Friday, November 30, 2012

Thanksgiving in Arizona

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday down in Arizona with my family this year.
Ashley and Brooke flew down and meet up with us there for 5 days of fun 
with my dad and my siblings and their families that live in the valley. 
 It was so good to spend time with my dad and you just can't beat that warm Arizona weather in November!
On Wednesday, we went over to watch my nephews, Josh and Zach run in their school's turkey trot.
Zach was very happy to see his grandpa and happy to pose for a picture with him.
 Here is Zachary and his classmates at the start line.  
 And the first graders at Ryan Elementary are off and running.  
They had the kids going between the backstop and the brown pole on the right at the beginning of the course.
Unfortunately, a few of the kids weren't paying attention and ran right into the brown pole, taking it head on.
I'm not quite sure why they had the course routed that way and 
it actually took more than just a few kids running into the pole
before they decided to change the course and have them run around the brown poles.
 It was a long course for these little first graders 
so by the end, Zach was just casually walking to the finish line.
And then as soon as he crossed the finish line he stopped and posed for a photo.
 Josh on the other hand, was not messing around at all.
Here he is crouching at the starting line, totally into it, anticipating the start of the race.
 And there he goes.
While Josh is racing, Grandpa is strolling around the blacktop with cousin Tammy's little boy, Brody.
 Aren't they cute?
And here comes Josh as the finish line in a full on sprint,
 passing this little girl on his left.
And then he was happy to pose for a photo with Grandpa, Brody and me.
Early Thanksgiving morning, these three participated in the Mesa Turkey Trot.
Dad and Ashley ran the 2 mile while Brooke ran the 10 K.
Grandpa came to watch the kids.
He was such a good sport getting up that early, waiting around
 and walking all over the course to see the girls and Mark run the race.
These two are the best of buddies!
And they are off!
When we spot Ashley and Dad in the mass of runners,  
Ashley realizes that she is on the wrong side for photos, 
she crosses over about 5 lanes of traffic to say "hi!" to us and pose for pictures!
Yep!  Those are my 2 milers!  You can see that it is all about the photos this race!
Don't worry... Ash only took our a couple of little runners making her way over to us!
SO excited to see her momma and Brooke cheering her on!
One more thumbs up as she passes us!  
I think for a moment Ash forgot that she was running a race.
And here they coming around the last turn, heading to the finish line.
Ash having way too much fun with her dad.
And Ash and Dad sprinting to the finish line.
These two were very proud of the red "participant" ribbons that they earned!  
Nice job!
And of course, this kind of award deserves a "lunge" photo!
Meanwhile, this little turkey was warming up for the 10k 
and found another turkey that was trotting that day.
And the 10k has started and Brooke is the one with pink shoes near the front of the pack.
Here comes Brooke with this guy trying to chase her down.
Love the pink skort and the matching pink shoes!
Look sharp, run fast!
Brooke as she passed us.
And here comes Brooke on the last leg of the race. 
Notice the same guy behind her... he is still chasing her!
Grandpa wore his BYU shirt because he wanted to match Brooke
just like Dad and Ashley were matching too.
Grandpa with his turkey trotters after both races!
And so was Dad.
Grandpa loves his Ashley.
The little girls pose for a lunge photo together!
Cute!
Love my little girls!
The prize for winning your age group is a frozen turkey.
Brooke and Dad went over to the table to check out the turkeys 
and decide which one Brooke would pick out when they announce her age group.
On their way back, from inspecting the turkeys, a little tiny girl that was probably 9, maybe 10 years old,
 came up to Brooke, pulled on her shirt and asked her "how old are you?"
  Brooke told her she was 19 years old and the little girl excitedly said, "YES!" and ran away.
Brooke and I looked at each other and started laughing hysterically
 because we both knew that she must have ran really fast
 and thought that she probably won for her age group but then saw Brooke picking out her turkey
 and worried that Brooke just might be in her age group.  
Yep!  Brooke's age group was 16-19 and the next age group down is 9-15. 
 She thought that Brooke might be 15 years old!  The story of Brooke's life!
Even in Brooke's moment of glory, she is quickly put back in her place:)!
The Bear (or should we say turkey that day) and her dad having a moment after the race.
And Brooke is presented with a turkey at the awards ceremony.
Ash couldn't be prouder of Brooke and her turkey!
Like Sonya said on Instagram, "Brooke will run for money or food!"
After the successful Turkey trot, we took our pumpkin and brown bag apple pies 
over to my sister Susan's house and joined all the other family in town for Thanksgiving dinner.
I'm embarrassed and kind of ashamed to say that I didn't even pull my camera out that afternoon. 
I think I was just a little tuckered out from the turkey trot:)!
But we had a fun time with everyone and really appreciate Susan hosting dinner!
On Friday, we met up with our dear friends the Scott family at BJ's.
Brady and Karen were some of the first people that we met when we moved to Granite Bay 22 years ago.
Kari was my main baby sitter and she LOVED these two girls.
When Brooke was a newborn baby and I was a bit overwhelmed with five little ones,
 Kari would offer to take Ashley at church and then take her home with her to play.
Those two had so much fun together and have kept in touch after all these years!
It was a fun reunion and we enjoyed every minute with the entire Scott clan!
Brady and Karin.  Wish these two still lived in Granite Bay.
We sure miss them and their kids!
We got to meet Arin's new husband, Sean.  Aren't they an adorable couple?!
That is Molly, Kari's little girl, that is sitting on Arin's lap.  I don't want to start any rumors:)!
Arin and Kimber were cheerleaders at Cavitt Jr. high together 
and Karin and I had so much fun going to all the games and competitions together.
The entire Scott family and my sweet dad with us that day!
Afterward lunch, we met up with my other siblings at the movie theater
 to see "Lincoln" which I thought was excellent and so did my dad!
It was a wonderful trip spending time with my dad and family in Arizona!

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