Happy Thanksgiving!

Jayna came home on Wednesday for Thanksgiving!  But since she got up at 3:30 a.m. to make her flight, an afternoon nap was inevitable.

 

 

 

Introducing Jedediah "Jed" the Jeep!

Jayna's new four-wheel drive car for the snow.

She particularly likes the red-neck lights on the top.  :)

 

Going for a test drive.

 

 

A pre-Thanksgiving-meal nap.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

Yummy pie and gluten free chocolate cake while watching . . .

The Santa Clause!!!

 

 

The No-Shave November Bishopric.  Hmmmm.

Brother Call (First Counselor), Brother Mitchell (Second Counselor), Brother Walzman (High Councilor), Dad, and Brother Trent (Ward Clerk).

 

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Decorating the tree.

 

 

Jayna was sick with a very bad headache.  :(

 

Ta da!

 

As we all know, decorating the tree with Joshua is always interesting.

He always insists on putting all tree ornaments with bells at the very, very bottom of the tree.  His theory?  The bells protect the presents.  If anyone tries to steal the presents, we will hear the bells ring and be able to catch them. 

 

 

This year he created an "animal corner."  All the ornaments that are animals or have animals on them now occupy one strip of the tree from top to bottom.

 

And there's another place for all our "recreational" Santas. 

 

But his favorite is where he placed the scary clown chasing the runner.  He thinks if the clown catches the runner he will beat him with the small Christmas tree in his hand.  Bwhaha!

 

 

When the kids were asleep, I'd usually go back and moved the ornaments around a little bit.  I think I'll leave them the way they are this year.

 

Mississippi Madness!

My trip to Mississippi!

I got to go help Michelle a little bit before she and the girls left for San Antonio.

 

Hugs from my favorite girls!

 

 

 

I promised Afton I would bring a coloring book and fruit snacks with me.

 

 

 

What do you do when most of the toys are packed away?

Tackle Grandma!

 

 

After we cleaned out the bottom cupboards, Eliza loved getting into them . . .

 

. . . until she bonked her head!

 

 

In about two minutes I taught Eliza to raise her arms high when I ask her "How big is Eliza?"  Then, when she raised her arms, I would say, "Soooo big!"

 

 

 

I wish I had gotten more pictures--especially of Michelle pulling away from their house driving their truck, packed to the max, and pulling a 12-foot trailer!  But things were a little crazy!

 

But this is my favorite Instagram picture of Eliza while they were traveling!

I can't stop laughing at this!

 

 

 

Let me just say, despite all the challenges and difficulties, Michelle was amazing!  She was so organized and handled all the stress magnificently.  I still can't believe she accomplished all she did and drove herself and the girls all the way to San Antonio.   

 

But, as with all difficult journeys in our lives, we don't accomplish great things on our own.  I love what Michelle posted the evening she got to San Antonio and wanted to share it.

 

