Copy of something I posted on Facebook on November 27th

Yesterday Nicole said to me, "I love our Christmas tree! It's super crowded, but it's cheery and Merry and bright. Just like our family!" Something about that statement made my heart full. And I realized what a blessing it is that we have such a crowded, happy family. Things are very hectic around here most of the time. And we're dead broke. And everything we own is either broken or on the verge - just being held together by duct tape and a prayer. But we are very rich in the things that matter.

Tongue Tied

Some times words just don't come out the way you want them to.  This seems to happen to me more than other people.  Perhaps that has something to do with the fact that I talk way more than other people.  Maybe the ratio of right-to-wrong words is the same, just the volume is much higher for me...

Most of the time its' okay that I'm scatterbrained.  However, as my kids get older, they find it more and more entertaining to tease me.  The other day, I was driving the girls to school and I said, "Nicki, how many homework do you have? Like, a millions?"  Let's review that sentence one more time - How many homework do you have? Like, a millions?  The girls cracked up!  They laughed the whole way to school.  And still, any time I get tongue tied, they say, "Mom - how many homework do you have?  Like a millions?"  I may never live that one down.  My grand kids may ask me how many homework I have...

November Ditties

A few of our adventures from November:
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I took the kids to a couple of Jazz games.  They got free tickets from playing in the Jr. Jazz league.

On November 1st, I took Bronson, Joshua, and Alison.  We played the Trailblazers.  It was the very first time our boys had ever gone to a game.  We had a blast!  We discovered the place where they were shooting the pre- and post-game shows for television and we totally hung out in the background being those annoying people that are trying to see themselves on TV.

The boys even caught a towel that was thrown into the crowd.  It was a super exciting game which the Jazz won in overtime!  It was so fun to watch the kids get caught up in the excitement and cheer their heads off!

Two days later, Nicki had tickets.  This time, we went with Charly and her mom, Lisa.  

 David was going to take Nic, but we decided that it might be a little bit awkward going with Charly and her mom, so I went again!  We had a really fun girls night out.  The Jazz lost this time, but we still had a great time being there (and yes, I stuck my head in the background of the television filming again).

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Alison is in her school's show choir, Rhapsody In Blue.  In November, they put on a special concert, the Rhapsody Review.  It runs for three nights.  I went twice.  Everyone else in the family, along with Grandma and Grandpa Smith, saw it too.  It was very good.  I was so proud of Alison!

 They did a Phantom Of The Opera medley.  Gotta love those songs!

 Then, they did an Into The Woods medley.

And they ended with a Muppets' Show medley.  Alison sang a solo in this one.  She was fantastic.  I'm not biased.  She really was.  

Here she is after the show with two of her best friends and choir-mates, Kenna and Katrina.  Love those girls.  They all have a lot of unique personality!  

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Earlier in the year, when I saw that the movie "Wonder" was coming out, I challenged Joshua to read the book.  I promised that if he finished it before the movie came out, I would take him to see it.  Josh likes to read, and reads very well.  But he doesn't love reading long chapter books.  He gets bored half way through them.  He'd much rather pick up a non-fiction science or reference book.  Getting him to read a novel is like puling teeth.  For the first half of "Wonder" it was just like that.  Then, I discovered that if I let him read for 10 or 15 minutes right at bed time, he didn't complain at all (anything to stay up a few extra minutes).  He ended up loving the book and finishing it rather quickly.

 So of course, I kept my promise and took him to the theater.  Just the two of us in big reclining chairs, eating buckets of popcorn and watching a movie together.  That has probably happened exactly zero times in the past.  It was a pretty special date for both of us.

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Everyone has a story of their baby giving themselves a haircut, don't they?  Well, this haircut was given by our baby's seven year old brother, who should have known better....

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In late November, David and Alison continued their hiking adventures.

This time, they went to Antelope Island.  There was a pretty awesome cloud thing going on that day.

I don't know how to describe it.  It's like they were above the clouds, or fog, or whatever.

All I know is that it was fun.  And a beautiful day.  They saw bison, etc.  I love that they have each other as hiking partners.  I love it for many many reasons!

I love that they have the time to spend one-on-one. I love that it's active and healthy.  And I love that I don't have to go.  I'm not much of a hiker.  It looks like fun, in theory.  But when I'm actually on a hike, I think, "this stinks."  

