The Harvest Dinner

For a few years now my family has had Thanksgiving early, and called it the Harvest Dinner.  This year it fell during our younger kids fall break and was as fun as ever, though we were sad to be missing Trisa and Tia, and other family members who couldn't make the trip fit into their busy schedules.

The Harvest Dinner was held at my sister Jenny's house and, this time, I made sure to take pictures of some of the fun.  Here are a few for your viewing pleasure.

Charlie, Miles, and Bryce playing a game.

My brother-in law -- Grandpa Chris -- with Lorien and Lorien's Aunt Anika

My sister -- Grandma Tina -- with Lorien.  Sister-in-law Stephanie is there too.  Lorien has lots of admirers.

Lauren, Emma, Stephen, Kayli, and Connor -- also playing a game.

Our beautiful hostess Jenny with our tasty turkey.

Our manly host Jeff carving the turkey.

My nephew Bryce, his wife Katherine, and their beautiful Lorien (who you can't see very well)

Jenny and Mom working at the sink. 

Brian, trying to protect his family by sleeping before he had to drive them home.

Noah and Jake -- two good cousin buddies.

The only complaint I have about the Harvest Dinner is that it seemed to go by too fast and pretty soon I had to say goodbye to all of these good people (along with the ones who managed to avoid my camera) that I love so much.

Uncle Bryon

This is my kids' Uncle Bryon.  He is holding Claire who is not really a baby anymore.  This picture is from 2008 like all of my pictures of Bryon. 

Bryon is married to Derek's sister Diana.  This is her holding Sara who turns one tomorrow.  I stole this picture off the internet since Diana is in "my circle".  They also have two boys.  Dallin is Jake's age (10) and William is 7

This is Bryon playing football with nephews.  Bryon loves football and I love that he goes out and has the boys running plays, even though some of those boys probably didn't know what a play was before Bryon had them running them.  He is good at playing with his nephews.

This is Bryon playing chinese checkers with his son and Connor and Tyler (nephews).  Connor plays chess with him sometimes (or at least has talked about doing it) and Bryon likes to play chess with Devin as well.

This is Brandon, and Bryon (on the right).  The brothers like to play basketball, and this includes the brothers-in-law.  I have heard that Bryon plays enthusiastically and perhaps people have been slightly afraid to guard him before.

When Diana was dating Bryon, Bryon used to spend time playing with Connor.  After they got married they lived close by for a while, but then they moved away for school and work.  We basically get to see Bryon once a year nowadays since they live in New Jersey, but Connor is still always especially happy every year when Bryon comes for the family reunion.  Bryon still takes time to do things with Connor, and Connor likes that.

Bryon has a PhD in Chemistry.  That means that he is a bit intimidatingly smart, but he doesn't make us call him Dr. Bryon or anything.  I always like to see what book he has picked up to read because the books he picks up to read for fun are not at all the same as the kind of book that I pick up for fun.  Of course the idea of Bryon sitting down to read a romatic comedy is kind of hilarious.  He likes to learn about history, and about Book of Mormon lands, and scientific stuff . . . (I'm obviously not very scientific).  He knows lots of interesting things.  I particularly enjoy hearing about his experiences as a scientist who is also a Christian, and the conversations he gets to have with his fellow scientists about his beliefs.

Bryon served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Puerto Rico.  I have heard him speak Spanish.  He does not speak with a native accent, but he can communicate!  Maybe he spoke more like a native when he was doing it every day.

One of the things I like about Bryon is how obviously he loves his family.  I remember seeing him look at Diana once, and he looked like he thought he must be the luckiest person on the planet to be married to her.  I have heard him say that something is wrong with you if you don't get along with Diana.  He also loves his children, and they love their Dado.

Bryon is a wonderful Uncle and an excellent brother-in-law.  I am always glad when we have the chance to see him, and visit with him for a while.  We stayed with them in New Jersey as a part of our summer vacation a little over a year ago, and Bryon was our helpful tour guide in New York City.  He and Diana were fun to stay with.  We are blessed to have Bryon in our family.  I love him, and hope that he has a most excellent birthday.

Switzerland!

Derek and I went to Switzerland on September 27th with other people from his work.  This is the annual reward trip for Nature's Sunshine's top managers in the field.  We go as "hosts" and are required to be nice.  Since the people we travel with are generally nice, this is not really a hardship.

We arrived in Switzerland on the morning of my birthday, and I spent time doing the head bobbers on a bus just as Derek predicted.  It was a beautiful trip.  We have been blessed to see many wonderful locations around the world, but I do not remember spending so much time trying to come up with more adequate descriptive words because "awesome", and "spectacular", and "beautiful" didn't seem to cover it.