"If you want to be blown away by the goodness of mankind, read this post. We (Michelle and our two girls) made it to San Antonio safe and sound. I don't normally post much on Facebook, but I really want to say thank you to so many people. I'm not going to tag anyone because I know they didn't do it for recognition, and some of them I don't even know their names. THANK YOU to everyone who watched my girls so I could have some more productive packing time. THANK YOU to the people letting us store a bunch of stuff at their house while we are gone. THANK YOU to the people who have come multiple times to help us move things. THANK YOU to everyone who let me do laundry at their house after my washer and dryer were in storage. THANK YOU to everyone who came and helped me get most of our possessions into storage, and even those who ran to the grocery store to get cookies and juice for all the helpers. THANK YOU to everyone who checked in on me periodically and asked how I was doing. THANK YOU to the person who helped cleaned most of my house. THANK YOU to those who called me the morning before the move to see what they could do, helped me pick up my trailer and get it backed into my driveway, stayed at my house almost all day packing, loading, cleaning, running to storage, and more loading until 11pm. THANK YOU to those who helped me keep reality in check. THANK YOU to those who stopped by just because they had a spare moment to see what they could do to help. THANK YOU to my mom for coming into town to help even though I told her no. THANK YOU to the people who took her to the airport. THANK YOU to the person who paused his morning run to help us get our heavy trailer hitched onto our truck. THANK YOU to all those helping us tie up loose ends we left as we departed amidst chaos. THANK YOU to the sweet couple in Starkville who followed me out to my car to offer to pay for my daughters' lunches when they noticed I couldn't find my wallet. THANK YOU to the manager at Wendy's who gave me the meals for free anyways and all the employees who helped that happen, including the one who chased me back out to the parking lot. THANK YOU to the honest person who found my wallet in the Chevron parking lot and turned it in. THANK YOU to the kind gentleman who, upon our return to Wendy's to attempt to pay for our food (manager still insisted it was covered), approached me and offered to pay for gas or something because he noticed we were traveling and saw what had happened earlier. THANK YOU to the multiple people who stopped in the Walmart parking lot who stopped to offer their help while I was sitting on top of our truck covering up our things with a new and bigger tarp and applying straps and bungee cords while my girls sat in a shopping cart and watched. THANK YOU to the friend of a friend for helping me find a safe and comfortable hotel and booking it for us. THANK YOU to the friend who made the effort to find a connection to a hotel for us. THANK YOU to the nice lady at the hotel who kept an eye on my girls while I got all checked in, and the nice couple who helped me get that one bag I just couldn't keep a handle on to my room. THANK YOU to the people who helped me relocate our two-year-old after she made a mad dash out of the continental breakfast area. THANK YOU to Ty's cousins who I'd never met before who put us up for a night and gave us great food and company. THANK YOU to my great college friend who fed us lunch today and whose daughters became instant friends with mine. THANK YOU to my new neighbors who helped me unhitch the trailer from the truck and gave me directions to the nearest grocery store. THANK YOU to all my family and friends for all of their words of support and encouragement over the last three weeks. THANK YOU to the dozens and dozens of offers for help I was either unable or too stubborn to accept. THANK YOU to the Savior for making this trying time both humbling and empowering, making me stronger than I thought I was, but also humbling me by the goodness of Him and His servants. God is good. People are good. I am so incredibly blessed. THANK YOU.

 

While I was in Mississippi, Josh worked very hard removing our kitchen cabinet doors and sanding down the cabinet frames.  Thank you, son!

 

 

Dallin's Pictures - November 17th

Monday night, i had a ton of fruit salad, with a ton of different fruits. It was good, it was with our pensionista who is the best and her daughter.

 

 

This is a hamburger that you can buy on the streets. That little super skinny thing on the bottom is the meat haha, it has salad and french fries and a lot of sauce.

 

 

 

 This is where we play soccer usually.

A Day in the Life

A Day in the Life of the Pages

November 14th, 2014

 

Dad:  You can't tell by this picture, but I'm at the Pikes Peak Center attending the Mannheim Steamrollers Christmas concert.

 

 

 

Mom:  I'm having lunch with two of my dearest friends, Pam Jarvis and Jackie Aldrich.  We used to all live in the same neighborhood.  But even though they've moved away, we still get together for birthday lunches.

 

 

 

Ty:  I'm at the mall in Spokane.  (Ty is in Spokane for three weeks for military training.)

 

 

 

Michelle:  A laundry-folding party in my bare house with Jack Bauer. (They are getting ready to move to San Antonio.)

 

 

 

Afton:  Family movie night watching "Dusty Grasshopper."

 

 

Eliza:  Having good dreams during nap time.

 

 

Josh:  Getting the cabinets ready to sand tomorrow!

 

 

Elizabeth:  All ready for movie night. 

 

 

Jayna:  Today I cleaned my bathroom.  This is all the hair I picked up off the floor.  Living with five other girls is kinda disgusting sometimes. 

 

 

 

Dallin:  My new soccer shoes. 

 

Dallin's Pictures - November 10

Salchipapa with a fried egg, i love stuff that has fried egg in it now.

 

 

This was the house we needed to go to, there was also one (dog) around the corner, then when we left, there were 11.

 

 

Dont make fun of me Josh and Dad, but i got some soccer shoes, they're 10 bucks haha.

 

 

 

It was the 30th anniversary of the colegio or high school so there was a huge party and a ton of dancing. i have a video but i cant send it.

Once a Year

Well, it's finally here . . . the day, once a year, when the Page children can use the word "suck" and technically not get in trouble with Mom.  (And yes, I had a hard time typing it, too.)  It's the annual leaf-raking day where the kids get to use the vacuum to "suck" up the leaves.

 

Josh and Elizabeth worked hard and did a fantastic job!

 

 

Eight large bags stuffed to the max!