WEDNESDAY:
We left Wednesday as soon as Tyson got home from work. Our first stop was to Great Clips so Amy could cut everybody's hair.
We left Wednesday as soon as Tyson got home from work. Our first stop was to Great Clips so Amy could cut everybody's hair.
Brycen does really well when he's getting his hair cut! He never cries. Amy gives him a brightly-colored comb and he's happy and smiling.We got to Tyson's parents' house around 7:30 and we were greeted by them, as well as Dustin and Erika and Angie and Steve, as well as all of their kids. It was a great surprise!
We ate tacos and played Loaded Questions. The kiddos had a great time playing with each other. Brycen was especially happy to be there with his cousins!
Lillie and Kate were putting on their "makeup". They're such cute little girls.THURSDAY:
We went to Rexburg to Tyson's uncle and aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner. His aunt DeeAnn makes the BEST rolls ever. She always makes them for Thanksgiving, as well as extras for everyone to take home. Brycen didn't want to eat anything but one of DeeAnn's rolls for dinner. Tyson, Brycen, Tyson's parents, and I were the only ones present from the Milan Miller family. We missed everybody who couldn't be there. But we had a great time with everyone who could be there!
DeeAnn's table scape was so pretty. She does an awesome job decorating for dinner parties. Brycen even got his own table setting (pictured above left). We eventually traded for a plastic plate and a sippy cup, for obvious reasons. :)
Tyson and I made the place cards. We made 23 of these little Reese's Pieces-filled corn husks. After making about 15 of them we finally had control of what we were doing and got the hang of it.
After dinner we took Brycen home to take a nap. When he woke up we went to my parents' house to visit them. They had Amy, Adam, and my grandparents over for Thanksgiving dinner. Grandma and Grandpa had already left by the time we got there so we didn't get to see them. Brycen was really happy to see everybody else though. Especially Uncle Adam!
And it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without a little YouTube. We spent a portion of the afternoon watching bad American Idol auditions and laughing our heads off.
Brycen watched Timmy Time instead.FRIDAY:
Erika, Angie, Julie, and I left Thursday night just before 10:00 to get going on the Black Friday shopping. We went to Walmart hoping to score a PS3 for Angie. We were very doubtful that she'd get one, considering the deal started at 10:00 and we walked in the door at about 9:45. Dustin and Tyson (home with the kids, bless their hearts) were online seeing if they could get a PS3 on Walmart's website for that price, seeing as how Angie would most likely not be getting on in the store. When we walked up to the gentleman in charge of the PS3's he told her she had the very last one and gave her the voucher. It was amazing! We couldn't believe it.
{PS I'm about to go into detail about our Black Friday shopping experience because I never ever want to forget it! I won't be offended if you skip this part!}
Just like that we had one of the big ticket items we were out to get checked off the list. Amazing! And totally lucky. While Angie stood in line in the cereal aisle, Erika, Julie, and I decided to split off. Julie had some groceries to buy so I went with Erika to find the Bissel vacuum on sale as well as 600 thread count sheets. We found the vacuums with no problem. I stayed in line while Erika went to find the sheets. She came back pretty quickly. By the time she had gotten to the sheets and asked if they were the ones on for the great price a woman said, "Yes, these are the ones but they're all called for." There were women standing around the crate of sheets like they were blocking someone with the ball during a basketball game. Erika quickly gave up on those and went back to the vacuums.
I was pretty much just coming along to help the others grab what they needed, unless I found something along the way. Otherwise I was there to run. So Erika stayed in the vacuum line and I went to find the Play Doh packs that Erika wanted. We would meet at the front of the store by the cash registers as soon as I found them. I ran in to my high school gal pal Kaylie's mom by the vacuums and she said Kaylie was there somewhere. So I called her and went to meet her in the automotive section where she was in line for something for her little girl. I was making my way over there when the whistle blew and the sheets came off the 10:00 sale crates. And then all heck broke loose. There were people everywhere: yelling, throwing things, pushing, crying, yelling some more...And I just needed Play Doh!! I was laughing so hard at how chaotic the whole place was. And they hadn't even unveiled the midnight TV and blu-ray sales yet. These people were just after Ants in the Pants games and Rubbermaid containers. I grabbed three Play Doh packages just in case and went up to find Erika at the cash register.
