Thanksgiving Weekend Part Two!

With my sister's family (the Fuhrimans) moving to Idaho, everyone was "picture crazy" and tried to make every moment a picture moment.  You can clearly see from the teenagers in the back that the "picture thing" was getting old really fast!  ha ha

L to R - (back row)  Maya La Duke, McKenna F., Sydne F., Kelsey
L to R (front row) Eden La Duke, Olivia and baby Noel Davis, Rylie F., and Hailey

My sweet mom and dad with their four daughters!

 Dad bought us these really cute wood decor pieces that say, "Sisters make the best friends."  That's so true!!

 I absolutely LOVE and adore my sisters.  There isn't anything I wouldn't do for any of them.  They mean the world to me and I have always felt so lucky to have them in my life!!

 OK - so this is at 6 a.m. the next morning - Black Friday!  The mall required that our shop be open at 6 a.m. so Kelsey and I headed down there at 5:45 a.m. and took a picture so show that we were really there.  Of course, nobody bought anything until almost 8 a.m. but Kelsey had fun meeting her cousins there who showed up at 6:30 a.m. to do some shopping!

 They used Kea Lani as their home base and would come back and show me what cool things they bought!  They were having a blast!

 Of course, they also stopped in to get some free Hawaiian Hot Chocolate---yummy!!!

 McKenna wanted a shave ice and drenched it "McKenna style" with the sweetened condensed milk snow cap!!

 Oh yeah - look at their spoils!!  They got matching sweatshirts from V.S. (PINK) which were really fun.  I treated them each to a $5 Build a Bear snowman that was SUPER cute!!  I'm glad they are still little girls at heart!

That night we all went to see the musical, "Annie."  It was a GIRLS NIGHT OUT since the boys went golfing earlier in the day.  We got all dressed up and ready to hit the town!

 Here are the little girls posing with "Sandy" from the play.  He looked SO much like our dog, Rider, only bigger.  He was Giant Rider!  Really, he stole the show.  That dog was so well trained and melted everyone's heart.

 Actually, I take that back---"Annie" stole the show.  She outsang and out performed the adults in the show.  She was amazing - and only in 6th grade!!  The girls felt famous when they got to meet her!  (the woman in the back with the blond hair is Janna Hanson and she was in Suessical with Kelsey and Spencer :)

 Here are the Girls---My mom was in HEAVEN!!!!

 Saturday, was a lounge around the house, get packed up day.  We didn't want anyone to leave.  Actually, I think we were all recovering from saying goodbye to the Fuhrimans last night.  It was super hard.  (I cried myself to sleep actually-----I'm really going to miss them!!)

 But before the Davis' left, we went out to eat at In and Out Burger!

 I also promised the kids we would take them over to see Kea Lani since they had never seen it before.  My dad hadn't seen it either.  They loved it---my dad is IN LOVE with the shave ice too!!!

Tony and Luke

Suzanne and Kelsey enjoying a yummy treat in front of our shop!

This is my most favorite picture of the entire weekend . . . two little tikes, chewing on their green toys, and neither one willing to let go!  ha ha

What a blessing it was for me to be surrounded by the people I love.  I have always been fortunate to have family around me during the holidays.  Family means the world to me and I just can't imagine my life without them.  

Thanksgiving Weekend part one

Thanksgiving week was so much fun for my family.  We hosted my sister, Suzanne and her family at our home and my kids were in heaven!!!  A big reason we loved it so much, was that we got to play with Noel every day!  She is such a little cutie pie!

 She must have gotten hundreds of smooches this weekend!  (mostly from Grandpa and me!  ha ha)

 Yes, we broke out the shave ice machine and went crazy.  Tate LOVED it---actually, ALL the kids loved it!

 This was the scene every morning for Hailey and her sweet cousin Olivia.  They would go into my office and do art projects.  The morning before Thanksgiving, the girls and I took a walk (in our pajamas!) to the park and collected rocks, sticks, and acorns.  Then we hot glued them to a piece of paper to make a flower.  It was their idea and it turned out really pretty!

 Little Will (Mary Kay's baby) had so much fun playing in the water at the park that he decided to just strip down and get dirty!!  What a great dad to rescue him and take a chance of getting tinkled on!  ha ha

 Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we all met for lunch at Discovery Park.  It is so beautiful because the Gilbert Temple is right across the street and it makes for a really pretty setting.  We all dressed for cool weather but it turned out to be pretty hot.  (typical AZ!)

 That night, Suzanne and I cooked for Thanksgiving.  I just had to snap a photo of these cranberries because I am in love with the color!

Rylie and Maya are in the front row and then Melanie is in the back in the red shirt, next to my Mom, then me in a nice "dead lift" position!

 In order to get ready for mass calorie consumption (ha!) all the girls headed to Mary Kay's Body Pump class at 5:25 Wednesday night.  The kids played in the play area and had a ball while we sweat and worked our muscles out!  

 Here's my awesome sister, Mary Kay, teaching the class.  She rocks!  Actually I was so proud of my mom taking the class.  She was embarrassed that she had the little weights on the bar but hey---she is 71 years old and keeping up with us.  She is AMAZING!!!

 L to R - Mary Kay, her daughter Maya, Mom, Melanie, her daughter Rylie, Tamara, Suzanne.  All my sisters and my mom!

 OK - can you say "obsession?"  Tate was OBSESSED with anything remote control this week.  When we showed him the remote control helicopter, he was hooked.  Cute Kohler played with him a lot this weekend!

Yeah, Kohler pretty much became Tate's best friend!

 Girls are bathed and getting ready for Thanksgiving!

 Luke and Spencer, not ready for dinner yet, but hanging out together!

 Of course, we had to watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving Show.  It's a tradition!

 I  love this . . .

 Sweet matching cousins!

 This is probably my favorite picture of the week!  Look at their beautiful eyes!

 This was a bitter-sweet week for me because Melanie and her family moved to Idaho Falls the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We are so happy the Lord blessed their family with a great job in a wonderful community - but I am going to miss her terribly!!!

 Wow - look at all this yummy food!!!  We have SO much to be thankful for!

 Mary Kay hosted it at her house this year :)

I thought Tom looked too cute sitting over there, so I had to snap a quick photo!!

 Wow - look at all that delicious food.  1000+ calories I'm sure . . . and I ate every bite!  

 Will looks like he was hit really hard with the intense food coma that comes after Thanksgiving Dinner!

Spencer fell in love with Noel too and took every chance he had to play with her.