Thanksgiving 2018

We had a great Thanksgiving this year! We decided to spend it in Idaho with David's family, but to go up-and-back in one day. We hit the road early in the morning, stopping in Malad for breakfast at a Burger King.  We listened to a Hank Smith talk on the way there - a new family tradition.  All of us like listening to his talks and it keeps us all cheery.

We arrived at Grandma and Grandpa's house in the late morning.  All of the cousins were on a hike together, so we had an hour or two just visiting with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Linda and helping them prepare for the day.

We had a HUGE crew for the feast!  HUGE!!!  Shawn's family, Kristi's family, Jodi's family, and our family were all there.  Plus some extended family of the in-laws, and some other people in the community who didn't have Thanksgiving plans. I think there were around 40 people there.  I thought it was so fun to have that many people there, and to get to know some new friends. Grandma amazed me with her planning, work, and service.  It went perfectly smoothly!  Someday I hope to be as good of a hostess as she is!  And Grandpa had some special activities planned for us while we were there.

First of all, he had a huge pile of branches in the garden for a bonfire.

Uncle Evan went out and lit it up.  Look at all those excited boys!  Quinton kept yelling, "This is Epic, right?"

The bad new was the wood was too wet to really catch fire.  They all had a great time trying, though.

Awesome Uncle Evan also brought his shotguns and a ton of clay pigeons. Everyone that wanted to, went out to the farm behind the house and shot.  I think Josh, Bron, and Nicki all tried.  I don't know if Alison did or not.  I didn't.  I stayed inside and helped clean up, then I chatted with the sisters and scoured the Black Friday ads.  David was out there all afternoon.  he LOVES shooting!  I think he had a great time, both shooting for himself and with his kids.

That evening, Grandpa and Shawn set up his huge wooden nativity in their front yard and lit it up for the first time of the season.  Then, he gathered us all together.  He asked Caden to read a story about a family who had very little one Christmas season.  They were feeling sad about their circumstances until they turned out their electric lights and lit candles (they had just recently added electricity to their home a year or two earlier).  They realized how much light the electricity provided and saw how blessed they were. After the story, Grandpa presented each grandchild with a special flicker candle from Deseret Book.  It was really neat.  These candles are heirlooms now!

David helping Bronson get his candle set up.  

We ate too much pie and visited for as long as we could, then we loaded up the van and headed for home.  The older kids watched movies, but the youngest two couldn't make it.  They fell asleep on Alison.  I hit the computer at midnight and the stores at 5:00 am for my Black Friday Shopping Extravaganza!  Our clothes dryer died on the day before Thanksgiving.  I saw that as a tender mercy from God because we were able to get a great deal on a replacement on Black Friday.

Halloween 2017

Happy Halloween!  This year, we found a new Halloween tradition that we'd like to begin. It's the Layton City Pumpkin Dunk.  For $1 per person, we all went to the Surf 'N Swim wave pool. For the first hour or two, it was just regular swim time with the waves going every half hour.  They had several carnival games set up around the pool with candy prizes. 

Then, they asked everyone to exit the pool while the lifeguards threw out about a hundred pumpkins.  

At the signal, everyone ran to enter the pool and fetch a pumpkin!  Some of the pumpkins had ribbons on their stems.  If you got one of those, you got an extra prize!  And one pumpkin had a special ribbon - it was the grand prize winner.  I think the grand prize was an annual family pass to Surf N' Swim.  

It really was a blast!  And a deal! $1 for entrance to the pool, prizes and candy, and a pumpkin?!?!?  I'm telling you - we're going EVERY year! 

Here's a picture of our Surf N' Swim pumpkins after we carved them.  

Of course, I used my pumpkin for dinner on Halloween night.  We had Dinner-In-A-Pumpkin.  

With Jack-O-Lantern clementines

And pumpkin shaped bread bowls.  

Quinton was very excited to be the Red Power Ranger (shown without mask in this picture). 

Bron was a Ninja.  

I think that's Josh.  I can't tell because he's a spy.

Nicole was Super Girl.

And Alison was a bull.  

I love Quin in this picture.  With his mask on, he can't see well enough to know where to look!

As per Gee Family Halloween Protocol, David took the kids trick-or-treating around our neighborhood while I stayed home and answered the door.  

Then we traded places and I took the kids to my parents' neighborhood. 

