The Preface

So I have been a bit slow in posting my many glorious holiday photos and stories but these I have to post as a preface to the Vacation of a Lifetime series that I will be doing until I take the next Vacation of a Lifetime.
Nice preface to the preface, eh?
So since the Chunky Challenge was a HUGE success and we now had to save our pennies for the big Cruise we opted to not give Christmas gifts to each other. Instead we decided that we would draw names and give our person a gift that they would have to wear on the cruise. The results were hilarious and added immensely to the anticipation of the cruise!

Here are the gifts.
First Dave gave Haley a shirt that would not be too tough on Haley but would kill Mitch. It was a Ute shirt that said "It's not ATTITUDE. We are that good!" Next Brandon gave Mitch a bright blue and very warm Snuggie and just so there wouldn't be any mistake Tricia embroidered "Mitch's Snuggie" on it! I had Alli and I gave her a lovely sweater with matching hair bow! Nothing too bad. Oh and I also gave her some really classy black lace gloves to go with them. Mitch had Jenn and she got an old choir dress of Alli's from High School! Blue shimmery Taffeta. Classic. Alli had Andrew and gave a "New Moon" Slim fit t-shirt. It says "I honestly have no idea how to live without you." on the back. She also gave him a dog-eared copy of the book for him to read on the deck of the ship while wearing his lovely t-shirt.
Haley gave Sara a few choices that she borrowed from her mom's amazing wardrobe. Sara could either wear this lovely orange knit turtle-neck dress

or the overalls with the colorful hearts. We picked that Sara got the overalls and my mom got the turtleneck dress.
Jenn gave Brad the smallest gift. He got the coconut bra. We were grateful it didn't come with a matching speedo.
Andrew gave Brandon this lovely western vest and hunter's cap ensemble.
Sara gave Tricia a lovely green skirt, matching glasses and some green flip flops.
Tricia made this beautiful creation for me to wear. It is a lovely bonnet complete with fruit, bows, flowers and a bird in a nest. It will be darling if I can hold it up! It weighs a ton!
Brad gave Dave 3 choices. He could wear a Superman outfit, a Puffy Shirt (from Seinfeld fame), or a pirate. So after a quick vote we decided that Dave should be a pirate since that seemed to fit with the Caribbean cruise the best.
Thanks so Haley we have this rendition so that we might know what exactly to expect!

Wow! That will be great.

So now when I post pictures from the cruise you will understand why Mom matched the over-sized orange vase in the restaurant!

Greeting Cards Have All Been Sent. Kind of.

#2 Christmas Miracle....

I did Christmas cards.

Hard to believe, I know.

The part that will be easy to believe is that I finished them at 4:00 on Christmas Eve. So for the lucky 3 that had them mailed before Christmas you should feel honored that I have your address memorized. For the rest of you that I still love and adore. Here is the card.Here is what it looked like on the back except it was a cool font with different colors and a little Christmas Tree that matched the Merry Christmas. Just picture it will ya?

Merry Christmas!
It has been another fun-filled, peaceful and perfect year here at our home. Dave and I feel blessed to have such a blissful marriage. The children excel at everything they do and surpass all of our lofty expectations.

Who am I kidding? Our home is filled with 5 rowdy boys who do excel at noise-making and surpass all of our expectations of creating dirty laundry. We have had a lot of fun along the way. The boys continue to amaze, challenge, delight and occasionally frustrate us. We are grateful for the joys that come even amidst the trials. Many of our joys this year came from our associations with you, our friends and family! We are grateful to our Savior, whose birth we celebrate, who made it possible for these relationships to continue into the eternities!
Happy Holidays and Love to you all!

Now don't be surprised if one of these days I look up your addresses and actually get your card in the mail but in the meantime please know that you were thought of fondly during this Christmas season and for most of you all throughout the year. You are loved!

My Thanksgiving Turkey

We had a multi-generational Thanksgiving. My Grandparents and one of my Great-Aunts with her kids, my mother and her sisters and kids and spouses, and my siblings, spouses and kids. All in all about 50 mouths to feed. We couldn't fit in a house. We went to a church which turned out great because there is a room right off the kitchen where we set up tables and chairs and Tricia decorated. Dinner was delicious. Especially the stuffing and pies and rolls and salads and potatoes and the beans and turkey and even the yams if memory serves.

My turkey came a bit later. You see we played Family Feud. I did a survey earlier that afternoon where everyone had to answer a few basic questions. Questions like "Name your favorite dish that Grandma Carter makes".
Or "What is Grandpa's favorite swear word?" I tallied the results and we divided everyone up into teams.

Team Grandpa

Team Grandma

I got their attention and we began the game. I forgot the buzzer so we just had to raise our hands. 50 people surveyed
top 4 answers on the board
Name Grandma's favorite dish.Mitch!
Potato Salad!
Number 2 answer!
And then it went to the team.
Everything going pretty smoothly other than the fact my brothers are all way too competitive! Then we do some actual Family Feud questions. yada yada yada. And then THE question. That will go down in family infamy. Ironically enough Grandpa was the one to be up front to earn the right to answer. OK.
50 people surveyed.
top 4 answers on the board.
What is Grandpa's favorite swear word! Grandpa!
"Hells Bells"!
#1 answer!
92% of the votes
Does your team want to pass or play?
They want to play.
Although nobody wants to play.
Here is Renee trying to get Grandpa to tell her more swear words and he can't think of any. "Rowena, What else do I say?" They want to whisper their answers. The other words were Dam (yep, it was spelled wrong.) Hell and Heck.

