Giving thanks (and missing family)

We did our best to make Thanksgiving festive and had a good time, but we really missed having family around, especially Brandon and Angela (who couldn't get away from work and school long enough to join us).

This was a low-key year food-wise since no one would be joining us, especially compared to last year when we hosted Angela and Angela's parents (we invited several families in our area to eat with us but none were able to). In many ways it was nice to have a laid-back holiday, but I actually felt more frazzled on Thanksgiving than I did the year before! I think it's because I had to be SO organized and prepared last year and did much of the food prep on the days before Thanksgiving. This year I half-heartedly prepared, leaving too much for the big day.

Aubrey did bravely accompany me the day before Thanksgiving to pick up a few pies at Costco. Amazingly, we didn't even wait in much of a line.

For dinner we had turkey (although it wasn't done cooking until after dinner . . .), ham, homemade rolls, salad, several types of veggies, jello, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and three types of pie.  Personally, I find this type of food so boring becuase there is nothing spicy, but it met our need for traditional foods and made most everyone happy.  I have to admit that I had a post-dinner treat of Afghanian flatbread and dipping sauces I had picked up at Costco.

We also had as much sparkling cider as we could drink.

Wow, Aubrey got a little carried away!

There was lots of giggling and joke telling.

After dinner we watched "It's a Wonderful Life" while we tied blankets for the homeless shelter.

In the evening Dan spontaneously decided to check out Black Friday at Target and Best Buy, and Aubrey went with him to shop. They said it was decidedly non-crazy and they found almost everything for Christmas!

Aubrey even came home with matching ugly Christmas sweaters for her and Bailey.

And, finally, here is a picture my mom sent of Brandon and Angela playing a game with Kara and Dave's kids.  We were sad to not be with all the family at the cabin in Heber this year!

A tale of clear blue skies and broken appliances

Last month Dan and I celebrated 25 years of marriage by soaking up the sun in Maui for 5 days. It was wonderful We shaved time off the beginning and the end of the trip so we could be in town for both weekends of Aubrey's play, but 5 days was still plenty of time.

It was so great to see this guy actually relaxing. He never relaxes! It was so decadent to spent hours in the shade of a palm tree on next to the beach; reading, napping, people watching, and occasionally swimming. 

We only interrupted our relaxation to consider the difficult question of what should we eat for lunch/dinner.  

We even survived the very precarious yet beautiful road to Hana (Dan was heavily medicated with motion sickness meds!)

We ate some really amazing food. And we did not skimp on calories at all. Pictured below, white chocolate macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup. DELICIOUS!

 And a closer view . . .

 The sunsets were fabulous.

We couldn't and wouldn't have felt so relaxed without Bailey's incredible help at home with babysitting. She took over my job for the week, keeping the house running, driving Joseph and Aubrey to lessons and appointments, and preparing food (which is no easy task in our house).

Bailey's job babysitting at home was MUCH harder than it should have been. I had everything completely planned out, with pages and pages of lists and directions. I left about a dozen lists taped all over the house. Here are the few that were remaining when we got home:
I had stocked the fridge and inside freezer with food I knew everyone would eat, and made a huge batch of a homemade soup they love.

The very day, maybe the very moment we got on a plane to Maui our fridge decided to die. And by the time we landed and could talk to the kids about it, everything perishable had spoiled.  We put out some calls to good friends who helped the kids move some food into coolers, which they kept on the back deck.


 It was actually really lucky that it was freezing cold the week we were gone, because the ice in the coolers never even melted.  

In the meantime, Bailey had to figure out how to feed everyone with very little food available. It was a supreme challenge, but she never complained. What a champ! I told her that now that she has weathered an unexpected calamity she is truly ready for college and real life, because both are full of such experiences. 

We texted and called a lot the first few days we were in Hawaii, helping Bailey coordinate a repairman visit (who told us our 7 year old fridge WASN'T repairable) and arrangements when inclement weather caused school to be delayed. But, because Bailey and the other kids were positive and upbeat about their troubles, Dan and I managed to relax and really enjoy ourselves in Hawaii.  And we paid Bailey a substantially higher babysitting rate given the unforseen circumstances!

We took a redeye home late Thursday night and arrived home by 6:20 a.m. Friday. We froze as we rode the shuttle bus to our car. The weather had dropped 30 degrees since we left, and we were still in the mode of 80 degree weather.

We made it back for the second weekend of performances of Aubrey's play - 4 over the weekend!  So we jumped right back into our fun, crazy life.

Also, when we returned we bundled up the nonfunctioning fridge and set it out to be picked up for recycling by the utility company.

Which left a big open space in our kitchen for about 5 days until we could purchase and install the new fridge.  By the time we were able to get home and then find a replacement fridge (because it turns out our 7 year old fridge was NOT repairable), we hadn't had a fridge for 9 days. 

We actually liked the increased openness in the kitchen (which has always felt a little cramped).  But we like cold food even more!

Finally we threw away everything that was spoiled and started to slowly restock our new fridge.  This is definitely the cleanest and the most empty the fridge will ever be.

And now, one more Hawaii picture, just because. Despite the challenges, it was a wonderful break and a privilege to spend time just being together.

Bye Bye Birdie

Here are some pictures of the fun production of Bye Bye Birdie Aubrey was part of last month.  It was such a great play. She feels like she learned a lot, and we were so impressed at the quality of her singing, dancing, and acting. I am still hoping that we can get some more official professional pictures or video from the show.

 One of the parents snapped these pictures at one of the dress rehearsals.

On the way to the first performance.

Bailey and I attended the first performance. After dropping off Aubrey to get dressed, we walked through the FREEZING and WINDY weather to get some authentic Mexican food and then to get delicious Cacao drinkable chocolate (it is just as good as it sounds!)

We were not supposed to take pictures during the performance, but I furtively grabbed a few shots with my iphone.

Dan and Joseph sat on the front row.  At one point Aubrey was singing just inches from them!




















Pictures afterward:

These pictures were taken after another one of the six performances:

Aubrey's cute vocal teacher came to see her in the play!  I didn't get a picture, but Aubrey's favorite Sunday School teacher/YW leader Becky Harrington also came with  me to see the play.  And another wonderful leader Cami Lemmon came with her husband on one of the Saturday performances.

 Changed out of costume and ready to go home.  What an exhausting but wonderful two weeks!