Thanksgiving Break Adventures

For Thanksgiving break, we drove to Spokane to visit with Grant's family.  It was a pretty uneventful trip over... we love that kind!!  :)

 

Phil and Michelle were generous enough to let our huge family stay with them the whole time... what a blessing!  The girls had fun with their cousins.

Thanksgiving was wonderful!! 

Complete with:

...some Turkey Bowl football (even if it was just the brothers this year)...

...A Pacman Cheeseball (which Grant made)...

...Pistachio pudding salad (which Karina made)...

 

 ...a couple of very tasty and lovely desserts that Grandpa made...

...lots and lots of Sparkling Apple Cider, plenty for everyone...

...people picking in the food... caught ya red-handed babe...  ;)

...beautiful centerpieces that Shailee and Riana made... 

 ...Black Friday Ads...

...Grandpa carving the turkey...

...lots of yummy foods, Phil's green bean casserole was my favorite this year...

 ...so many incredible desserts...

...cute kids!!!  Of course, I am not biased at all!!...

...giant turkey legs...

...good company...

...Everything was SO yummy, can you tell by looking at this picture???  ;)...

 ...Recreating pictures from the past (the middle one was Aurora 1 1/2 yrs old from 2009)...

 ...future fathers... scary, I know...  ;)

...someone's legs... LOL!...

 ...a little hoops...

...did I mention lots and lots of Sparkling Apple Cider??...

 ...couples in love... 

 ...We sure have a lot to be thankful for!...

 

Michelle and I did a little shopping late Thursday and some more early Friday.  It was fun spending time together and getting good deals.

The next morning, we awoke to snow.  It was quite beautiful outside.  Good thing Grant is such a good snow driver... I wasn't worried.  We drove over to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Grant's Mom was very stressed with a wedding cake that she was supposed to be helping someone with, only they didn't show up (until way, way later.)  She needed help and her sweet son went in and helped her... and during the Apple Cup!!  It seriously was the sweetest thing ever and totally made me cry because I knew that he was sacrificing something very important to him for his Mom (he had been talking about the Apple Cup for weeks!) 

Callie enjoying Grandma's yummy cake!!  Best cake ever!!!

 Thanks to Grant's sacrifice, UW was blessed with a win!  ;)  Go Huskies!!  Even a few of our girls wanted to get in the picture with their purple!  :)

My blessing of the day... I noticed that Callie's curls are coming back!!  Love it!!

 

Later that day, we all went to see the new Disney movie, "Frozen."  We took up an entire row!!  It was awesome!!  My girls absolutely loved the movie, especially since it was about a two sisters, one with blonde hair and the other with red hair!  (The little kid versions of Ana and Elsa seriously looked like Aurora and Calyssa to me... it was so cute!!  Calyssa went around for weeks singing, "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?"  Adorable!)   Only thing I didn't like about the movie was the cute little love story and song about Ana and Hans and then **Spoiler alert** Hans turned totally evil!!  So annoying!  One fun little fact about the movie, it is apparently based on the Snow Queen, that was written by Hans Christian Andersen.  And three of the main characters in the movie were Hans, Christoph, and Ana... coincidence?  I think not! 

Elsa's on the right, Ana's on the left, and Uncle Phil, the photo bomber, in the middle, I guess that makes you Olaf, the Snowman, Uncle Phil!!

We caught Uncle Aaron and Auntie Shailee on the way out.  I think Shailee was just as excited, as the girls, to see the movie!  We sure love her!  (Too bad we didn't get a picture with everyone.)

The best part about going to this movie was that a week or two earlier, I had scored some passes for $5 off per kid ticket, at The Children's Place.  I was there buying pajamas for the girls and the guy said, "Oh, so you have 6 girls?  Here I have these passes for Frozen.  We are only suppose to give them out with a purchase of this BluRay movie over here but nobody is buying it anyway so do you want some passes for your girls?"  Oh my goodness!!  I was in shock!  I thanked him so much for just saving me so much money!  I told him that it is difficult to take my girls to the movies because it costs so much!  Plus then Grant's Dad was nice enough to pick up some Costco movie passes for us (which we paid him back for) and that saved us another few dollars.  We ended up saving $30-40 and only spending $20-30 on the tickets.  Way more reasonable!  It made the movie just that much more enjoyable.  :)

The next morning, with a storm coming soon, Aaron and Shailee decided to take off for Idaho so they could be safe.  We were sad to see them go, but we understood and wanted them to be safe.  They were nice enough to come by Phil and Michelle's to say goodbye.

After Aaron and Shailee left, we met Grandma and Grandpa at the mall to get Tierra's ears pierced.  Tierra earned the right to get her ears pierced by cleaning her bedroom by herself, and agreeing to always clean it without help from Mom or Dad.  And per tradition, we came to Spokane to get them pierced, just like her big sisters.  Tierra was really excited and a bit nervous too.  It ended up not hurting as bad as she expected it to. 

We received lots of awesome things from Tia getting her ears pierced.  Tia was given a cute little rainbow pony and we were given 50% off of our entire purchase.  Well, most things in the store were already buy 2 get 1 free and so it ended up being more like buy 2 get 1 free.  For example, I bought 3 $18 scarfs for our nieces (because we have their names for Christmas) and it only cost $18 for all 3!!  (I always want to spend a ton of money in that store but things just cost too much.  So with 6 daughters and this good of a deal, I took a pretty long time in the store, and even had the girls switch secret pal names and pick things out right then too... meanwhile everyone else went to the nearby food court... LOL!)  The price tag before the deals was about $500!!!! and after the deals it was only about $225 and that is with the $60 ear piercing (we get their ears pierced with their birthstone earrings, so it costs a little bit more.)  The receipt was about as tall as me!!  LOL!

On our way out of the mall, the girls saw Santa going on his break.  They waved to him from the 2nd story, when he was on the 1st, then they followed as they noticed he was coming to the 2nd story.  (I think he may have come all the way up just to see them.)  Then he told me that we could get some pictures with him, if we wanted!!  It was so sweet of him since you normally have to wait in long lines and pay a ton for one picture, with those mall Santas!  I only wish Aurora hadn't already left with her buddy, Auntie Michelle... oh well!  (Riana was in the 2nd picture with Santa.) 

Aurora and Connor attacking Grandpa with hugs!  :)

That night, I found Aurora sleeping in the exact same way that I often find myself sleeping, with my leg up on the other... like Mother like Daughter... crazy!  Callie love Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Bella, and their cats too.  :)

The next morning, we went to church with Grant's parents.  (I wish I would've taken pictures with them and the girls!)  And then we headed home.  It was a very nice visit.  We are blessed with wonderful families and with the means to travel over to see them and spend time together.