Thanksgiving '11 pt. 3

Okay, so thanks for sticking with me.  This is the end of the Turkey day posts!  Whew!  I'm tired again just looking at all this!


Since I was in town for almost a week I took the chance to go see my sister, one of my very best friends.  Renee' is one of those girls who just makes you laugh when you're together.  I love it.  Her kids are cute, she always has something for me to help her with so I feel like it's a two-way friendship, and she is patient with my shortcomings and loud about my strengths.  Who wouldn't want a friend like that?!  

my sweet nephew, Dominic, and niece, Lily Pendergrass

little Sara and Renee'!

Anyway, so when I got to her house I got to play with my niece.  I don't get to see her often and she's so little - only a few months older than Alexandra.  It was so fun.  Sara was a bit hesitant at the beginning, but then she totally filled her responsibilities as a niece and climbed up on my lap.  I was having little one withdrawals since Ally is such a cuddly kid and Sara helped me feel better.  I sure enjoyed getting to know her a bit more.  She probably won't remember me since she is so little, but it'll make our next visit easier.  Then I felt even better because my sister said that Sara isn't always so excited about new people.  Made my little mommy/auntie heart flutter with happiness.

 I'm loving being an auntie!

We also went back to the temple two more times to finish the work of sealing my family together.  It was so wonderful, especially the last part when the whole family finally became linked from great grandparents to my little ones.  Now my oldest daughter, Evelynn Sophia, is sealed to the woman whose name she bears, Sophia Zychal, my great-grandmother who I loved very much.  It was a touching and especially spiritual experience for all involved. (Okay, yes, for those of you wondering, a tear or two did escape, but that's it, nothing more)


While in town I did take the opportunity to do some errands.  I know that sounds funny, but WA is still our permanent address for a reason.  I took the chance to make some calls and found out that my WA teaching certificate will be valid until I need it, whenever I end up needing it.  I was really relieved to hear it because  I don't think I will be using that certificate for a while.  Don't want to lose anything in that area that I can help.  


I also met with a great woman from the school district where my permanent address is located.  She was amazingly helpful in giving me some guidance with my homeschooling.  I have done a lot of research in state and federal standards for my kids schooling.  Being a teacher myself helps with the lingo and navigation of educational information.  Anyway, so the CVSD liaison I was working with was great in helping to understand what the district could do for me and my kids.  (We're in a unique situation with homeschooling since we are not in any one location for more than a few years.  No one wants to take us on as a responsibility since we aren't able to have actual face-time.  Thankfully, I'm working around it.)


Finally, I was able to fix our voter registration.  We've been missing votes for elections because they continued to send our ballots to our permanent address instead of our current one. Hopefully, it's all worked out now - Chris HATES missing the chance to vote.  It's a huge deal for him and for me too.


Okay - so eventually, we did all get to actual celebrating Thanksgiving.  I was especially grateful for a double celebration!  Two families, two turkeys, lots of yummy food, and no one to have to watch over or put to bed.  I so enjoyed myself.  We all had a great time and I felt truly loved surrounded by my family on both sides.

little sister, Katie Woods - she's so fun to hang with

mom - always busy with something - love her cooking

Katie's husband, Erik and dad - such a guy thing to do, frying a turkey

The second turkey day celebration was so much fun with so many people.  I loved it!  My family so huge!  

Beckie's husband, Jed, little bro, Jim, and daddy - ooooh, food!

awesome nephew, Eric!  He loves to eat almost as much as his dad!

Quel, Matt's wife - my sister by marriage and by need to photograph

 everything! She's such an inspiration and the only reason 

I take as many pix as I do! (just blame her next time)

my niece, Lanie Spencer and the biggest chocolate cake any of us 

had ever seen! Yes, we all love Costco in my family 

- She got the first piece lucky duck!

The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally a no go day for me.  I'm not a big Black Friday person. I hate getting  up early in general, let alone to go....shopping of all things.  I also don't enjoy big crowds of people fighting for things they really don't need or huge parking issues and traffic jams.  But, just this once, I had a little money, the time since I had no kids, and a great companion whose enthusiasm for shopping mirrored mine, my big little brother, Jimmy!  He had come into town just the day before due to finals at school in Vegas.  I was glad to get to see him a bit before I had to go.  

aren't they cute!  I love my parents so much.

my little bro Jim - he's abt 250lbs and 6ft. tall so I go with 

"big little brother" - he's also one of my best friends - 

seriously I don't know any other girl he'd go out with on 

Black Friday to a mall!

We hit the mall to get some personalized ornaments for my little ones.  I was given some beautiful ones for my first two, but was not gifted with the last two.  I got them myself and Jim helped me pick them out. I'm not so girly though both the babies for which I needed ornaments are girls.  I also picked up some other little things, but then I was done.  Mom, however, decided to be extra kind and took us both to Kohls.  I'd never actually been to the store before to buy anything so she offered to help supplement my wardrobe.  It was awfully generous of her and I will be honest, it was kind of fun.  We went to lunch afterward.  Then I got to go home and take a NAP!  It was awesome!