One of the homes in their neighborhood uses a candy machine every year.  We brought Nicki's friend Adelle with us to my folks' neighborhood this year.  She was a taco.  Get it?  Adelle taco?  A Del Taco?

After the festivities, there is always a barter-and-trade period.  This year, Grandpa Smith stuck close by to protect Quinton from his enterprising siblings.  

Of course, he only kept half an eye on the trading, because his beloved Dodgers were in the World Series for the first time in 20 years!  

Joshua Turns 9

Josh sure grew up fast this year!  It's been very fun for me to watch him develop his own (very funny) sense of humor.  To see as he begins to think about life, the gospel, his schooling, and people's feelings more deeply and with greater maturity and understanding. To see him gain more coordination and control of his tall, lanky, athletic body.  And to start using a razor.

Just kidding about that last part.

It must not be as exciting for Josh to open his birthday presents because he knows he's just going to get the same stuff Bronson got.  His only surprise is what variation he'll get.  

It doesn't seem to bother him, though.  He still loves his gifts.  Legos are legos, afterall.

He chose to have a breakfast casserole for his special meal.  It was delicious, but we had to eat fast because we were scheduled to teach a Family Home Evening lesson at a nearby assisted living facility.

Here's the birthday boy, getting ready for our lesson.

David introduced our teacher, Bronson.  

He also had the residents sing happy birthday to Josh when the lesson was over. I think it was a sweet and memorable way to spend a birthday evening.    

When we came home from the assisted living facility, Grandma and Grandpa Smith came over for "cake."  

But Josh didn't have cake - he had doughnut!  Regular sized ones for us little people and a GIANT one for him.  Look - I bought candles! 

Autumn Time

Here are a few of the things that kept us busy this past autumn:

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We went on a couple of autumn leaf drives.

It sure was a beautiful year for autumn leaves.

This, by the way, is a picture of Mt. Ben Lomond, the mountain that David and Alison climbed to the summit of this year.  

Quinton was being naughty in this picture, but the girls and the leaves sure are beautiful!

Some more pretty leaves.

What was up with Quinton that day?!?!?

Nicole, takin' it all in...

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They added a new feature at the SeaQuest Aquarium.  They have a tank that you can stick your hand in and the little fishies come nibble on your skin.  You can pay to have a 15 minute fish pedicure, which Nicki did on her birthday, or you can just give it a try with your hand over at the public place.  The kids think it's amazing.  I hate the feeling.  It creeps me out - and kind of feels painful.  I wonder if that's my neuropathy...

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Here's a picture of some autumn fun.  Just some pumpkin painting and cookie decorating at a local grocery store.

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One evening, our neighbor randomly decided to have our boys over for dinner and a movie.  It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing, but David and I jumped at the chance to go on an impromptu date!  The kids had such a great time.  Our neighbors three kids and our three boys are all best friends.  They sure have some great memories with the Heiners.


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 Speaking of which, here are some pics of Bronson and Finleigh playing in the leaves.  I only have a couple of pictures, but this activity lasts all autumn long.   None of our boys can resist a pile of leaves.  And there certainly are plenty of leaves to go around in our neighborhood.

One cute story: We have a darling couple who moved into our neighborhood this summer.  They just barely had their first baby around this time and the father had taken some time off of work to be with his wife and child.  One afternoon, he (His name is Josh) was out in his yard working while Alison was keeping an eye on my boys in the neighborhood (I must have been running Nicole somewhere because we missed it). The boys noticed a huge pile of leaves at Josh's house and sprinted over there to jump in them.   Alison tried to call them back, but they weren't listening. Ali worried that the neighbor wouldn't like our kids trashing his yard and undoing his work, but Josh said, "Don't worry!  It's fine!" Then, he used his leaf blower to blow more leaves out of his trees and pile them up for the boys.  He let Bron run the blower and borrow his rake.  He even jumped in the leaves with them.  Isn't that fun? I hope that someday I will be that cool and laid back of a neighbor.  With our rowdy kiddos,  it sure makes me feel better.  

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Lastly, Joshua graduated form the Wolf Den into the Bear Den a couple of days after his birthday.  They had a little ceremony for him.

It was the October pack meeting, so Josh is in a Halloween costume.  He doesn't usually dress like Kylo Ren at Scouts.

What a cute boy!