16 Years of Annie and Thanksgiving

 Our little Annie-girl turned 16 years old! Her birthday was on a Tuesday which is her busy day--piano lessons, voice lessons, teaching piano lessons, math class, and seminary. We were over-sugared from Halloween, and she was planning on having cake for her party later that weekend, so Annie just had some birthday ice cream. 

Also, breakfast in bed. 

I made a photo book for Annie with some baby photos we had recovered from a damaged external hard drive that we stupidly stored all of our pictures on with no back up. So there were some pictures in it she'd never seen before of her babyhood. And by a birthday miracle, the book arrived on time!

Here's an ode to Annie from the book:

"Happy birthday, dear Annie! We've loved you since before you were born! And here's proof that we've dressed you up in Halloween costumes since before you were born! Maybe that's why you love making costumes so much. You're welcome!

Getting you here to earth and raising you has been a team effort. We have loved being your parents. You have grown and changed and yet remained uniquely yourself through all the years.

We hope you enjoy this pictorial ode to your awesomeness. What would we do without you??

(We would eat fewer baked goods, step on fewer pins, have more available horizontal surfaces, and be very, VERY SAD!)"

And she went on a date! It was a stake date dance. We found a really pretty dress...and then I ironed a hole in the lace-like over-layer. Luckily, it was in the back, but I still felt bad/mad. Of course a hole in a dress could not keep Annie from looking tots adorbs! And she's so good at doing her own hair! Girl's got skills.

Annie has been blessed in her friends this year. Joining the evening seminary class helped a lot. It is very social there. The teachers usually let the kids chat and giggle for 10-15 minutes after class, and then they spend another five minutes turning off the lights and telling everybody that the Spirit goes to bed at 10:00. Annie doesn't have her license yet, so I wait in the parking lot and witness all of the teen hooligan-izing and shenanigan-ery. There is plenty. Also, flirting. Takes me back. Teenhood wasn't exactly the good old days for anybody, but it can't help but be a memorable time. Lots of learning and change and figuring out who you want to be. A raw and wriggling time of life. 

Annie also had a small birthday party. She wanted to plan it because that's half of the fun for her. They ate dinner outside by twinkle light and then made cards and then watched a movie and had a discussion. It was a great time. After everybody went home, Annie realized she never served the birthday cake she made. As her family, we graciously stepped in and supported her through this time of trouble. 

Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year because our Thanksgiving friends moved to Tennessee and abandoned us. (Alas! Alack!) But luckily we have some other friends, the Lundgrens, who we are also holiday pals with. We went to their house and had scrumptious food and delightful company. And of course lots of pie. We're very grateful for all of the friends who have been like family to us here in Texas! 

I succeeded in making pie crust this year! I found a recipe on Sally's Baking Addiction that really broke down the process. And I realized that I had been blending the fat too thoroughly into the flour. It was making my dough really thirsty and also non-stretchy. I followed her instructions very carefully and kept the ingredients and the bowl cold...and it worked! I feel like I can truly call myself a McCombs now. 

 The week of Thanksgiving was so relaxing. We had a break from everything, and I soaked in the restfulness. We did hit up the Giving Machine with some ward friends. It was in the lobby of a skating rink, so we also took a spin on the ice. I learned to skate backward! And all the women there were better than the men at skating, just sayin', and I think we're pretty much ready for our Olympic debuts.

The Giving Machine: it's genius! The vending machine concept is so satisfying, and it genuinely did bring me happiness to give to a good cause.

The weather turned cold after Thanksgiving. Charlie was shivering all the time, so we got him a sweater! He's loving it and life in general. He's a snuggle dog.

On to Christmas!

Fall Happenings...and Remembering the Ward Pinewood Derby

We finally got some relief from the Texas heat this week. That's usually how it goes. Halloween time is when we start to get believe that the sun won't always scorch our faces and that perhaps a sweater will be a possibility.

We weren't too exciting on the costume front this year. Scotty and Aaron did not dress up at all. I bought a festive Halloween tee, and Annie dressed up as a character from the Stormlight Archive that she and the middle-aged men recognized...once she told them who she was. 

But Annie also worked with her friend to make a Belle costume for said friend. They had a good time on that project.

Here is Annie killing it (but not killing anybody, unlike her namesake) as Shallan Devar:

And the Belle dress: 

Annie also carved/painted a HTTYD pumpkin. This is after a squirrel ate Toothless's face off. Annie patched it.

Aaron turned 44 this year! We love him. So grateful for the awesome crustiness/kindness combo that he offers our family. Also, he is an excellent listener. I love that about him. And he's super intelligent and super good-looking, just saying.

This year we got him a puzzle board with edges and drawers. Now hopefully the dog won't chew up our puzzle pieces that slip off the table. I also wrote Aaron a poem and gave it to him. 

From Pride and Prejudice: 

“I have been used to consider poetry as 'the food of love,'" said Darcy.

"Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is

strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I

am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away.”

Good thing we have a fine, stout, healthy love.

Our San Antonio temple has been closed for several months, but we were able to make it to the Houston temple with our friends the Lundgrens. I love the temple!

There's a new feature on Google Photos that cartoonifies your pictures. We played with it, and this one was my favorite:

What will they think of next??

