Over the River and Through the Woods...

It was nice being invited to someone else's home for Thanksgiving dinner. I much prefer not being the one to have the responsibility of cooking the turkey for everyone that day. Too much pressure. It was much better knowing it would be Mom's good, home cooking that everyone would be enjoying.

So off to grandmother's house we took Ben--who has missed the past two Thanksgiving dinners.

Sarah, Jeff and Eli joined us there as well.

The food was so delicious--especially Mom's stuffing! YUM!! My favorite thing of the whole meal!

Here we are sitting around stuffed after eating our big Thanksgiving meal--anticipating more food to come.

Nani got to work cutting up her caramels.

She also had a moment of play time when she donned the headband that was lying around. Isn't she a vision of loveliness?

Clint got busy helping Mom get the cream all whipped.

Eli was definitely ready and eager for the dessert portion of the meal to begin.

We can't have a family dinner without celebrating birthdays. Eli was eager to try his hand at lighting the candles.

This month's birthdays are Zane, me, Cheryl, Dennis, Preston, and Sam.

Andy and Amanda celebrated their wedding anniversary this month.

And a special birthday greeting went out to Jacob celebrating his birthday this year right on Thanksgiving day.

I thought it was worthy of an honorable mention. Thanks, Mom, for honorably mentioning it and thanks Mom and Dad for throwing a splendid Thanksgiving dinner party.

Mmmmm, mmmmm good!!

I'm thankful to belong to such a wonderful family.

Fun On Fridays

Fun Friday #1

We went up to Logan and checked ourselves into a hotel so we could spend the night. Glen thought it was a perfect opportunity for him to go to the BYU/Utah State basketball game that night.

Since he was going to have to scalp tickets and it was such a popular game for the fans of both teams, I decided he would probably have better luck trying to find one ticket for himself rather than worry about trying to find two seats together. I definitely did not want him to buy two single tickets and have me sit in some random area with Glen in another area. That did not sound fun at all.

I told him I was perfectly happy to stay in our lovely hotel room while he went. I stayed behind and he went. We were both happy.

The next morning my nephew, Zack, went to the temple for the first time. We were supposed to arrive at the Logan Temple at 7:30 a.m., hence another reason we spent the night in Logan.

It was so nice not to have to get up super early to make the drive from here to there that morning.

Zack chose Rumbi Grill as the place he wanted to eat after the temple. This is Cheryl with her friend and Zack with his friend.

Fun Friday #2

Both daughters came to visit on the same day, which means all four cousins got to play with each other.

I knew I was failing miserably trying to get this group of four to all look at me at the same time.

I love how the little kids enjoy so much going into the office to watch the family picture show on the computer screen.

It's better than watching a movie. Their parents are the stars of the show and sometimes they even see themselves pop up on the screen.

Brooke entertained herself coloring.

All the kids were entertained by the snow when it started to fall. We went out to the garage to watch the snow fall as we told Rebecca's family good-bye.

The kids were so excited to see the falling snow. Eli could not contain himself and had to run out into the wetness and hold his hands up high and shriek with delight as he kept exclaiming, "Snow, snow, snow!" over and over again.

So cute!!!

After his cousins drove away, Eli walked into the house, slipped with his wet foot on his first step onto the tile and fell smack onto his face. In one second he went from ecstatically euphoric happiness into hysterically screaming sadness.

Poor little boy. His fat lip showed the extent of his injury, but I'm happy to report there was no blood shed at the scene of the fall.

Eli's grandpa knew the perfect way to wipe away his tears. Popcorn!!

Here's the little guy with his pajamas on taking a closer look at the pilgrims.

And here he is all smiles again as he looks at the falling snow by the window.

Oh, if only Glen could get as giddy as the children when the snow falls. Perhaps he wouldn't dread winter so much if he looked at snow through a child's eye.

It's a ______ !!!

Jeff and Sarah are expecting baby #2 and the day arrived for them to find out if they are having a boy or a girl.

They had the ultrasound without finding out.

An ultrasound picture was inserted in a card and put into a sealed envelope which was then delivered to me.

I became the keeper of the secret and my lips were sealed to anyone (Rebecca, for instance) who might pressure me into sharing the information before the appointed time.

With eager anticipation, I opened the envelope...

and found out...

it's a BOY!!!

Good thing the word "boy" was printed on the ultrasound because I wouldn't have been able to figure it out on my own. Whew!!

I got to work mixing up the correct color for the frosting.

Sarah had instructed me that she wanted me to put either pink or blue frosting in the middle of a cake and none of the colored frosting could show through the white frosting on the outside of the cake.

The way I decided to ensure no color showing through was I put a ring of white frosting around the edge of the cake and had the blue frosting inside that.

The cake was finished before Rebecca arrived. She had instructions from Sarah to make Oreo-type cookies with pink and blue frosting for the party that evening. Brooke was the official taster.

Caroline entertained herself outside with the snow.

The Excell home was the location for the gender reveal party. Sarah had definitely put a lot of work into decorating and everything looked so festive and clever and cute.

Everyone got busy dishing up some food and eating all the good stuff.

Eli ate his meal in his chair and the rest of the time he was eating food from the plates of the other kids.

Sarah and Jeff were anxiously waiting for everyone to finish eating so the cake could be cut and they would have a little better idea of what the future will hold for their family.

Once Jeff's parents and our sons got connected on various cell phones, Jeff got busy cutting the cake for the purpose of the party--to have the gender of the unborn child revealed.

They saw the blue frosting and found out it's a BOY!!!!

Sarah wanted to see the ultrasound for herself, confirming positively what the blue frosting was telling her.

The little food scrounger could hardly wait to dig into the cake. Too bad the piece of cake he was eating was Brooke's. She was very frustrated when she discovered Eli had beat her to it.

All I can say is watch out!

If you think you have your hands full now, just wait for April 17, 2012, and there will be

double the trouble
double the work
double the cuteness
double the fun
double the love
and double the joy.

CONGRATULATIONS, Jeff and Sarah!!!! Eli is going to love having a little brother.