Still a boy!

I finally downloaded the pictures from Thanksgiving. I couldn't help noticing that quite a few of them were pictures of Kerry wrestling with his nephews. Luckily, his sister Karen is used to teenage boys and didn't seem to mind the rowdie behavior in her living room. Some of the boys are getting pretty big and Kerry had his hands full, but held his own very well. At least it seemed that way, until that night when we went to bed and he told me he had pulled something in his shoulder. Of course, when it happened, he didn't say a word to the kids but kept right on playing.


The most entertaining matches were what the boys called "push-up" wrestling. After looking it up I learned it is also called "alligator" wrestling basically, they come head to head, in a push-up position and the first one to knock the other to his stomach gets a point. I have to admit, it was fun to watch.

Thankful

I love Thanksgiving. To me, it is a day that offers warm feelings of love, family, and gratitude without all the hoopla that the Christmas season typically imposes. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas and everything it offers; I’m just really glad to have a day to reflect before it all begins.
This year, our family spent Thanksgiving with the Kerry's family. Let me first express my gratitude to Karen for letting us extend the “letting someone else cook for us” stint. Karen spent countless hours being the gracious host and our family was a grateful beneficiary. For me, getting to know some of the family a little better was a wonderful blessing. For Kerry, being home again seemed to be a great sense of contentment. While the children just enjoyed some time playing with their cousins.
From the day Kerry and I announced our wedding Kerry’s family has gone out of their way to make me feel comfortable and accepted in their family. I am so grateful for that. Sheesh, they even laugh at my jokes – that can’t be easy. I really loved sharing the holiday with them. I especially loved how happy it made Kerry to get to spend some time with his parents. Kerry credits his dad for most of his good habits. So, I am very grateful that Dad is a loving, kind husband who cares for his wife in every possible way and for Kerry who works so hard to emulate his father.
Being away from my own family gave me an opportunity to realize how much I love them. I am grateful for a close family who plays together, laughs with (and at) each other, and look out for one another. I missed them this year and I am glad to have a family that I enjoy enough to miss when I am away.
Our family has been so greatly blessed.

(picture is Mom and Dad Thurber at thier wedding over 50 years ago)

A Honeymoon . . .

As I have mentioned before when Kerry and I first got married, we decided that it would be really important to spend some time having some fun together as a family so instead of taking a week to go on a really exotic honeymoon, we went to the mountains for a few days and then took the children to Disneyland for the rest of the week. It was a great trip and a good decision. We knew when we decided to do that that in a few months after things settled we would go on a "real" honeymoon. So last week we went on a 7 day Caribbean cruise. What a beautiful and fun trip. Rather than write all about it, I am going to plagiarize my husbands e-mail report to his family.

I'd just like to begin by telling you I won't be a bit offended if you don't read all of this. Consider it Kerry's journal account of his cruise.

Lisa and I used the Hawaii mixup as an excuse for a second honeymoon and went on a cruise! Lisa used her exclusive status as a frequent Marriott denizen to pay for the cruise, and also an extremely fancy hotel the night before in Ft. Lauderdale. They brought us a strange but wonderful appetizer and two beautiful bottles which contained water. I was so impressed that I used the morning newspaper to wrap up the the empty one and take it with us. I guess I was a little like the pauper who was mistaken for a prince, and filled up his pockets with free nuts. We took a moonlight walk on the beach and went and found the gym. I refrained from using it at 2:30am.

The next day we boarded the ms Eurodam, a 2100 passenger ship that's the newest in the Holland America fleet. It's almost five months old, and it's decked out from starboard to port in fancy. We enjoyed the three-and-a-half story chandeliers, the staircases and the open observation deck, but were a bit miffed to be disallowed from the Hal club. It had foosball, pinball and lots of exciting games for children only. Our childlike countenances didn't count. After about 64 hours I discovered that they also had a gymnasium.

I was surprised when we arrived at Grand Turk island, a part of Great Britain, because they let us off the boat. The water was so clear and beautiful that I wanted to stay there. The beauty of the island had been marred by Hurricane Ike, but no discount was offered. The wild horses were even more wild, as their borders had been broken down by the winds, and they now roam the streets and find their shade next to advantageously situated walls of homes. It reminds me of all the loose chickens on Oahu--a hurricane freed them and nobody has ever bothered to re-domesticate them. Maybe animals like hurricanes.

When Cheryl sent us pictures of Puerto Rico I was sure I would never find myself there, but on Tuesday, there I was. They let us off the boat again. Why was I under the impression that we would be on the ship the whole time? Rhetorical question. We used the opportunity the try out Lisa's new amazing camera. She's a very good photographer, and I got her an early Christmas present for the trip. It's fast, clear, automatic, and a lot of other things that I don't understand very well. We ducked into the rain forest for a little bus tour and I marveled at the bananas, coconuts and bamboo (which I mistook for bananas at first.) They have bread fruit which grows there and I tried to get some but was informed that you have to cook it and it wouldn't be allowed through customs. We settled for some green-fried bananas. :-) We wouldn't describe them as tasty, but I wanted to do something a little different and Lisa was a good sport.

We went up to the Christopher Columbus fort and took lots of pictures of the 30' thick walls, a lost iguana and some dancers we happened upon. Wow, they put on a colorful performance. One of them asked Lisa to dance but she was too shy. That night on deck there was a musician by the name of Justin Miller, who plays a classical guitar. Lisa and I were both suitably impressed and I wished that Dad could be there because of his playing talent of course, but also because of his genius in presenting the music. He has stories about each of his songs and quite masterfully draws you in.

