Thanksgiving 2009!

For Thanksgiving this year, we decided to head out and spend it somewhere far more exciting and exotic than Moses Lake so naturally we headed to... Boise! The reason is that Brad and Courtney are both attending BYU in Provo. Neither of them could get away any earlier than Wednesday and both wanted to be back by Saturday afternoon for the BYU vs. Utah game (which we won in overtime - sweet!) So we hated for them to have to spend what little time they had off driving. So we decided to meet them halfway so that we could have the most time with them.

We all stayed at one of the local.... wait for it... Marriotts, of course! Our rooms were so inexpensive (thanks again, Kristy) that we had 3 of them - boys' room, girls' room and parents' room. The only other time we had 3 rooms for our family was when we stayed in Primm, Nevada and got $22 rooms. You know you are living the good life when everyone gets to sleep in a bed! Traditionally, we like to fit our family of 9 into one room to make it more cost effective. Our kids think staying in hotels is camping because they always have to bring their sleeping bags!

Poor Kristy didn't even get to join us as we stayed in the lap of luxury (i.e. a bed) because she had to work. Kacey, Jon and the kids stayed in Vegas and hosted the Nielsen clan. It sounds like they had a great time.

So, we met up with Courtney and Brad late Wednesday afternoon. We did some shopping and saw some movies and played some games and ate! It was just fun to be with everyone. We went and visited Myca and saw her beautiful house and her handsome boys. David and Bryan got to watch the BYU game over there with Jared. It was fun to see them.

On Thanksgiving Day we were hoping to eat at The Cheesecake Factory (one of our favorites) but they were closed. We had done no research as to what would be open. We just figured we would have some decent options. It was starting to look like Thanksgiving at Mickey D's when we spotted a Tucano's that was open - yeah! Tucano's is patterned after Brazilian churrascarias where they bring all kinds of delicious meats around to your table and cut them right off the skewer. David went to Brazil on his mission so it brought back good memories. We had a lovely dinnner and enjoyed sharing our holiday with a room full of strangers!

We have actually had lots of non-traditional Thanksgivings over the years. When we owned our condo at Big White in BC, we normally headed up there for the holiday because it was a good time to get our condo opened up for the season. Sometimes we were able to ski and sometimes we just ate and hot tubbed. We often cooked a traditional Thanksgiving meal up there, though. In fact, we have spent many a Thanksgiving over the years in Canada which is ironic because it's not Thanksgiving in Canada!

I even talked the family into heading out shopping on the dreaded Black Friday. We have never done that before. I heard the mall was open at 5 a.m. and so I talked everyone into going in and checking it out. Actually, the real story is that David led a revolt against me and talked them all out of it but I decided that I wanted to go anyway. So Brad (being the good son that he is) offered to go with me and then one by one they all acquiesced out of guilt. So we all got to the mall at 5:30 and it was packed. I expected to see lots of women in clothes that they had slept in but inside the mall it looked like a regular busy day. There were entire families and groups of teenagers hanging out and lots of men. It was so weird to shop for 2 hours and have it be only 7:30 in the morning! We weren't even Christmas shopping, we were just shopping. David took Brad and Bryan to Walmart where he said the checkout lines were clear back to the electronics section. Crazy!

We had a great time just being with each other. I feel so blessed to have such a great family.

Somehow, these are the only pictures that I managed to take all weekend.

Courtney, Kylie and Kendall's dream is to be the Chipettes!





Our nephew, Michael, just got home from his mission in Mexico. He is Doug and Connie's youngest. He gave his homecoming talk the weekend before Thanksgiving and we were able to gather with some of the family at LuDeen's house for a little get together. I did better this time and actually remembered to take a picture. I am trying to be better about taking pictures of just the regular stuff and getting myself in there some times. I hate having my picture taken. (Apparently I am better looking in my mind because I feel like I look terrible in pictures, but that is a whole other blog post or maybe a therapy session or possibly an intervention!)

Anyway, here we are in all of our aging glory!

Front row - Tom, Connie, Gail, Michael, LuDeen, Brandon
Back row - Pat, Lori, Doug, me, David, Becky, Jeff



Cute cousins - Michael, Brandon and Angie!



How are the wedding plans coming, you ask? Well the wedding is December 30th in Salt Lake and the reception is January 2nd in Moses Lake at our home. I decided even though it is after Christmas we are still going with Christmas decorations. Tacky? I don't care. I thought I would decorate how I normally do but make it more silver and gold than red and green. My plan (in August) was to have my decorations all up by Thanksgiving so that we could enjoy our holidays and not have to stress about wedding decorations. It would already be done! Good idea, right?

Then I decided it would be nice if we could afford to get some redecorating done that I have been planning for years but haven't had the time/money/wherewithall to get it done. So enter my niece, Nena, who is creative and amazing and who shared my vision of the way the entry way should be. She agreed to tackle the job and we set a goal to have it done by Thanksgiving which meant that I would not be able to decorate until after Thanksgving but that's okay, right?

