The Week of Thanksgiving

On Friday night (November 20th), Tanner had a game!  I am so glad his basketball season has started.  He has worked hard for months and now the fun part begins.  Parker had a football game the same night actually.  He played in San Angelo, and Brian was able to make the journey to watch it.

Aub and I made a date night out of it.  We got Blizzards and headed to the game.  Afterwards we stopped by Chic Fil A.  This was really my first post Covid adventure.  It felt so great to be part of my kiddos lives in a more active way.  Every peep I made to cheer on Tanner or the team, Aubrey would shush me.  She was mortified by my every move.  Silly teen.  I finally told her she could sit all alone and be embarrassed by that if she wanted.  Ha!  She stayed.

But back to Tanner...he did well.  He got to start and played about 3/4 of the game.  Grandpa slipped onto the court and took some awesome pictures.  Their team won.  Here are some amazing pictures Grandpa took.  

I love how Grandpa just walks on the court like he has authority to be there.  His pictures make my kiddos so happy.  Their friends LOVE them too.

Aubrey was able to spend a few days throughout the break with Lauron.  Yea for a cousin who is your best friend as well.  I was so happy for Aubrey to get out of the house because she quarantined the whole time I was sick.   Her school is online, and we stayed away from church and family events.  They made Christmas cookies and did sleepovers and watched movies and had a photo shoot and more.lots of other things.

La had a ice skating show off at the mall.  She did fabulous.  Aubrey and I were able to watch her.  Here she is w/ Christian.

How cute is this for a Thanksgiving gift?  The Armstrong family gave a ton of the boys on the team a super soft, embroidered, Permian blanket. Kendyn is on the team and shattered his leg during the first scrimmage.  It was awful.  He and Parker have been friends since elementary.  Park and other football guys have spent more time at Kendyn's the past few months.  Anyway, super nice and thoughtful. 

Parker's 18th birthday was last Sunday.  We celebrated at home and then at the Birds for our Sunday night gathering.  Aubrey gave him some Dr. Peppers.  Tanner and Parker exchanged XBox games in September to celebrate each others b-days. (2K and Madden).  Brinley was able to call and chat with him which is a fun birthday gift.

We gave him more data for his phone, some Nike shorts, a stretchy Trump key chain and some treats.

I love these two together.  There is a lot of teasing and joking around.  

And just for fun, here they are when they were 12 and 10.  Britney sent me this last week.  The saying not to blink when raising kids is so true.

We had a great time celebrating our 18 year old baby boy.  I especially loved sharing with the family silly things he said and did as a little guy.  (He was the heart throb of kindergarten.  He loved to tease his siblings.  Almost every Sunday when I would get dressed up for church, he would sweetly tell me how beautiful I looked.)

Here are a few picts from Sunday night.

Brit, Char and Park.  They gave him money and a card.  With Thanksgiving a few days away and Covid spiking in general, we decided we better start masking up.  It's kind of the pits.  

Thanks Gram and Gramp for the gift! (money and a card)

The Vores gave him some salmon pink running shorts.

Kerry came extra prepared.  He's joking around.  But that very night he texted to say his friend's dad tested positive.  And he had been hanging out w/ that friend all day before he came over to the Birds...so masking up before T-giving worked out.  (Adam Bird was exposed the next day at work so they didn't come to T-giving.)

Charity, Jake, Erin, Jeff, Gram and Parker.  It was nice to have Erin in town w/ her  husband of just a few months, Jeff.  He seems really nice.

Aubrey and Parker with Ella.

The day after Thanksgiving, Park and friends went over to Midland to watch the Lee vs San Angelo game.  Park was surprised by how calm it was in the stands.  He asked Bethani if it always felt this way.  She said yes.  He is used to being IN THE BATTLE and on the field where there is action behind the action.  I think he will miss playing football and have some great memories from these years.

Poor Aub...she finally got out of quarantine, but Breena was exposed to someone at school.  So it was a bit before they could hang out again.  Luckily, Breena came over one time during the holiday and they had a great time together.  They played volleyball, made a tic tok video, and made/decorated Christmas sugar cookies.

After Thanksgiving Brian and Tanner took down the Christmas boxes, and Aubrey and I decorated.  Whew, that is a lot of work and our tree is not up.  Honestly, I think I am done.  If Brian and the boys want to do the tree, go for it.  I feel too busy and divided with work, church and home responsibilities.

We got a little pre-Christmas package sent off to Brinley with some decorations for her apartment.  We have also been working on her big package which I will send tomorrow.  Some of the things we are sending her way for Christmas: an engraved wrap around ring that has IBM (Idaho Boise Mission) and CTR  (Choose the Right) on it.  I was a little disappointed on how little you could see the engraving...but...., a green dress, a slip extender, several new fabric masks, a box of one time use masks (gotta love Covid), note cards, colored pens, two sunflower necklaces (one to share w/ whomever she wants), a little photo book w/ about 50 pictures of family and mission friends in it, stocking stuffers and more!  

We also did a 12 days of Christmas countdown for her and her companion.  Aubrey helped me a lot w/ that which was awesome and really appreciated.  She helped me think of fun gifts and come up w/ scriptures and type little papers out to tape to each gift.  Those countdown gifts were: fuzzy socks, hot chocolate, lip balm, mittens, bracelets, stockings, gingerbread houses and other gifts I can't think of right now.  I hope they enjoy their countdown activity.

On Saturday, Brian and I were able to drive up to Lubbock to watch Tanner play in his 2nd basketball game.  He did great!!!  He was more aggressive in this game than in his first one, and he played well.  He scored 11 points and Mojo won.  Woot woot!

I was wishing the temple was open.  That is just what we do when we go to Lubbock.  Hopefully one day soon it will be open again.  I did get some Christmas shopping in though.  Brian was cute and told me a couple of times to take as much time as I would like.  I am not a huge shopper, but since we have many gifts to buy, it was nice to knock a few out.

Home church!  We are back to it as of a couple of weeks ago because things are spiking on our area.  I love it.  Last week Parker and Brian gave the talks and did a great job.  Aubrey picks the songs and plays the music.  She used to conduct but now she just sings.  This week we listened to a conference talk about becoming more Christlike everyday.  Next week Bri asked me and Tanner to speak.  I love the closeness I feel with my family.  I love the spirit that lingers in our home.  I love sharing the gospel together.

(These picts are from afterwards)  

Tanner, November 22th

Tan-the quick changer, Park and Bri, November 29th