Abe's Family in Plymouth; Mark's Family Here for Thanksgiving; Uncle Merlin Passed Away

It is fun to see photos of Emma with her roommates doing fun things at BYU. She is second from the right. 

Emma and Natalie came up to spend the night before they flew off to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday in Omaha with their family.

Emma's request was going to Slackwater for a pizza dinner. 

Once the girls got to Omaha, Jacob's family participated in the Church's Light the World Giving Machine showing which items they purchased which will help people in need.

The way Abe's family got prepared for Thanksgiving was a visit to Plymouth to learn more about the history of the pilgrims with actors bringing the stories and history to life.

They also went to Cape Cod where it looks like they were all enjoying holding and eating lobsters. These children have sure learned to eat a variety of foods in their short lifetimes.

Meanwhile, on the western side of the continent... Mark and Michelle's family made the drive from Yakima, Washington to spend the Thanksgiving weekend in Utah and they stayed with us. 

We had gotten our home all set up to feed over 50 people. Those who attended were my parents, Nani, Sam's family, Mike's family, Andy's family, Mark's family, Rebecca's family, Sarah's family, Ben's family, and Glen and me.

I can't even believe I did not think to get a photo of our turkey dinner. I guess it was because it got a little hectic during the feeding frenzy. But, I did manage to capture a few of us ready to dig into the desserts. 

Nina did such a great job getting little Maverick to sleep.

Thadeus is now so very tall. When I saw the hot pad with his tiny handprint which their family had given us many years ago--along with two other ones with Hailey and Caleb's handprints--I just had to get a comparison hand photo.

These are the ones who lingered longer into the evening--and got to have a second helping of dessert.

It had been a great day with Glen cooking the turkeys, potatoes and gravy with everyone else bringing everything else. We felt very thankful to be with so many family members that day. 

Mark's family left the next day, so I decided it was a great day to put away the Thanksgiving decorations and get the house all decorated for Christmas. 

Glen always tries to convince me we don't need to set up the Christmas tree, but then he acquiesces and puts it up. He will string the lights, but that is as far as he goes. It is up to others to put the ornaments on the tree. 

Madison and Levi happily helped put ornaments on the tree with Haley taking over from there to get the higher limbs decorated. I really appreciated their efforts.

A great way to celebrate getting all the Christmas decorating done was to order pizza for dinner.

Kade always enjoys eating boiled potatoes whenever he eats here. With his dairy, egg and nut allergies, he is limited on what he can eat. 

As we were driving up our street one day, we had to stop for all the deer to cross. 

Baby Maverick is now learning to eat baby food. 

We went to dinner at Maddox with Maurine, Ray, Barbara and Rich. We were shocked the other day when we got the news that Ray had suffered a stroke. That always brings back all the feelings we felt when I had a stroke 14 years ago on Jacob's birthday two days before Thanksgiving. Scary!!!!

His occurred in his carotid artery affecting his brain. Thankfully, Ray has not experienced any deficits from the stroke. He has truly experienced a miracle which he attributes to having just paid his year's worth of tithing. He said he absolutely knows the scripture in Malachi 3:10 is the reason for it.

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, ...and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

Dad's brother Merlin passed away and we went to his funeral. 

I just love this photo of Uncle Merlin. He and Dad worked together at Cache Valley Electric for many, many years. It was interesting to see that the CVE initials were on Uncle Merlin's casket. 

The saddest part of one person in a marriage passing away is the one left behind. Aunt Helen is a dear and I am thankful she has family close by to help her and watch over her.

After that sad thought, let's move on to something entertaining. 

It was attending Jonah's basketball game. He is #8 on the purple team.

Aside from enjoying visiting with Jeff and Sarah during the game, the highlight was watching Jonah's moves on the court.

Jonah is the tiniest one on the court and was in his own world out there. He would be doing high, prancing jumps.

The boy he was assigned to guard was always a foot taller than he is. One thing is when Jonah is in guard mode, he doesn't ever take his eye off the boy he is guarding. Jonah might not know where the ball is, but he sure knows who he is guarding. 

We sure got a kick out of watching that boy. We went to another game and were once again entertained. 

Jonah's heart is not as much into basketball as it is in baseball. During his last game, he was counting down the seconds until the game was over--which meant the season was over--and he was done with basketball. 

Now here's a report on Glen and his CPAP machine. It has taken months and a half dozen different masks and sizes for Glen to land on the one that works best for him. 

I have been impressed that he has stuck with it because he had great nights of sleep before he started using the CPAP. Now his sleep is always interrupted by the huge bursts of air. But, the positive thing is he is seeing positive results on his numbers, which is a good incentive for him (my numbers-and-data-loving man). 

The one thing that I have noticed is the straps leave marks on his cheeks and neck that lasts for hours and hours. 

The price of beauty is sacrificed for a more consistent, higher blood oxygen level.