Well... (I bet you know where this is going!) here is what my house looks like right now. Here is the entrance that is normally filled with trees and twinkly lights and a Rudolph who holds a plate of treats for arriving guests...



And here is my fabulous updated entry way that should be ushering in the holidays as it steels itself for the procession of wedding guests that will soon be coming...





It's not Nena's fault - it's just the way it goes. I am confident that it will be fabulous when it's all done. I just hope it's done before the guests arrive.

What's that you said? At least my husband got the outside lights up nice and early like I asked? Nope. Not a single light is strung yet. I started encouraging him to do it the end of October when it was still kind of warm. Then I continued to prompt him every weekend in November before the snow fell. It hasn't snowed yet but the temperatures are supposed to get into the single digits I just heard. Oh well, the best laid plans...

Life is good. I can't complain. I am thankful. It may be a potluck reception!

How lucky am I?

Last weekend I headed to Utah to watch Courtney compete in the Dansport competition, tend to more wedding details with Kristy and visit with Brad. As an added bonus, Kacey came for the weekend with Scarlet and Rhode. It was a wonderful weekend!

Watching Courtney perform was so much fun! Even though Courtney has been dancing for many years, she only started ballroom a year and a half ago when she came to BYU. She just loves it and it seems to love her! Even though I know a lot about dance, ballroom is a whole other world that I know very little about. This was my first ballroom competition and I was mesmerized by all of the beautiful costumes and rhinestones. The pictures don't do them justice. Courtney competed in Standard, Smooth, Latin and Paso Doble. She has quickly moved up the ranks and is currently competing in some pretty high levels. She made it to the quarter finals and semi finals in each of her dances so she was very happy with that. (I'm still trying to understand the whole process!) Right now she has two different partners - Tim for Latin and Paso Doble and Jake for Standard and Smooth. She and Tim won 3rd place for Paso Doble. Yeah! I just enjoyed every second of watching her dance. I am sure that I was beaming with pride!!

Here is her Standard costume:



This is her Latin costume:


Courtney & Tim - 3rd place in Paso Doble. (This was a class competition which means they compete against everyone in the Latin class they are taking. They are not allowed to wear costumes in class competitions.)



Brad, Kacey and Rhode cheering her on:



Courtney's cheering section:





Scarlet was entertained with Grandma's scarf (but not for long!):



She loved watching her Aunt Courtney:



See for yourself how amazing she is! Here are a few video clips.

Courtney - Paso Doble:



Waltz & Quick Step:



Foxtrot:



Samba:



Rumba:




While I was there, Kristy and I were able to attend to a few more wedding details. So far every time that Kristy has come to Utah to visit Trevor, I have been there too. I feel a little like the Asian grandma who has been assigned to chaperone the couple! Trevor is probably a little worried that everywhere Kristy goes, her mother follows. Lucky for him, though, I have 5 daugthers so I don't have too much time to hover even if I wanted to!


Kristy's former roommates threw her a shower and it was very nice. In attendance were previous roommates, mission companions and relatives. Poor Kari who organized and planned the whole thing came down with the flu that day. Luckily Randi took charge and simply followed Kari's directions. It was so sweet of all of them!


Kristy had to chew a huge piece of bubble gum for every answer she got wrong. There was quite a wad in her cheek!





Kristy with Liberty and Jen Day. Twister anyone?




She received lots of nice gifts. Some were more suitable for viewing than others so I will spare her!



Kristy is fortunate to have such good friends!



Jamie Peterson (now married), Kacey and Rhode:





It was so much fun to enjoy all of these different activities with my kids. I am so blessed!

Brad and mom (Hey, I actually got in a picture!)




I am so glad Kacey made the drive to be there. I love spending time with her and I love seeing my grandbabies. Kacey is such a good mom. Her kids don't even know how lucky they are but someday they will!





Courtney, Brad and Kristy:




Scarlet calls Rhode "Rhode man" and it sounds like she's calling him Roman. It's very cute and so is he!

The only down side to the weekend was that I came down with a cold. Courtney, Kristy and Brad all had cold syptoms as well. No one seemed to have the Swine Flu so we can't really complain. For that reason, we didn't go and try to see the new babies (Cali's Fiona and Ashley's Henry.) Other than that, it was a wonderful weekend and I loved every second of it. I truly am blessed!

New York in October with the girls!

Still looking back...

In October, I always attend a costume show in New York with my two partners (and friends), Lori and Janet. This year we were able to bring our 3 daughters with us - Kylie, Kenzie and Mattie. Our trip is always a lot of fun but it was especially fun with our daughters along!

We did all the usual stuff. We rode the subway...



We ate at the Stardust Diner where all of the wait staff finds time to sing somewhere in between taking your order and serving your food. There are a lot of talented singers who wait tables there. The food is mediocre but the singing is usually good.



