Family Time

Poor Aunt Lori--she was supposed to come out much earlier, but instead her water heater had to burst a pipe and drench her entire garage (including her boxes of photos). So sad! 

But she finally made it on Thanksgiving morning! She was immediately ushered out to the sandbox to play with Seth. And she was thrilled to have her picture taken:

My mom's one request this year was that we all wear BYU shirts for a family picture. She bought shirts for the kids, but Jon & I had to buy them for ourselves since we both managed to graduate without a single BYU shirt. (Okay, I was given a shirt at graduation, but I think the only person it would fit is a fat midget).

And here we are, in all our Cougar glory: 

The Mikesell kids

( I really don't like how I look in any of these pictures, but everyone else looks decent)

The Mikesells & Carnahans

The Mikesell family (with Kenna's baby bump)

Then it was back inside for some general lazing:

The youngest and cutest Cougar

This picture amazes me: 

What we have here is (I believe) Beth sitting on Marah sitting on Stephen with Seth climbing on top of all of them. It's a good thing Stephen likes us, because we apparently REALLY like him...

My handsome husband entertaining Princess Barbarian: 

Suddenly, Seth realizes that Uncle Brian is actually a giant: 

Two of my very favorite pictures from Thanksgiving: 

Mom, why didn't we get any pictures of you with the kids? Next time!!!

Is it any wonder?

Take a look:

 

The one on the top is my little sister, Kenna.

The one on the bottom is my Catherine.

Apparently I had my sister's child.

Kenna, if your little girl comes out with red hair and blue eyes, we'll know something is up...

Turkey Bowl

Every year on Thanksgiving morning my parents' ward/stake hosts a Turkey Bowl at the middle school I attended (it's still really weird going back there with my own kids). We showed up late and had no desire to join in the tackle-football game going on in the field. 

So we held our own turkey bowl!

Getting warmed up

Catherine's all ready with her ball

Seth was all ready, too.

Until, that is, he spotted the playground. 

Luckily Aunt Kenna wimped out in the middle of our game of SPUD and took the kids to play.

Pregnancy, schmengnancy--you just didn't want to lose, did you, Kenna?  ;)

Nanny Kenna with her mini-me.

No one believes Catherine is mine when Kenna is around.

Happy boy on the playground.

Those of us who weren't pregnant/wimpy played a lovely game of SPUD.

I may or may not have been the first one out.

Jon and Dad had a long battle to the death to determine the winner (Jon).

Then it was time for Ultimate!

We did a genius job dividing up the teams:

Marah, Dad & Jon (who were exhausted from SPUD)

vs.

Megan, Stephen & Brian

Guess who won?

(Many thanks to Brian and Stephen for making me look better than I really am)

Mom: "Turn around, everyone!"

Brian: "Okay everyone, turn around!"

Check:

Mom: "Very funny, Brian."

Then it was on to what will surely become a new family tradition:

The Mikesell Family Pull-up Competition!!!

First up, Team Koford!

Round 1:

 Marah's Score: 0

Round 2:

Stephen's Score: 16

Team Weirich!

Round 1:

Kenna's Score: 0

Round 2: 

Brian's score: 20+ (I stopped counting because he killed us all)

Team Blood!

Round 1:

[insert picture of being awesome here]

Megan's Score: 0

Round 2:

[insert picture of Jon being really, really lame here]

Jon's Score: 0

Round 3: 

Catherine's Score: 2

Round 4: 

Seth's Score: 1, but his score was reduced because of excessive whining

Adjusted Score: 0

Clearly, we Mikesell girls are capable of amazing feats of strength.

Those boys we married sure are lucky.

Thanksgiving Eve

We had a lot of fun now that all of us were finally home!

First up was Grandma's birthday party.

Seth and Catherine were mesmerized by pyro Aunt Kenna:

Grandma and her spoils: 

And then it was time for Kinect! 

Jon was SO thrilled. 

But we did manage to pry the Kindle out of his hands occasionally.

Like when it was time to box Stephen: 

(and here let me personally apologize to Stephen for spelling his name "Stephan" on his stocking)

Then there was the epic battle between me & Brian: 

Man, look at my amazing form.

Good thing I've never had to fight anyone because apparently I punch like a girl.

But poor form notwithstanding, I was whooping on Brian so badly that he started cheating to gain an edge: 

Let it be known that I won anyway.

And that I beat Brian at the high jump.

Take that, Mr. National Champion!

Swimming, Round 2

This time we had Grandpa, Marah & Stephen, and Eegees!

Catherine was ecstatic when she found out we were going to "splash and splash" again:

Guess we'll be going to the pool a lot more often this summer...

Seth was very happy to stay in the hot tub, far away from Catherine's splashing and splashing:

And Jon was just lame:

But Grandpa was AWESOME:

Seth and Grandpa being Black Widow Sharks.

Apparently that pool was infested with them.

The shark approaches Catherine...

She adores her grandpa!

This was my favorite thing about Catherine at the pool:

The ringlets!  I'm in love!

Of course, the tattoos she drew on her face and neck are lovely, too: 

Hanging Out

Most days we just relaxed and enjoyed family & sunshine!

Catherine & Grandpa

Seth in his sandbox--he was in heaven!

He would create entire worlds and then destroy them by flood and earthquake...boys... 

My grandparents were able to come down to spend Thanksgiving with us! Grandpa spent most of his time "meditating" on the couch. Seth and Catherine did a great job of covering him with "blankets" or keeping him well-supplied with toys and fake food. 

 Seth keeping Grandpa warm:

Conveniently enough, the Carnahan's hotel had a pool! We waited for a lovely day in the high 70s to go.

Seth and Uncle Brian being Black Widow Sharks

(Uncle Brian was the only one who could tempt Seth out of the hot tub and into the pool): 

Our fantastic group shot: 

Seth somehow convinced Grandpa to open up his 10+ year old Lunar Landing K'Nex set.

Little did Grandpa know what he'd gotten himself into...

He had to recruit Marah & Stephen to assist him: 

After many hours, it was completed!

Seth was thrilled (especially with the Rover--it's a car!)

Of course, not long after that it started to "get old" (translation--Seth wants to destroy it).

I'm pretty sure Dad refused, but I can't say I ever saw it again...

And then there's Catherine in her first pigtails: 

And yes, I tried to get the comb out of her mouth.

Not. Happening.