On my way to find Erika a woman asked me where I found the Play Doh. I told her but also let her know that it was most likely gone. She looked really sad so I gave her one of mine. I only needed two anyway so I was glad I could help her out. I passed a lot of people I know during all the chaos. And things got even more chaotic when I reached the front of the store; particularly the produce section. There was a mass of people and arms in the air, holding movies up high and pushing through the crowds. The big-sale movies and Wii/Play Station/XBox games were all in the produce section and people were going NUTS over it. At $1.99 a piece it was apparently the biggest moment of all of their lives. Especially for the jerk who punched a pregnant lady right in the face to get the movie she was holding. The poor thing (probably 7 or 8 months pregnant) had a bloody nose and a cut lip, all because that idiot wanted her movie. It was horrible!
I found Erika in line already, having found everything but the Vtech lap top for her little girl. I gave her the Play Doh and told her I needed to go find my friend. I would meet Erika at the front of the store past the checkout where she would be waiting for me. I headed back down from the way I came and was almost to the electronics department when I saw Erika come flying around the corner. It was so loud in there so I had to yell, "Erika, what are you doing!" She yelled back, "Bissel Shark!!!" I turned around to see a pile of Shark steam mops disappearing before my eyes. I saw Erika quickly do a drive by pick up for one of the mops and run off to the front of the store. I impulsively grabbed two of the steam mops and put one under each of my arms. At that point I realized I probably wouldn't be able to find Kaylie. I was an extra wide load carrying those two boxes in my arms and I wasn't getting far. I also spotted Rose Art coloring kits for super cheap so I grabbed one of those. A miracle occurred when I turned a corner and saw Julie standing there with a cart full of groceries and Angie's findings. I put my two steam mops in the cart and stayed there to stand guard while Julie went to go do some more finding.
It wasn't too long before a woman came up to me and asked where I got the Sharks. I told her, but when I grabbed mine there were only 5 left. So I gave her one of mine and kept the other one. She was so thrilled and it made me happy. (I told my dad about the two incidences of giving stuff away and he had the idea of going Black Friday shopping just to give everything back out in the store and make people's day.) Julie and Angie came back and found me, and in great time too. There were a lot of people walking by and eying my Shark and the PS3. I was scared! We pushed the cart and eventually found the line to the checkout. It was clear back in the middle of the store. We thought for sure we'd be there all night. Then out of nowhere Julie comes back and waves us to move. We ended up going clear up to almost the front of a checkout line. I'm still not sure how that happened but wow, we were happy about it! It was here that I watched a girl in the checkout line next to me put something down. It was big and pink, and I immediately recognized it as the Vtech lap top Erika was looking for. So I asked her if she wanted it. She said no and I took it. Score! Perfect timing.
We eventually paid for our stuff and found Erika. We were laughing the whole way out of the store, carrying our bazillion bags and boxes of loot. We got in the illegally parked car and discussed our next location. It was only 11:00 so we were just getting started! We decided to give Kohls a try. We dropped Erika off to stand in line while the three of us went to Maverick and refueled. We got back and sat in the car for a few minutes until about 11:55 to go walk up and get in line. The store would open at midnight so we were just going to join up with Erika. We started approaching the crowd when people started yelling at us. "You better not cut!!" "Get in the back!" "We've been here for hours!" It was an angry mob at its finest. Obviously we weren't going to just cram our way in at midnight with the people at the front of the line. On our way back to find Erika we saw other people coming from the parking lot getting ready to just join in with the front. There were people coming from out of the line yelling at those approaching the building, using a lot of questionable words that aren't very Thanksgivingy. We found Erika and didn't wait very long before the line started moving. She had made a couple of friends in the line who were really nice and kept her company. We all crammed our way in the door and split ways. I found exactly what I was looking for and fast. I then found what I thought was the line to the checkout but later found out it wasn't. Of course the people all around me were yelling and swearing at the associate because obviously it was her fault that hundreds of people decided to go shopping there and made us all get in that line. I felt so bad for the employees there. It was like every angry person in the greater Idaho Falls area decided to come to Kohls that night and just rip into everyone who even looked at them wrong.