The kids and I and two of our friends helped with a Special Olympics pickle ball tournament. It was super fun! The Texas Cowboys, a service/spirit organization from UT was also there. So every normal volunteer got paired with a Texas Cowboy. What could be more Texan than that?

At the end of August, our ward had a pinewood derby activity planned and hosted by the Elders Quorum. It was awesome, but I never blogged about it. Of course there was an open category where you could do any silly thing you wanted to get your car to win. Aaron and Scotty had the idea to attach a measuring tape to their car and stretch the measuring tape out over the finish line and thus win before the race had even started.

That idea morphed into taking the ruler out of the measuring tape and replacing it with string which they attached to their car (affectionately named "Blocky"). They then stretched the string to the finish line. When they race started, they released Blocky who was pulled down the track via the measuring tape mechanism. Hmm...that's a little difficult to explain. I'll attach the video. 

As you can see, we smashed the competition. But then things got a little interesting:

The wheels were demolished by the car's high speeds, and so it flew off the track. We were disqualified because we "didn't actually cross the finish line." Ah well! We all knew which car was the fastest. And Aaron and Scotty earned the "Judge's Favorite" award. It was a really fun night. Awesome ward activity. 

We had Blocky. Do you also see "Rocky"?

Dennis Family Reunion

Family Reunion #2 for the summer was at Bear Lake with the Dennis side of the family. It was great! Mom Dennis planned the whole thing and made all the food. We enjoyed ourselves immensely. There was relaxing and bonding and a really good balance of structured activities and free time. 

We survived the hardest part first: family pictures. Actually, it was nearly painless. But I think there's some generational trauma from when the kids were growing up and everyone would complain so hard about getting dressed up and taking photos. Julie feels bad for putting people through it, but the pictures turned out great. And I didn't hear any complaints! I think it helps that in our modern era we are posing for a photo every other moment from the day we are born. Don't look too closely at our family photo because you'll be seeing it again on your yearly Christmas card.  

Scotty is finally catching up to Annie!

We had a day on the lake and rented a jet ski which was so fun! I surprised by how much I loved driving it. So much power. So much speed. Nobody was flung out to sea on my watch. Aaron was a less careful driver. Aaron's brother and sister-in-law also brought their boat, so Annie and Scotty got to try wake-boarding. They both had fun; Scotty thought it was the coolest thing ever. It was really nice to escape the heat of Texas and enjoy the lovely, lovely weather up there. And the lake is impossibly blue. So pretty!

Lake hair coolness photo-bombed by your enthusiastic sister

Other activities included ping pong, badminton, games, puzzles, family sharing time, raspberry shakes, kitchen duty, and s'mores. John and Julie prepped a bunch of family history stories and brought posters with pictures of ancestors. They let the kids choose which ancestor to learn about. The kids loved listening! Adults loved it, too, but I was surprised by how it captured the kids' attention. I think kids like learning where they came from. John shared the story his mom wrote about when he was born. The story really struck me because his birth (6th child) was the first time she was aware of what was happening and not drugged and out of it. That was what they routinely did for birthing mothers in her day. She was really excited to be able to feel and fully experience a natural birth. I could relate because when I had Annie via C-section, I felt robbed of something really important. The Lord has since redeemed that experience for me, but it was really hard! So I knew how John's mom felt. And I was cheering for her in finally getting to fully experience a birth. It makes me think of other hard things in my life. Looking back, I wouldn't want those things taken away from me because experiencing them taught me so much. (Side note: This is not me casting shade on any mother who chooses to have an epidural or other pain relief during labor. Go for that if it's what you want! John's mom didn't want it and felt forced into having it with other births. Yay for women being able to make choices in how they birth their children!)

Behold the Cup Holder of Awesome! John and Julie designed and made this. Worked great! They could start a side hustle selling them.

The talent show was fun. Scotty played a recorder piece, and it wasn't squeaky at all! He played My Shepherd Will Supply My Need. He's got skills! Annie sang Taylor, the Latte Boy and totally nailed it. So funny! There was more singing and an original song by John that included a mention of every member of the family. And other adorable offerings by the young'uns. And Alan did an epic juggling/comedy routine. Fun times!

On the last full day of the reunion, I snuck down to Taylorsville to go to my niece's wedding. It was a lot of driving. I listened to the new Emma M. Lion audiobooks on the way. Delightful! Did we expect anything less? It was nice to see my McCombs and Sandberg peeps. 

After the reunion, we hung out in Utah county for a couple of days. Had a picnic, toured BYU campus, and celebrated Felicia's birthday with her. It's kind of fun because she was here in Texas during my birthday and I was in Utah for hers. We hiked in Bountiful and flew home on Monday. 

There are lots of new buildings on campus, but the main thing that made me realize time had passed was how much the trees had grown! I have been away from BYU long enough now to get nostalgic about it. 

Remember this guy?? It's Massasoit. There's a statue of him on campus. For a minute there, Family Search was telling my kids that they were direct descendants of Massasoit! The veracity of this was called into question by certain parties in our household. It could be a bug in their system. But Scotty got a selfie with his (maybe) grandpa, just in case.

I gave Felicia The Q for her birthday. I am a Beth Brower super fan!

Hiking! Turns out it can be hot in Utah, too.

We're grateful for our awesome families!