The next day we docked in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. After Grand Turk and San Juan, this island was ho hum. Still, they had good deals on souvenirs and we managed to stave off the jewelry peddlers. We spent a lot of time getting Psuedophedrine HCl. On our way to the K-Mart a taxi driver hollered out to us to ask if we were going to K-Mart. Yes we were, and how did he know? "Ain't nothin' up there but K-Mart" he muttered, offering to take us to some exciting jewelry dealers instead.

Thursday we happened upon some 20' waves, and despite the enormity of the boat we felt them. We ended up spending most of our time in the stateroom--a fancy name for our sleeping quarters. Even the shampoo and the TV were ridiculously deluxe. I had to skip dinner and I was not in the mood to try any new medicine (dramamine). Poor Lisa. We ordered dinner to our room and during the night we lost the waves. The food was definitely the most luxurious I'd ever been served with four and five course meals available at most times of the day and night. Some less fancy fare is available to be delivered to your stateroom at any time. We began to be worried how we would handle it when we became responsible for our own cooking and dish washing later.

The next day we arrived in the Bahamas. This was the most beautiful place yet! The water if possible was even more clear than off of Grand Turk and we have some pictures of some white fish that wanted our hot dog buns. We got to ride on a glass bottom boat, and after I procured a suitable life preserver I had a great time swimming with Lisa out to the deep end. I did not expect to ever have such a fancy vacation! Were I ever to go again I would spend a whole lot more time researching the stopping places and available "excursions".

Family Home Evening Works

Recently, Kerry has been very concerned about the children's eating habits. Specifically, the need for them to eat more fruits and vegetables. So, a few weeks ago he had a Family Home Evening and went over in great detail the instructions given to us in the Word of Wisdom. Last night we took the kids to Golden Coral for dinner (going places like Golden Coral is one of the sacrifices that you make when there are children in the house and you are out voted). So, the children got to go to the "pick-your-own-food" place for dinner. Tobias, the carnivore in the family, sat down to eat his meal and I noticed that he had both fruit and vegetables on his plate. I was impressed that he chose a fruit and a vegetable all on his own, so I thanked him for doing that, and told him I was happy about his good choices. His response "yes, but I think this is too much meat for the Word of Wisdom." He never stops surprising me.

Quit being so cantankerous . . .

I have a habit of disagreeing with my children just for the sake of disagreeing. It extends the conversation and makes them talk to me a little longer. In the end I nearly always end up agreeing with them, but I do sometimes take it too far and let them get frustrated with me before I give in. A few days ago I was playing this game with Serena, my 9 year old, she finally got exasperated with me and said . . . "Quit being so cantankerous!" Oh my! She shut me down, where does a 9 year old child learn the word cantankerous? I'll be honest, I had to look the word up on Dictionary.com to be able to spell it! I am in big trouble. She made me laugh though. It is fun to have children who can both make me smile AND keep me in check. What a great blessing!

Halloween Festivities

Saturday we threw a big halloween bash it was a lot of work (mostly because I get really carried away when we entertain) but, we built memories so it was well worth it. We spent most of the week making costumes, caramel apples, and popcorn balls. Friday we decorated the house and drove all over looking for Rootbeer concentrate for the homemade rootbeer. It's Halloween, 'tis the season for homemade rootbeer. Several stores told us they carry it, but they were out. Finally, we gave up on driving all around and made some phone calls until we found a store that just got in a new shipment, who would have thought that would be so difficult.

The children were so excited to throw a party. In fact Carmen woke up and said, "I am more excited than Christmas." Honestly, that made me more significant for me than how incredibly the party turned out.

Everyone seemed to have a good time that night. They enjoyed the food, especially the homemade rootbeer and ice cream that Kerry made. Actually, everyone even seemed to enjoy taking their turns cranking the ice cream maker.

The only thing that disappoints me is that I got through the whole party Satuday night without even thinking about taking pictures. When we were falling into bed I said, I can't believe it, but I didn't take one picture tonight! Honestly, I would love to have those pictures to show off!Perhaps I will remember to take a picture of the children in their Halloween costumes when they get dressed up again for Halloween night.

"It's your age girl!"

In case any of you are wondering, kids have the ability to listen and retain information, even when they seem completely uninterested. Our son Tobias reminded me of this today . . .

A few days ago a few of members of the family were watching a DVD of President Gordon B. Hinkley's 95th birthday celebration. Tobias was in the room, but really did not appear to be paying any attention to the television at all. After several musical presentations President Hinkley stood up to speak, the first thing he spoke of was his love for his recently passed wife, Majorie Pay Hinkley. Those who are familiar with Sister Hinkley remember her joyous and fun outlook on life which, I think, was the catullus to her to clever and keen sense of humor. So in telling about Sister Hinkley, President Hinkley shared an anecdote from a conversation that he and his wife had a few years back. He said that he would wake up in the morning feeling a new pain or ache and she would cheerfully say "it's your age boy!"

So today I have been working on Halloween Costumes for the children all day, at one point Tobias was walking out the back door when I stood and stretched a bit and stated that my shoulders and neck were getting really stiff and tired. He poked his head back in the door and without missing a beat said, "it's your age girl!" Then went outside and shut the door. He made me laugh, then he made me think - it probably really is my age.