What a fun Thanksgiving we had. All the kids were here except Mark of course and we missed Mom...but she had to help her sister so we understand. We decided to start out the day with a fun (and slightly competitive) turkey trot. There were 36 of us in the different events (4 mile run, 2 mile walk and kids races). It was a freezing morning - in the low 30's the whole time, but we managed to have a good time anyways. Some of the highlights are that Danny finally beat Sherry in a race (but not by very much). Danny took 2nd in his age group in 25:29. Sherry took first in her age group in 25:55. I squeezed out third in my age group in 31:40 (my PR since High School...woo hoo). Cody took first in the men's division of the walk and George took third. And Audrey took first in Girls 3-4 years old with a 400 meter run in 2:27. Full results are on the website.



We decided it would be fun to get shirts made for the turkey trot with our numbers on the back. The hardest decision was of course what to do with Mom and Dad since we kids have always been 1-10. So they ended up as 0 and 00. Numbers are based on when you came into the family and so far we are up to "38" which was pinned onto Jeannie's tummy for her new baby boy.




We also ate dinner....and what a dinner it was. Everyone helped out and it ended up DELICIOUS. The only close call was when Dad broke the glass bowls right over the turkey Todd was carving. Thank goodness the turkey was still tasty even after being rinsed with water.




And what kind of Thanksgiving would it be without lots of computer gaming? Todd, Timmy and Dad spent the two weeks before Thanksgiving setting up the basement and getting everything ready for the big weekend. Every day and every night the computers were filled with people playing non-stop.

Today Claire had her 18 month checkup with Dr. Baird. She is 32" long (75th percentile) and is weighing in at 22.5 pounds (25th percentile) - tall and skinny :) Her head is in the 75th as well - so she is taking after Luke more than Tayson in head size. All in all she is pretty healthy and for the first time ever her ears looked great.

The funniest part of the appointment was Luke of course. He LOVES the doctors office and the nurse absolutely loves him because he's so silly and isn't afraid of anything. When he went to Claire's 12 month appointment he asked her if he could get shots too. Then a few months later when he turned 3 he was so excited for his shots and didn't make a peep or cry when he got two. Right when she finished he just looked at her and said "see, I'm not scared". She just cracked up. So today when we were there he wanted to get checked and get more shots which made her smile. Then I said "Luke you should be a doctor when you grow up" and he said as serious as could be "But I really, really want to be a robot". Which just cracked me up. He is so funny.

As most of you know Todd is a HUGE star wars fan. He even claims we named Luke after Luke Skywalker, I however still claim it's from the Bible. Luke believes his daddy though and is very attached to Luke Skywalker. Yesterday after church Todd decided to put on "Return of the Jedi". The boys love watching movies downstairs. The entire movie every time Luke Skywalker was on the screen our Luke would say "it's me" or "he's going to kill me" or "i beat him" every time Luke Skywalker did anything. It was so funny. Poor Luke has had the line "Luke, I am your father" said to him so many times. Good thing he idolizes a Jedi Knight. :)

We had a fun day yesterday dressing up and playing all day. Tayson had a fun party at school then I took the kids to lunch and they came to work with me. As usual Nu Skin went all out for Halloween. It's hilarious to see so many adults get so into the holiday. I was a bumblebee and Claire was a ladybug, Tayson was Spider man and Luke was the Incredible Hulk (or creble hulk hands as he calls it).

The boys are ready to head out for trick or treating. Tayson rode his razor scooter and we took Claire and Luke in the stroller. Half the time we were carrying Claire, the boys were in the stroller or one of us was riding the scooter for Tayson.

Claire didn't go up to one house - she just sat in the stroller happy as could be until the end when it started to get a little cold and past her bedtime. Then we had to carry her. She did get a few treats though and thought she was in heaven. Reece's Peices are her favorite. She says "bite....peeaaase" or does the sign for "more" then pounds here chest with a "please".







Jeannie and Trent came by to see the kids before they took off. They caught us out on the road and it made the boys day to see them. They love Jeannie and Trent - of course seeing Trent in a fur loin cloth was a bit scary...but the kids don't know any better. :)