Giving thanks for Thanksgiving

I am not sure how I forgot to do a Thanksgiving blog.  Maybe I didn't take enough pictures....but still....it is blog worthy even if I didn't capture every moment digitally.

We had a great trip to Lehi.  We got there Wednesday afternoon and, of course, Dad and Kyle took off to a movie.  Jandy went with them too, I wanted to, but I had a mission to accomplish.  I was bound and determined to make my first perfect lemon meringue pie.  Kyle's maternal grandmother is one of my best friends, we get each other.  I get to take her to the temple every Thursday and we all go to her house for cake every Sunday night, and occasionally a lemon pie.  Leila Sullivan makes the best lemon meringue pies EVER.  Everyone in her family looks forward to their birthday for the gift of their own lemon meringue pie.  Mason didn't even share his this year.  Ate the whole thing himself (over time I think).  So I asked Grandma to show me how and I watched her make one and then she watched me make one.  Over the next few weeks I made 4 more, for practice, and none were quite right, but were good, and getting better, so I was hopeful that I would peak at Thanksgiving.

So I stayed home from the movie and started making my pies.  The first one- the filling got a little scorched and water got in the egg whites, so they wouldn't peak, but we used them and it was fine, we deemed it the "kids" pie.  The next one went so smoothly, everything was fantastic, and it baked up beautifully.






I was so proud.  I have never been so proud of anything I have ever made.  When Kyle and Dad and Jandy came home I made each of them take special notice and tell me how beautiful it was.  Mom didn't have room to refrigerate them, we should have just left them on the cupboard, but we decided it would be best to put them out on the picnic table on the deck (since it is so freaking cold in Lehi).  Mom had saved a cake box, and we carefully put them in it and put them out on the deck.

Then Jandy went downstairs and let the dogs out to go potty.  Emily at this point in storytelling would say (DUN DUN DUN.....) They are dachsunds. Their noses work really well.
It took Lilly about 12 seconds to get on the table, chew through the box, and destroy both pies.  Gus was barking the whole time, that is what tipped us off.  I don't think he was tattling on her though, he was just mad that he was too fat to jump up on the table, and wanted her to push some off to him.

I secretly hoped that that much egg whites and sugar would kill her, but she didn't miss a beat.  I on the other hand was completely deflated.  I must have looked really pathetic as I stood by the remains of my hard work, because Shayne and Grandpa both came and gave me big hugs.  Kyle asked me what I needed at the store, and at 9:30 pm, I popped open a Dr. Pepper and started over.
My mom, my savior, encouraged me and helped me, of course she could have made them perfectly without me.  We whipped up two more pies, which turned out...fine...but they were missing the key secret ingredient....LOVE! :)  My heart was not in it.  They tasted great, but I still can't even believe that something so cliche'- so holiday sit-com, actually happened in real life....to me....and my first perfect pie.  It was a good lesson to me- I've decided no one should have so much pride in something, and I was being chastened, and humbled!

Thanksgiving dinner the next day was great- all the classic Shelton foods and tons of it!  We were at Steve's house, and Juanelle had it all decorated so cute.  Ashley Shelton had the fantastic idea of Skyping with Brashley in California, so we could all be together.  It was just right.
We were sleeping in a hotel, so Kyle took Matty back for a nap.  Kyle napped, Matty watched TV and played on the Ipad.  Luckily she  couldn't figure out the locks on the door!  We sat around and played games, and looked at Black Friday ads.  It was a good day.  I felt very grateful to be surrounded by my loving family.

The next day everyone came swimming at our hotel.  We met the capacity limit! Luckily no one else from the hotel wanted to swim at that time! We shopped and we got some great black Friday deals.  Kyle loves watching the craziness and as long as we never go with our hopes high, we usually find a great deal or two and come away with a good story or two.

Saturday was the pinnacle of the trip.  We weren't planning on even staying that long, but then Penny told us that Shayne had decided to be endowed on Saturday in the Mount Timpanogos Temple, so we changed our plans in a jiff- we definitely didn't want to miss that!

