Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! We are so blessed to have Ryan and Sasha living in Texas! They hosted their first Thanksgiving and we loved being able to spend the holiday weekend with them (even if half of us ended up with the stomach bug 😆)

The crew!

Ryan and Sasha n know how to host! Good food, beautiful set up, and fun people. It was a great Thanksgiving.

All the yumminess and believe me there was so much good food! Someone brought a prime rib that was to die for!

 

Thanksgiving family pictures 

Lucky for us Ryan’s selfie game is strong and was able to fit us all in the picture!

When we first arrived Stetson showed Logan around the house. He was so proud of his new house it was adorable!

Carson reading stories to the kids

Puzzles!

Roasting marshmallows and watching Christmas movies 💕

We went to Home Depot and did their Christmas craft for the week! It was a hit! They made a train picture frame ornament. It was a great way to spend a cold rainy Saturday morning.

Carson unfortunately was pretty sick so he stayed home, but the other kids loved it!

Logan was up next with the stomach bug, it seemed as soon as one kid got better another kid got it. Fortunately everyone was healthy on Thanksgiving and mostly healthy when we went to the Dallas Arboretum.

The Dallas Arboretum did a beautiful job with their Christmas display! And even though it was Thanksgiving weekend, since it rained all day and only stopped an hour before it opened it wasn’t busy at all! 

The Arboretum had these cute widow displays of each of the 12 days of Christmas all throughout the park.

(5 golden Rings)

Cousins loving on hot chocolate

The highlight of the park was this adorable German Christmas village. You could go to all the little houses and get a little prize or treat, and then at the end you got to meet Santa!

I’ll admit, seeing my nieces and nephews so excited to see Santa and my boys a little less so broke my heart a bit. I miss that stage…

Seeing all the beautiful displays and lights was the perfect way to kick off the Christmas season and get us in the holiday spirit!

And doing it with family was even better!

 

Sherry Henry Forsyth

I’m already chocking up just even typing my first few words. This is going to be an emotional post for me. It’s been two months now since Sherry passed and I still have to remind myself that she’s gone. It still doesn’t seem real. It’s hard to lose a grandparent, but you know it’s their time, they lived a good life. Sherry was taken from us too soon and too sudden. It’s hard to grieve.

Sherry was my second mom, she loved me and my siblings like her own. Matt and Sherry never did have children and so really we were her kids. My mom will even joke that Sherry was her sister wife.

Sherry married my uncle Matt when I was just a toddler. They would babysit me while they and my parents were attending BYU. When we first moved to Layton any time they came to visit us was so exciting and special. They had a small little Mazda car and we would sit outside waiting for it to arrive, and when they left they would honk the horn and we’d chase after it, running down the street until we no longer could.

It was so exciting when after Sherry finished her residency that her and Matt moved in with us. They lived with us for 2-3 years. I have so many good memories from that time. 

Saturday mornings usually included a trip to RC Wiley complete with free hot dogs.

We would have fancy princess baths where Sherry would put food coloring in the water and light candles. She made us feel so special. 

Sherry was always making fun activities for us to do.  She was so creative, remember this was pre-internet days! I remember one time we went to Smiths and we each got to pick out a fancy fruit and we came home and tried them all. One was a coconut that we had to get an hammer to break and another a star fruit, I think there might have been a passion fruit and kiwi in there too.

Sherry knew that I loved the game clue and so one night we all dressed up in character to play the board game. I was Miss Scarlet. This then turned into lots of Murder Mystery Parties as a family. I absolutely love doing them still to this day.

We loved listening to the Disney channel and were big Disney fans. My first time to a movie theater was on Thanksgiving to see Beauty and the Beast with them.

My childhood was my childhood because of Sherry. Almost all of our family vacations happened because of Sherry. We went on a family cruise, biking in Moab, to DisneyWorld and Universal Studios. Right after I turned 12 they took me, just me to San Francisco. I felt so special. We got a character picture of us that still hangs on the wall of their home. We biked across the Golden Gate Bridge and belly danced in a Moroccan restaurant. I had the funnest time.

(DisneyWorld)

In my teenage years my grandparents moved into their basement in Cedar Hills. Their house was always open and it was where the family would gather for Sunday dinners and special occasions. Sherry was a wonderful cook. Some of my favorite recipes are hers. We would play bingo with prizes and a family favorite; Batman Bingo.  The door to their garage is covered in dashes marking the heights and dates of all the family members so we can see how much we’ve grown. 

Sherry was a psychiatrist and you could always go to her for advice on life. Actually when Brad first met Sherry and we were pretty serious, she gave Brad “the talk” knowing that my parents were too nice to do so. 

 Although the past decade Sherry’s health was off and on, she still was always thinking of others. She put family above all else. Every Christmas my kids would receive a chocolate countdown from Santa at the North Pole aka Sherry. She always remembered their birthdays and sent a card with money. My kids loved going over to their house and playing batman bingo, keeping the tradition alive. 

Sherry was all about making memories with family. She was warm and inviting. She gave great hugs and smelled of her favorite scent Rose. She was thoughtful and giving. And I will miss her terribly.

Love you Sherry

Obituary Sherry Henry Forsyth

Sherry Henry Forsyth died surrounded by family on her birthday, November 20, 2022 at age 63. She was born to Carter Henry and Lulu Howell of Morgantown, West Virginia. Prior to earning a PhD in Behavioral Psychology from Brigham Young University, Sherry served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Peru.  Sherry was an accomplished Behavioral Consultant working with psychiatric and developmentally disabled individuals. In 1987, Sherry married Matthew Forsyth. Despite having no children of their own, Matt and Sherry loved spoiling their many nieces and nephews. Many of Sherry's most favored memories were of vacationing with them in the theme parks of Orlando. Sherry is survived by her husband, Matthew; mother, Lulu Howell; her siblings Janice (Bruce) Rhiddlehoover, Jimmy Henry, Earnie (Janie) Jennelle, Chuck (Sherry) Jennelle, and Patrick (Shari) Henry.  A private memorial service will be held on December 3rd. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a charity of your choice.

November

This November Brad and I celebrated 18 years of marriage! Holy moly that makes us sound old! But there isn’t anyone else I’d rather grow old with! To celebrate we did a staycation in downtown. We got a hotel and went to dinner and to see the the musical production of Six! It was a great weekend.

Cuties off to the bus stop.

Logan got the circle of character award for November! He received the Respect award.

“Logan is such a sweet boy with excellent manners. He is always a respectful classmate and a good friend.”

These two got to go on their first and unfortunately last campout together! Carson’s troop invited the Arrow of Light boys along, and though it was a rainy and cold weekend they had a good time. Carson unfortunately no longer wants to continue with boy scouts and dropped out after the end of the year. We were a little disappointed he didn’t want to continue on with his Eagle after all he’s done, but he has gotten tired of it and his heart was no longer in it.  Tanner however decided he wants to continue with Boy Scouts and will be joining in March after his Arrow off Light crossover ceremony.

Here’s Tanner with a couple of his Arrow of Light buddies. Tanner was the only one in his group who spent the night, the others only stayed for a day, but Tanner stayed and shared a tent with Carson.

November isn’t over just yet! Our Thanksgiving holiday trip is up next!