I'm grateful for my family

Happy Thanksgiving! I know it's a couple days late, but we had some crazy times this year. Wednesday night, Tim and I babysat baby Elijah while Laura and Tony went on a date to see the new classic, Twilight! It is too easy to fall in love with that baby. All you have to do to make him smile is go, "Wooooooo...Yay...booooootie bootie boooo." I know these words are nonsense, but when you're saying them to a baby who's kicking his little legs and smiling like crazy, it makes complete sense. I think this world would be a lot funner if we spoke like that all the time, don't you? Elijah thinks so.

Turkey day was spent at the Ralls this year. Complete with Kelly's homemade cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, and of course, lots and lots of card playing, it was a definite success. My favorite part of the day was when Tim had a mini-Taekwondo class for all the kids that were there. Like Rylee, Tanner, and Jonas:
Avery:
Tanner again (with a jumping back kick!):
And Abe!:
As a class, they were very attentive and eager.
They loved it! And so did the parents. Tim did a great job teaching them about obedience, good sportsmanship, and of course, patience. After that, they earned their white belts!

Some of the belts were a little too big for the younger ones, but Tim improvised.

Later, the kids put on a play directed by Rylee (I hope I'm spelling her name right. Sorry if I'm not). I only got a couple pictures of the costumes, but here are two of the main characters. The hero, Cowboy Ren (played by Tanner Rowlett)!
And the Evil Mistress who ended up dying in a cave near the end (played by Jonas Knockelmann whose last name I don't think I spelled right either...):It sure was a stellar performance!

So Thanksgiving was fun. But a night later, everyone started getting sick! Not fun! Late Friday night, Tim started puking his guts out so much that he couldn't even hold down water. I ended up taking him to the hospital around 7:30am. Four liters, two doses of heavy nausea medication, and five hours later, we were on our way back up to Logan. It takes 2 hours to get from West Jordan to Tim's house in Richmond, so let me paint you a picture of the car ride up. As soon as the car started moving, Tim was out like a light. His mouth was open in a humorous way as his head waggled back and forth with the movements of the car. Although funny and sweet, Tim hadn't had the energy to do anything but vomit for the last 10 hours or so...and that means seriously raunchy breath. Any time I rolled down the window a crack, he would mutter in his sleep about how cold it was, so I could only roll down my window. This was good for airing out the car, but bad since all the bad air rushed past my nose first. Yes, the ride back up was a little longer than usual, but I'm glad we did it. As soon as we got home, Tim stumbled into the house before I could open my car door and when I walked in, I found him curled up under the covers of his bed, fast asleep. Poor Tim...

Despite the illness everyone got, and Abe's trip to the hospital as well that same day (we love you, Abey!), it really was an awesome Thanksgiving. I always look forward to playing with the kids, but this was the first year I had someone wonderful to help me play with them...




I spied on the kids to find out what it is they do up in play room when no one's watching them. I guess I'll never really know what it is...cuz I have no idea what is happening in this video:




This may or may not be my favorite video of Brooklyn:




And presenting My Ring!!!


Talk about some bling, baby! Woo!