Now on to the reason for this post. Our nephew, Jimmy, is getting ready to go on his church mission to Tijuana, Mexico. This is very exciting for our family because he is the first of his generation in our extended family to go on a mission. I think this is a great opportunity for his brothers, sisters and cousins to be so close to a full-time missionary. I’m very excited for my girls to keep track of their cousin while he is on his mission. He’s a warning for Jimmy: expect lots of letters from your cousins, uncle, anut. We hope he will reciprocate.

This weekend we traveled back to Minnesota to see Jimmy off at his farewell party. There are actually three missionaries in his ward that are leaving around the same time, so they had a group party at their church building. It was a huge turnout, and the parents did not disapoint with lots of good eats.

Here is Jimmy posing with authentic Mexican items such as a piñata (of course), Mexican sodas called Boing and Jarritos, and very spicy candy (yuck). According to Jimmy’s ma he is very excited about his upcoming mission. He’s been spending lots of time with the full-time missionaries in his own ward. When Jimmy and his dad helped move us into our house this summer the full-time missionaries from our local church also helped. I could definitely see anticipation in Jimmy’s eyes as he talked to them.

This is the area of Mexico where Jimmy’s mission will cover (see the black marker lines at the top and bottom).

Sara and Jim were very busy getting ready for the party which included making 10 pans of enchiladas and a few tres leches cakes. They are very proud of their son, and they have every reason to be. He has grown into such a nice, hardworking man. The tres leches cake was so good! It’s basically white cake soaked in 3 different milks: sweetened condensed, evaporated milk, and heavy whipping cream. My seams are busting just thinking about eating another slice.

Jimmy was well-represented at the party with lots of his family in attendance including us, Uncle Dave, Uncle Jake and family, his siblings, parents, and two grandparents.

Here’s Grandma and Dylan with Annie in the background doing only what we can guess.

Aunt Stephanie claims she had to bribe Violet with her iPod to get Violet in her lap, but I know that Violet is smitten with her aunt without any coaxing.

Three peas in a pod, Mimi, Maya, and Annie.

I decided to track down Jimmy’s siblings for quick snaps.
Matt looks a little taken aback by my camera, but that’ll never stop me.

Hayley has gotten a lot more outgoing in her “old” age and hammed it right up for the camera.

This was as close as I was going to get to Paul who was busy hacky-sacking.

Mike chattin’ it up with his dad and stepmom.

We can’t forget the silly uncles.

Us old folks with the young, spry missionary.

Mimi and Daddy.

Apparently, there is a new game of tag in our family where the one who is “it” has to tag the other person on the forehead with their pointer finger for 10 seconds. Don’t ask!

We wish the best to Jimmy on his mission and are really looking forward to hearing lots of news about his adventures down there. Good luck, Jimmy!

At the museum.

Violet went missing for a couple of minutes and freaked us adults out. She suddenly peaked her little face around the corner at the top of the stairs. That sneaky toddler.

Of course, we couldn’t leave the museum without our traditional pose in front on the sign display.

Earlier in the week we took Grandma to the Watertown Mall. Mainly, the girls wanted to go to Claire’s. What is it about little girls loving Claire’s? Grandma let each girl pick something out. Annie picked out the glasses. No, not sunglasses. Just glasses.

Mimi got a pair of sunglasses, and Violet got some hair thingies. I was tempted to get these.

Grandma also treated the girls to a ride.

We really enjoyed our visit with Grandma and hope that the cold didn’t scare her off for good. Maybe a summer trip next time.

When the girls finally saw Grandma they were very excited. I can’t believe it’s been 2 years since the last time we saw her. Of course, Violet needed some time to get warmed up to her, but Annie and Mimi immediately were all over Grandma. Grandma had sent two big boxes of presents for the kids to open when she got there. It wasn’t always easy convincing the girls that the huge boxes in the laundry room were for Daddy’s work, but it managed to keep them at bay long enough. The girls were quite ecstatic when they realized that the boxes were full of LOTS of presents for them. They got a 2nd Christmas! Grandma showered the girls with p.j.’s for the big girls and matching ones for their AG dolls, blankets crocheted by Grandma (also matching ones for the AG dolls), wicker chairs for the AG dolls, and much more.

Even though Violet also was showered with lots of gifts it was the $3 tiara/jewelry set that bonded Grandma and Violet together forever.

The girls were very happy with all their gifts from Grandma! Thanks Grandma!

We surprised Grandma with a Kindle for her gift. She’s very excited but has no idea how to use it yet.

In other news, I’m following through on my promise to post pictures of the bunnies.

There are two chocolate brown bunnies named Chocolate (of course) and Jumper. They are both boys.

