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.

Gems from the basement

Some classics unearthed from the basement.

I am not full of wit at the moment. But if anyone wants to add captions with some humor for these pictures, feel free.

Classic Dyer family photo.

2 words
lauren's glasses!
dad's stash!









The front door.
A) Mom and dad were hoping one of the kids would walk out the front door and disappear, one less mouth to feed.
B) This will show those crazy 7th Day Adventists from knocking on our door!

"thanks for showing us what the super vacuum does but we are not interested, let me show you out the door."
"we have all of this candy and no one comes to trick-or-treat"
notice the flowers to hide the fact that there is a huge pit just on the other side
"why don't you invite your friends over to play?"

Us Dyer kids sure do know how to have us some fun.

Claire is happy to be on this ride.
nobody told us that we needed snow to ride on the sled.
notice all of the rocks and other potential dangers that OSHA would have a hay day with.
another one of austin's games for everyone to participate.
pre thrill-ville
"don't worry Claire i have a good grip around your neck, you will be fine"

Styles for potential mocking

that is what i wore last night when i went down to Disneyland with makenzie and ethan.
this picture was probably taken right after the gates opened, did not want to miss a minute of "happiest place on earth"
8 kids @ Disneyland, what a bold adventure for mom and dad to take us on
i think Luke still has those shorts, ask Greta

As portrayed in this picture, mom does not only pick her own nose, her children's noses, pop pimples, but also extracts the boogies from all of nature.

another one for moms "being funny" portfolio
they don't have moose in england
with a little hollandaise sauce, brown sugar carrots, these things are a delicacy in eastern Africa and we can have them for thanksgiving
just another nostril that mom can check off her list
this was the 35th nose that mom violated in the animal museum that day

Ahh.. no words..

must not have been heathfield lane, i see grass
the first time that Lauren and April started fighting
largely unknow child #9 that lives in the basement with 4 legs, 2 butts, and 2 arms
i know for sure that this is not Luke and Austin, well maybe

squinting

you can see in this picture that there is a distinct difference in the faces. here are some possible explanations as to why rachel and emily are squinting?

-is there a sand storm going on?
-did someone break wind?
-are they not use to seeing the sun out?
-doing some sort of jean impression?
-rachel hinting to all that she does not want to go to moe's for lunch but wants Ramen Ichiban
-just watched zoolander?
-trying to cover up the fact that their eyes are bloodshot.

rachel dyer

there is a rachel dyer on the BYU volleyball team. not the one that we know though.
profile of rachel dyer
getting to know rachel dyer

the oregon coast is not a beach

so here are some pictures that i found from our trip to the coast. those who could not make it i hope that seagulls come to your bed in the middle of the day and poop on your pillow.
what is better than the Oregon coast, besides any beach in Hawaii. you know that it is a coast and not the beach because there is no stripping down to any bathing suit nor getting any sun.
it was raining the whole way out to the coast and back for that matter but we pulled into this beach, roads end state recreation site, and the rain stopped. i think that was the only break in the rain all day long. so we walked around on the damp beach and tried to keep the kids dry.
Rachel kept falling down and she did not have a change of clothes so, not really how bout makenzie and Ethan. i only say this because Cherisse and i were one to one with them and Makenna was doubled up as nanna was in the car with Ashton. Luke was a little mopey but i think that was only because he missed his lady. like usual the parking lot was full of seagulls, no bread maybe next time. not much to do on the Oregon coast except walk around and take some pictures.
i would say overall it was a fun trip. we then headed up north after making the pilgrimaged to the Oregon coast outlets. hitting up the norm, gap, old navy, quiksilver, dress barn, and Columbia. (one of those does not belong, which one is it.) i think Lauren had a fun time. Rachel and Emily had a good time. i think that mom was a little bummed that we did not take her up on her deal for some safeway gas, and then held her debt card hostage for the remainder of the trip. did not make it to Mo's, but i am sure that was good like usual.