thanksgiving ot'seven

so this year was the year to have everyone invade so cal and our house. the hunsakers and remaining heathfield laner's came down via the motor home and a 20 hour trip, being capped off by some rush our traffic. they got here Tuesday night.

Wednesday morning josh and i took the kids (makenzie, damon and ethan) to Disneyland. Rachel came along for the ride gratis and so did jean. we ended up getting on most of the rides that we wanted to.

part of the fun of taking the kids is to see how they react to the characters as well as the rides. one of the places that ethan loves is Mickeys toon town. there at goofy's house you can play in his backyard, there are slides, things to climb on, jump off and just let some energy out. one of the the funniest things that i have ever seen happened here. ethan loves the fact that there is a leaky hose that squirts up water, Ethan likes to fill his mouth up and spit it out. not only does he recycle the water but he guards that feature from all of the other kids in the area with his little lobster pinch. damon saw what was going on and got in on the action. well Damon does not believe in the "dispose of the water in your mouth before leaving the hose area." so damon would walk around with the water, cheeks to capacity. so i am over by the hose area and i loose track of where damon is at for a moment. i look over to the slide to see a man wiping something from his face and shirt. then i hear him say "that kid just spit on me." i am not sure, just then i see damon pop his head out and in that instance i put it together as damon goes down the slide, runs over to the hose and refills. i felt kinda bad not going over and apologizing but i was laughing too hard. don't get in damons way.
towards the end of the night we ended up over near space mountain waiting to see if the line would die down. after grabbing something to eat we were next this giant marble ball. it is 1000 pounds and floats on water. it spins around. josh and i kept slowing it down and spinning it in the opposite direction. our sons had a different idea of what would be fun to do with this giant rock that was constantly wet. ethan and damon would disappear to the opposite side of the ball that we were on and then lick the ball. they would stand there with their tongues extended and just lick it as it went around. by the end their shirts were soaked.
being down here around Hollywood, not that Perris is just over the hill from all of the studios but there is always the chance that you will see some stars. at Disneyland i have seen Ricky Schroder, and a few other not so famous people. but today was to be different we rode on the tea cups with Heidi Klum and her kids. her husband, Seal, was on the side taking photos. i wish that i would have been more attentive to snap up some paparazzi type pictures, but the only ones that i got were not too clear of them. in each of these pictures they are in them, or one of them is in them, just in case you were wondering. they had their faces painted up, so you could not recognize them right off. later that day i ran into some friends from BYUH who were visiting from Vegas.
on Thursday we did the turkey bowl at the park, only to relive the memories of that over the next few days, they were whisked away with the wintergreen smell and some icy hot, getting old stinks. cherisse and i, and we took the kids, went down to the storrs for thanksgiving down there while the rest of the dyers went out to long beach. it was fun to see the monsons and the rest of the gang.
Friday morning we decided that we were going to have thanksgiving with the dyers today. a few jetted out to see if they could find some black Friday deals. Adrian went and picked up luke who flew into Ontario. then the boys took the kids over to the march air museum, but before we stopped by the perris fair grounds to check out the kart racing. after looking at all of the displays inside we then went to look at all of the planes outside. the wind was blowing harder than my sister trying to save a buck on a sandwich in London. Claire and Emily were nice enough to take the kids back to the motor home. we then fought the dust storm to see all the planes. later that day we had the turkey with all of the fixings. i liked it because it seemed like there was the right amount of food, not overdone like the typical dyer thanksgiving. that may have been because my fridge was not bulging with leftovers until 2008.
so once the dishwasher was loaded the guys hopped in the white sienna and rode off west to the LA convention center to check out the auto show. the la auto show is one of the largest in the world. some of the highlights were the concept cars, the $1,000,000 lambo Reventón, the nissan g-tr, Aston Martin’s V-8 Vantage N400, the ferrari's, the $350.000 volvo (why), mercedes, and the Porsche display. old man dyer was amazed that there were no Studebaker's, spend most of his time checking out the Fords, Chevy's and the new Dodge mini-van, and left the show with the most free stuff. he also spent the most time schmoozing and asking questions like, "what is a scion? Dr. heder told me about that i think." afterwards we went in a long search of the Hollywood sign, only to find out that it was not lighted. the evening was capped off by driving by celebrity houses off of sunset. you know that you are not in turner anymore when someone does not have room in their garage, and has to park the Ferrari on the curb in front of their house.
7 am on Saturday morning some early risers kicked off the first ever dyer family fun run. i will have to post the results later. everyones favorite post run highlight was watching ashton burn up the asphalt.
later on we attempted to take family pictures which was mainly a battle of keeping the little boys out of the water and mud. good times trying to organize the brood to get some quality shots in the late afternoon. that night the condensed milk challenge was scratched but the 2007 ping-pong champion was crowned, Luke.
Sunday everyone was up early to make it to church, 8:30 am, and for tessa's baby blessing. cherisse's family sent the precedent by being there 45 minutes and they dyers rolled in to the chapel just in time. afterwards we headed back to our place for some food and to help pack up those who were driving back to OR and UT.

