It Was a Great Feast of Food and Family

We had yet another wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  A wonderful day filled with lots of great food (too much food actually) and lots of wonderful family time.

Just as we were getting ready to sit down to eat, our newly employed Evan was called into work at the movie theaters.  So before he dashed off to work, and after much wailing and tears and threatening to call his boss for having the audacity to take him away on Thanksgiving and Evan feeling such horror over my threats, just kidding (sort of), I made my three lovely children pose for a picture.

Aren't they just the best looking kids ever?  I love them so much.

So.... then.... we proceeded to eat.  It was great food, thanks to everyone's contributions.  Spencer and Ashley were there, my Mom and Dad, Kayce and Jared and their cute kids, Nan and her darling Helen, Carol, along with a surprise visit from Alison and her two darling children. 

Todd was very patient with it all because he knew it was a night of food and football... oh, yes... and he enjoyed time with the family.

It's was wonderful to have Spencer and Ashley with us.  We don't get to see them enough.  Love them dearly.

Spencer got to catch up with his Grandpa.

We loved having all the darling nieces and nephews with us and wish we could have had all of the family with us. 

Best of all was time spent with my sisters.  I won't even tell you what we talked about while adding calories to our waste line.  It's talk that's not appropriate for this blog (not really even appropriate at the dinner table) but that's just what sisters do.  I love these girls.  We sorely missed Rebecca and Lillian.

To end this post, I must include our furry member of the family, Tabby.  He's really a good member of the family, and a good cat, and is generally very tolerant; however, by the end of the evening he was looking for places to hide.  Maybe if he lost a few pounds he would actually fit.

This Little Girl of Mine

I love this little girl of mine.  Love her to pieces.  Love having her in our lives.  Every day with her is new and exciting and.... tiring... very, very tiring.

Late summer and early fall had us running her to and from various football games so she could cheer.  A perfect sport for our little Tori.  Her smile is infectious and her personality is vibrant and she has energy to spare.  I personally think she's the best cheerleader on her squad, no one can tell me any different.

Then just as she's finished with cheering she's moved on to yet another sport, volleyball.  We now have the pleasure of running her to and from her volleyball games where, yet again, she's the best on her team... at least the best setter on the team.  She's awesome.  With her endless supply of energy and optimism she's a perfect asset for the team. 

Next up is a winter full of snowboarding and then springtime means softball.  On top of it all she's an excellent student in school and the best daughter.  We love our little Tori.... she just makes us a little tired.

The Passing of a Good Man

We are missing the influence of good man who passed away on Sunday, my grandfather, Wendall H. Eyring.

Wendell Haws Eyring came to this earth on Monday, September 23, 1918. He returned home on Sunday, November 07, 2010.

Wendell is the son of Andrew Theodore Eyring (1884-1964) and Edith Haws (1887-1986) and was born in Mesa, Arizona. He was the sixth of eleven children; however, only four siblings lived to maturity. Wendell grew up as the “oldest.”

Wendell spent his younger years in Mesa and Gilbert. His family moved to Chandler while he was in high school. During his senior year, he played both on the football team and then played in the band during half time.  Wendall began dating Verda Ray, his future wife June 1935 and they were married in June 1938. They were sealed for time and all eternity n the Mesa Arizona Temple.  Between 1939 and 1961 they became the proud parents of “ten little Indians.” Fortunately, they were able to raise all of their children to maturity. Between 1959 and 1990 they became the proud grandparents of 45 grandchildren. So far there are over 100 great grandchildren and more than 10 great-great grandchildren. In addition there have been over 50 spouses added to the family with open arms. Dad/Grandpa loves each and every one of them. When parting he would say "I love, you!”.

Wendell was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in many capacities during his life. Scouts, Young Men, Sports, and Clerk, to name a few. In addition, for many years, Wendell and Verda served as Stake Missionaries in the San Tan Branch on the Indian reservation.  For most of Wendell’s life he was a dairy farmer. When the accountant told him the farm wasn’t making money any more, he went to work at Agrochem, south of Chandler. He kept the dairy going to gives his kids “something to do.” Later he retired from Agrochem and dairy farming and traded the farmland for apartments. He sold the Apartments in 2001. Then he really retired.  Over the years Wendell, with his wife Verda, traveled to Scotland, England, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Israel and Russia. They also toured most of the United States, including Hawaii. They also visited Canada and Mexico.

Wendell was preceded in death by his sweet wife Verda (2003) and children, Shirly Pond (Lamar) and Mike (Brenda); and grandson Lance Pond. He was also preceded by his parents Andrew and Edith; and siblings, Andrew; Leonard; Josephine; Dessie; George; Marguerite; and Leona Geiger; He is survived by children Wendell Jr. (Marilee); Sandra Clawson (Kit); Pinky; Murr; Dixie Williams (Dennis); Nick (Karen); April Smith (Dan); and Twila. He is also survived by 45 grandchildren; 110 great grandchildren; and 12 great-great grandchildren. He is also survived by siblings Lucile Peterson (Don L) and Carl (Pauline, deceased).  A copy of Wendell’s life story is available at www.eyring.org.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween from the Glassford family.  We hope you have a creepy, fun-filled Halloween and all your tooth-decaying, stomachache-promoting, candy wishes are fulfilled.

If you stop by our house, you'll see my most creepy Halloween nightmare displayed.... spiders.  Great big, hairy spiders.

I hate spiders.  Really, truly I do, which means I have to display them on Halloween because, to me, spiders are the scariest.  Give me a haunted forest with a chainsaw-wielding psychopath any day over spiders.

Guess I'm just a little weird like that.

Backyard Neighbors

We've got some wonderful backyard neighbors.  They mainly keep to themselves only occasionally visiting to eat the tops of our flowers.  All in all they are very nice and we look forward to many more years watching their activities, in a neighborly kind of way.

Beautiful

I really do love living in Utah.  This time of year is incredibly beautiful.  I love visiting our beautiful mountains and taking advantage of the many beautiful mountain trails.

 I love wandering the mountain trails and enjoying the beautiful scenery but the teenagers.... mmmmm..... not so much.

Thank heavens for my patient husband who, while maybe not enjoying the scenery as much as I do, is patient enough to let me take some pictures.

Had to throw in this lovely little shot of me and my crazy look.  This is what having teenagers will do to a Mom.  I keep warning them that they better shape up or I'll put out this look but it doesn't seem to phase them.

Another gorgeous day in the beautiful mountains of Utah.

Family Photos

They certainly don't take family photos like they did in the old days. You remember those old photos of everyone in the family being asked to look off to some distant point, while smiling brightly, and pretending that everyone wasn't just crying and pinching each other a second before the photo was taken.

A photo just like this.......

I really can't believe I'm sharing this on my blog but honestly I just can't keep from giggling when I look at this photo.  Such a cute little, innocent family.  So very many children.  All such cute little blondies.  What were my Mom and Dad thinking?  Eight children?  They deserve a medal and I love them for that.

So after having the viewing pleasure of the classic 70's family photo, here's another one for you.

This one seriously makes me laugh.  Look at our style of clothing.  Again, just makes me giggle.  I have very strong memories of thinking "let's just get this gosh darn thing over with".  Smiling big for the picture and then breathing a sigh of relief that yet another family picture was over with.

Makes me wonder why I put my kids through the same thing.  hmmmmm Maybe it's a rite of passage every child needs to suffer through?