Dave here -
Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. This year we went over to my parents place, along with all my sisters that live in the valley. I think there were about 30 of us there, plus after dinner, my cousin Leica and her family came over as well. It was a bit of a madhouse, but hey, it's family, right!

There was so much good food. Mom tried a new recipie for the turkey, and I thought that it turned our very well. Every thing was great, stuffing, rolls, potatos, green beans...mmmmm.
Then the pies. Pumkin, apple, berry, chocolate, pumpkin chiffon, and Mom made a lemon merengue with fresh lemons from the tree in the green house. So good. Of course I ate way too much. I think if I didn't Mom would be disappointed.

We took our Wii over, and let all the grandkids have a turn. We hooked it up to my brother-in-law's LCD projector so they could paly with a huge screen. That was the quietest they have ever been at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

After the kids had their turn, the adults took it over. Watching Mom and Heather go head to head playing tennis was great! There were some surprising upsets like Bubs beating Mike in tennis and Mel out bowling Jen! It was a lot of fun.

The next morning, we got up early and headed down south (near Scipio) to cut our Christmas tree. A friend of ours (Brian) lives in Richfield and he invited us and another family (Scott and Dawn Larsen) to join them on their annual tree hunt. We packed a lunch and a few of our guns so we could do some target shooting after we found our tree. We got there and found our friend brought his 4-wheelers down. He said we were welcome to use them, but since I haven't been able to ride since I broke my tailbone (and other bones), I figured I wouldn't do much riding.
We found our tree in about and hour and a half and were the first ones back to camp. Dawn and her girls came back to camp a few minutes after we did, but with no tree. Scott and Chris were stil looking for the perfect tree, but the girls little legs were worn out. The kids played together for a little while, but little boys and little girls don't always want to play the same things, so the Larsens watched a movie in their van while our boys played around camp. Brian came back to trade th 4-wheelers for his trailer, since thier tree wouldn't fit on the wheelers. Brian convinced Sabrina to take one out for a spin, and she was hooked immediately. She began zipping around camp then up and down the road. It had rained and snowed the day before so the roads were plenty muddy. She was having so much fun playing in the mud, I thought that I would try and see if I could take a little ride without it hurting too much. To my surprise I was able to take a short ride without any pain at all. I pulled Faris up behind me and Sabrina had Wick and Errol with her as we took a nice long ride. Wick did not want to get off when we finished, even though his little cheeks were bright, rosy red.
Scott and Chris came back to camp, still empty handed. They thought they would head up even higher, but didn't want to hike that far, so they took their van and headed up. Brian and Charmy got back with a very pretty tree, but Scott and Dawn still hadn't found that "perfect" tree. We ate lunch, and talked while we waited for Scott and Dawn. After about an hour and a half, Brian and I started to get a little worried (knowing how Scott drives) so we took the wheelers up the road to look for them. We met them a little more that a mile from camp, and still no tree.
We got back to camp, and Scott and Brian decided to hike the hills across the road from camp to see if any good trees were there. Errol asked me for a ride, and Faris wanted to go too, so I swung Errol up in front of me and Sabrina put Faris behind her and we took off up and down the roads. They were nice and muddy and soon we were all wearing quite alot of the road. Errol kept yelling "Faster Daddy, faster!!" What else could I do? I went faster, I slid around corners in the mud and snow, hit the biggest mud puddles as fast as I could, and everything else to make the ride fun for him (Sabrina was doing the same for Faris). We even took a couple of jumps. The first one was great. I landed just right. The second one, not so much... somehow I landed hard and jarred my back. We got back to camp and I could barely stand up...I should have quit when I was ahead...
Charmy gave Dawn a quick riding lesson, and soon she and Sabrina were taking the kids all over. (Still no tree for Scott)
Eventually we heard Scott and Brian in the trees near camp. I looked to where their voices were coming from and saw the top of a tree swaying as it was being cut - not more than 30 feet from where I was standing. Nothing like hiking for 5 miles, driving 10 more, and finding the tree within view of camp.

After a few more muddy rides on the 4 wheelers, it was time to pack up and head home. Brian offered to let Sabrina ride a wheeler the 6-7 miles from camp back to the highway. She jumped at the chance and zipped off down the road as the rest of us finished packing up. I think she's hooked (I any one wants to know what to get her for Christmas, I know she'd love 4-wheeler)!

After we loaded up the wheelers, we headed for home. We stopped in Scipio to get some treats and let the kids go potty. I got a look at myself in the mirror and realized just how muddy I was. I had prettly much a solid coat of mud from my knees down, and the back of my thighs was just as bad. My jacket and face were heavily speckled, but not quite coated. The boys were almost as covered, and Sabrina wasn't any cleaner!
All 3 boys fell asleep on the ride home. As we pulled off the freeway, Errol woke up and said "How come it got dark so fast?" He'd fallen asleep so quickly, he didn't realize that he'd been asleep for 2 hours. The boys were just plain tuckered out.

What a great day! Hopefully this becomes an annual tradition!

We'll post pics as soon as we get them off the phones.

Yes, we are still alive! Here is a bit of an update of the past few months:
May- Wick finally went in for tubes in his ears. Dr. (Uncle) Dave took care of it and he has been great ever since.
June- Trip to Alaska. WONDERFUL! We have lots of pictures and will have to post them soon. I actually survived flying up and back with all three boys! Dave had work and then a scout rafting trip so he came up for a week, the rest of us were there for 2 1/2 weeks or so. One of my proudest moments was running the 3 1/2 mile loop my parents live on. I even did it the hard way (a very steep, 1/2 mile hill at almost the very end). The weather was absolutely beautiful and we spent a bunch of time on the beach. We saw a moose and a bear and bunches of eagles. My freshman college roomie was there with her family so we got a chance to catch up as well. Dad is an amazing grandpa who dotes on his grandchildren. We even roasted marshmallows in the stove.
July- Faris turned 8! I can't believe he survived!
August- Faris started 3rd grade. Errol broke his arm. It was displaced, and pretty difficult to get back into place. They put a rigid cast on to keep it where it needed to be, but had to split it the next day due to swelling. The following week the x ray showed that it was out of place so he had surgery and got 3 pins. He was so brave! I really am quite proud of him.
September- Azure and Mom came out for Faris' baptism. Everything went very well, except Faris and Dave were so excited, they forgot to take off his glasses. =) Errol started Kindergarten.
October- Dave and I survived 11 years! I think we even still like each other.
November- I was the luckiest Auntie ever! Azure had her baby (Camden) and the same day Mel was able to bring Lexie home from Pennsylvania. Two in one day! Wahoo! They are both adorable and doing well.
We are all doing well. Dave still really enjoys his job. I think he just gets a kick out of breaking things. We are going out to Cincinnati the first week of December for Camden's baby blessing. Azure has mentioned she is worried we might get bored, but I am just so excited to be able to visit with her and see her family. We will be sure to toss in our GPS to do some geocashing (sp?) and look forward to just visiting and exploring. Errol is doing great in school and really learning a ton.

That is pretty much it for now. Hopefully we will have more frequent postings, maybe once every 5 months? =)