Buon Giorno di Ringraziamento

This year for Thanks-giving, I hosted dinner for my first time ever. I made the turkey and everything! I was terrified all month of making this dinner work and having enough room for everyone, but it turned out so wonderfully. From the pictures, the table may look small, but it's actually quite large. The table is 7.5 feet long and 5 feet wide. We comfortably fit 11 people around it.

I had the honor of cooking the turkey for the family and because it was my first time, everyone told me to give it a lot of extra time. I had a 23 lb turkey to cook and the packaging said it would take 5.5-6 hours to cook. Because we were to eat at 12:30, I got up at 5:30 to make the turkey. I used a table top oven to free up my regular oven and the turkey was finished by 10:00. My dad even commented on how good and juicy it was - wow, that made me feel good.

After dinner we sat around, talked, cleaned up some stuff and enjoyed Kyson's entertainment. My dad bonded with Franni as well. Unfortunately, my sister and her family had to leave by 3:00 because Bill's kids had another Thanksgiving to go to. They even missed pie, and we had pumpkin, apple, banana cream, chocolate, and an oreo icecream pie! They truly missed out! Overall, it was a wonderful day and I'm so grateful for the time I have with my family.

Kyson's Big Turnaround

Because I haven't posted in a couple of weeks, you'd think I'd have some big news, and well - I do. As you know, Kyson has had trouble with his eating for a long time now. Well, those problems seem to be ending. In the last week Kyson has eaten pizza, spaghetti, rice with vegetables and ham, lasagna, and he ate his first Kid's Meal at Village Inn. It was chicken nuggets and I only wish I could have pictures of the event. It has been awesome watching him try new things, and then of course the best part, not throwing it up. I will admit Kyson has thrown up the last two days, but it was hours after eating. I believe it's asthma, but only have Kris' behavior to make my diagnosis. I'm just so thankful that he's doing so much better. He's also gaining weight and most of his pants stay on without his belt now!

Also this week as my niece's birthday. Chelsie turned 17 on Monday and wow, it's weird to think that she's so grown up. She was so generous with letting Kyson sit on her lap while she opened presents. What a nice cousin.

The last bit of great news was the BYU/Utah game ended superbly. It's weird though, because I've never felt sorry for BYU before, but Saturday's game was actually brought out that emotion in me. It's funny, we had a BBQ planned with family to watch the game and a half hour before the game began, the cable went out in the entire city. We ended up missing nearly the entire first half. What we saw was good though. GO UTES!

Family Time is a Great Stress Relief

With all the events that have recently happened, our family needed some down time. When Motown passed away, it happened to be the same week as the end of the quarter at one school, the end of the quarter at the other school the following week, and parent teacher conferences. I was a mess dealing with the emotional stress and the worry of getting grades done by the deadline. While we were out of town for the funeral, Kris was entering grades in for me, and I was doing grades every moment I had. We even bought a car power supply for my computer so I could work in the car on the way back. It was an awful time.

Fortunately, I survived and we decided to have some family time to try and just enjoy one another without the stresses that we had been dealing with. Last Friday, we went to the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum. It is full of animals that are stuffed and had been donated by different people. Kyson absolutely loves animals and we thought he might really enjoy it.

It was so fun to listen to him walk up to animals and say,"Oh," and "Wow!" He loved the tiger and the bears especially. For anyone looking for a great family activity, I'd recommend this museum. It's on the BYU campus and it's free. It's a pretty impressive museum and Kyson loved it.

Saying Goodbye to Motown

Clifford Harold Zufelt

February 25, 1923 - October 29, 2008

A couple of weeks ago, Kris and I decided we should go to visit his grandparents in Vernal. We were going to go today because I had the day off. The weekend before last, Motown (Kris' nickname for his grandfather) got pneumonia and we started praying to know if we needed to go earlier. Last Tuesday, Kris called me at work. I had been there for two hours and Kris said,"Kelli, we need to go sooner." I didn't question him at all, but asked if I needed to take the next day off. He said, "No, we need to go now." I raced home and we left immediately for Vernal. We spent the day there and came back that evening.

The next morning, Motown passed away. The last couple of years, Motown was developing Alzheimer's and was beginning to forget things. In May, the family put him in a nursing home because Kris' grand- mother couldn't take care of him by herself any more. While Motown faded quickly, the sickness at the end is not what Kris will remember about him. It is the fun-loving man that his grandfather was. He loved children, animals, hunting, and getting into trouble. He loved to tease his grandchildren, scare his great-grandchildren and was a perfect example of hard work. Kris said that he learned how to work from his grandfather. He continually encouraged every one he knew to stay out of debt, to have a food storage and be prepared. These are just a few of the things Kris remembers so fondly about his dear grandfather.

We've been in and out of town a lot the last week and a half and for that reason, I haven't posted this earlier. Over the weekend, we were in Vernal seeing family and celebrating the life of Clifford Zufelt. He served in World War II in the Battle of the Bulge and loved telling his war stories. At the funeral, they honored him with the military rights, and it was a really emotional thing to watch them take the American flag that laid on his casket, fold it gently, and present it to his loving wife of 63 years. The bugle played "Taps" and what a beautiful thing it was to listen to.

Kris and I will miss having Motown in our lives, teasing, scaring, and above all, being an example for us and our son.