What a Thankful Weekend

This was the weekend I was looking forward for a long time. My sister Anne and her family, my brothers and their families, and my parents all came for a long Thanksgiving weekend. Brian even took the week off (while I subbed) so he could clean the house, shop, make pies, and shop. It was great to have him home to do the little things. We started things off on Wednesday with the kids staying home and the adults going to dinner. The cousins loved playing together and having fun. Early Thursday morning, after the turkey was in the oven, the boys went golfing and I started the rolls. They were lovely. At crunch time (1 hour to go), the ovens were busy and we were worried about what time we would actually eat, but we pulled it off, thanks to lots of help. Grandma Great brought Mac & Cheese (homemade of course) which was a new addition to the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, veggies, jello, etc. What a feast it was. We ate and ate and then ate some more all 21 of us. YUM. Afterwards, I was even treated to Bubba doing the dishes. He organized the men and took over the kitchen--wow. We then played games and just enjoyed hanging out.

On Friday, we played again. This time it was Savannah's 4th birthday, so cake and ice cream were a must as well as Halloween Bingo. After there was more golf and the girls and kids went to see the lights at the temple. It is not Salt Lake, but where can you see lights and flowers together? Afterwards we came back to our house for hot soup. Even in St. George you need soup in the winter. More games were played and dressing up (we won't tell you who was caught dressing up, will we Paulina).

Saturday morning was busy finding gloves and coats (something we have not seen in a while at our house). We traveled up to Cedar Breaks (a lovely drive) to hunt Christmas trees. We stopped in a large parking area and went up a mountain all 21 of us--even Nana. The first leg of the hike was hard for some, but the kids and boys kept on going. We hadn't spotted a good tree, so they kept on going. The kids were finally tired and we heard them say "we're scared". So we got to them and brought them down the mountain. It felt like 7 Alone (remember that movie?). After hearing some commotion. in the hills and waiting and having hot chocolate, we finally saw movement and a very large tree. Bubba and Trevor had found a tree--now they need a bigger house to put it in. Grandpa & Nana's tree was Charlie Brownish at best. And Dave found a nice one for the Baggetts. Rob came down next with a nice size tree. Where was Brian? Meagan started to go see if she could see him and finally he came with a big tree. I have 10' ceiling, but this is bigger than that. It is a perfect--imperfect Christmas tree, just right. This was a great way to end a perfect weekend.

A funny thing happened on the way to the church

A few weeks ago I answered the phone and one of my neighbors said I was needed at the church or they were going to forfeit. So being the good neighbor, I jumped in the car and hurried down to play volleyball. I can't even tell you if we won or not, we just did not forfeit. The next week, I showed up again, ready to play, the other team forfeited. This also was the last game of the regular season. Well our little team did so well that we went to region play last week. We played 4 games, back to back, against some really good teams. It was about 4 hours of playing, it was fun but I was tired and elated all at the same time when I finally got home. The funny results at the end of that night was that we qualified for region tournament. So tonight 6 housewives (not desperate) will pile into my van and travel to Hurricane for the region tournament. Someone please laugh now!! I will let you know how big my trophy is. (Don't be jealous Napoleon). I had enjoyed being a mom and watching Emily play (or dance, fix her hair, stand there), and wasn't thinking that I needed something else. I am really loving it, but we are not that good, so I must laugh.
UPDATE: We looked really good and one our first set. It was doulbe elimination, but we had 1 1/2 hours to go until our next game. So we went to dinner. We all ate way to much, but really had a nice time. When we went back to our game, all the food just sat there--except for my 2 diet cokes. We played a team that was really into it and had their own cheering section--not fun. So we lost that and went to the loser bracket. We played the team we beat at the beginning, but this time they had been playing all night and were really alive and we were ready for nap. In 3 games we lost. Sad...3rd place. Oh well, maybe next year.