That night I got to do something extremely special.  My mom and dad Fosburg took me to a Transiberian Orchestra concert.  Chris and I LOVE them!  It was fantastic.  We had so much fun together.  They even took me to a great Japanese restaurant where I got to try some new foods.

oh look, another set of parents who are both cute and in love!

aren't I so lucky?

I love how adventurous they are.  Anyway, so I took lots of pix and vids and had a great time.  The kids even held a little concert of their own at the same time at home.  I loved it and included the shots here.  When I went out with my Fosburg family my kids picked up Rock Band at home.  Don't they look great?  I was shocked at how perfect they looked at being great drummers!

rockin' little Liz

super smart Joe

awesome Evelynn

Then of course, I had to send lots of pix and vids to Chris.  He so often gets to go do fun things when he deploys and TDY's, not that I would tell him not to.  It made saying yes to this unforgettable concert easy.  He was a bit jealous.  I kind of enjoyed the envy for once.  Even now as I'm doing this he's avoiding the screen.  It cracks me up since he was encouraging me to take this trip as a sort of thanks for being so good while he's gone.  I did appreciate the event, even more so since he couldn't be there.  (I did have a moment during the concert when I REALLY missed him.  That's what happens when you marry someone you love to spend time with.  I just love doing things together and this wasn't one of them.)

I know - so silly, but most of these were sent for Chris from my 

phone.  besides, it was fun to do and to see again.

wasn't it amazing?  

I loved the falling snow and the amazing show the group put on.

One of the craziest songs turned the whole stage red with dragons - 

reminded me so much of Chris and how much he loves fantasy stuff.

the guy was so close I could almost touch him - 

a little odd for me, but fun nonetheless

Well, that's it.  I flew home the next day and though flying that far is always a bit tiresome, I did meet some really nice people.  I love talking to people on the plane when they're kind.  Without kids, I got to work on my people skills a bit more.  (Building relationships is something I'm still working on personally.)  I also enjoyed getting to see my kids when I got home.  I was home quite late for us, but Chris brought them all out to Columbia to pick me up.  They were SOOOOO cute in their jammies with their big smiles.  Ally almost jumped out of her car seat to get a hug.  I loved coming home to that!  My sweet husband knows just how to get to my heart: my little ones and a great big kiss that showed he missed me!  Wonderful.

Thanksgiving '11 pt. 2

I was so spoiled in Spokane.  My daddy let me borrow his truck for the whole week.  My sister put me in an upstairs room away from all the little ones so I could sleep whenever I wanted.  (Being pregnant I super appreciated it.) My mom and dad were kind enough to remember that I hate being cold with a passion and placed a truly wonderful heater in the room.  It was so generous of everyone and considering that I was alone for the first time in years, I really felt everyone's kindnesses.

my big brother, Matt and his oldest, Eric

I think the only problem I had was letting go of the mommy thing.  I totally overstepped several times with the kids, but my siblings were kind enough to let me know nicely.  I just didn't think it would be so hard to turn off!  Thankfully, everyone was patient with me.  That's when I hit my stride as a spoiler for the kids I love, but never get to see.

so neat to have him in the temple with us

So the first day I was there we went to the temple first.  It was so wonderful.  I am not usually a crier about spiritual or personal things in general, but watching my nephew (the oldest grandchild in our family) perform ordinances in the holy temple of God with his daddy for his great-grandpa who he knew very well was a pretty special moment for our family.

His grandma was very grateful and pleased.  It was a great moment for our family.

Later that night I had heard from my mom-in-law that Santa was going to officially welcome everyone to the holiday season downtown.  So I mentioned the event to my family and they decided to take all the kids down to see the whole thing.  The tree downtown was amazing!

I TOLD you it snowed!!!  I love Spokane in the winter 

(from the inside)

isn't my brother's family beautiful?

Santa was there and several pix later we were also getting hot chocolate and face painting.  It was so cute.  The kids loved the chance to get out and I enjoyed being able to be Auntie Tamy instead of mommy.  It was a great time and I got to cuddle my nephews and nieces as much as I wanted.  I also got to be as partial as I wanted and spoil whoever I chose. Not a normal situation for me.  I so LOVED it!  Being an Aunt is awesome!

Parker Spencer, Larissa Call, Andy Call, Izak Call, Matt Call, and Eric Call

aren't they all super cute?

these face-painters were so...well, jolly

they loved all the kids they met and were so sweet to do this volunteer

The next fun thing I got to do was a girls (sort of) night out with my "other" family.  I so love my in-laws.  It's not like the "usual" relationship.  I adore my husband's parents and his sisters are my best friends.  I know it sounds all unbelievable like, but I've known them since I was 16 yrs old.  They were my other family before they officially became my other family.  The second night I was there, we all went out to this great restaurant that had recently re-opened so the prices were low.  It was great!  We did end up waiting forever for our food, but we had so much getting reacquainted I didn't notice until baby started getting upset.  Finally our food came and it was really great.  At the end of the evening we did one of my favorite activities: we went hot tubbing.  They have a hot tub at their house which is only about 15 min from my parents home.  It was a really fun night.  It was also a unique night because on our girls' night we brought Mike, my father-in-law.  He was excited to see me (as I was him), but didn't want to overstep since he knew the purpose was for the girls.  We definitely invited him along and had a blast.

my sisters - Renee' Pendergrass and Katie Woods

beautiful as always!