I will share a couple of photos here, and a link where you can look at all 150 + pictures if you really want to, but I must say that even the pictures aren't quite adequate at showing Switzerland's beauty.

Switzerland was green, with beautiful Swiss houses that had flowers in window boxes.  This was just a pretty farmouse that I liked.  It was one of the very few houses without the flower boxes.

This was taken when we were on top of the world (or it seemed like that).  This was when we went to Schilthorn, and took four tram rides to the rotating resaurant at the top.  It was awesome.

Derek and Sherie and, on the right, the rotating restaurant.

Click on the blue Switzerland to see lots of beautiful pictures.  Unfortunately, I never was able to capture a picture of the vinyards that go to the tops of many of the mountains.  They have built rock walls to make terraces and the grapes are planted right up to the edge.  We're not sure how they get up there to get all of the work done, but it sure is gorgeous!

My great, great grandparents (My Dad's Mom's paternal grandparents) are from Switzerland.  We were not able to go to north eastern Switzerland to see the places they were from (St. Gallen, and Thurgau), but I did talk to one Swiss gentleman who had studied there.  I was thankful that he was able to tell me a little bit about it, but I couldn't help wondering if I have some distant cousin running around up there that looks like me that I could have seen had I been able to go.  You never know!

Switzerland sure is beautiful!  I enjoyed everything I got to see and had a wonderful time with Derek.  Thanks to Derek's parents who stayed with our kids, and therefore made it easy for us not to worry, and thanks to all of those who were at home wishing me a happy birthday while I was far away.  I was thankful for my friend Erika (Derek's co-worker Al's wife) who sang happy birthday to me and gave me some Swiss Chocolate, and for the NSP manager who wished me happy birthday several days in a row and made me smile.

Porch Project

Before Derek and I headed for Switzerland, I was very busy trying to finish up some canning, and shopping, and lists, and Primary work, but mostly I was busy doing the porch project that has been on my list for a couple of years.  Here are the before and after pictures:

Ceiling Before

Railings before

Porch After.  Ceiling is painted white and the beams, rails, and floor are stained chocolate brown.

The stairs.

The Porch.  The color is so much like chocolate that Kayli says it makes her hungry.



 There is still some touch up to be done, but my Dad, who built the porch, did think that it looked much better, and I think so too -- but I sure asked myself what I was thinking several times while working on it!  Hooray for mostly finished projects.

Dan Thomas Turns Six!

Dan had his birthday on August 29th.  He had been looking forward to it since the day after his last birthday.  Here are some pictures from the occasion.  Dan is a sweet boy who still has a knack for making us smile.  We love him!

Dan wanted two things for his birthday (well, sort of -- he would like LOTS of things).  He wanted robots, and a party.  I remembered the robots and forgot the party.  Lucky for me, nice Aunts were able to send cousins to the rescue for a last minute party.  This made Dan very happy.

This was a gift from my (Sher's) parents.  It was a big hit -- especially the semi trucks.



Dan with all of his loot.

Kylie, Dan, and Noelle decorate cupcakes with LOTS of sprinkles and some red hots.

Noelle

Dan

Kylie

Dan and his robot cake.  Last year I made a cake that looked like a robot.  This time he suggested I get robots to go on the cake.  I asked if he would like that better than last year's robot cake.  He very diplomatically said, "No.  It will just be different".  He liked the last one too.

First Day of School Pictures

Connor 9th Grade

Kayli 11th Grade

Dan and Jake

Jake 5th Grade

Dan 1st Grade

Those Lovely Days of Summer

Summer was lovely, and we did a lot of things, hardly any of which did I capture in a photograph.  Here are a few that I did capture.

 

This is Jake, and Derek on Father's Day.

This is the fabulous card I found and got for Derek because....look at that one penguin wearing a Hawaiin shirt.  Notice that Derek is wearing a Hawaiin shirt.  That is what Derek wears on special days, something bright to celebrate a happy occasion, even if everyone else dresses in a less colorful fashion!

Jake and Dan

One of the fun things we did was to go to the zoo with my children's Aunt Laura and her kids.  Somehow I foolishly didn't get one picture with her or her kids in it.  I obviously wasn't thinking very well.  I was glad she had invited us.


Connor in the spiders web -- at the zoo.

Kayli at the zoo.  Awesome!

Dan and Jake and a giraffe.

 Another fun thing we did this summer was to have two fabulous family reunions.  I only got a few pictures at the first reunion, and none at the second.  This does not mean I am favoring Derek's family over my own -- I just forgot my camera -- or never got it out -- I can't remember which.