 Shayne got her mission call about 12 seconds after the prophet announced girls could go at 19 instead of 21.  She is going to Perth, Australia and is stoked.  It was a very crowded session, with 3 other missionaries and their families doing the same thing, but it was awesome to be at the temple with my siblings.  This hasn't happened since Andy's wedding, I think- and he has 3 kids now, so it was long overdue! Families are Forever, the Church is true, and we are greatly blessed to be a part of it, and BECAUSE we are a part of it.

This. is. halloween. halloween.

Nightmare Before Christmas Music in the Background- imagine it, I don't know how to add music!
Halloween is always fun with the Wells' clan since Kyle and Jillyn's birthdays compound the festivities. The festivities were doubly compounded this year with it being Homecoming week at DSC and Andy Shelton and his family coming to town.  It ended up being 6 days of parties!
Andy and Sarah and the kids were coming home from Disneyland and needed to crash at our place so we tried to turn it into a Halloween Holiday party- this doesn't even count as one of the 6 days of partying- but it was a big party, and it helped get me in the holiday mood.

 I made soup and bread bowls and mint chocolate fingers and 100 sugar cookies!  

Penny brought soup too and all the frosting and toppings for a cookie decorating extravaganza!

 This got the festive holiday ball rolling, then we had the week of craziness.

1. Friday:  Homecoming week is labor intensive for the alumni committee.  The alumni open house is this night, we don't have to do too much at it, but we did enjoy the live band immensely.
 









Kyle was in charge of the midnight 5K this year though, (talk about labor intense). It being so close to halloween, we got some of the zombies from Thriller to come and haunt the event.  It was a little stressful for Kyle to be in charge, but it was a very very fun night.  We got Spencer and Shana and Drew and Mason and Mandy and Maycee and George and me and my neighborhood running partners: Keli and Katherine, AND Joel and his brothers  all running this year (Penny and the girls helped direct runners).  Every year I wish it started earlier, but it is a very fun event.

2. Saturday  (A marathon party day -happening on 5 hours of sleep)
We went to the Homecoming parade and got loads of candy for breakfast and had a great morning.

Emily and George got to ride in the parade with the college sponsored swim team they are on.

We went straight to the tailgate party and played for about 45 minutes and then Evan had a soccer game- right there on campus luckily, so I took him over to that, and the others stayed with Kyle and the cousins and kept playing and eating.

Evan really loves soccer, it is fun to watch him- especially when he makes a goal!

After all of that we went to the football game, and nearly fell asleep watching it.  I don't remember the score, I think we ended up loosing it in the end.  

I know Kyle and I did anyway- I don't know about the team.

We would have gone home to a bowl of soup and vegging out in our jammies for the night at this point but we went home and mowed and edged the lawns and everything else that is supposed to happen on a Saturday, got the kids settled with some pizza and headed to the Alumni banquet.  Bruce Hurst spoke and it was nice, but we were running on fumes.  As we were cleaning up they had 5 giant balloon arches gathered up in a bunch and were trying to figure out how to dispose of them.  Kyle asked how they got them in?.... we built them in here.. duh?  oh yeah... then I asked something else that was equally brainless, that I can't remember,  and we all got the slap happy giggles.  We decided we could get those balloons home- I know we were not thinking clearly, but we attempted, and succeeded somehow to get 100+ helium balloons home to our kids.  The neighbors thought we were celebrating the Utes win, but we were so slammed- finding out they had won was a great surprise.

 3. Sunday the 28th On Kyle's birthday, we came home from church and unwrapped presents (of which there were few, because he bought and was wearing all his b-day gifts already).

Circus Afro Circus Afro, polka dot polka dot polka dot afro!

 and then we carved pumpkins while we watched Kyle's new Madagascar movie 

(one of the pumpkins was rotten on the bottom- so we cut the bottom off!)

 

Then later we went to Grandma Sullivan's and sang happy birthday to Kyle and let him eat his traditional birthday lemon meringue pie. 

Over the years I have tried to make festive cakes, or buy decadent chocolate creations, but this pie is all he truly wants.

 I am sure he got a birthday nap in between there. 

