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Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  Hope you had a great day with your family and friends.  I know we had a crazy Seger Thanksgiving.

Michael and Henry.

Some of the kidlets..Garrett, Allye and Hailye (Nathan/Tabbi), Sophie (Michael/Nicole), and Elyse (Matt/Donae).  The house was packed so we had them eat outside just to keep the noise level a tad bit less than a just plane inside the house during the meal.

Nathan smoked the turkey, which is better than boiling it in oil.  No waste and there's no oil to dispose of afterwards.  Pretty tasty, too.  The turkey was deboned prior to smoking so it looked a little bit too relaxed.  But, it was very good.

Mike St. Claire, Donae's Father, was there and ws watching the games while most of use were talking and eating stuff.  I think he feels like most of the Seger's are pretty crazy and very loud.

Let the feeding begin.  Turkey, ham, nathan's secret scalloped potatoes and stuffing, gravy, and lots of other things.  Pumpkin cheese cake, caramel apple pie, cookies and lots of desserts.

Grandpa Sheldon Turner and Avrye getting ready for the meal.

Good thing we're not having corn on the cob, huh, Elyse?

Michael, Kate and Jeffrey.  Jeff and Kate just announced their engagement a couple of days ago with a planned wedding in May 2017 sometime.  Yeah.  We all like Kate.  Jeff has a real keeper on his hands.  Welcome to the family, Kate.

People everywhere.

After dinner we got to doing pictures.  Here are the brothers, all together, once again.

...and, of course, the picture with the old man!

So, what's the golden rule of photography?  Never take only one picture of an important picture?  I didn't take this and when I went to look at this, there was only one shot of the fam damly together...so...it is what it is.  Well, it's better than nothing!

So, in addition to all the family drama, Jon/Angéle did a "reveal" for the sex of their child that is due in February (I think).  Sorry this didn't come out so well, it's kind of difficult to focus on a video across a room on a TV...but, you will get the idea, I hope.

At any rate, to catch you up on stuff:

We have given our report to the HIgh Council on November 10th along with 4 other returned Elders.

We gave our mission report to the ward on November 13th along with Kevin.

We are almost finished with our mission paperwork for our next mission and only lack our physicals and then the submission.  We have been doing all of that pre-mission medical stuff that needs ot be done so we can submit the mission forms online.  It does take quite a while but we are now "experts" at doing it.  It's a bit easier this time around.  Hopefully, we will be able to do a Family History Mission somewhere and have a fun sort of mission with a little less work and pressure.

We will start work in the Family History Center in Placerville, CA this coming Tuesday afternoon and we are working in the Sacramento Temple on Saturday evenings from 4 till closing at 10 PM.

That is what is happening right now...probably no more reporting till Christmas is over.  Best wishes to all of you for the holidays.

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The last temple of our 2016 Temple Tour for this year.  We had originally planned to hit the Reno temple on our way through Utah and Nevada but it just was going to add too much time to our schedule so we headed home on our last leg instead.  Reno is about 3 hours from our house so we knew we could get there anytime we could squeeze it in.   However, when I looked at the temple schedule, I discovered it was closed for winter shutdown from the end of November until mid-December.  So, we had to do this last temple visit this week or we were going to need to wait until way into December.  that is probably not such a good idea given it's nearly Christmas time and all.  

Temples are about families.  About all we have at home anymore...

One last shot before we leave for home.  The south side of the Reno Temple.  Heading home from here.  Thanksgiving is only a couple of days away.

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Jonathan Emmett Seger and his lovely wife, Angéle, and Feonyx came a couple of days early to visit family and friends.  We went on a visit to Apple Hill in Camino.

Jon, reliving his childhood, offering Feonyx one of those bear shaped honey containers, which he clung to for the rest of the outing.

"Grandpa, why are you taking so many pictures of me"?

The line for those delectable apple fritters and donuts at High Hill.  Well, ya gotta have at least one once a year, don't ya?

Our tour group.  Garrett, Arlene, Angéle, Feonyx, and Jon (Emmett).

The fish pond at High Hill.  I think the fish are sleeping this time of year.

Strolling through some of the boothes in the area.

Awww, holding hands.  Probably to keep Feonyx from begging for pieces of his fritter.  Cute, though, huh?

We then took off for carnitas nachos at Tijuana Taqueria and then headed home.  Enough for one day.

