After 20 years this was it. The last shindig at 2260 Mallory Circle. So Heather, Glenn and families this is what you missed out on.
As tradition would have it we of course had some extra guests for dinner. Extra points if you know the guests.
We topped it all off with Melissa going nuts on the pies with Linnea throwing in some awesome cheesecake as well. 
We missed you guys.
When we moved out to Texas in early November I had a creepy thought in the back of my mind - Yikes! I will have to cook our ENTIRE turkey dinner! Then we got the idea of driving to Nebraska to see my family. BUT after 1100 miles the week before, there was no way I was going to get FIVE kids back into the car for a long drive up North.
I secretly thought about going out to eat that day. Why not? No one, and I mean NO ONE, knows us around here! It wouldn't matter! We could just go to a fancy downtown Dallas restaurant and have a great day! (But, I felt a bit sad inside.) Our next door neighbors were going to the Dallas Cowboys game that afternoon - what the heck, it wouldn't be so bad to go out to eat!
But it just didn't seem right!
A few days before the Holiday, I began asking the boys what they would like to have on Thanksgiving Day. Christopher wanted chicken and Zachary wanted Uncle Brent's Famous Lemon Meringue Pie. At that moment, the phone rang and it was some people from the neighborhood that we had met at church. They popped the $100 question - Would you guys like to come to our house for Thanksgiving Dinner? YES!
So, Thanksgiving morning arrived and I was able to run my "10K Frisco by myself run" in the balmy 50 degree temps while Glenn took a long nap (or let's just say that he slept way in). The kids played Legos and watched Star Wars. Later that morning we decorated cookies.
Then we headed on over to the neighbors with our Lemon Meringue Pie, green salad, cookies and of course - the bubbly pop! Everyone had a good time and we stayed late into the evening! (This family has 3 boys and 1 little girl.)
She cooked a yummy turkey, stuffing & gravy and her husband did the mashed potatoes. Her mother brought additional pies and there were rolls (but not quite as good as Grandma's). So, all-in-all it was a wonderful Thanksgiving but we look forward to when we get to see our cousins again!
So, until I married Heather I had no idea that Thanksgiving Day races even existed. Just for the record, some day I intend on running the Turkey Trot down in Mesa. This year, though, one of my friends in Colorado talked me into running the Highlands Ranch Turkey Day 5K (his company is one of the sponsors so he could get me in for free). I haven't been running in quite a long time, but I agreed (because it was free). We only started "training" for this race about 6 weeks before it started, but we were confident that we could at least finish. Well, Thanksgiving morning came around and so did the below freezing temperatures (the high for the day was only going to be 32 degrees). The race started at 9:00 am and it was bitter cold. I have never run anywhere with so many layers on. Despite the cold, I did finish the race (under 40 minutes which was my only goal). I think running a 5K in below freezing Colorado is somewhat equivalent to a 10K in Arizona, right? 
DINING ROOM-Kneeling down for fast sunday prayers. Ugh. :)
MEDICINE CABINET- Sneaking Vitamin C Pills
THE CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS-The smell of Christmas
THE SWING- Eating apple pancakes during a rain storm
THIRD STORY- aka Mr. Boogy-Man's room
ROOF- Santa Claus aka Brent running on the rooftop Christmas Eve
CUL DE SAC- Attempting to sing Christmas Songs
EMPTY LOT (aka Snail Forest) Riding bikes and building forts
READING ROOM-Grandma's organ and Melissa singing
GRANDPA'S OFFICE-Overwhelming smell and a cheery face
WEIGHT ROOM (aka grandma's living room) Dim lights, hazy fog, old diaries
SWIMMING POOL- Grandma in a bathing suit with the milk cartons
KITCHEN TABLE-Bad breath and a ping pong ball
BALCONY-Shooting bottles and Brent sunbathing
That's it for me. Who's next?
Mom asked me to write about the house. Instead I decided to play a little word association, a la "What-about-Bob" here it goes:
BACK PORCH - broad jumping into the pool
STAIRS - sleeping on it waiting for teenagers to come home
BEDROOM - long talks after the teenagers finally got home
POOL - Melissa and company watching JAWS during nighttime swimming party
POOL SWEEP - snake
DIVING BOARD - an 8.5
FRUIT TREES - Mom and I joking about sitting there watching them grow
CUL-DE_SAC - street dance
FRONT PORCH - How many family members can fit on the swing
SIDEWALK - Brent stomping in the rain holding an umbrella
OUTDOOR FIREPLACE - David Thomas singing "How 'bout them dog-kickers"
ATTIC - cats
EAVES - Bees
DINING ROOM - signing the tablecloth at Thanksgiving
LEAVES - Grandkids diving into piles of leaves
TREES - getting the kids to "hug" them
ROOF - watching the sunset, sitting on top of the house when Charlotte was here.
I could do another 100, but I want to hear your memories. Go for it.
DAD
When it gets cold around our house this is what we do.
Make Hot Chocolate.
And sit in front of the fire.
Paige got her first real "haircut" today. By that I mean something other than supercuts. They straightened her hair and all that fancy stuff.
I couldn't stop starring. Who was this young lady?
Man I am going to have a rough time with this growing up thing.
I know this may sound silly, but I made it a point that when I got married I would always put the toilet seat and lid down. It was just a small thing that I knew I could do to add a little more happiness to my marriage. How have I been doing over the last few years? Excellent. It's a shocker when Heather finds that I haven't put the seat and lid down.
But all that has changed over the past couple of months. I am now in trouble if I put the toilet seat and lid down. Why? Well, given the nature of pregnancy, Heather has been making more frequent late night trips to the pot. Given that she is barely half awake during these midnight runs, she is quickly awaken when she sits down on the cold, closed lid. I've now been repremanded for keeping the lid closed. Unfortunately, this has been a really hard habit to break. In fact, I've only successfully done it once.
Only two more months!
I posted my picture just for a second so I could get the HTLM code. I deleted it, but for some reason in won't go off.
Actually, I just wanted you to all look at my beautiful self. KIDDING!!!!
Melissa
For some time now we have all heard our beloved, older and wiser brother Eldon tell us all about how wonderful California is. More specifically, Southern California. The weather is perfect, they have cool theme parks and the beach of course. While they may have a point on two of the three, I would not like my children to be in their school system, or the new and improved school system passed by their Govenator.
We had a fun Halloween, Thomas was a lion and really got into it.
He had so much fun trick-or-treating and getting candy. Earlier that day he had had a little stomach ache so we made him wait until today to eat any of his loot. When we got up in the morning I flipped on some cartoons and jumped in the shower before breakfast when I came back downstairs this is what I saw
He had found the candy but at least he sat at the table to eat it. He's a funny kid.