So I give everyone a few clues and then there is only one left. Heck. Because it really isn't a swear word at all.
I tell the team that.
I try to help them and the lightbulb comes on for the team and then comes the moment where I made Thanksgiving history.

My Aunt Carrie is my mom's younger sister. She is mentally handicapped. She is having a great time playing this game. It is her turn. Without thinking I ask her "Carrie. What is Grandpa's favorite swear word?"

I think nothing of it. I turn my back to reveal the answer that I feel sure she will get. I have given hints. The team has basically got the answer.

Then Carrie in all her innocence says loudly in her deep voice "SH*$!

Picture it.
Big family.
17 innocent kids under the age of 14 all of whom think stupid is a swear word.
In a church.
Sweetest Grandparents.
Innocent Aunt.
Oh my stars people.
What have I done?

So Mom tells us the game is over and fires me from ever being in charge of games again. The laughter dies down and yet I know this will go on to be a Thanksgiving memory for the ages!

Nice going Kelli. Hell's Bells girl! What were you thinking?!

PS Thanks Alli for the pics!

Christmas Day! And Night! and the Next Day!

Christmas Day was busy and wonderful! We did Christmas at home with the boys first and surprise!! Santa only left one lone gift on the floor this year and it saidthen inside was another box for Alex, and then one for Jonathan and so on and so forth (not that Aaron is "so on" and Josh "so forth" but I just didn't want to type the whole thing out). That worked (said sarcastically)! In Josh's box was a clue for Joe to go find and then Alex and so on and so forth (no I didn't skip Jonathan.) The final clue led them to another box which they unwrapped together!

Dave got a Wii!! I mean the boys got a Wii! They were thrilled!

They then unwrapped their presents from us... underwear, socks, books, "Mom always gives the same things!" and movies, games, toys "Dad gives the cool presents!" They needed socks and underwear in a bad way I promise!

We headed over to Mom's for Fish Breakfast at about 2! We should really rename it Fish Late Lunch! My Grandmother's family came from Wales and it is a Welsh tradition to have Fish on Christmas. Much to my husbands dismay. He often tries to convince us that he was from Italy and we should have pizza or something better than FISH! Unfortunately the boys agree with me!
We opened presents and went to Grandma's for fun with the extended family. After about an hour it started snowing in earnest so we had to cancel going to Mark and Brittneys for the Rollins family party. We missed seeing all of them and the fun there. We did follow Mitch home to make sure his car load got home safely. There was quite a bit of slipping and sliding but everyone made it back safe and sound!
Lucky for us we got to go to Dave's parents the next night for another fun party. It was nice to visit with them and Nate and Paul also! We are lucky to have such a wonderful extended family to celebrate the holidays with every year!
(I forgot to take my camera to all the parties this year!) sorry!

Christmas Eve!

WARNING: This is one of those "I don't write in my journal but I want to remember" entries! Please do not feel required to read all the posts I will be doing tonight!

For Christmas Eve we had a wonderful program put together by Sara who wasn't able to come because she got sick for Christmas this year! Haley and Alli kept it together and we had a terrific night although we missed Sara immensely. I know at some point we ate dinner but I can't tell you when exactly! We also had a talent show that started with Aaron, Jacob, Kass and Conner playing some songs on the piano. Then Josh played a number on the viola and Tayler, Kimber and Kass danced for us. Adam, Jonathan, Sam and Alex sang "The Christmas Song" by the Chipmunks. Very funny. Then Ethan, Sam and Alex did performed "Once There Was a Snowman". Haley had them learn Jingle Bells on the chimes and they did a bang up job! The highlight of the talent show was Mitch and Jenn performing "B. Rad the Big-headed Rencher" to the tune of "Rudolph" HIGH Larious! We opened the cousin gifts which was, of course, very exciting! Then the kids put on the Nativity and then we read from Luke 2. Joe was a little gray sheep who somehow got to ride on the Mitch Cow! Afterwards we sang Christmas carols and waited for Santa to ring his bells. He rang them right on time and this year he left a sack full of presents on the porch. His little elves, we will call them, oh, um, lets see, Alli and Haley. These little elves had stolen, sneaked and borrowed wedding pictures from all the couples and put them into a beautifully bound book for each of us. The title page had a little thought from my dad about each couple. You can't read mine in this picture very well but it says:

To my first born

in the wilderness

and to the man who

dared to ask for her hand.

Love you two,

Love, Dad

It was an emotional moment for us (cough, cough, Tricia, cough). They came with a touching poem that Haley had found about Christmas from my Dad's point of view this year. It was a thoughtful and perfect gift! Thanks Alli and Haley and Dad and Santa!