos on this little swing.  Kameron, Xavier, Gavin, Ezra, and Liberty.  All they did was giggle and smile.  

Did anyone say football?  Well we usually play football on Thanksgiving, but James hurt his ankle this year, Mary had to leave early to get to her boyfriend's Thanksgiving, John's knees weren't doing too great, and Cory's finger was injured.  Our numbers were too low to have two solid teams to play against.

Turkey day!  Yum! Yum!

F-Fantastic people

A-Amazing food

M-Memories of good times

I-Infinite wisdom passed down generation to generation

L-Love all around

Y-Yakity Yaking with good company

After meal entertainment.  The targets.

No target practice for Cory.  

Girl's pulling out the big guns.

Reva going Matrix on us.

Since Xavier was born I've skipped out on the gun portion of the day, but this year it was time to prove that I hadn't lost my skills.  {I have usually proven to be a better shot than Tim}  So let's see if I still got it.....

Must have had a lucky day.  I shot the stick right in the middle.  AND

3 pumpkins pretty close to the center.  ( 4 out of 5 shots were pretty darn good)  Oh and did I mention, better than Tim's? 

The winning shot!

Our next adventure was being able to rent a hotel along with Joe and Amy and leave the kids with the grandparents for a night.  We saw the new James Bond movie and then did some Black Friday shopping the next day.  

Finally we ended our trip with a visit to Joe and Amy's house.  Xavier sure enjoyed hanging with his Big cousin Gabe.  Gavin got lots of love from the girlies Grace and Lillian.   

Every time we visit during Thanksgiving I am always reminded of what a wonderful family I married into.  So many wonderful, funny, smart, generous, loving people that I have the privilege to know and to call family.

Superstorm Sandy

Superstorm Sandy they called it!  

I will start by saying I've never been more grateful to live where I am living.  We are close enough to the beach to visit, and far enough away to have avoided tremendous destruction and devastation that a hurricane can bring.

We have been praying and doing all we can to help those that truly experienced the worst of the storm.

  I remember Xavier praying for days before the storm that hurricane Sandy wouldn't hit us.   Unfortunately, despite many years of counsel from our prophets about food storage and emergency preparedness, we were not very prepared.  Tim got home from London the day before the storm hit.  We spent hours making sure everything in our backyard was brought into the garage or basement.  We stocked up on water and lots of non-perishable food items.  We made sure our gas fireplace was working.  I also made sure we were all bathed and all the laundry was clean before Sandy arrived.  We were going to be ready in time! I was SOOOOO grateful that Tim was home before the storm hit.  If he would have stayed in London even one more day I would have had to do it all on my own and Tim could have been stuck in London longer because the airports shut down right after the storm.  So, I count that as a tender mercy from my Heavenly Father.

When the storm hit the Easton area it was rainy and windy beyond anything I have ever experienced.  The lights flickered on and off and then darkness.  We anticipated the power being out for a while.  Days.  Maybe longer.

We put the boys to bed as usual and didn't change our routine, but as the wind picked up we were afraid that our windows could possibly break from flying debris or wind.  We decided to take our extra mattress, set it in the middle of our living room and camp out.  The boys loved it!  We had our flashlights and candles ready.

Sleeping that night was almost impossible.  The noise of the rain and the strong winds made enough noise to disrupt our sleep.  All I could do was snuggle my loved ones and pray that nothing serious happened to us or those around us.

We woke up to a sky of gray, light rain drops falling still, and debris everywhere.   Surprisingly only one tree fell down in our neighborhood.  Being in the house without electricity and 2 highly active boys for 24 hours was long enough.  So we decided to go for a walk around the neighborhood to see the remains of Sandy.  Our walking trail had trees and sticks galore.  A boys dream.  But knowing why it was there was a little unsettling.

We took a drive to check on an older sister I visit teach.  Driving up this steep hill covered with trees it looked like a war zone.  Downed trees and power lines.  Fire trucks.  Police re-directing traffic.  Unbelievable.  All from ONE storm.