 He sure looks good for 39!  One more year of youth ;)

4. Monday night we went to Thriller.  We always gets tickets  because Kyle loves it, and the rest of us join him because we love.... him....and being together, but not really Thriller so much.
Mason loves Thriller- I don't think that necessarily means he doesn't love Kyle....or the rest of us, but you'll have to ask him that! :)

            

Apparently we don't have a picture of the birthday boy.....but he was there :) and he loved it!

 5. Tuesday I thought we would have one day of recovery before the actual holiday came, but the College decided to do their trick-or-treating a day early.  All the college sports teams dress up and line up around the track at the stadium and give us candy!  It was a good dry run for Matty, she loaded up because she didn't know that once they put one piece in your bag you are supposed to walk away.  She just kept standing there looking at them, so they just put more and more in her bag at every stop!  (I am totally doing alien family next year....yep yep yep yep yep yep.)

6. HALLOWEEN

 It was finally here! The day started with the Halloween parade at the school and then straight to Emily's class party (I am the room mom). I made an awesome jack-o-pinata a.k.a pinata-o-lantern.

It took 5 days to make and 5 minutes to bust open and attack.   

Emily made a very cute cowgirl- thanks Penny

Evan was a mummy again- thanks Penny

Matty was a super cute witch after a lot of convincing- thanks Penny

Matty was determined to be a pirate ever since we got back from Disneyland.

-so over a month- I be a pie-yut.  I finally took her to Shana's to try on a pirate costume and then she decided she didn't really want to be a pirate.  This is exactly the reason I avoid buying new costumes! 

Thank goodness for Penny's Halloween costume boxes.

So the party at Em's school was super fun- 4th grade boys are a piece of work, but it went well.

 Then we went to Jillyn's for the next party!

It is a great way for all the cousins from all their different neighborhoods to get to

see each other and play for a minute on Halloween. We were so lucky to have baby Molly this year.

It is also fun for the brothers to show off what horrendous creation they came up with each year.

 Happy Halloween!

 

GOOOOOOOO DIXIE!

We have loved being involved in the Alumni board at the college, as time consuming as it is during football season, it is nice to be full of that old Dixie spirit.  It has also turned us into pretty big Dixie sports fans, and it didn't hurt that this year we had a great football season and the games were so fun to watch.  I am glad the burger flipping season is over, and basketball season has begun.

  The last few years Kyle has gotten passes for his brother's families too.  Kind of as a way to pay them back for all the dental work and trigger point injections and medications (not that we abuse the system in any way..... hhmmm). ANYWAY,  It is tons of fun for us all to go together and to let our kids run wild and pretend they belong to someone else.

  Well, the first pre-season game for basketball this year was against UNLV.  HUGE!  In the Thomas & Mack Center.  HUGE!  The problem was that it was a Wednesday night and was inconceivable.  Kyle said at about 3 pm, will you just make one last ditch effort to see if there isn't someone that could stay with the kids..... so I call Shayne, hoping on a wing and a prayer that she doesn't have to work or have tons of homework, and she can watch the kids and get them to swim team and fed.....etc....wing and a prayer.  She says well I can't, but my mom had the day off work last minute so she is right here......pause while Shayne explains our plans.....then "yeah, she will take them if you can have them ready if 5 minutes, we are at your post office."

 WOOO HOOOO! We are headed to Vegas!
  THANK YOU PENNY!

I text Kyle and he says bring me clothes to change into, 

we get all our poop in a group and by 4 pm we are on the road!

Of course our first stop is B DUBS.  Kyle's brother's have him totally addicted to wings now, and I think they are pretty good too, as long as there is a Dr. Pepper close by to wash them down.

I had never been in the Thomas & Mack Center and it was intimidating, I can't believe it is a college stadium, they serve alcohol, in the elite seats they even serve alcohol by way of very cold girls.
Our seats were up in the nose bleeds and I was afraid to cheer for our team surrounded by Rebels.
When we got there Dixie was down by 8 or so and we were surprised that they were doing that well, we really thought we would get crushed.  Then Coach Judkins, as always, lit a fire under them at half time and they started to catch up- so I started taking pictures....

Here is the run down of the score.....all the Dixie fans were taking pictures of the jumbotron.

