Thanksgiving Week

Ok, so I just ran in to a problem my friend just did where Blogger is telling me I have no more space. So while I try to figure out what to do about the issue, I will just have to write about our adventures and add the pictures later.
Thanksgiving week was crazy busy, but of course loads of fun. My sister and her family came from Washington to visit us and her husband's family that live here. They didn't stay with us because we already had Robert's family coming to stay, but we enjoyed the time we were able to spend with them and especially getting to meet the newest member of the family, Eliza, who was just six weeks old! Amy especially loved the baby and asked to hold her several times. In an effort to spend just a little more time together, they came over on Wednesday to help me with what has become my annual pie-making marathon. This year it was scaled back a titch to just 12 pies instead of adding on to last years' 19. It was great fun working together to get them all made!!
That afternoon, Robert's parents and little sister came into town from Arizona and were able to stay until Sunday. The day of the big feast arrived and despite my anxiety of trying to fit so many people into my small living room, everything worked out well. We borrowed an extra 8 foot table from a friend to add to ours and we were able to fit all 18 (later 19) people relatively well. The food was fabulous with two turkeys and loads of side dishes that everyone helped contribute to.  We spent the rest of the day chatting, cleaning up, eating pies and more food, and racing around the neighborhood on the go-carts (belong to Robert's friend, not us).
Friday was fairly laid back. In the morning the adults and Sam went to an indoor trampoline place called iJump while Amy and I stayed home and made mini ice cream cakes (in cupcake form) for the celebration later that night. Then in the afternoon, the adults joined up with adults from the Potter clan to go shooting. That night we celebrated three Skousen birthdays that are all within the Thanksgiving week: Kurtis (little brother), Mark (Dad), and Shanna (little sister).
Saturday was a great day because that is the day Kurtis went through the temple to take out his own endowments. We were able to leave the kiddos with Shanna (such a relief to not have to find a babysitter, let me tell you!) and went to the Rexburg Temple for the event and then all met up at Aunt Elaine's home in Idaho Falls for a wonderful dinner.
And no week would be complete without a little excitement. Thankfully ours only consisted of the power going out during sacrament meeting. It was so great to just finish sacrament and then go home! And with all the craziness I really hadn't done that great of a job preparing my YW lesson, so I was able to work on it more this week and give it today! That afternoon we said goodbye to the Skousens until Christmas.
But of course the craziness couldn't end there. On Monday and Tuesday I spent running around getting things put together for our Evening of Excellence for Young Women's on Tuesday night. After that I could breathe a little bit. But it has seriously taken me the entire week to recouperate from it all! 
But yesterday Robert and I were able to leave the kids with Jake and Stacey to get the Christmas shopping done. And we are seriously done except for a small trip I'm making with just me and Sam to let him pick out a present for Amy. It was great to get it done so easily this year! I contribute most of that to #1: really limiting ourselves to a number of gifts instead of a dollar amount and #2: to researching and thinking ahead of time of what the kids would really enjoy to have as a guide for when we were out among all the millions of toys available. 
So here is to this upcoming week of working on some simple projects and planning out the goodies we will be making for friends and family in the area. Hope your holidays are going smoothly!!