Honestly, I was so taken aback by how much they wanted to see me.  I know that they love me and I so love them, but I don't often see the family without Chris.  It was such a touching surprise to find out that even if Chris isn't around they really just like being with me.  I felt so loved.  It was a great feeling for me.

Now I refuse to go day by day simply because other than some fun moments that I AM posting about, it was a trip to see family with all of the family stuff that goes with that.  I was really happy to see that my family is relatively happy, healthy, and doing things that bring them all closer together.

Well, during this trip I also wanted to make sure and talk to each sibling one on one.  It's not a normal opportunity, but one I felt important to take advantage of.  So, I grabbed Matt one morning before a major conference call and we got to eat out for lunch.  Then I somehow got Beckie for a wonderful conversation about, of all things, Shakespeare (a favorite topic of mine at any time).  I even got Jim for a little bit the day after Thanksgiving when we went shopping and had lunch.  It was really good to connect and revitalize some relationships with actual face-time.  I also got the opportunity to have lunch with my mom all by myself.

my gorgeous, hard working mom - 

loved her new office!

I know it sounds funny to go to such specific lengths, but I know how busy being a parent can be, or in my mom's case working and running a business.  I just wanted each one to know how much I love them and appreciate their place in my life.  In some cases, I wanted them to be more present in my life so I took the chance to reinforce that desire by spending one on one time.  I don't know if they felt the things I was hoping they would, but I felt closer to all my family members when I left.

Well, that's it for tonight's post.  One more to go!  Keep with me people, I promise more fun things to come!

Thanksgiving - what a holiday! (Pt.1)

So the Turkey holiday this year was quite different for me and my family.  We aren't real worried about this holiday, not like Christmas, but though we still enjoy it, we have yet to spend the holiday traditionally.


Chris has been deployed or TDY twice in the last three years at this time, though he did return home once as a surprise for the day of.  This year I had the special opportunity of traveling home to Spokane Valley, WA for the whole week!


My mom was having something extremely special occurring and she wanted as much as her family around to help participate.  In our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we fully believe in the concept of forever families.  We know that if we are faithful and provide the proper ordinances with the proper authority in the temple of God, that our families are literally sealed to each other for eternity.  Well, it was around this holiday that we were going to be able to finally seal my mother to her parents who had passed a little over a year ago for her father and two for her mother.  It was going to be very exciting and something she had been praying for for a very long time.


So to help her with this momentous occasion, she helped me to fly home.  That meant that for the first time since I became a mom almost 6 yrs ago, I would be traveling alone!  For most people it's not that big a deal.  Chris does it so often we have an acct set up for his expenses.  But, I'm mom.  It's a big deal for me!


I was so worried, I began planning things out to the letter.  I planned meals, I planned schooling (just in case Chris got ambitious), I planned laundry and chores.  I even wrote Chris out a schedule for the week so he wouldn't be surprised by doctor appts or playdates.  I was a nervous wreck.  I just really wanted it to be a positive experience for everyone.


I was also super EXCITED!  I've never traveled alone!  Seriously, not once!  I've always been with family or friends on plane trips, car trips, boat trips, whatever.  I couldn't wait.  And the suitcase I got to take was thankfully small!  I got to take my purse and my laptop as my carry on!  That's it!  What a thrill.  I also got to relax and get hot chocolate, or snacks, or dinner or anything.  I even got to hang out in the adult section of one of the USO's.  I had a blast and a good conversation.  It was quite interesting to be on my own.


The most funny part of the whole trip occurred the moment I stepped off the plane - IT SNOWED!  I'm serious too.  It snowed the moment I got off the plane and was so cold that the second I grabbed my luggage I grabbed my goose down jacket.  (I only store it when I'm not at home in WA)  Anyway, one of the best parts was that my big brother was the one who came in to get me.  I LOVE to see him!  He's so busy and he's got a big family and he travels a lot.  I was so excited to get to spend some time with him.  (Honestly, I probably still have a bit of hero worship going on in that area just from when I was a kid.  He's my big brother, that's just the way it will most likely always be.)  He picked me up in a great big bear hug and I revelled in it!  We then met mom and the rest of Matt's family outside.  That's when I gave mom the good news about our 5th and final Fosburg addition!  It took her a moment, but she was super excited.  I was super relieved because I'd been wanting to say something for 6 weeks!  I'm not a great one for secrets (especially wonderful ones), but it was going to be the first time (and the last) that I'd ever get to tell her in person.  It was great!


We got home and the next day is when all the fun started.  Seriously, in case you forgot I have two very large and happy to see me families in Spokane!  It was a crazy ride, but so much fun.