Thanksgiving Heroes!

There were many who made significant contributions to the success of our Thanksgiving celebration this year. Please forgive me for not mentioning all of you. Here are three of my heroes. Adam, who makes the best rolls this side of the Lion House; Hilary, who spent most of her day and the night prior scanning family photos and documents from Kathy's well organized collection; and of course, Kathy, the hostest with the mostest who puts on an amazing Thanksgiving feast including pinatas, fireworks, bowling, and the best HOMEMADE CANDY we've ever tasted

Yes. I was there and sampled the rolls, candy and pretty much everything else. So I have firsthand knowledge of the success of the feast. Techies compare notes and cell phone applications.

Hilary's scanner went through multiple sets of batteries. We were happy that Kathy was prepared with extras.

Korinne sits in a rocking chair originally owned by her Great, Great, Grandma Dalton.

Tanner had most of the kids involved in an intriguing project. They stopped momentarily so I could take this picture. Besides, I'm pretty sure it was "top secret" so mum's the word.

Jeff and his boys check out a football game on TV.

The kids got along quite well and managed to work out their differences because we heard very few cries of distress. Mostly there were smiles and laughter.

Logan and Jessica show off their cute kids, Jaxon and Tali. The spelling could be wrong, but the names are right.

Let the feast begin!

The garage was set up to accommodate games and eating. It worked out fantastically well.

Dustin's rootbeer was a big hit with Elsie. Everyone enjoyed it but Elsie was constantly asking for more. How much is too much on Thanksgiving?

With both Jeff and Logan working for the fire department, it's been a long time since all of Kathy and Brent's kids have been at the Thanksgiving feast together. This year everyone was there so we had to take a picture.

Left to right-Brent, Kathy, Jeff, Logan, Jake and Dustin.

Tanner whacks at the pinata while the others cheer him on.

Black Friday shoppers review the ads.

The bowling alley was chilly this year. We wore our jackets most of the time. Here's proof that Hilary even scanned during our bowling event.

Here's a gallery of some of the non-bowlers--Richard T., Brent, Marci, and Jessica with Jaxon asleep on her lap.

Brother and sister, Steve and Kathy, carry on the P Family traditions.

Quinn was the youngest bowling fan. He loved the balls and loved putting his finger in one of the holes.

Brent and Kathy's good friends, the T Family, joined us for bowling and leftovers. After so many years, they have become our friends too.

I'm thankful for many things and one of them is Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite days of the year. It gives us the opportunity to gather as friends and family with an excuse to totally overindulge in all things sweet and good. I'm especially thankful for my husband of 40 years. It is his family we celebrate this holiday with and after 40 years of the ups and downs of life, our marriage is sweeter than ever. Thanks, Steve. You are the best!
I'm also thankful for my family and all of the things that they teach me.

I'm thankful for our children and grandchildren. They bring such joy to my life and I'm so grateful to have the means to visit them each year.

I'm thankful for Christ and His gospel for the truth shall make us free.

And I'm thankful to live in this free country with a Constitution inspired by Divine Providence. May we live worthy of it's blessings and may we be able to preserve it for our posterity.

After a terrific Thanksgiving day, we headed farther north to Heather and Aaron's for some additional fun. Here the grandkids caught Steve hiding in the pantry eating some contriband--it was actually one of a very few leftovers of Adam's fantastic rolls.

Steve reads to Quinn and tries hard to keep him out of trouble. It works momentarily.

It was cold but Steve moved a little snow and pulled the kids slowly on a sled. They all had fun. They weren't successful at getting the snowmobile going so they settled for the 4-wheeler. That worked out just fine.

Anna helped Grandma in the kitchen. Here she is learning how to cook homemade pancakes.

We had another turkey dinner on Friday and Saturday a.m. Adam made homemade donuts. We just couldn't really complain about not having enough good food around. It was a fun Thanksgiving weekend!

Return to Winter!

We left the sunny beaches of South Carolina and returned home to winter. When we got off the plane, there was snow on the ground and temperatures in the teens. The next few days brought more snow and lots of wind. We headed to Idaho for Thanksgiving where it was "very" cold and they had snow but didn't have a significant storm while we were there. Yesterday we drove back home without ice covered roads. It was nice. Today, however, it has snowed "ALL DAY LONG". It was snowing when we got up and now it's 11:30 p.m. and still snowing. Steve got out the snowblower at least 3 times and he will repeat that tomorrow. Except for a brief drive to church 3 minutes away, we have snuggled into our warm house today. We put up our Christmas decorations and ate leftover old fashioned carrot pudding! It's been a very pleasant day for us.

The Rest of the Carolina Story...

Steve joined us on Thursday night so we spent the next three days enjoying the balmy weather and the sights and sounds of Carolina. Sunday evening we drove about 12 minutes to the beach to take family pictures. Sadie much preferred playing in the sand to posing for pictures but we did manage to get a few good ones.

On Saturday we went to a place called the Broadway on the Beach. It was a large shopping area with restaurants, carnival activities, etc.

The Liberty restaurant is the place the college professors took Jeff to dinner when he came to interview for his position.

Jeff and Benson practice their golf swings in the front yard.

Sadie is talking with her cousins on Grandma's phone.

Sadie and Benson at the playground at the beach.

Friday night we went to one of the local tourist theaters. They have a lot of live shows and we picked Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede Christmas Show. They incorporated beautiful horses and expert riders into their musical show. They also had a live Christmas nativity with sheep, goats and camels that was beautifully done. They served a dinner which we ate without utensils. It was very entertaining and Benson and Sadie seemed to really enjoy it too. After 19 years, they are changing the show to a pirate theme and selling the horses. We're happy we got to see the original "stampede". I don't know how they will incorporate the nativity into the pirate theme. They probably won't which is sad.

The Boardwalk on the Beach is another area with some shops, restaurants and piers with fishing. Here Steve and Libbie check out the alligators in the famous beach gift shop called The Gay Dolphin.

The gift shop was huge and filled with every imaginable beach type souvenir. It reminded me of the huge gift shop in S. Dakota called Wall Drug. It was definitely a very large collection of stuff (junk). In spite of all the interesting stuff, we had no trouble resisting the temptation to buy anything.

Here are a couple of pictures of Jeff's beautiful campus. All of the buildings are the same color of reddish brick. It is really very attractive.

This picture of Sadie with a couple of her treasured seashells, the family has collected at the beach, shows her cute but mischievous personality.

Nothing's Finer Than Carolina...

in the evening. Steve's working in Georgia this week, so I went along for the ride and with a little additional skip ended up in South Carolina. Lucky me! Here I am this evening on the Boardwalk with Libbie, Jeff, Sadie and Benson enjoying the gorgeous sunset.

Hooray for Sadie! Last night she accomplished a "potty milestone". She was rewarded with a Dora matching game. She loved her triumph and the game.

Sadie is using a new Thai pillow to reach a goody she has her eye on. Tonight we went to Benson's school for a book fair. Benson used his hard-earned money to purchase a favorite book. Here he stands in front of his classroom door. He loves his school and his teacher. Keep up the good work, Benson.