November 19th through November 25th

November 19^th through November 25^th:  Monday I went to the hearing with Jill about our application for a conditional use permit to have an accessory dwelling unit (our apartment).  It was approved and they said we could pick up the building permit as soon as John and Jill signed and had the deed restriction notarized. Tuesday morning I met John and Jill at the planning and zoning office and they got the deed restriction notarized and we immediately went to the building department and got our building permit.  We are back in construction mode. In the afternoon, we went and picked up Charlotte and Alex from the airport.  Wednesday I got to work on the framing.  In the afternoon, we got family pictures taken at the amphitheater in American Fork right by James’ house.  We think we got some good ones.   

We still hold hands.

How did the 7 of us turn into 28.  Multiply and replenish.

This is the whole gang, all 28 of us.

Our 16 grand children.

We then drove back to the airport in Salt Lake and picked up Scott, Chris’ brother, from Houston who flew in for Thanksgiving.  We drove back to American Fork because Scott is going to spend a few nights at James’ house.  Thursday we headed to James’ house early to help with the preparation of all the food.  We had 29 people, our 5 children and their spouses, 16 grandchildren, Scott, and the two of us, for Thanksgiving dinner.  James cooked 6 racks of ribs and two turkeys.  He smoked one and infe-red one.  Everything was delicious.  We played a huge game of Mafia and just enjoyed the day.  

James smocked 6 racks of ribs as an appetizer for Thanksgiving dinner.  They were amazing. 

He also cooked two turkeys. One in his smoker and the other in an oil less deep fryer that cooks with inferred.

We had to have two kid tables.

All the adults sat together.

Friday I got up early and did some framing.  Sam and John B. helped me.  We had to stop at 9:00am in order to get ready to go to the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake to see an exhibit on the Mayan.  We enjoyed the museum.  It is in a beautiful new building overlooking the valley.  

The Natural History Museum.

View looking west from the museum.

The Mayan exhibit was great.

The had replicas of steli from Quirigua and Copan.

Badger and Evan enjoying the museum.

They had huipilies.

They had guides to explain things.

Building Mayan arches was a hit.

James, Charlotte and Campbell.

Mom and her brother, Scott.

They had lots

and lots

and lots

and lots

 of dinosaur bones.

Jake, Rigby, Luke and Stan playing in the water and sand.

Campbell laid down in the foot print of a dinosaur.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the museum.

We then had lunch at John and Jill’s house.  I got to work for a couple of hours and then we took everybody to a movie.  Some saw Crimes of Grindelwald, some saw Ralph Breaks the Internet and others saw Bohemian Rhapsody.  We finished up at Kate’s house eating turkey soup that she had made from some of the leftover turkey.  Saturday John B. helped me all morning finish up the framing on the duct work.  Mom took Scott to lunch and then went to a baby shower for a niece.  I spent the afternoon finishing the framing.  We then took the adults to dinner at a Thai restaurant.  

It snowed Saturday morning.

The duct work is ready for sheet-rock.

His and Her closets in our bedroom.

The framing is done.

Sunday we spoke in church and had the pleasure of seeing some old friends and former missionaries.  The Mays came down from Idaho, the Winkfields from Layton, the Calls from Cedar City, Linda Dibb came up from Utah County and then a number of local friends.  We had an open house at Charlotte’s after the sacrament meeting.  

The food for the open house.

Both mom and I have colds and didn’t feel like doing much the rest of the day.  We did visit Charlotte’s family and watched her kids decorate their Christmas tree.   What a great week we had with our family.  We are truly thankful for all our many blessings.

Ho Ho Ho