Here is our singing waiter...



Some of us were accosted by the infamous Naked Cowboy in Times Square.



We went to the M&M Factory...



Kylie likes her guys on the heavy side!



We stopped by The Late Show with David Letterman! Unfortunately, you have to be 18 to see the show. Not that we would have gotten chosen anyway! My Letterman trivia is not as good as it used to be when Kacey worked there and I watched it all the time. They ask you questions about the show to be sure that you are a fan before they let you in. Lori and I have watched Letterman from time to time but Janet is a huge liability in this area because she has never watched the show. We usually try to convince the Letterman staff that she speaks no english!



Here are the girls discovering the wonders of Times Square!



We stayed right in Times Square at the Doubletree Guest Suites. It's awesome!



We posed for pictures...





We visited TripAdvisors #3 Top Thing to do in New York (number 3!) which was a visit to the Ground Zero Museum Workshop.



The museum is not located anywhere near Ground Zero and it's not much of a museum at all. It consisted of one small room with pictures and momentos from the rubble. The photographer who owns the museum was supposedly the only one given permission to take pictures of the clean up process. He did this for nine months.



While we did enjoy learning more about the details of that tragic event and we were touched, it felt kind of like we were in someone's rec room and we were looking at their trophy wall. Considering he did this full time for nine months, I would have expected more photographs. The photographer was actually there and he spoke to us which was pretty cool, but he talked more about how he got the shots than the actual shots themselves. It was interesting but I would say it was a bit overrated. Maybe this is the only collection of its kind? That's hard to imagine but I maybe that's what makes it worthwhile. It was okay but I think we all expected something more.



This is a picture of the bus driver who almost killed me.



We had to take a bus to Secaucus, New Jersey because that is where the costume show is held. We were with a group of about 20 people who were loading the bus at the Port Authority. One of the men in line ahead of us opened up the luggage compartment so we started loading our luggage in. When the line of people with no luggage had finished boarding the bus, we were still loading our luggage into the compartment. I was halfway inside the compartment when the bus started pulling away! We all screamed along with a man who was behind us and still waiting to board. The driver came out to see what was going on and the man let her have it in his New Jersey accent that sounded just like a movie character. He told her that she almost killed this woman (me!) She blamed us for opening the luggage compartment (which we didn't do) and muttered under he breath that she didn't see me. We all asked, "What about the other six people who were standing by your bus?" Apparently she doesn't feel the need to use her mirrors. The man assured the driver that he would be filing a complaint. I think she was happy to drop us off and hoped for better days.

We, of course, went purse shopping on Canal St. It's always an adventure!



The fruits of our labors...



We even ran into Curran Redal on Canal St! What are the chances?



We saw several Broadway shows and all at discounted or student prices!

We saw Burn the Floor with Pasha and Anya from SYTYCD. We love Pasha! It was all ballroom and it was so good. The cast were professionals from all over the world. We loved it.



We saw Wicked! We waited in line for the lottery on our first day and I think it was Lori's name that got picked. (For those that don't know, many shows hold a lottery where you go down about 2 hours before show time and put your name in a drawing. If your name is picked you can buy two tickets at the discounted rate of $25 each. Lottery tickets are usually on the front row. They usually allow about 20 lottery tickets per show. Mind you, Wicked tickets are usually anywhere from $75-$200.) Since Lori had already seen it twice, she let Mackenzie and Mattie go (since it was Mattie's birthday!) Kylie was the only other person in our group who had not seen Wicked so we checked back every day and put our names in the lottery but to no avail. Each day the crowd grew bigger and we knew our chances were getting slimmer. Finally on our last day there, with the largest crowd we had seen so far, Kylie's name was drawn! And then Mattie's name was drawn too!! So Kylie, Mattie, Janet and I were also able to see Wicked. It's a great show!



Lori, Janet, Kylie and I saw Shrek the Musical while Mattie and Kenzie were at Wicked the first night. It was a lot of fun. We had purchased student tickets. Then we learned that Shrek has a lottery too and it is much easier to win because there are not very many people who enter it.
Since Mattie and Kenzie hadn't gotten to see it, we all went back and see if we could win them lottery tickets. When you have six chances to win two tickets, your chances are pretty good. We all got chosen for the lottery! We had to turn tickets away. It was awesome!! We had box seats. Lord Farquaad was so funny! We give it a two thumbs up!!





We also discovered a wonderful bakery called Crumbs. They have delicious cupcakes that are way better than any we have tried before and, believe me, we tried them all - almost! One of our favorites was Chunky Monkey which was a chocolate cupcake with banana cream cheese frosting and filling. Yummy! I don't think we tried any cupcake we didn't like, though, we are still trying to figure out why people like Red Velvet anything?



Taste test - round one!



Hmmm... not quite sure. Better taste some more...



Yes, definitely a winner!

Now the biggest challenge of our trip. Getting all of our luggage home and under the weight limit! Somehow we did it!!