Turkey Trot and Thanksgiving Weekend

WOW! Five years ago a few good people got together and organized a 5K Turkey Trot for a local charity in Phoenix area called Brain Food. The purpose was to raise money to feed needy children in the Phoenix area who would not otherwise have lunch.

Although Shawni and her husband have been involved with this cause since the first, three years ago they got fully engaged as they saw the need for money for a registry and research for BBS, the rare syndrome that their youngest Lucy has. There was no way for parents with children affected with this syndrome to be connected, to compare issues or often to even to know that the reason their children who would, among other things, almost inevitably lose their sight by the time they are teenagers.

Last year the Pothers were in China and so they weren’t able to fully be there,although Dave flew home to help when he could. But this year, they came out like gangbusters! Dave had huge banners and start and finish blow-ups sent from China. His sister-in-law came up with a cute logo with red glasses to draw attention to the fact that blindness was the biggest issue of this syndrome which so many families and professionals are dedicated to finding a way to stop.

 

So they ordered a lot of cute red glasses for props and the Pothier Family turned out in droves to be a part of their enormous team to fight blindness for the love of Lucy. We had quite a grand time too! All we had to do was to show up, but I must admit that wasn’t entirely easy. Our flight on Allegiant out of Ogden, Utah, due to leave at 4:40, ended up with a snow storm so the plane couldn’t land and a plethora of crazy events that got is into the Mesa Airport at 2:30 a.m. We tumbled into bed at 3 a.m. and got up at 6:30 a.m. to help with the race.

David’s parents have raised nine remarkable kids who are “all in” on this project! What a family! Bob and Marva are terrific!

The sister-on-law on the right created the cute logo:

David’s brother created the giant “I Am Thankful For…” board that everyone had such a great time filling up!

These are mostly all Pothier relatives who showed up to help! Can you believe it?

Loved this one of Lucy and her teeny cousin!

Here’s the Thankful Board which Lucy made several contributions to:

 

Love her contribution here on the upper right. I couldn’t agree more!

Grandfather had quite a lot of fun himself!

It ended up like this:

The actual race brought tears to my eyes as I saw the absolute sea of people who had come to, not only run off a few calories before the big meal, but who really wanted to help. The first year they gathered between 100 and 200 people This year 2300 people showed up!

There was a one mile fun run at 8:30 and then the 5K at 9 o’clock! It was AWESOME!

The six guys who organized this put in literally hundreds of hours to pull this thing off! They gathered sponsors, ,created and hung banners until midnight the night before, arranged for police to watch over the festivities and placed hundreds of orange cones to mark the route, rented port-a-potties, had banners made, organized hundreds of volunteers to make this happen, even brought two huge “snow making machines” to add a few festive flakes to the Arizona desert and lots of other things that we’ll never know!

Shawni made big posters of BBS kids that were placed along the route to remind runners of the kids they were helping.

 

David and his brothers have bought into a skateboard and fun athletic equipment business. A booth was all set up to show off their wares.

It was a morning to remember!

How Shawni managed to pull this off this AND prepare her home for 51 people (most of Dave’s siblings and his parents live in the area) for Thanksgiving Dinner is beyond me!  Fortunately all those great Pothiers brought the food which was enormous help, but just getting the house and place settings and centerpieces ready is a big project!

But somehow she did it with the help of cute Claire and other kids as they came in and out. I’m stealing pictures from Shawni’s blog here because I was so buy talking that I neglected to take even one picture!

Eighteen adults sat here:

….which means that there were 33 kids! All beautifully cared for with a place for each!  There were Nineteen teenagers and a wonderful assortment of elementary kids and little kids. So fun!

It was a delight to see Shawni and David’s dear neighbors from China who moved to Gilbert shortly after the Pothiers got home! They are such terrific people!

The numbers swelled to 82 for pie after we were joined by Dave’s mom Marva’s extended family! The more the merrier!

I don’t know how Shawni was still standing after that wild and wonderful day, but somehow she managed! What a grand memory!

The next day we were thrilled to be joined by our beloved Eldar and his darling wife Courtney, their cute kids and Eldar’s wonderful mother who has just immigrated from Ukraine and is living with them near the Pothier’s house.

