Happy Thanksgiving 2014

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.  Lots of company ... lots of noise ... lots of food ... lots of fun!  Kris and Erin arrived on Saturday, November 22 (Tylre's birthday) and stayed until Saturday, November 29.  Kelly and Gary arrived on Wednesday night, November 26 (Gary's birthday) and left for home on Sunday, November 30.  During the long weekend, we also enjoyed time with Stacy and Rick, Danielle, Kendi, Taisley, Allysa, Josh, Daxton, Benny, Gary's son Brian and his family including wife Miriah and kids Alexis and Boston.  The days were filled with Hallmark movies, a little shopping, Christmas lights, music and fire pit at Tuacahn (where Taisley found the very lights she had strung among the bushes with members of my Rotary club), walking among the Christmas trees at the 33rd Annual Jubilee of Trees (wow, does that make me feel old), cleaning out the twins' bedroom in anticipation of a garage sale next week, helping Taisley and EJ create their 2015 calendars, runny noses ... and lots of amiable chit-chat.  We missed those who were unable to be with us - David and Jan'L and their kids, Michael and Lilly and Kaytee, Josh and their little "monkey butts", but all-in-all, it was one of the better Thanksgivings we have had at our house!

Hallowe'en at the Sappingtons

Spending Halloween with the grandkids is such a treat!  Because we live so far away from most of our kids, we don't get this experience too often, but this year because of the birth of Thoryn Postma, Kaytee and Josh's Baby Girl #3, we were in Anaconda on All Hallows Eve and got to go door-to-door with Adyn and Skylar.

Before leaving for Montana, we took Taisley with us when we volunteered for "Thriller" at Tuacahn. She was nervous because some of her friends told her it was "really, really scary" but what she quickly found out is that it was really, really fun ... and only "Halloween scary."

Lilly's mom transformed her into a beautiful Elsa (from "Frozen"). Being Elsa was probably the most popular little girls costume this year, but NOBODY had a more beautiful costume than Lilly, custom made especially for her tiny body by her talented mother and a costumer for the Utah Opera Company.  Michael tagged along in the search for candy as Olaf (also from "Frozen").  In Denver, Kaler considered himself too old for trick-or-treating so decided to stay home and pass out candy to those ghosts and goblins who rang their doorbell, but Kole was a Poindexter (not sure what that is, but he looked so cute) and Kyle was a catcher for his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox.  Adyn was Belle (from "Beauty and the Beast"), Skylar was an adorable Snow White and Taisley was a purple minion (from "Despicable Me, Too").

But of all the ghosts and goblins in the family, the one who scared us most was Daxton, who spent the three days before Halloween in the hospital with viral meningitis.  It was frightening to know this little guy ran a very high temperature and spent his time in total isolation to prevent the spread of what they hoped was NOT bacterial meningitis.

Not everyone enjoys Halloween, but personally, I think it's great fun. We were amazed at how many people in Anaconda decorated their yards for the trick-or-treaters, but no one does trunk-or-treating like our ward in Bloomington.  So now that this fun night is behind us, we are looking forward to Thanksgiving and Christmas ... in the meantime, don't forget to brush and floss!!!