i would just like to say thanks for the help, time, effort, and the memories of this family function. thanks.

claire's new crib

Quick blurb from the Rexburg cold front:

I moved between semesters, and I think it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. My roommates know how to do the dishes AND clean up after themselves! Sure, I have to share a room, and when it's really cold, our windows freeze over and we draw on them from the inside -- but it's close to campus, has a washer and dryer, and 3x as spacious. The house came with this pretty sweet hairdresser's chair -- one arm is broke, but we've taken to spinning in it, and then jumping on a bottle or something relatively small (see "see spinning chair" pictures 1-4) We have learned to not play this game after eating. I live with 2 RMs (one went to Milano, Italy, and the other went to Chile) a girl from some boone-dock town in Idaho (Imagine Jefferson, subtract about 500 people and the excessive crack/heroin problem), A girl from Star Valley, Wyoming, and another girl from.. a bunch of places.

Other news outside the house, I quit my telemarketing job because I couldn't keep up with a 12 hour workload there, and a full school load (condensed actually because of the shorter semester) and a weekend job. So yeah, bye bye surveys. But then the very next weekend the restaurant I waitressed at said they were closing, so now I'm an unemployed hobo. I am surprisingly not to bent over this, and have kept a strong facade of optimism.

Well.. that's it.

And there's a picture of Damon in there with a long board.

cousins

here are some pictures from the Gilbert house that was a huge hit with the kids as they were able to go shopping and interact with a bunch of different things. also at the entrance there is a huge wooden chair that served for some funny pictures.
the slide was a big hit for the kids to play on and to fall off of. as time went on they got a lot more daring as to the approaches as to how to go down it. i think overall the kids played well together and there were a few moments of discipline but overall it went well. damon was nice enough to share his house and toys with makenzie and ethan. ethan had never seen so many big trucks and boy toys. and to think that this is just the beginning of the crew that will run around the house in the future.

damon-isms

"red bowls are for ladies"
i told him this when there were only two choices of bowls sky blue and red. he then hit the record button and said it to molly the next morning. i may have been accused of corrupting the little people's vocabulary but this might just be the worst it has been.

"uncle autin funny"
thanks to all of the little people who enjoy my humor. i know that is my intended audience and so at least i have, or had one fan in turner.
"uncle autin smell like cap"
i think that poppy papa put him up to this one. molly said that when he has a load in his diaper molly tells him he smells like crap but maybe he just put two and toot together and ripped that one off. hey not offended i sometimes do.
"dump truck dump out dirt pieces"
when asked how he built his house
"dead, dying"
goldfish, it was never 'it died" or "they're dying" he'd just say "dead, dying"
"one cup wata' and one cup baking powda'-sugar"
hmm.. when we were playing with the Easy Bake mixing station he told me that we needed to add "one cup wata' and one cup baking powda'-sugar."

D(damon) construction management

looks like that task master damon is making sure that things are going to plan. if you ask me or any other one of the eight he should head on over to heathfield lane and start putting some butts in gear to get some projects done. here he is taking after old man dyer and collecting every little scrap of wood to make sure that it will be put to some use, whether as a door stop or as a contribution to keep the family warm during the winter months. each time that i have conversed with deadline deamon he has talked about the "job site." now i know where he spends most of his time.

mollys photo captions:
Some of you may have already heard from Damon, but this is the cherished Boom Lift that he got to go "Higher and Higher" on.
let the building begin.
Adrian is thinking, "Yes young Damon, collect all the scrap wood and one day you too will have enough to build a home. Yes... excellent!

joel and damon 1

joel and damon 2