We had a fantastic Thanksgiving on Thursday--tons of delicious gourmet food and FABULOUS company. We had the best time being with family--lots of laughter. We actually had the opportunity to meet a cousin of Chris' that Chris didn't even know he had. His name is David and his lives in Engelwood, CA. David is 43 years old and has a horrific yet AMAZING life story. David had been raised in several foster homes growing up--eventually running away from that too--and had lost touch with his biological family for about 35 years. He has soo much to be bitter and angry about and yet, he is amazingly kind and forgiving (SERIOUSLY horrific childhood). David leads an "alternative lifestyle" but after everything he has had to overcome in this life, I just KNOW there is a special place for him in heaven. Meeting him has impacted my life for sure and I look forwards to many more family holidays with him and his partner (70 year man who "pretends" to be straight--we had a good laugh about that...you would probably have to have been there:) Being here truly made me SOO eternally grateful for my life, my husband, my kids, and most especially the gospel. All weekend long I just tried to imagine how different my life would be without the gospel. The majority of both sides of our families are not LDS and boy...life is sure a whole lot HARDER without the clear-cut counsel of latter-day prophets. I came away from this weekend with a new determination to hold stronger to my beliefs. (And I kicking myself for NOT getting a picture of David! UGH!!!)
On Friday, the kids were a bit stir-crazy so we headed out for the "March Field Air Museum." This museum was really amazing and very "hands-on" for the the kids. We had a great time:
And just to sum up our weekend...Chris's uncle and aunt have a "Smart Car." Well OF COURSE we had to drive it!!! Every errand we gladly volunteered for just to drive this beauty:) If ONLY I could fit 4 kids in there.....
For Thanksgiving we headed out to California this year to celebrate the holiday with Chris' uncle and aunt--J.D. and Paulette. Donna drove out with us on Tuesday night because we had big plans of hitting Legoland the day before Thanksgiving. It was a PERFECT day--65-70 degrees all day--and we had a fabulous time in a not-too-crowded park. The last time we came here (about 3 years ago) the boys hadn't hit the "Lego" phase yet so they didn't appreciate all the structures as much. This time all the kids were "WOWED" but this place. The boys now want to work at Legoland when they grow up--in the construction area. How fun would it be to play with legos all day right?!
We spent the entire day there--from open to close. We did NOT bring a stroller this time and Tatum was a champ:) Ahhh...no more strollers for us:) Oh happy days:)
Carlie and I were "Matchers" on this day:)
RIDES! RIDES! RIDES!!! We actually got Ethan on a few roller coasters this time! We're slowly curing him of his "roller coaster allergy:)"
The Meekers are HUGE HUGE HUGE fans of "Veggie Tales" and have been since Carlie was a baby. All of our kids have grown up watching the videos and LOVING the music--Phil Vischer and Mike Naworki (the creators) are GENIUS! Even today, in all my carpooling, the kids ALWAYS ask for "Veggie Tales"--yes...even the 6th graders in my CTA carpool:)
So anyways, I just happened to see an ad for a new Christian book store opening up right near our home and that Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber were going to be there!!! We had a million things going on today BUT we made SURE that we would be there to meet Bob and Larry!!! So here we are meeting a couple of our personal heros:) (YES!!! Chris and I were equally as excited to get our picture taken with them:)
This is only the BIGGEST holiday for the Meeker family! It's probably because our #3 kid is absolutely CRAZY about costumes and anything to do with spookiness:) To Max, everyday is Halloween and he wants to be "Jack Skellington" when he grows up. We had all our decorations out by September 15--that's as long as the kids would let me hold off:)
We had our "Spooky Town" up--that we add a new piece to every year (this year it was the train--the R.I.P Railroad:)
Pumpkins are a MUST! The kids always get first pick at their Papa Frank's pumpkin patch in NM--pumpkins are his main crop:) Not many people know that Chris is an AMAZING artist--he won several art contests in high school--and so he and the kids scour the internet searching for their PERFECT pumpkin design. Chris then pulls out a few power tools--electric saw and dremmel--and creates the most amazing works of art!!!
Pumpkin cleaning:
The Pumpkin Master (in a pink apron?!?!):
Carlie's Pumpkin:
Ethan's Pumpkin:
Max's Pumpkin:
Tatum's Pumpkin:
All 4 of dad's masterpieces:
Here's my kiddos all decked out:
Carlie: Dead Prom Queen
Ethan: Howler
Max: Wicked Jester
Tatum: a CUTE black kitty
I had a little bit of a sad realization this year....Carlie wanted to go Trick-or-Treating with her friends INSTEAD of us:( Oh well...bring on the teenage years:( All good. She went Trick-or-Treating with one of her best friends, Maddie J.B. Just look at these BEAUTIFUL girls!!! The other 3 stuck with good ol' mom and dad:)
Tatum rode her bike from house to house:
Here's the boys with all their loot:
Suddenly Max shouts out: "HEY!!! I got a text from GOD!" And yes...sure enough, some weirdo decided to hand out these Christian/inspirational booklets instead of candy!!! I'm gonna watch out for that next year:) And what did Max's text say? "cmndmnt 10: dnt ogle ur bff"s m8 or stuff. myob." TRANSLATION: Commandment 10:Don't oggle your best friend's mate or stuff. Mind your own business." I'm guessing this suppose to be "Don't covet your neighbor's spouse." SERIOUSLY?!?! WHO has time to create this stuff?!?! So here are my confused boys:
This is the Meeker family residing in beautiful, sunny Chandler, AZ. Chris and I have 4 beautiful kids: Carlie (23), Ethan (21), Maxwell (18), and Tatum (16). Thanks for stopping by:)
