This picture is of my dad and Brock playing at the Dixie Narrows during Thanksgiving week. Brock has a new favorite word - the "S" word. He is often known to enter a room or approach perfect strangers by running, jumping, throwing his arms in the air, and yelling "S*$&!" Let me tell you how fun that is to explain to people. There is a reason for our foul-mouthed two year old. Before Thanksgiving, we went to Salt Lake to stay with Jeff's family since we wouldn't see them during the holiday. One evening while we were there, I was sitting and chatting with our teen-age nieces and Brock was playing nearby when Emily came by and said in her most obnoxious four year old baby voice, "mommy, I want to sit on you." Unfortunately "sit" sounded more like "S*@%" and no one could keep from laughing. The more she said it, the more we laughed and Brock caught on to the fact that this was a pretty funny word. I could explain to Emily that what she was saying sounded like a naughty word and she shouldn't say it again, however, that logic went right over Brock's head and he now had a way to get every ones attention really fast. I must say, the pronouncement did come in handy on one occasion. During the Thanksgiving holiday, my mom's house was buzzing with grandchildren of every age and size and somehow, Sunny, my mom's bird received a little too much love. When we discovered this, the adults and older kids were standing and mourning Sunny when Brock entered the room, took one look at the not-so-alive bird, and yelled "s@*#!!!" In this case it was appropriate. Love you Brock. You do always have a way of keeping me from taking life too seriously.
During our week of Thanksgiving festivities, in addition to our trip to the Washington County swimming pool, Dixie Narrows, movie day, Thanksgiving dinner, and a girls trip to Las Vegas to see Phantom of the Opera, we had a Thanksgiving party for the grand kids. My mom is so good at making the grand kids feel extra special. She knows just what kids will like and does her best to make sure everyone feels as though they are her favorite. The party consisted of a "turkey hunt" which was an obstacle course through the basement that ended with the kids being able to "shoot" the turkeys/dads with water guns. We also had a pie making contest and ended the evening with some robust square dancing. (pilgrims square danced, right?) The kids loved it.
We kicked off the holiday season with Pie Fest '08. This is a tradition we started when we lived in Saginaw where we would gather before Thanksgiving and eat pie when we weren't too full to enjoy it. We didn't do it last year and I really missed it, so this year, pie fest made a triumphant return. I baked 14 pies over the space of three days, my mom made four more, and we invited our friends and neighbors over to partake. We ended up having about 100 people come by and it was a blast! I am already looking forward to Pie Fest '09 in our new house where we can fit twice the crowd!
Things may get a little crazy between now and the end of the year and I don't know if blogging is going to make it on to my "to do" list, so if not, I wish you all a wonderful Christmas season and feel grateful for the many people who grace my life with their Christ-like examples. Thank you to all of you. Happy Christmas!!
