Moving in and Thanksgiving

This week started off with getting our household goods! The base allows you free hours of childcare at the CDC (not center for disease control as Denver calls it, but Child Development Center). So at 8 we dropped off the 2 nonschool aged kids to be watched while we received our stuff. The movers got to our home at 8:30. There were about 15 of them! They first took out all our loaner furniture and then unloaded the crates with our things. They had everything where we wanted it and the beds set up by 10:30!!!!! That was fast. We have never had such a good experience with movers. After they left, we had tons of time to take things out of boxes and put them where they belonged. It was soooo nice.

They set up all the beds, which was good because that would've taken us more time and we just wanted to get as much done as we could before kids got home from school.


Needless to say we were EXHAUSTED Tuesday evening, but we got alot done. We finally got to sleep in our own bed and I've slept like a baby ever since! I love our comfortable bed. By Saturday afternoon, the whole house was unpacked and put together, except for wall pictures.

Wednesday morning I ran the turkey trot. I really wanted to run the 10K, but I've changed my shoes to the barefoot shoes and you're not supposed to run as much and you're supposed to increase your mileage slowly. So, I opted for the 5K. We ran on the boardwalk along the beach. It was so beautiful. The first mile and a 1/2 the wind (which was super strong) was against us. The way back was much better! I beat the turkey and got a personal best of 27:57.

Here we are at the beginning of the race, waiting to start.
Running in past the finish line. It's blurry and I was talking to the people at the finish and pointing behind me, not trying to do a crazy pose.
Friends of ours, Levi and Kim Davis ran it too. Other friends ran it too, but we had to get back home quickly so Denver could get to work before 9 and see his patient, which we found out too late that he could've cancelled and stayed longer because this was a base event. Oh well.
Wednesday at 1ish we had a Thanksgiving potluck with the Dental flight. Once that was over, we were all free to go enjoy our 4 day weekend.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We ate and ate and ate. It was all delicious. Denver carving the turkey with his electric knife I think his brother gave to him. We have loved that knife, it makes carving turkeys a piece of cake.
Our Thanksgiving spread: Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, corn/green beans, deviled eggs, candied yams, carrots/celery and dip, jello and pies (apple, pumpkin, and cheesecake). Oh and we can't forget the drink, which we discovered this year. Egg nog and ginger ale, mixed equally, topped with nutmeg. Our new traditional Thanksgiving (and probably Christmas) beverage.


Friday after Thanksgiving the kids got to ride their bikes and scooters! They had been waiting so long to ride them. This is Sterling on his new birthday bike which he got in Illinois before his birthday right before we moved, but finally got to ride 3 months after his birthday.

Following tradition, we set up our Christmas tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving.

Ta Da!
Maelie and Garrett got to break the wishbone.
And Garrett won. This picture was staged. Denver wanted a sad Maelie and a happy Garrett. But, Maelie was bummed because Garrett won last year too, according to her.
Saturday we went to District conference in Angra. The Mission leader came from Portugal to speak at it. I really felt out of my comfort bubble. Everything was in Portuguese and since we were the ones visiting their country, we listened to headphones while the missionaries translated. They didn't have enough head sets for our kids so they had to just sit and listen in Portuguese. I kind of felt bad for them, because I know they do listen, but there was nothing we could do. We did let them wear ours for awhile so they could hear how it was done. It was really a neat experience for us. I loved singing the hymns in Portuguese with the Portuguese people. During the hymns was when I felt like we were unified. I didn't pronounce all the words correctly, but I learned quickly. Being immersed in the language like that would be the only way to really learn it well. It was really neat. Because we had District Conference on Saturday, we only had one hour (sacrament meeting) of church today.

Saturday after the conference Denver and Maelie went to a Daddy Daughter Dance sponsored on base. We transformed her baptism dress into a Christmas dress and she wore that. They had tons of fun eating and dancing. They danced the macarena, YMCA, chicken dance and much more. The last song of the evening was butterfly kisses. Denver told me that Maelie started off timid and didn't really dance, but by the end they were dancing, sweating, and having a good time. They were worn out when they got home. They took a picture of each couple and gave it to them in a frame before the dance was over.


Sunday nap on our comfy couch. Denver fell asleep reading his book and Sterling had to lay on Dad. We had a great weekend and I'm not so sure I'm ready to start a new week just yet. It was so nice to have our family together and home and to enjoy our many blessings!