Sunday Summary

Hey, this is great...I can write a super long tedious Thanksgiving trip recap and pretend it's a Sunday Summary and not feel like a boring blogger. Get ready, or stop reading now and just go comment on one of the pictures and I will think you read and enjoyed the whole thing!

On Monday, while in California, my dad and I decided to drive the kids to see us some California Redwoods. We were going to see the Sequoias, near Fresno, but Paige (who is the boss of me) told me they were too far away, so we went to Muir Woods. Except 44 miles into our trip, right in the middle of the freeway a bolt apparently came out of something in my engine and then the fan belt came flipping off, and the car stopped running. I just felt lucky it happened with my dad in the car, right by an exit, which had a car repair shop, which had the nicest, fastest, cheapest, honestest, candiest-having owner around. He fixed it in 2 hours and we were on our way. (Stop there if you ever need car fixing the Oakland...two exits south of the temple.)



Here's Muir Woods. They were extremely cool and Paige was totally right that they would be a perfect outing.
On the way home, Jane, of course, had to pee and so we stopped at the Oakland temple and Jane, upon seeing the Christus statue , said, "Mom, Jesus is so Adowhable." My feelings exactly.



Tuesday was beyond fun, because I got to attend my second Blog Bash at Celia's house. We ate lots of yummy food (Denae's Blog Brownies were a highlight), chatted about blogging for hours with people who get it and ignored our kids (except when they got near the blog brownies.) I will be announcing all my trips in the future, so we can plan other blog parties around it.

(Here are Celia, Audrey--Ryan's second cousin we realized, Paige, Brigitta and Denae. Click on their names if you want to see their fun blogs.)

Wednesday I just made lots and lots and lots of pie. But I had people to talk to while I did it, all the time in the world (so the kids could help without making me crazy) and a mother-in-law who cleaned up every mess I made. Here's me with Pecan, Pumpkin, Banana Cream, Chocolate Silk, Lemon Meringue, and Caramel Apple. (Chocolate and Caramel Apple were the crowd favorites--watch for recipes coming soon.)

If you've noticed no mention of Ryan, that's because he worked 43 hours Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (not even coming home one night) out of his company's head office in San Jose. He kept promising a really long Thanksgiving weekend as a reward to both of us, but realized that he was nowhere near done by Turkey Day and that we would have to leave early as a result. Boo for his job.

Thursday was seriously an ideal Thanksgiving. We started out with the Sherrill family tradition of doing Christmas puzzles.

Then we went outside for some kind-of kite flying, fishing (in my dad's neighborhood pond) and tennis. All of Ryan's family who were visiting came to my Dad and step mom's house and we just had a great time, eating, talking and playing games.

(Here's the fam, with Bart, Meridith and Paige)

Friday was Ryan's favorite day. We rounded up all the visiting family (my brother Nate and wife Kelsie, Ryan's brothers Grant and Greg and Greg's wife Christy, Ryan's sister Meridith and husband Bart) and did a day after Turkey bowl that was just about the most fun I've had in a long time. I'm most proud of the blocking of Ryan's brother Greg that allowed my brother Nate to catch a pass. I still can't feel my arm, but taking on Mr. 290 made me wonder if I've missed my calling...(So wish I had a picture here, all that vacation non-blogging was making me soft!)

The kids had lots of fun with the best Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins in the world and we were bummed out when we found out we had to come home a little bit early.

(Can you ever have a bunch of cousins in the tub and NOT take a picture? Here're my kids and cousin Paige.)

We drove home on Saturday and it was MUCH better with Ryan around. We're happy to be home and ready for the Christmas whirlwind to begin.