I sat in the middle of the chaos pretty sure I would be spending the night there (the line wrapped all the way around the store and the bad line we were in was clear back in the dishware). I considered getting in the jewelry line but I would have to buy jewelry to do that. Not that I oppose jewelry in any way. Pretty soon my phone rang and it was Erika. Her call made me feel like we were in a Mission Impossible movie. She said, "I'm at the front of the line with the two friends I met outside. Get up here as fast as you can. I'm by the chocolate. You have one to two minutes." And that was it. I ran up to the front of the store and found her behind the Godiva chocolate stand and we laughed and laughed about her dramatic phone call. Eventually Angie and Julie joined us and we all checked out in record time. The girls Erika met outside and who saved us a spot in the checkout line saved over $900. It was amazing! We ran in to DeeAnn, Meg, and Annie checking out (Tyson's aunt and her daughters) and DeeAnn's husband was still outside of Target waiting to get in. They were only letting 25 people in at a time there. So we all crammed into Julie's car with all of our loot and drove them to Target to meet up with him. We laughed and laughed about our crazy experiences and all the "pleasant" people around us.
After dropping off the girls at Target, the four of us went back to the house to get some sleep. We woke up at 4:15 to head into Fred Meyer where Julie was hoping to score a TV and blu-ray player at some really great deals. We got there at a little after 5 am when the store opened and Erika and I ran right for the electronics department. She went for the TV and I went for the blu-ray player. We were both successful and worked our way back out to find Julie and Angie with a cart. We also passed about 5 PS3's for the same awesome price that Walmart had them, as well as the $99 Wii systems. We both asked (or yelled, rather), "Should we grab one!" in all the confusion and knowing how high in demand those things were. We passed on the game systems and made our way back to the "Buy One Get One Free" board games. We got the games we needed then headed back to the socks. You can't go to Freddy's on Black Friday and not get socks for half off! We met up with Angie and Julie and went back to the toy section to find Christmas presents for the grand kids. It was nice being able to get so much Christmas shopping done!
After Fred Meyer we went to the mall for $10 Stafford shirts at JCPenney as well as a few other excellent finds for those in our group. I bought a black skirt on a whim as well. I ran in to a few high school buddies while there (Robyn and Jarae, it was SO good to see you both!! I miss you!). We were exhausted and got home by 8:15.
I took a 3-hour nap that afternoon. I was so exhausted! We had so much fun shopping though. I can't wait to do it again next year!
I was pretty much just coming along to help the others grab what they needed, unless I found something along the way. Otherwise I was there to run. So Erika stayed in the vacuum line and I went to find the Play Doh packs that Erika wanted. We would meet at the front of the store by the cash registers as soon as I found them. I ran in to my high school gal pal Kaylie's mom by the vacuums and she said Kaylie was there somewhere. So I called her and went to meet her in the automotive section where she was in line for something for her little girl. I was making my way over there when the whistle blew and the sheets came off the 10:00 sale crates. And then all heck broke loose. There were people everywhere: yelling, throwing things, pushing, crying, yelling some more...And I just needed Play Doh!! I was laughing so hard at how chaotic the whole place was. And they hadn't even unveiled the midnight TV and blu-ray sales yet. These people were just after Ants in the Pants games and Rubbermaid containers. I grabbed three Play Doh packages just in case and went up to find Erika at the cash register.
On my way to find Erika a woman asked me where I found the Play Doh. I told her but also let her know that it was most likely gone. She looked really sad so I gave her one of mine. I only needed two anyway so I was glad I could help her out. I passed a lot of people I know during all the chaos. And things got even more chaotic when I reached the front of the store; particularly the produce section. There was a mass of people and arms in the air, holding movies up high and pushing through the crowds. The big-sale movies and Wii/Play Station/XBox games were all in the produce section and people were going NUTS over it. At $1.99 a piece it was apparently the biggest moment of all of their lives. Especially for the jerk who punched a pregnant lady right in the face to get the movie she was holding. The poor thing (probably 7 or 8 months pregnant) had a bloody nose and a cut lip, all because that idiot wanted her movie. It was horrible!