It was such an exciting game.  We found the other Dixie fans and sat by them, and it was so much fun.  Even though in the end we lost by one point, we were so proud of those boys for taking UNLV into overtime.  It is going to be an awesome season!

MARATHON 11!

There were some new experiences this year and a lot of things about this marathon that were the same as all the others, and we love the sameness of it. The tradition of standing in the street for hours cheering for strangers and slapping their sweaty hands to pass on our energy to them, until our loved ones come by and we attempt to meet them down at the finish line.

Mandy, Charles, Brian, and Joel passed before Kyle- so those are the pictures I have! (Jon and Crystal too but I missed them)

  Mason (new to this tradition last year, but now a permanent addition), the Beckstrands and the Pages staying at the cabin with us is a tradition, but new this year was Spencer.  It was his first time and he was pretty nervous.  He said at one point, "Why is everyone acting so happy?  Why can't they be just a little nervous."  Charles hasn't done it for a few years, and a few weekends before the marathon they were down to see Hairspray at Tuacahn and Charles kind of jokingly said, if you find me a number.....CUT TO....  All the Rogels came and it made it a party!  It also enabled me to be able to be the driver of the runners and stay at the cabin.  That was a new tradition, in 10 years I have never been able to stay, but since Paula was staying at my house and was willing to take my kids back with her, I got to stay the night and experience the anxiety and medical triage (Spencer) of 5 a.m. at the cabin. 

how embarrassing, I have pooh on my feet :)- notice Spencer letting off some steam...

Unfortunately, I didn't know that they had posted that the road would be closed at 6:00 instead of 6:30 a.m. this year, and when I tried to get on the road at 6:25 after dropping the runners off at the starting line, a very gruff cop wasn't going to let me come home.  He told me to wait for a minute and while I was contemplating how long it would take to wait for 7000 runners to clear the road enough for me to go north to Enterprise and then through Cedar City to get home and whether or not I would have enough gas......he came back and said "Next year plan better," but that I could follow the last bus down the hill that was passing right then.  OH the anxiety.....probably matched that of Spencer's for that moment. I got home and we got breakfast and got the kids going and headed up to Janice's corner.  We have always parked at the corner of Hope St. and Diagonal- kind of accidentally the first year....years ago....and then I realized we were at Shana's parents house and it is kind of nice to have a friendly potty so close, so that tradition stuck.

 We yelled at and slapped strangers and friends for an hour and a half or so and then after Kyle passed we jumped in the van.  At that point we usually have about 20 minutes to find a parking spot and get to the bleachers and cheer for him as he crosses the finish line.

No shirt was something new, as was the chaffing problem that caused the shirt to come off....ouch!

  This year we did just that, and Joel had just finished and so I figured we had about 5 minutes til we saw Kyle, (because Joel passed us about 8 minutes before Kyle, but he was moving slowly due to an uncooperative hamstring) so we waited and waited and waited for about 15 minutes and then Penny called me from the finishers corral and said "JoEllen, Kyle passed out, come!" OH the anxiety!  Much higher than Spencer's at this point.  I started yelling at the kids to stay close and follow me and we ran to the medical tent but he wasn't in there, so I called Penny back and could hear Kyle's voice in the background.  She told me where they were and we found Kyle upright and in good spirits.  Then I started yelling at him!  I instantly knew that he had sprinted home and pushed himself too far.  He just said, "I really wanted to beat 4 hours."  A long held tradition is my fear for the last 10 years that he would keel over from a heart attack during a marathon, but he just smiled and told me he was fine. 

Love this picture, love this man more today than 10 marathons ago.

Once I knew he was alright I was just mad I didn't have a picture of him collapsing into strangers hands and being carried off.  No one has a picture of him at the finish line because no one expected him to be able to shave so much time off the last 2 miles of a 26 mile race, so we all missed it.  

AND, he missed 4 hours too....but only by 35 seconds!  

The kids favorite part of this tradition is the ice cream treats dad passes over the fence to them!

I was very proud of him, he has worked so hard and is physically and emotionally healthier than he has been in a long time, a tradition that I hope continues.