Jonah baptized Eldar whom he met while on his mission in England. Eldar came to live with us for a while, attended BYU, got a Master’s in accounting and a PHD at Cornell. We had known his mother Valentina when she came for the wedding and has visited many times since.

We adore Eldar who is not only brilliant but is such a great son, Father and husband!

Eldar and Josh were roommates at BYU for a while and love each other like brothers:!

Eldar has become such a good tennis player so these four spent some time on the courts while Courtney, Valentina and I caught up

Valentine is a valiant woman who was the Dean of the Economics Department at a University in Ukraine. It was so difficult for her to leave her home where she was so comfortable with friends and colleagues but it just became too dangerous for her to stay any longer. She is forging forward, taking English classes four days a week and integrating in the ward beautifully. We laughed together about her transitioning from being a “big cheese” to “a little mouse.” She is simply amazing!

We couldn’t be more thankful!

Thanksgiving with 42 Plus One Giant Blessing!

Every year, even though there have always been some ups and downs, which are part of the blessings, it seems as though our lives are overflowing with blessings. This year, we had one more giant reason to rejoice than ever before.

After a four year fight with cancer my sister Lenna’s little eight-year-old granddaughter Cami returned home from the hospital the day before Thanksgiving. After beating cancer once, relapsing, and then going through all the horrors of chemo, radiation and steroids again PLUS a recent bone marrow transplant she was finally home.  No one will ever know the horrors of this experience except those who have been there (and their families). This child is one amazing little champion!  Our prayers had been answered and we were rejoicing!

As she left Primary Children’s Hospital that day Cami was able to “ring the bone marrow bell” a privilege given only to those children who had survived a bone marrow transplant. The hospital staff surrounded her and they sang and cheered. Everyone present was in tears.

If you want to be more thankful for your child’s good health than you have ever been before, take a look at Cami’s amazing journey which we posted about on our Deseret News blog here. And the heroics that followed for the next 22 days until the bone marrow engrafted as well as a heart-warming TV follow up news story can be seen here.

This big extended Carver Family lost their extraordinary Dad Bruce Carver eight years ago. Since then they have have gone through quite unbelievable trials and joys. This most recent one, once again, showed how the entire family pulls together during challenging times. The care all seven of Lenna’s adult children for each other and their families is awe-inspiring. As usual they rallied around Cami and the needs of her parents Pat (Lenna’s son) and wonderful Chelsea, filling needs before they even knew what they were and holding out welcoming arms of help and love.

SO we were positively delighted and honored to celebrate with the Carver Family for Thanksgiving Dinner, except for Pat and Chelsea, their little son, Caden and of course Cami, who will be isolated for 100 days. 

We were lucky enough to snag our oldest daughter Saren and Jared and their five, who are the only ones who live in Utah. Jared whose genes come from potato farmers in Idaho, prepared exactly 40 pound of delicious mashed potatoes! Our beloved neighbors Eric and Leo Lopez and their two darling daughters also joined us. 

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story, with the addition of several photos from Saren’s blog. Thanks Saren!

 

Here’s the “thankful project” for the kids while adults prepared dinner…

Tables ready to be occupied:

Adult table:

Teen girls’ table:

Teen boys’ table:

Big girls’ table

Calle’s table (Tony’s).

Big boys’ table:

Laura’s table:

Moms:

Taunie and Jess with their beautiful teens. Our family is growing up. Only one high chair this year, and that one was for our neighbors!

A beautiful day of Thanksgiving!

We’re thankful for Noah, Kristi and their Creative Crew!

There’s never a dull moment at the San Diego Eyres’ house with four little kids under eight each with his/her exciting agenda.

When Noah picked us up from the airport he had fresh pictures on his phone of Cubby (3) and Bennett (2)’s agenda for that day. Cubby admitted that they “accidently” got into Kristi’s makeup and found the mascara.

Looks as though they had quite a lot of fun….AND if you look carefully at the next picture and see what Cubby has in his hand, you’ve got to wonder what they have in mind next. Don’t know whether to think “Dynamic Duo” or “Dukes of Hazard”! The wall, the couch and the carpet were all included in the caper and took some time to repair. Worth it just for the pictures!

