Fun Thanksgiving Ideas

A Fun Thanksgiving!

So I watched a segment last week on Studio 5 on KSL and they had some really cute, really fun ideas that are pretty inexpensive so I thought I might try a few of them for ThanksgiVing this year with the kids. I think the kids will really like them!

Paul's cousin Jennifer and her kids, Breanna and Payton, are staying with us for the week and that's been a lot of fun too! The kids all get along really well and our boys are having a blast having extra friends all week. It's been a lot of fun talking to Jen! She's great! AND we have dinner lined up for every night this week! Thanks, Mom!!

I don't know why but I am just so much more excited about the holidays this year than in years past! Getting to visit family and watching my kids playing with their cousins. And I like the idea of adding little fun crafts for the kids that could become great traditions!

Thanksgiving first...Christmas NEXT!

Bronco Autographs!

Last night was the final "Bronco Mendenhall Show" of the regular season this year. We hadn't been back to a show since Ben won the jersey because we've had cub scout den meetings on Wednesday nights and have not had time to go. But we didn't have a den meeting last night because we're taking the boys to the fire station tonight.... so we got to go! The boys were so excited! We got dinner and new T-shirts at the show. And then when Bronco Mendenhall showed up, people started lining up to get things signed.

Ryan saw people getting their shirts signed and wanted his shirt signed too so during a commercial break Paul took him up there to get it signed. His face was priceless! He was so happy to get his shirt signed and to be able to say hi to Bronco Mendenhall!! I wish I could have gotten a picture at that moment.

Of course, after watching Ryan go up there, Ben wanted his shirt signed too so on the next break, I took Ben up there. He said "Hi!" to Bronco and then told him, "Thanks!" when Bronco was finished!

And I won a Lehi Roller Mills gift basket from the drawing! (Sugar Cookies, Pumpkin Spice Bread, and Gingerbread!)

It's a GIRL!!

Christa had her baby!! Of the four babies being born these past and next few weeks, Christa's was the only one that we didn't know the sex of. And the verdict is in: it's a GIRL!

Alexandra Bailey West

was born just after 10am yesterday morning, weighing 6 lbs, 13 oz and reaching 20 inches long! Christa had a successful VBAC, YAY!! And from what I hear, mother and baby are doing well. I still don't have pictures yet but I'll post one as soon as I do!

Tally so far: 1 nephew 11/6/08, 1 niece 11/16/08
Still to come: 2 nieces (unless doctors are wrong but I really doubt that), 12/12/08?? and 12/15/08!

Thanks Chuck!!

So in the middle of all the busyness, I suppose Chuck felt he wasn't busy enough because while Mom & I were cleaning Lissa's apartment, Chuck was painting mine! Anyone who's seen our front room would agree that, although a beautiful color, it was too dark and it was too much for that room. I was never offended that people didn't like it....it didn't take us too long to figure out we didn't like it either (well, for the whole room, I mean, so much of it; I still always liked the color) but we just didn't really have the funds to change it. Anyway, Chuck never liked it. And since he's a painter by trade, I'm sure it bugged him more than others. So he painted it! He and Paul picked out a color, a much lighter blue, and started Friday night. It was a surprise for me. I really like it. And of course we got to talking about what we would want to do next.....and before I knew it Chuck was working on painting our kitchen too! Seriously, I never expected any of it. Not to mention, the first thing he did when he got here was fix our leaky shower valves so that we can finally take care of the huge hole in our downstairs bathroom. So here are the results!

New Baby, Great Visit!

This past week/week and a half has been very busy, but very wonderful!!

Saturday, November 1st: Paul & I (along with some of Nate's family) helped Lissa & Nate move into their new apartment at the U.

Monday, November 4th: Lissa, Peggy (Nate's mom), and I worked on getting the baby's room unpacked, along with some boxes of books.

Wednesday, November 5th: Mom & Chuck got here, Lissa was admitted to the hospital. Mom & Chuck showed up at about 1:30 in the morning and since they kept Lissa's key to our house after their last visit, we didn't have to wake up to let them in which was nice. The next day was spent recovering from their drive and then that night Mom, the boys & I had planned to spend the night at Lissa's apartment so we could be close first thing in the morning and work on cleaning the apartment in the meantime. We went up to LDS Hospital with Lissa that evening as she was admitted to be induced (at already a week and a half late). We hung out at the hospital, played a very quick game of Monopoly (Mom won!) and I ended up coming home with Paul & the boys that night instead of going to Lissa's apartment while Mom and Chuck stayed at the hospital the whole night.

Fun side note here: Melissa was checked in by one of Mom's Young Women from Sacramento!! She used to babysit us as children. She and Mom hadn't seen each other in 20+years!! Turns out she only works about 2 nights a week there and she wasn't even supposed to work that night but ended up going in anyway! She and Mom talked all night long from what I hear. It was a fun surprise for both of them.

Thursday, November 6th: Lissa called me at about 9:30am to let me know she was at a 5 and her water had broken and after getting my car registered (finally!), the boys and I made it to the hospital at about noon.....just after they took her in to do an emergency c-section. I was really bummed to hear that when I got there. Turns out the baby was face up and every time she contracted his heartbeat dropped dramatically. She never got past a 7. So that makes 4 for 4 for the Clark girls and c-sections. I'm really hoping Christa can make the VBAC work. C-sections really are no fun! When they finally brought Lissa back to the hospital room, Nate was following her with a baby!

Clark Abram McDonald -- 7 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches

Friday, November 7th: Friday night Mom and I did spend the night at Lissa & Nate's so we could get it cleaned up before she got home since she didn't have a lot of time to unpack that week. She treated me to dinner Friday night and that was fun. (I took her to T.G.I.Fridays; she'd never been there before but she loved it!) By the time we got back to the apartment it was pretty late so we didn't get anything done Friday night and it ended up taking nearly all day Saturday. Mom was up by 6:30, I was up by 7:30 and we started working by 8, if not before, and besides taking a few minutes to eat some breakfast and take showers, we worked non-stop til about 6pm. We didn't even stop for lunch because we were making such great progress and we kept hoping we could get it done sooner. We were hoping to spend more time with Lissa at the hospital that day but hopefully she was grateful to go home Sunday and feel like she could actually rest without having to worry about unpacking still. Too bad we didn't get any before pics to share!