It's interesting, though when you take away all the electronics how much fun you can still have.  We played all sorts of games, we colored, we were silly.  The boys even used the mattress as a trampoline.  I felt like this pause of normal everyday life gave us time to realize what was really important and re-connect as a family.  We had some real quality time and some happy memories amongst the chaos.

I almost felt guilty for being so fortunate when all our radio reported was how much people lost in the storm.  Images were unavailable to us.   All we could do was imagine the stories the news reporters described on our little radio.

By about 5 pm the next day our power came on.  It was too good to be true, I thought.  They flickered for about 10 minutes and then our lights stabilized.  We were the lucky few.  My friend Karina was without power for a week.  I watched her son during the day while she was at work so he could be somewhere warm.  Some of Tim's co-workers were without power for weeks.  Mars allowed many spouses and children of employees to come to the office during the first week after the storm.  Spouses had a warm place to work and the kids had a warm place to stay during the days while they were waiting for power to be restored.  What a fabulous company to help during such extreme circumstances.

Gas was being rationed in New Jersey.  So lines were around the block in some areas of Pennsylvania where New Jersey residents were trying to get gas in our state.  It was such a sad time for so many.

Our stake organized relief efforts into Rockaway Beach and Long Island, which were some of the worst hit areas of New York.  Tim was able to help one of the weekends and was amazed at what he saw.  I am so grateful our church is so willing to act quickly to help those in need.

We continue to pray for those recovering and re-building.  It will be a long road for many.

Fright Nights

Sebastian and Xavier carved pumpkins together.  This is their scariest faces!  Zoinks!

 This is their happy faces!

 This is their terrified faces!

 Daddy and the boys making Jack-o-lantern 2012

 Wait a minute, Xavier grew a pumpkin nose.  What the?

 The completed work.

 Are you scared yet?  Mwha ha ha ha!

 It's alive!

 The Thinking Pumpkin.  Tim got a face lift.  How do you like the new look?

 Mummy hot dogs, candy corn veggies, and apples with cheese. 

 Ready to get some treats.  Halloween is a little less exciting when your husband is pretty much the candy man all year long.  {But it is our excuse to eat candy we don't normally have in the house...i.e. Baby Ruths, Tootsie Rolls, Peanut Butter Cups, to name a few.}

 Xavier and his buddy Justin

 Justin and his little brother Ashton.  They are the same ages as Xavier and Gavin.  They all get along really well.  

 Xavier and his buddy Sebastian.   The shark boys.  The kids got out of the way when they saw these two coming. 

Me and my little lobster.  He definitely got the cutest lobster award.  It sure helped him get some extra treats at each house.

Every year I run into the same dilemma.  Do I keep the candy and allow the kids to have one or two pieces until it's gone or do I discard whatever is left after a couple days?  My friend gave me a great idea....The Candy Fairy comes to her house.  The kids pick out the candy they want to keep and then the rest they put on their porch for the Candy Fairy.  The next morning they find a book on their doorstep left in exchange for their candy.  Feed their sweet tooth one night and their brain the next.  Genious!  {Except instead of the Candy Fairy, the Candy Ninja may visit our house.}

London Bound

Tim traveled quite a bit this fall. The best trip was to England.  I was a little jealous because I wasn't able to go too.  I did contemplate trying to fit myself in his suitcase and realized, that was nowhere near possible.   {It was worth hoping.}

Windsor Castle

Usually when Tim travels it's almost all business from the moment he wakes up until sometimes 9 or 10 at night.  This trip was nice because they fit in some sightseeing as well.

Guard.  Always so serious.

English phone booth.

The shortest road in England.  In America we call that an alley.

Public transportation.  Pretty much the same anywhere.  Crowded, stinky, and did I mention crowded?

M & M's England style.

The dashing Sir Peanut.

Looking sharp Blue.

Iconic double decker bus.

Big Ben

{Big Ben is the common name for the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster in London. This is where the Parliament meets.}

A view from the London Eye.

Tim had a great time visiting a part of the world he hasn't traveled before.  Being away from his family isn't easy, but it's nice to have a trip like this every once in a while.