And the white bunnies are Skittles and Fritzy. These are the ladies.

Each bunny has to have its own cage because they will apparently attack each other. Yikes! However, the girls were letting a brown and white hop around on the floor, and the brown bunny started to “attack” the white bunny. The only difference with this attack is that there may be baby bunnies in the future as a result. We shall see. Mike built a shelf for the bunny cages to go on so that they are easy to access.

Fortunately, Hayley and Matt are old enough to watch the girls. We left all the kids with pizza and cookie dough, and we headed out to Lunker’s. I don’t have pictures from the evening, but it was really delicious food and good conversation. Most of us ordered steaks and were not disappointed. Bread, soup/salad, and dessert were also involved, and everyone seemed happily full by the end of the night.

The next day we kind of just lazed around in the morning eating a big breakfast of sausage and hash and devouring the scrumptious cardamom bread Sara baked for us. Thankfully, we have another loaf awaiting us in the freezer. Maybe this weekend. Yum…just thinking of it. A little before lunchtime Jim and Mike took Matt and Annie into town to get some supplies for another home project. Then Sara and I left Hayley, Mimi and Violet at home to go check out the flea market and one of the quilt shops in Watertown. Sara found some vintage hats and immediately became smitten with a couple and promptly purchased them. Here she is modeling one of her flea market finds.

Sara also fell in love with a quilt in the quilt shop and bought the pattern. It inspired her to finally fill up a large wall in her foyer/staircase. I can’t wait to see it finished. She actually purchased 2 or 3 (I can’t remember exactly) patterns because she’s planning to do a seasons theme for that wall. We had a lot of fun with just the two of us hanging out and chatting. We got back to the house around 4ish. We made supper, watched a MST3K movie, and then the Evans headed back to MN. Yes, a short visit, but I’m glad that the Evans finally came out. We look forward to more visits from our family and friends in the future.

For Thanksgiving we had the usual cuisine of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, vegetables, rolls, etc., but Jake added a twist to the way the turkey was prepared. He brought over what can only be described (in my mind) as a pool for Barbie dolls with a temperature-controlled heating mechanism attached to it. The turkey was prepared by cutting it up into parts, marinading it with a sauce and then vacuum sealing each part into plastic. The parts are then placed in the water and “cooked” in the warm water for several hours. This technique for cooking is called sous vide, and here’s a picture of the same equipment Jake had. What I can tell you is that it was the best Turkey I’ve ever had. There no loss of juice, so each piece of turkey is very tender and flavorful. I kept hearing everyone comment and say they may never be able to enjoy a roasted turkey again after eating sous vide turkey. Delish!

Anyway, it was a full house again with most Grandma Kathy’s children’s families in attendance. Of course, we always miss those who are far away and can’t attend. I told Kathy that one year once we’re settled into our final home that we’d love to host a Thanksgiving with EVERYONE in attendance. That means all the Smiths and Evans (including the ones away at college). On with the pictures.

Notice Violet and Maya not eating in that last one. I did finally nail Violet down long enough to shovel a few spoonfuls of food into her mouth.

After the tables were cleared of the meal I gathered all the children together to make candy turkeys. Most were reluctant, but once they knew candy was involved then they were game (even the “big big” kids). The turkeys were made of Oreos, Reese’s PB cups, candy corn, Whoppers, and icing for the “glue”. Sadly, the activity didn’t turn out quite as I had envisioned it where most turkeys fell apart as soon as they were put together. However, the kids seemed to enjoy themselves and gobbled up their turkeys just as quickly as they assembled them.

At the end of the night we played a game I hadn’t heard mention of since our trip to the Cascade Lodge in Colorado a few years ago called “The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow“. Marissa brought it along and had never played it and was hoping we’d play it with her. Of course, most of the kids were game, but many of the adults needed a little more convincing (or arm twisting). We eventually ended up with a group of about a dozen to play with Sara being the moderator for all but the last round. {We discovered that Sara had never once gotten to play, so we “allowed” her in on the last round. Sorry, Sara!} We had a lot of fun and laughs, and I’m glad I got another opportunity to play again.

On Saturday Sara and I got together for our annual craftapalooza at her house. We each came up with a Christmas craft to make. I found this adorable tutorial of snowmen made out of socks, and Sara found some ideas of using mason jars to make luminaries (no, not the Febreze Flameless Luminary). Lots of giggles and chatting later, and we came up with some pretty nifty Christmas decor.

And let’s finish off with the oh, so beautiful Sara:

It was once again a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday in MN. We are so glad we got to spend ample time with all the relatives (the girls especially love to see their cousins). On a last note, I took Kathy to get her a 32″ flatscreen tv with a DVD player attached. She is very happy about her latest leap into the 21st century.