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Our 43rd anniversary was on November 9th but, as usual, family and other things got in the way, so we just postponed it a bit until November 16th.  Additionally, since Kevin had recently got back from his mission, we just asked him to go along with us.  We have this routine we do every year and we have come to enjoy it but it takes all day.  A trip to the Oakland Temple for a session and a late lunch at Scoma's for Calamari Fritti, one of our favorite dishes in San Francisco.  Additionally, a quick trip down the pier to pick up some sourdough bread to take home.

Kevin registered for all of his BYUI classes to start the day off at 5 AM.  It was a long day.

It was a beautiful and simply gorgeous day.  Wind was blowing and it was quite cool. 

Hi, Kevin!

Looking East from the area above the observation deck.  They have a "new" (well, to us anyway) pond and waterfall feature where they used to have a garden area in the entryway.

Nice view of the Bay Area on this day.

The West side of the temple.

The East side.

West side of the temple, a panorama shot.

So, off to San Francisco and dinner.

Calamari Fritti and other stuff.  Done right at Scoma's on pier 45.  

The place.  Hard to find but worth it.

Well, that's not something you see in downtown Placerville, CA everyday...or ever...

mmmmm...sourdough bread in a hundred different configurations...

Well, it's time to head back for the car and Camino.  the day is almost done...except for the 4 hour car ride due to traffic...ugh.  However, the guy that parked our car at Scoma's had nothing else to do so he took those big dents out of the tailgate of our RAV4 so Arlene doesn't need to look at them anymore!  Nice parking lot attendant, huh?  Only in San Francisco can you get fried squid and your car dents taken out at the same place.  Gotta love the town.

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We got Elder Kevin home and released from his mission and he started to settle into life as a civilian, once again.  We took Kevin to the dentist the next day and got all of those issues taken care of.  Then we had a ward Harvest Festival a couple of days later that we all attended.  He was getting into character with his Cubs jacket.

Veterans Day 2016 and we all went over to Great Grandpa Neer's grave site to pay respects to him.  He passed away last year.

This national cemetery is in Dixon, CA.

The Seger crew. Allye, Garret, Avrye, and Hailye.

I gave a handful of pennies to the crew and explained the tradition of leaving one at the headstone of anyone that you are showing respect for.  In addition, for a veteran, a nickel shows you served in bootcamp with the deceased, a dime shows you served with them at one time, and a quarter shows that you were there when they died. 

This area has about doubled in size since GGPa Neer passed away a few months ago.

We then went off to visit the Jelly Belly Factory, since it was just down the road a few miles.

A diabetic's nightmare...  nummy!

Full run to the store!  gimme some Jelly Belly's!

Take my picture!

That is a lot of Jelly Belly's!

...and more Jelly Belly's!

How to choose the Belly Flops...

'Course, we had a long trip home but the day was really a nice day.

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The day we've been waiting for has finally arrived!  Elder Kevin spent the night in the mission home, not much in the way of sleep during the night, an early departure, and several hours of plane flights back to Sacramento.

Anxiously awaiting Elder Seger's arrival...any minute now!

The very first glimpse of our youngest son after two years, as he heads towards the escalator, towards us. 

There he is!  That great big smile of his...

Ok, Mom...there are a few of us that want to see/talk to him too...can you let him come up for air...please?

Big brother has to get a lick in there also.

One of Kevin's buddies from before his mission that just returned from his mission.  A sweet reunion.

Holding his sign up.

Uncle Kevin and Haley...

...and we're all off to In-N-Out Burgers for lunch then off to get Kevin some shoes that he desperately needs.  After that, we will be Elder Seger meets with the stake president and will be released from his mission...a very bitter sweet moment after serving the Lord for 2 years of his young life.

A beautiful fall day at the stake center as we wait to meet with the stake president.

After his final interview with President Weston, the removal of his missionary badge, President Weston and Mom looks on as Kevin removes his pin from the missionary map at the stake center.  Another missionary moment that marks the end of a well served mission by an extraordinary missionary.

One last picture of Kevin with the stake president as he starts the next chapter of his life.

Kevin will be heading to BYUI in January for the winter and spring semesters for his first year.  We are very proud of him and his efforts.  It is so very thrilling to hear him speaking Spanish as if it is a second language to him.  He has learned quite a lot.  So much lies in front of him.