I found Erika in line already, having found everything but the Vtech lap top for her little girl. I gave her the Play Doh and told her I needed to go find my friend. I would meet Erika at the front of the store past the checkout where she would be waiting for me. I headed back down from the way I came and was almost to the electronics department when I saw Erika come flying around the corner. It was so loud in there so I had to yell, "Erika, what are you doing!" She yelled back, "Bissel Shark!!!" I turned around to see a pile of Shark steam mops disappearing before my eyes. I saw Erika quickly do a drive by pick up for one of the mops and run off to the front of the store. I impulsively grabbed two of the steam mops and put one under each of my arms. At that point I realized I probably wouldn't be able to find Kaylie. I was an extra wide load carrying those two boxes in my arms and I wasn't getting far. I also spotted Rose Art coloring kits for super cheap so I grabbed one of those. A miracle occurred when I turned a corner and saw Julie standing there with a cart full of groceries and Angie's findings. I put my two steam mops in the cart and stayed there to stand guard while Julie went to go do some more finding.
It wasn't too long before a woman came up to me and asked where I got the Sharks. I told her, but when I grabbed mine there were only 5 left. So I gave her one of mine and kept the other one. She was so thrilled and it made me happy. (I told my dad about the two incidences of giving stuff away and he had the idea of going Black Friday shopping just to give everything back out in the store and make people's day.) Julie and Angie came back and found me, and in great time too. There were a lot of people walking by and eying my Shark and the PS3. I was scared! We pushed the cart and eventually found the line to the checkout. It was clear back in the middle of the store. We thought for sure we'd be there all night. Then out of nowhere Julie comes back and waves us to move. We ended up going clear up to almost the front of a checkout line. I'm still not sure how that happened but wow, we were happy about it! It was here that I watched a girl in the checkout line next to me put something down. It was big and pink, and I immediately recognized it as the Vtech lap top Erika was looking for. So I asked her if she wanted it. She said no and I took it. Score! Perfect timing.
We eventually paid for our stuff and found Erika. We were laughing the whole way out of the store, carrying our bazillion bags and boxes of loot. We got in the illegally parked car and discussed our next location. It was only 11:00 so we were just getting started! We decided to give Kohls a try. We dropped Erika off to stand in line while the three of us went to Maverick and refueled. We got back and sat in the car for a few minutes until about 11:55 to go walk up and get in line. The store would open at midnight so we were just going to join up with Erika. We started approaching the crowd when people started yelling at us. "You better not cut!!" "Get in the back!" "We've been here for hours!" It was an angry mob at its finest. Obviously we weren't going to just cram our way in at midnight with the people at the front of the line. On our way back to find Erika we saw other people coming from the parking lot getting ready to just join in with the front. There were people coming from out of the line yelling at those approaching the building, using a lot of questionable words that aren't very Thanksgivingy. We found Erika and didn't wait very long before the line started moving. She had made a couple of friends in the line who were really nice and kept her company. We all crammed our way in the door and split ways. I found exactly what I was looking for and fast. I then found what I thought was the line to the checkout but later found out it wasn't. Of course the people all around me were yelling and swearing at the associate because obviously it was her fault that hundreds of people decided to go shopping there and made us all get in that line. I felt so bad for the employees there. It was like every angry person in the greater Idaho Falls area decided to come to Kohls that night and just rip into everyone who even looked at them wrong.
I sat in the middle of the chaos pretty sure I would be spending the night there (the line wrapped all the way around the store and the bad line we were in was clear back in the dishware). I considered getting in the jewelry line but I would have to buy jewelry to do that. Not that I oppose jewelry in any way. Pretty soon my phone rang and it was Erika. Her call made me feel like we were in a Mission Impossible movie. She said, "I'm at the front of the line with the two friends I met outside. Get up here as fast as you can. I'm by the chocolate. You have one to two minutes." And that was it. I ran up to the front of the store and found her behind the Godiva chocolate stand and we laughed and laughed about her dramatic phone call. Eventually Angie and Julie joined us and we all checked out in record time. The girls Erika met outside and who saved us a spot in the checkout line saved over $900. It was amazing! We ran in to DeeAnn, Meg, and Annie checking out (Tyson's aunt and her daughters) and DeeAnn's husband was still outside of Target waiting to get in. They were only letting 25 people in at a time there. So we all crammed into Julie's car with all of our loot and drove them to Target to meet up with him. We laughed and laughed about our crazy experiences and all the "pleasant" people around us.
