Nickle City

We took the kids to Nickle city to play arcade and laser tag.  I'm not sure who had the most fun.     

Thanksgiving

The day started with a workout. Some people went running and some to crossfit.  Then we had a big brunch at my house with homemade cinnamon rolls and a burrito bar.  Then dinner at my parent's house.  Then the annual arm wrestling competition followed by deserts at Kami's house.  I love Thanksgiving.  I love spending time with family hanging out and chatting and eating and relaxing. 

Happy Thanksgiving

It was another great Thanksgiving this year.  George, Sherry, Danny and Mark all came in town this year and Steve and his family went to California this year. So 9 of the 10 of us were here which was a blast.  Dinner was delicious with lots and lots of food. 

Clark eating his very first Thanksgiving Feast of sweet potatoes

There were 6 tables set up and everyone wore this years new shirt

Parker is so cute eating his feast

Me & Sherry

I love all the little ones eating at their own tables.

After dinner was over it was time for the annual arm wrestling contest

 Trent held onto his title for another year

With Heidi gone it's hard to say who holds the girls title....

The little kids love to join in on the fun too

Danny and I had to help them a lot

Tayson beat Luke this year - but Luke gave him a good run for his money

Carlee beat Audrey

Kenadi beat Emma

George beat Cody

Old man farmer strength is amazing!!

Sophie and Ella beat Cody :)

We all sat around chatting a lot. 

Sweet baby Hyrum with all his hair was so good all weekend. 

 Typical me - on my phone.

The boys played a lot of ping pong

Nice photo bomb Cody!

I love this holiday.  It is my favorite holiday of the year.  We get a 4 day weekend, we eat, shop and don't have the stress of buying presents.  I love how relaxing it is and how much time is spent with family.  Every year as my kids get older it just keeps getting better.  Todd even said this year he played more computer than he has since going to Spokane.  I have so much to be thankful for and am truly blessed.

Thanksgiving Morning

This is the first time in 5 years we haven't done the Earn Your Turkey run.  I got so busy I didn't make it to the running store to get signed up and the cost of day of registration was $40 a person for a 4 mile run so it just wasn't worth it. So instead we just went on a run together.  We all started together but then broke into smaller groups. I ran 5 miles with Cody and Kami - it was so fun running with them. 

Then we had brunch at my house.  Kami made a delicious egg & sausage casserole and we had a crepe bar.  George and Ginger made all the crepes for me - sweet!  The crepes were delicious.  My favorite combo was Greek Yogurt with cherry pie filling or homemade peach jam.  The tart and sweet combo was perfect.

Thanksgiving Prep

On the day before Thanksgiving it's go time.  I might not host Thanksgiving but there is still lots of food to buy and make and parties to plan.  I love it!  I had so many groceries that it took 2 carts.  Good thing Tayson came to help me shop - I'm pretty sure Sophie (my usual shopping buddy) couldn't push a cart to the car.  Ha.

I made 4 pans of Spaghetti Pie for Wednesday's dinner, 3 deserts for Thanksgiving night, and did a crepe bar for brunch on Thanksgiving morning.  It all turned out great and I ate way too much food before, during and after!

The Turkey Trot

Four years ago we added a new tradition to our Schultz Family Thanksgiving - the Earn Your Turkey 4 mile run on Thanksgiving morning.  There is a 4 mile run, a 2 mile walk and kids races.  The first year we did it we had shirts made and everyone did the race.  We had about 40 people in the race and 9 of the 10 kids did the race (Mark was on his mission).  I think we walked away with 4 or 5 turkeys that year.  I love starting off Thanksgiving with this race!!

This year only a few of us did it.  And I actually won my age group this year at 29:31.9.  Too bad we left right after the race and I didn't stay to pick up my turkey.  I ran the fastest I've ever run the race (7:30 pace).  It was 40 degrees this year which helped.  Timmy ran with me the whole time and then out sprinted me at the end.  I was so mad at him.  If you run together you finish together!!  

When I finished I ran back to meet Heidi and ran in her last mile with her.  It made me so happy that she was running.  She ran 3 of the 4 miles!!  The last time she ran consistently was when I made her train and do an Olympic distance triathlon.  A few months ago when I signed up for the Utah Valley Marathon Heidi signed up for the half marathon.  I LOVE IT!!  

All the runners at the finish.

Cody, George, Heidi, Timmy, Me, Danny, Kenadi, Todd

Carlee & Lexie

Feats of Strength

It wouldn't be a Schultz Thanksgiving without feats of strength. It all started with Trevor and Danny arm wrestling...after Danny got called out. Danny won. Then we moved on. I'm not sure all the battles that happened - but Danny was dethroned as family champion by Trent. I'm pretty sure he'll be ready for next year :)

Steve and Alex.
This battle was crazy - it went on forever and no one ever won. Steve had Alex to within and inch from the floor 75% of the time but couldn't ever finish him off. It finally ended in a draw.

George vs. Mark
George won again with his "old man farmer strength".

Mark and Trevor did a push-up contest - it had to end when Trevor threw up a little in his mouth due to a few too many pieces of dessert. Those 2 boys were crazy - I couldn't believe how many push-ups they could do and so many clapping ones too.

Then Trent said something to Todd so I challenged him. It was a tough battle and it took both my arms, my knee and some help from Roman and Timmy - but I finally beat Trent!

Other fun family games we played this weekend: ping pong, volleyball, cranium, werewolves and lots and lots and lots of computer gaming.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Of course my camera was out of batteries on Thanksgiving...thank goodness my phone has a camera. This year we had a huge group for Thanksgiving. Everyone was here except Sherry's family and Ginger and Kelly from our side and Christine's family came too so we had 50+ people for dinner. Beforehand we decided to split up the day. We did appetizers at my house at 11:30, then dinner at my parent's house at 3:00, then dessert at Christine's house that night. It was nice to spread out the preparation and clean up as well as move the chaos around a bit.

Here are the appetizers I served:

George actually raised a turkey for dinner this year. He asked my dad if he wanted him to bring it in a cage or a cooler. HA! He brought it in a cooler thank goodness. It was a nice big tasty turkey.

I made them pose with their used-to-be pet

George carving his turkey

Christine's delicious dessert spread....it was sooooo good.