 Weston and Trevor

Connor and Porter (Cousins and good buddies)

Tia spending time with her brother Dan

Dan loved the balloon animals Aunt Michelle made and there was much woe when it died.

This summer there was also youth conference, girls camp, scout camp, a vacation to Idaho (Hey -- vacations are best spent with good family!), dentist appointments, soccer practices and games,  doctors appointments (darn asthma!), and trips to Trafalga and 7 Peaks with local cousins.  There were other things too.  It flew by as usual and was over before we were ready.  Still .... fall brings the excitement of holidays to come ... and time marches on.  Before we know it more lovely days of summer will be here to enjoy.

A Belated Easter Post

I know that many of you are waiting to see beautiful pictures of Switzerland, but I feel that I must catch up on the family first. . . . 

 

Below are two pictures from Easter that I discovered on a camera when I was putting its pictures on my computer.  This past Easter we were blessed to have my brother Brian and his family come to stay with us -- though I will whine really quickly that they didn't stay long enough to suit us.  The Easter bunny came to both families while they were here.  Unfortunately, that Easter bunny was a little unfair in his gifting.  

 

This is Dan and Jake looking through their loot.  Notice the big Snake book that Jake got from the Easter Bunny.  It was all the Easter Bunny could find that Jake would like, and he did like it.  He now knows quite a bit about snakes.



This is Noah and Naomi looking on, with Connor in the background.  Notice Noah's look of longing.  Unfortunately, the thoughtless Easter Bunny didn't think to buy two snake books. That would have been easy, and Noah would have been much happier.  Silly bunny.  Maybe Brian and family can come again next year and the Easter Bunny can bring those good cousins a big book on some other scary reptile..



Uncle Doran

Doran and some of his children, and some of his nieces and nephews

I have very few pictures of Doran on the computer.  The one above is from a family reunion in 2008.  I chose it because it is like so many pictures I have of Doran in my mind.  In my mind there are pictures of Doran running birthday parties with lots of nieces and nephews, Doran driving a four wheeler with a big trailer behind it that is loaded with children, Doran giving rides to children on four wheelers or Derek's motorcycle, Doran wrestling children, Doran chatting with children, and Doran laughing with children.  Whenever Doran is around, he seems to spend an incredible amount of energy on the children. 

I have been blessed with incredible brothers-in-law and a great husband, and they all spend a lot of energy on the children, but it is when I was watching Doran once that a quote from Joseph Smith came to mind.  Joseph Smith was considered a great friend to children, and in the Nauvoo Pagaent he was quoted as saying, "When I am with the children, I make all the fun I can for them."  It seems to me that Doran is like that.

I asked my children what they like about Doran and they rolled their eyes and said "he's fun", because they say that about every uncle I ask about.  They meant it even though they rolled their eyes.  They also say he tells funny jokes, and I didn't know that so I'm looking foward to hearing one.  I asked his nephews Tyler and Isaac when they were over what they like about Uncle Doran.  They agreed that Doran is fun, and Tyler said that Doran has great hair, so Doran can feel especially good about his hair today.

Doran is a musician.  He played the cello at Derek's and my wedding reception, and I still remember the Christmas that he got his first guitar.  Derek and I used to spend Christmas at his parents house because Christmas is more fun with children around -- and some of his brothers and sisters were still children.  Doran has an acoustic guitar now that he uses to enhance singing time at family gatherings on occasion.  He can also sing -- in tune! 

Doran went on a mission to Scotland and used to address his letters to our house to Trisa or Tia, who were pretty small still.  He has always been a good uncle, and somewhere I have pictures of him carrying around my girls when they were very little.  Now my girls are all grown up, and Doran mostly carries around his own children, though they're getting a little big to be carried.  Time sure flies!

Doran met Tanya after his mission while they were attending BYU.  They were married, and graduated from college, and made the decision together that Doran would be a seminary teacher for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  He spends school days teaching youth the gospel.  He is a gospel scholar, who does his best to teach, and live the gospel that he loves.  Most importantly, he always remembers the importance of family.  He and Tanya have two girls, and four boys.  Doran and Tanya put a lot of miles on their car to visit family and attend family events.  We love it when they come this way because, obviously, things are more fun when they are around.

Happy Birthday Doran!

Proof That Monsters Exist

Dan told his Dad that he is sure that monsters exist because sometimes when he wakes up his blankets aren't on any more.  Obviously monsters must have removed them.  Derek tried to explain that blankets fall off because we wiggle when we sleep.  Dan looked a bit skeptical.  Apparently blanket moving monsters is a more believable story when you're five.