 

Besides Kristi being incredibly calm and collected about these exciting events every day, and working so hard on keeping house and home going and getting kids to school and lessons, we got to see her play in her team’s final two volleyball games of the season. Why didn’t I take a picture? Kristi loved playing volleyball in high school and is one fabulous player! She and those other moms rocked it!

The kids are nice to give me hugs and welcome me but who are they are really looking for when we come? Grandfather!  He’s like having a barrel of monkeys around and is still a kid himself in many ways! He peels oranges and then makes something fun and funny out of it:

We loved being there for a few days to peek in on everyday life at the Noah and Kristi Eyres. What fun to listen in on their sweet morning devotional as they read the scriptures together. Kristi sits down to read and says, “OK, go Cubby.”  And he obediently says, “And it came to pass” and they proceed. About every few verses, without missing a beat, he responds exactly the same every time Kristi says, “Go Cubby.”  It’s the cutest thing ever! Good way to realize how frequently that little phrase is used in any given chapter!

 

For fun we happen to hit “Crazy Hair Day”  at school. McKay came up with one of his typical hilarious comments as his dad was creatively “spiking his hair”:

 

 

A McKayism: “People aren’t even going to know me! They’re going to say, ‘Where is that kid with only one cowlick?’ 

 

Kristi rose to the occasion as always and created something awesome for Lyla with her Rapunzel hair (sorry blurry):

Cubby and I walked to the school together while the kids rode so they wouldn’t spoil their hair in the rain. As you can tell that Cubby is a barrel of moneys himself!

 

We landed there (from South America) at a very exciting time! Not only was it crazy hair day but it was also doctor appointment day for Kristi and Noah who just announced to us that they were having number five baby in May. We were thrilled beyond words to have another little pizzazy little child join our crew!

Incredibly brave and stoic Kristi, who is usually miserably sick for the first 26 weeks of every pregnancy, thought she was home free after feeling pretty good for the first 10 weeks…and then it hit. She somehow carries on between “throw ups” and that constant wave of nausea! Bless her courageous heart! 

Grandfather and I watched the kids while they journeyed to the doctor and the ultrasound machine, only to find that that little kid had legs crossed and umbilical cord across the very vital place that they needed to see! Kristi drank some juice, went for a walk and the baby flipped around and gave them a pretty good view of who was in there.

A trip to the grocery store provided clues to the sex of the new baby. Note the color of the treats:

Do they look happy enough?  Especially Lyla who has been outnumbered by the boys for quite some time!

It was supposed to be a secret until Noah and Kristi came up with their usual, unusual way of announcing the arrival each new member of the family. When we got home, however, Dad/Grandfather sent out a draft of our annual Thanksgiving Card to the family before we sent it out to “the public” for everyone to check for mistakes. The biggest mistake was putting in the information that Noah and Kristi were expecting “a little gal”. 

When he realized his mistake in his office at home, he started yelling, “Oh no! Oh no! I can’t believe this!” I thought someone had died! He was so horrified that he couldn’t even get out what he had done!  Noah and Kristi in the their usual gracious manner accepted the foiling of their plans with their usual graciousness and, knowing their “Grandfather’s” enthusiasm for new additions to the family, forgave him and gave him permission to go ahead and publish the info on the Thanksgiving Card.

In addition to that little change in their lives and along with Noah going back to school for a Master’s degree at Southern Cal “on the side” while still maintaining his rock star status at work, they have also decided to move back to Orange County so that Noah can be a little more central for work and have more time with the family.

We got a chance to see the house they are looking at in Ladera Ranch but I only took one picture of the kids under an umbrella (because it was raining) in the front entry. Duh!

It’s a beautiful home in a lovely neighborhood close to where they rented when they first moved to CA!  The kids would go to the same school and be in the same church congregation so that would be helpful.

How thankful we are for this wild, rambunctious, creative, darling, up-for-adventure, extraordinary family! Somehow they will survive all that wildness in their lives with flying colors. Knowing them, it’s just inevitable!