Saturday, November 29, 2008

Christmas in the Nighttime Sky

Last night we went the Christmas in the Nighttime Sky. The last couple of years we have thought about attending this event, but have been out of town. This year we had Thanksgiving in Twin and decided that we would go check it out and see what it was all about. We went with our family of 5, Thayne and Katelynn, Josh & Wende and Josh's two kids, Steve & Terra and their son Brady, and Dave & Steph and their two younger girls. We parked in the Kmart parking lot and they had buses that picked you up there and took you down to the nursery were the event was held. This is the kids waiting to get on the bus.

Thayne and Katelynn on our bus ride.The price of admission is a the donation of a new toy. So when we first got there we stood in line to see Santa. We gave Santa our toys that we were donating and then each kid got a turn sitting on his lap and telling him what they want for Christmas. When we walked away Troy said honey don't you want to sit on Santa's lap......Santa got a good chuckle out of that and made the rest of the line laugh.Then after visiting Santa we got in the food line. All of this is included, no extra charge. We got a baked potato with chili and cheese on it. Then they had pop and hot chocolate. After getting our food we walked outside to sit at a table and eat.
After eating we picked one out of several bonfires to stand around. They had a radio station there that was playing Christmas music. It was so much fun. Totally got us in the Christmas spirit to stand around a warm fire, sipping hot chocolate, and listening to Christmas music.





The Coca-cola bear was there so of course the kids had to get a picture with him.













We were right by the speakers and the music was so much fun. The kids danced around all night long waiting for the firework show.



Then at 7:30 all the lights went out and it got silent for a minute. Then the music started playing the fireworks started. I have to say it was one of the most amazing firework shows I have ever been to. They were so close and were just awesome. The kids loved every minute of it had an OOOOOOOOO or an AAAAAAWWWWW for every firework that impressed them.


It was such a fun night spent with great family and friends. This may end up being a tradition as much as we enjoyed it. What a great way to get in the Christmas spirit.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

For those of you who don't know, I have been taking a LOT of tests in the last couple of weeks. In fact, that is basically all I have been doing is studying....and testing.

But, the good news to this story is I took my LAST test (except for one BIG BIG one that comes later)on Wednesday night in Pocatello and.......

I PASSED!! WOO HOO!! WOO HOO!!
So I am sure you can imagine how ready I was for Thanksgiving yesterday to finally relax and spend some time with family. We had a GREAT time. We spent this Thanksgiving with Troy's family at his Dad and Helen's house here in Twin. Of course Steve and Helen were there, Grandpa and Grandma Jensen came from Idaho Falls, Troy's Uncle Stan and Aunt Charlotte and their family came, Steve and Terra and their three kids, Wende and Boyfriend Josh and her two kids and his two kids, Thayne and his daughter Katelynn, and our family were all there.

We showed up late morning to so we had plenty of time to enjoy everyone from out of town. Grandpa Steve promised the boys he would wait to put the flag up until they got there so they could help. They put in a really cool flag pole in the front of their new house that shrinks all the way down inside itself when not being used and the boys were dying to give it a try.





Then we all hung out for a bit while the food was finishing cooking. We watched football, visited, and looked at some scrapbooks that Great Grandma brought with her.










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The food was absolutely AMAZING! Helen made all the food and requested that each of us kids just bring a pie. There is nothing like Thanksgiving dinner.......YUM-O!! And all the pies were pretty darn good too!






Then after dinner it was more visiting, football, naps, kids playing outside, dvd games, and bonding.





Then Ori asked Grandpa for a ride on the Harley. Grandpa of course said yes and that started a whole line of people waiting to ride. Grandpa was a good sport and continued giving rides until everyone who wanted one had a turn.