music festival at fairview

i caught a breathtaking sunrise this morning

made up of shades of red i don't even know the names of.

just a couple minutes later, it exploded into shades of orange that again left me speechless.

tonight we attended a music festival 

for local school choirs all performing at fairview.

ben and caleb were the "sound guys" for all the performances.

you sounded great, and don't look too bad either!

excalibur, fairview's show choir performed the song,

"spooky"

will and ben are the two football players in the show choir.

well-rounded boys, they are!

sebastian accompanied one of the songs by the sophomore choir, troubadours

on the bass guitar.

thanks for a great festival of performance, boys!

one last holiday weekend

we're still playing around here.  

school doesn't start until tomorrow

and we have all soaked as much as possible out of this break.

we spent black friday doing what the rest of the country was doing....

shopping!

we stopped to recharge at

johnny rocket 50's diner for burgers, fries and shakes.

we also went to see an amazing movie by martin scorsese

hugo

i highly recommend taking your family to see this visually rich and gorgeous movie.

to check out the trailer, go here

margo and gabi played dress up in margo's gorgeous velvet gowns from her years 

in the madrigal choirs in high school.

but alas, 

all good things must end and margo and grandma left this morning

to drive back to utah.  thanks for a wonderful week everyone.

now we get to look forward to christmas!!

thanksgiving day

thanksgiving plate 2011

but a lot went on before we sat down to eat this turkey feast.....

many shopping trips to accomplish this master plan

and while the boys headed off to the annual turkey bowl

margo, was up to her elbows in pie crusts.

one of the highlights of this thanksgiving celebration was margo's pies.

she made five different pies, each with a different homemade crust.

well done, sweetie!

paul was up to his elbows in turkey innards.

this year, he butterflied the turkey and roasted it on the barbeque.

it was gorgeous!

grandma karen gathered the kiddos around and together they made our traditional

thanksgiving mix.

for the ingredients, have a look at thanksgiving 2010 here

we gathered pilgrims and turkeys,

and decorated with pumpkins, squash and other harvested beauties.

come one, come all, it is finally time to eat.....

sab and ben lead the way with alisa and grandma's divine appetizers.

thanksgiving greetings from the meyer table

just looking at this photo once again reaffirms to me

how truly and greatly blessed we are.

food, family, fun.  what more could we want?

no shave november......

but we're not through yet!!!

margo's award winning pies!

cherry, pecan, pumpkin, banana cream and deep dish apple

and games with friends into the wee hours of the morning.

happy, happy times.

holiday fun

we've been having a lot of fun this thanksgiving holiday week.

we had the cuzzies over for the day and we just played, played, played.

lila spent the morning setting up the dollhouse and running around the 

house making sure she wasn't missing out on anything.

this is the best holiday because everyone heads home.

so many of our friends that have been away for their first semester at university

are home for the first time and it is soooo good to catch up.

we haven't seen zack, the magician since last summer

and beautiful becca is home from syracuse, new york.

welcome back!

we've started decorating the thanksgiving table.  

i've decided to include the deer antlers we've discovered on the property over the years

in our thanksgiving decorating theme.  

margo got hold of them and terrorized sebastian, chasing him all over the house.

then she got hold of the cornicopia, stuck it on her head and started after ben.  crazy girl.

talent show auditions

the fairview talent show auditions are coming up.

caleb, nick, sab, josh and ben have been rehearsing all week.

they are playing "livin' on a prayer" by bon jovi.

thanks, gabi.

gabi volunteered to babysit the twins so that alisa, mom, margo and i could go shopping together.

it's christmas, christmas everywhere!

thanksgiving holidays

paul's birthday celebrations carried on for a couple more days as everyone was

everywhere else and we couldn't all get together at the same time.  finally, he opened presents.......

including a couple of cases of this which he desperately misses since we left aussie.

and served his fave birthday carrot cake.

personally, i think birthdays are allowed to last until the last piece of bday cake is eaten.

have a slice.........

Meyer Family's Favorite Carrot Cake

2 1/4 cups sifted flour

2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil

pinch salt

5 eggs

1 cup pecans

1 tsp vanilla

3 cups grated carrots, slightly packed

Topping:

1 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese

1/2 stick of butter

2 tsp vanilla

1 pkg. powdered sugar

Combine first 5 ingredients; add oil, salt, and eggs.  Mix well.  Add pecans, vanilla, and carrots.  Pour into 3 greased and floured cake pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.  Cool.

Mix together all topping ingredients until smooth and creamy.  Spread evenly over top of cooled cake.

gabi is studying ballet this year after studying a year of jazz dance.  

she loves it.

paul and the boys put shingles on the roof over the bike rack this weekend.

wow, i didn't know you knew how to do that!!

look what's happening..........

son growing taller than dad.

the kids are off school all this thanksgiving week.  

everyone needs this break.

they had a hilarious game night last night.

and then decided to set up a tent in the front yard and sleep outside, brrrrrrrrrrrrr.