trots + turkeys + dancing = fun and colds

so i am completely exhausted and dan and i are both sick after thanksgiving this year, but we had SO much fun. thanksgiving day started out with the first ever, jerry hall family turkey trot. i actually stole the idea from my friend kelli manwaring--thanks kelli! (she hosted a turkey trot for friends and family this year) and since i couldn't go, i decided to put a little twist to it for my own family. i decided to divide the family up into 2 teams, and do a relay in front of our house. i made little packets for everyone with a few treats and their number and team color for the race. we had rubber chickens as the batons, and started the race with a gun. the teams were divided into team red--the yummy-yummy yam-yams, and team black--the green bean casserole team. each person--minus the really little children had to run/walk 2 telephone pole lengths and then pass the baton/rubber chicken to the next runner and so forth. i was kind of worried that people wouldn't get into it, but i think everyone had fun doing it. it was pretty cold, but it worked out really well. afterwards we gathered in our garage and ate warm cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa and passed out medals for everyone. (made by the one and only--heather!)
so, here are some pics of the trot relay
ok, so i just realized that i left my camera cord in idaho......GROWL! oh, well i have video, so here is a video. its kind of long, but what-ev.
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after that, we went to my brother jeremy's house and a bunch of the family played dart tag/steal the flag. its a game we made up that involves hiding a flag, moving gun-man, stationary gun-man, shields and alot of running around the house trying to find the other teams flag without getting shot by the dart guns. so again, i don't have my camera, but i gave dan some dart guns for his birthday last year, so here is a picture of what they look like.....holy cow, we look rad.














after that we had a delicious thanksgiving dinner, and my parents busted out an early family christmas present--a Wii-- since we won't all be together on christmas. so we played that for a while, and it is completley official.....i am terrible at mario cart, and if i drove like that in real life, my license would definitely be revoked.

LATER, (my favorite part) we all participated in a MDO, or a mandatory dance off. it was absolutely HILARIOUS! everyone participated and i think everyone was glad they did. we all went in a room with a video camera and danced for 30 seconds to the song, "I like to move it, move it." then we all watched it together and voted for our top three who had to preform live in front of everyone to a surprise song that we picked for them. proudly, dan got in the top 3, as did my brother beau and my little nephew kade. the winner recieved a wicked awesome shirt that i designed---fabric crayons are awesome---a sweet trophy with spray-painted gold shoes, and a 10 dollar gift card to cold stone. the verdict? watch the video and find out.





and that pretty much sums up the day. it was full of food and an equal amount of exercise to balance it out. i am really glad my family puts up with my insane ideas---even the pregnant women participated....speaking of which, amanda had her baby yesterday and nova is so excited that she has a new cousin, owen mckay, we left before we could see him, which is good because dan and i both have awful colds. (another reason, why this blog probably isn't clever and is probably disjointed.)

we've seen pics and he is SO cute! congrats ty and amanda.

also yesterday was dan's mom's birthday and we want her to know we love her. i couldn't ask for a better mother-in-law. she is so great and a wonderful example of love, service and motherhood.

i suppose when i get my camera back, i'll post all the pics on my camera, but until then, i guess video will just have to do. hopefully everyone had a spectacular thanksgiving and reflected oon what they are thankful for and how many blessing we have. in reality i am thankful for so much. modern medicine, the gospel, friends, family, the Savior and a beautiful world to live in. for a healthy body and for a healthy mind. but laughing dan and i put together a top three list of funny things we are thankful for.

dan is thankful for:
1. english
2. books
3. cheese

suzanne is thankful for:
1. disneyland
2. ice cream
3. the color orange

nova is thankful for:
1. bathtime
2. binkies
3. milk

p.s. i have been trying to post this since monday and it is taking years to upload the videos. finally-2 days later its done!