Uncle Devin

All my pictures of Devin or from a few years ago!  This is 2008 and he's at his own house holding Annie and talking to a nephew.

This is Devin holding his nephew Sam

When I think of Devin the word boring does not really come to mind.  What comes to mind are images of Devin dramatically entertaining the kids with stories, or carrying them around on his back or shoulders, or playing the role of devil's advocate in family discussions, or marching around at a family reunion pretending to be Captain Moroni from the Book of Mormon while many of his nieces, nephews, and children followed him around wearing their homemade shields and swords.  His way of expressing himself is not boring either, but sometimes we might need a dictionary to make sure we've caught the meaning of his words properly.

Devin is fun, and has always been a good uncle for my children.  He makes us smile and we all love him.  He has always been very helpful to our family, and has on many occasions chosen to come help us with a project rather than do something he would perhaps enjoy more.  Before he was married we liked to try to take more than our fair share of his time because we enjoyed having him here so much.  We especially liked having him over for his birthdays.   I've made Devin the occasional birthday cake, and I was always made to feel like I had done the most wonderful thing for him.  It is fun to do nice things for someone who is thankful, and Devin is good at being thankful.  Of course, he did say that I didn't need to make a crashed motorcycle cake for him again:).

Devin is really smart, but somehow he also manages to be very humble.  He does not get offended easily and I have often been impressed with his willingness to believe the best of those around him.  He studies, thinks about things a lot, and has well thought-out opinions.  Still, he is willing to listen to the opinions of others and to change his opinion as he learns new information.

Devin is a musician.  I love to hear him play the violin and he has a great singing voice.  The singing always sounds better at family gatherings if Devin is there and participating.  Devin is also a good athlete.  Derek has told me before how impressed he is with Devin because Devin has determination and would practice and practice to become better at things he wanted to be able to do.

Devin is married to Mandy, who is awesome, and they have four children.  Devin is thankful to be a Dad and he loves his children well.  My kids sometimes comment after family hikes about how many children Devin can carry at once.  Of course, this was before Madeleine and Annie got so big, but he does have some pretty impressive children carrying abilities!

Devin on a reunion hike 2008 carrying Madeleine and Annie.

When I asked Connor what he likes about Uncle Devin he said, "Super fun, great prayers, awesome vocabulary".

Happy Birthday Devin!

Uncle Russell

Russell, Erin, and their beautiful family (I think I put this picture on Erin's birthday blog last year:)

Russell is in the middle with the mircrophone -- singing karaoke at a family reunion.

Russell is married to my husband's sister Erin.  Russell and Erin have five children and another should be born sometime in October.  They had three girls first (like Derek and me) and then two boys (again like Derek and me) -- but they are going to break our pattern and have a girl sixth.  Once Russell told me, in a complement to Erin, that Erin could find surprising energy for their children.  I'm not quoting that right -- but I thought he was saying -- Erin loves her children and finds energy for them even when she is tired.  I like that about Erin, and I suspect Russell is like that too.

Russell is a very caring and talented person.  He will literally spend hours helping people he cares about with projects.  This includes Erin (of course!) who loves to have variety in the rooms of their home.  Russell has likely painted about every room, some of them multiple times.  He has put up bead board and done other projects that help their home look nice.  It is always fun to visit and see his and Erin's handywork. 

I do not know how Russell manages to find the time for all of the nice things that he does.  He is a good Dad, he works, he makes our reunion videos, he has taken our mom and dad in-law's old family videos and put them online to preserve them, he helps buy or set up family computers when asked, and he does other computer projects and home projects too.  Derek sometimes jokes that Russell is his (Derek's) mom's favorite son.  This is because Russell is a very attentive and thoughtful son-in law.  Russell also spends hours every week serving in the church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).  Serving seems to be a way of life for Russell.

Russell is very musically talented.  He has a terrific singing voice and he uses it at church, and reunions for the benefit of those of us who get to hear him, or sing with him.  He has also taught himself to play the guitar, which he does very well.  I love music, and always enjoy when Russell shares his talent with us.

Russell is very interested in people, and he takes the time to get to know them.  This is a part of what makes him such a good uncle.  I asked Kayli what she likes about Uncle Russell and she said, "He is easy to talk to.  I like him because he is interested in me and my life."  I believe that is a direct quote, and I suspect my other children (at least the older ones) would say something similar.  Russell is a good listener, and he is appreciated for it.  I am very thankful to Russell for the attention and caring he gives to my children.  It is a blessing to them, which makes it a blessing to me.

Happy Birthday Russell!