Friday, November 23, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we went to the Grand America's "Grand" Thanksgiving Buffet up in Salt Lake City with my In-Law's. It was a lot of fun. I was a bit nervous, to tell you the truth. We had to dress up, in Sunday clothes. This meant it was going to be very fancy and that my kids needed to be on their best behavior. Hhhhmmmmm! Which way was it going to be today! We could flip a coin to see, but that doesn't always work. They had breakfast, but for some reason, by the time we got there, they were starving and cranky. The hotel had a photographer there, so before we ate, we had all 26 of us get together for a picture. I will post it when I get a copy of it. I think it is cute. Anyway, it was a beautiful buffet. And whomever set up the room was extremely smart to section off part of a hallway into a private room for our family! It was just for us, with our very own waiters. Just perfect. No more nerves for me. I didn't want my kids to ruin someone elses wonderful dinner (that they paid a fortune for!)



After we came back from Salt Lake, we went over to Uncle John's house to see Great Grandma Ione. She is doing well. I have been thinking a lot about her lately. We just celebrated her 91st birthday this last October. I really like it when I can just call and talk to her anytime I want. Wes can hardly believe that she will actually be 100 years old in a few years!


I am starting backwards here. As you can see, Dave turns into a dork when his sister Tracy is taking our picture! We are taking a break for a minute from eating, just to get ready to head back out for another round. I started of my day with a mixed berry crepe with a creme anglais sauce and a touch of fresh whipped cream. Then I went on to have a plate with eggs benedict, stuffing with craisins and apples, chicken with some fancy sauce (I forgot what it was), a potato cake, cranberry compote, a ham and cheese omelet, a bite of a couple of desserts (nothing to write home about), mud pie, cheese cake (I didn't eat the entire pieces of these desserts), bread pudding with rum sauce and whipped cream (I did eat this one! Yummy) and then I waited again, for this picture and then went back out for another mixed berry crepe with creme anglais sauce. Lovely dinner. Absolutely nothing Thanksgiving about it, but completely delicious.


After the kids (Wes, Coltyn, Jordan, & Dylan) finished eating, they decided to color in the coloring books from the kids buffet (you will see in a second). See how nice this hallway/room turned out to be for our family?


After dinner, I went around taking pictures of everything, this was our room and our long table. Yea, I know, it isn't the best picture!


Brooke had a little fever, but she still had a smile on her face as long as we were feeding her the mini M&M's from the kids buffet table and letting her color!


Here is a quick look at some of the buffet tables, this one is where the Prime Rib was, they also had one like this for the turkey.


Along the sides of the "meat buffets" were the "sides" and "salads".


Here is the kids buffet. They had things like mini corn dogs, french toast sticks with syrup, macaroni and cheese, scrambled eggs, chicken strips, tater tots, mimi M&M's, rice crispy treats, chocolate chip cookies, coloring books and crayons, just about everything that a child needs to be happy. The other genius thing about it was they made it small so that the children could go and serve themselves.


The luscious chocolate fountain that everyone loved. Wes loved dipping pineapple into it. The other kids like to dip strawberries and pound cake into it. This is one thing that I didn't indulge in.


Here is Dave's favorite buffet table that he went to the most, the seafood table. All the crab legs and jumbo shrimp he could eat! Heaven for him. Wes thought the carved ice tray was cool too!


After we just couldn't eat anymore, we went out into the courtyard and walked around. Wes, Sam and Jordan hitched a ride on the carriage.


In the lobby of the Grand America everything is over the top beautiful. Wes and his Grandpa liked this gold clock, so Wes and his cousin Sam had a picture taken next to it.

Our end of the table voted that this needs to be our new tradition for Thanksgiving, the "Grand" Buffet at Grand America. It really was a treat for us. We were so lucky to come here this year. Everything was perfect, the food, atmosphere, and most of all the company! Thanks for everything Kay. We truly enjoyed ourselves.

Thanks for the Birthday Flowers!


The flowers are so beautiful! Look how they have bloomed over the last 2 days, they all started off as small buds. So pretty. Brooke and Wes want to eat my chocolates and I keep telling them, "Nope, they are mine! Gramea, Papa and Emily gave them to me for my birthday, with the pretty flowers." Thank you, I love them...

Thursday, November 15, 2007

I Am Thankful For...

1. My husband who works so hard so I can stay home with my children.
2. A healthy family.
3. Two wonderful children.
4. Wesley's laugh.
5. Topamax
6. Raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
7. Brooklyn's smile.
8. Wes's musical talents.
9. Brooklyn & Wesley's sign language.
10. Dave's goofiness.
11. When Dave plays with the kids, they all giggle and play like crazy!
12. Spring and Fall.
13. Alaska, most definitely.
14. Relief Society Lessons
15. My visiting teaching companion.
16. My parents.
17. My brothers and sisters
18. The prophet.
19. To be sealed to Dave.
20. Brooke's little bitty body!
21. Wes's tall skinny body!
22. When Wes reads to Brooke and plays with her.
23. Whenever my body decides to drop a pound!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

How do you keep a sick kid from going CRAZY?

So Wes has strep throat and yesterday was a nice slow day. He slept for most of it. He had a bad fever and nasty fever chills. He also threw up, which was gross. But then had a great appetite right after! Then today he is bored out of his mind. I bought Ratatouille for him to watch while home from school. But you can only watch that so many times. He is going nuts! He has finished all of his homework and created new homework for himself. Now he is trying to figure out new things to do on his computer. Pure boredom. He is looking forward to going to school tomorrow. It will be 48 hours after being on his antibiotics and the doctor approved it! Yea for Wes!!!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Happy Birthday Gramea!

I hope you are having a great birthday! We all love you so much and miss you like crazy down here. Have fun and call me when you open your present tonight! I want to know what you think!!! Wes and Brooke's card will be there shortly. We love you...

Friday, November 2, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SQUIRT!!!

Emily is 18!!! What? I can't believe that! Did you get our message? Wes, Brooke and I sang to you this morning when we woke up, so it sounds terrible, but it was the first thing we did! Brooke said "Appy Behay, Ie ufe uoo!" After I hung up, Wes said, "Emily is actually a teenager now!" Sorry you didn't get that part. It made me chuckle! You should be getting our present in the mail today. Your senior picture is beautiful. I hope you had a great day, I love you and so happy to be your sister!!! Happy Birthday.