After dropping off the girls at Target, the four of us went back to the house to get some sleep. We woke up at 4:15 to head into Fred Meyer where Julie was hoping to score a TV and blu-ray player at some really great deals. We got there at a little after 5 am when the store opened and Erika and I ran right for the electronics department. She went for the TV and I went for the blu-ray player. We were both successful and worked our way back out to find Julie and Angie with a cart. We also passed about 5 PS3's for the same awesome price that Walmart had them, as well as the $99 Wii systems. We both asked (or yelled, rather), "Should we grab one!" in all the confusion and knowing how high in demand those things were. We passed on the game systems and made our way back to the "Buy One Get One Free" board games. We got the games we needed then headed back to the socks. You can't go to Freddy's on Black Friday and not get socks for half off! We met up with Angie and Julie and went back to the toy section to find Christmas presents for the grand kids. It was nice being able to get so much Christmas shopping done!
After Fred Meyer we went to the mall for $10 Stafford shirts at JCPenney as well as a few other excellent finds for those in our group. I bought a black skirt on a whim as well. I ran in to a few high school buddies while there (Robyn and Jarae, it was SO good to see you both!! I miss you!). We were exhausted and got home by 8:15.
I took a 3-hour nap that afternoon. I was so exhausted! We had so much fun shopping though. I can't wait to do it again next year!
That night I had a movie night with my mom and sisters. We watched Christmas with the Kranks and we just laughed and laughed as usual. Tyson stayed at his parents' house with Brycen. Brycen got to take a bath in Grandma's bathtub and he loved it! She's got a really fun tub.
SATURDAY:
The next morning Brycen and I went shopping with my mom and Amber. We went to Real Deals and Shopko then we stopped at Wendy's to grab some lunch. After Wendy's we went and saw our bf Ashlee's new baby, Maddox. He is so cute and I just love him!
Brycen was worn out from shopping so he relaxed in front of the TV with Timmy Time. Please ignore the mess ha ha.
That night Tyson's parents ordered pizza for everyone for dinner and we had another game night. These two little girls didn't want pizza so they had cereal. They're too funny!
After dinner we made friendship bracelets. Easton learned to make them in scouts so he taught us all how to make them. We now call them Buddy Bands. ("Hey. They work.")
Lillie and Brycen decided to go in the play room and draw after they were done with their bracelets.SUNDAY:
We left Tyson's parents' house on Sunday morning to go see my parents one last time. It's always really hard having to say goodbye to our families and we really appreciate their hospitality and letting us stay with them.The night of the pizza party Brycen was really fussy and didn't eat much. He really hadn't eaten much the entire time we were in Idaho. He slept HORRIBLY on Saturday night. We visited with my parents and siblings for a few hours before we decided we should head back home to Utah. Brycen had just gotten cozy on my mom's lap at this time and fell asleep on her.
We needed to change his diaper before we left so we decided to take a chance. It didn't even phase him and he snoozed the whole time. The poor kid was exhausted!
Brycen stayed asleep all the way back to Tyson's parents' house to get the bottles and then to Pocatello. The rest of the way home he watched Timmy Time and was such a good boy. He was a little fussy when we got home and was tugging at his ear a lot. He went to bed at about 7:15 and woke up this morning with a fever. We gave him some Tylenol and he watched cartoons in my bed with me till about 7:45 when he fell back asleep. He didn't wake up till 11:30. He still has a bit of a fever but hopefully we can get it under control soon.All in all we had a really great Thanksgiving weekend! I am so thankful for family, friends, and all the wonderful experiences I have with all of them. We already can't wait to come back to Idaho for Christmas. Until then we have the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert to look forward to! Can't wait!
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