Thanksgiving and the Thankful Turkey

You can tell from the number of feathers on the thankful turkey that we have a lot to be thankful for.  We even ran out of feathers -- and were a bit too lazy to make more.  This turkey was made the day Derek was first trying to put in our new kitchen sink.  Kayli and I were headed to Provo and back to pick up a needed part, and I left the boys in charge.  When I got home I told them how much I liked the thankful turkey they had made.  Jake said, "Mostly I made it."  So a big thank you to Jake.

For Thanksgiving we had a delicious dinner at Derek's parent's house while visiting with some of our local family members.  There was a short program after.  I think with this side of the family it is very rare not to have some sort of program attached to every gathering.  Kayli very kindly sang my song "Sunshine" with me for our part in the program.

Shortly after that we headed to St. George where we met up with Trisa and Travis who had spent Thanksgiving with my parents.  We stayed in Derek's parent's St. George house for a couple of days, but spent most of our time at my parent's house where we were a part of the roof removal / replacement team.  Ray started on Thanksgiving Day and I think Jeff and Travis joined him.  It is a good thing they got a head start because we got done on Saturday right after dark.

The weather was cold for St. George.  In the 40s.  Brrrr.  In some ways we were a rather pathetic work crew.  Ray has a lot of experience with working on roofs, but the rest of us -- not so much.  My Dad wanted really badly to be up there helping.  He would have known what he was doing.  However, due to his major back surgery he was supposed to stay on the ground.  Naturally he climbed the ladder several times and made us all really nervous.

Mostly it was our health that was pathetic.  Jenny and Jeff had bad colds.  Derek was sick to his stomach.  Trisa got the stomach flu the second day so only managed to help on the day we ripped off the 2 layers of shingles.  That was the most miserable day, and her help was appreciated.  Travis was in pain with some unknown ailment, and I'm pretty sure that, at least by the second day, we were all feeling a bit old and busted -- except maybe all of the kids, who were a big help too.  Travis and Trisa stayed an extra day so we could use their roofing equipment.

 So, in spite of all we had going against us, we finished the roof.  We needed every minute, every person we had, and all of the energy we had to give -- but it got done.   I came away feeling very grateful for the good people in my family!  Even when everyone was super tired, and occasionally a little frustrated, they were so good to work with.  Everyone was patient, and kind, and tried to watch out for each other.  So, even though we went away sore, we went away with my parent's gratitude, and a feeling of accomplishment, and with memories of working together to get something good done.  We also went away with a strong hope that the roof won't leak!