A Bowler Thanksgiving! ...aka CHAOS ;o)

Okay... here we go... Saturday we get in around 2? I can't remember sometime in the early morning... we actually made really good time, a trip that before took us 16 hours only took us 13 this time... good stuff. SO we get to Heidi's sleep and then we go to the "Train Park." It's this really cool park with full sized trains all the way down to scale models, a train station, snack bars out of a caboose, a carousel and of course a mini-train for the kids to ride on... it's really cool actually because it's a real steam engine and everything. So we get to the park, mind you this is Phoenix, the SATURDAY before Thanksgiving... the place was packed, we were at least 45 minutes from "home" we have raw meat and nowhere to cook it. So what do you do? You ride the carousel! It all worked out in the end, my brother-in-law Paul found us some picnic tables next to a grill so we were good. Thank heaven for Paul!

At first Ashlie didn't really like the horsies but in the end I had to PRY her off of them.

It was sooooo good for our kids to get to see their cousins, they were instant best friends, just like we had never left. I love my nieces and nephews!!!

Heidi ALWAYS has to paint the girls fingers and toes... they LOVE IT!!!

Ever since Kailey's best friend Kaylee got her ears pierced earlier this year Kailey has been wanting hers pierced as well. So when Kaitlyn got her ears done we decided to make a date to have Kailey's pierced while we were down in Phoenix... what you can't tell from the picture is that Kailey started throwing up on the way to the mall, not in relation to the ear piercing but she (and Jacob) came down with the stomach flu while we were down there. Poor Kailey threw up all over Kathie's beautiful mini-van so we had to stop halfway to the mall and get her all cleaned up, then Todd and I decided (because we are such great parents ;o) to go ahead with the ear piercing anyway, luckily we brought an extra back with us into the mall because not two minutes in she was throwing up again... so then we (cuz we're so great) ran down to the Piercing Pagoda and threw her in the chair before she could throw up again. She was still very excited and got to pick out her earrings. Good thing Megan and Kaitlyn (and Jacob and Savannah, Abby, Sara, and Jack) were there to hold her hand, she was pretty sad that she had gotten sick.

(a little note... right about now Kathie is leaning over and asking, "She knows it's going to hurt right?" AHHHH!!! Kailey knew it was supposed to hurt but we hadn't gone over that part for a few months... Poor Kailey was so shocked she cried for a good 10 minutes... Poor poor Kailey and her dumb bum of a mom....

Good thing Daddy (and a sucker) were there to make everything better...

and she looks SO pretty!!!

Kailey, Abby, and Savannah all with their new pierced EARS!!!

Yea girls! You are all so brave ;o)

Okay and then the chaos comes back. It's kind of a thing with my family to go to Peter Piper Pizza anytime family is in town, it's cheap and contains the kids so the adults can talk... it can get a little crazy with that many people there though... anyway, I was looking for Ash and I found her with one of her favorite cousins Jeremy looking at what they were going to "buy" with their tickets, Jeremy is SO good with her, I love it!!!

My "little" brother Jeff after a CLOSE game of air hockey... I SOOO had you Jeff!!!!

I love Steve, he's got to be one of the best brother-in-laws ever invented... Of course I'm partial to the three I have but seriously, Ashlie LOVES Steve... It was pretty normal to find her running around looking for him yelling at the top of her lungs "BEEEVE!!!" He's such a goof, what kid wouldn't love him?

Oh and there's Ashlie's hot pink cast she picked out all by herself, it was a toss up between the pink and the green but I think we've got another Kailey (pinky pink) on our hands ;o)

By The Way... we haven't even gotten to Thanksgiving yet....