Turkey Day Football

Thanksgiving break was fantastic. No worrying about school, lots of Rockband, lots of sleep and of course stuffing yourself with delicious food! But no one can overlook the most wonderful Anderson tradition--the Turkey Bowl. Last year dad was still very fragile and we had to be very careful with him, but he still played!

Tyson came to Thanksgiving last year and met the family. It was really weird not having him there this year. He has only come once but it just wasn't the same without him. A lot of things aren't the same without Tyson, but I missed him a lot on Thanksgiving.

In light of that I just couldn't quite convince myself to play football this year. So I dubbed myself a photographer and I took pictures of the event with my lovely sidekick, Kylee.

Here is a little blurb about Kylee: she is my cousin Hollie's daughter and just turned 8 and was baptized. I went to it a couple weeks ago and it was really sweet. I remember her being born and I remember the wonderful things that led to Hollie and Steve's temple marriage. I used to babysit Kinzi, Kylee, and Kobe all the time and we had lots of fun. I happen to be the oldest and will never have little nieces to adore before I have my own children, but I've adopted Hollie's kids as substitutes. Kylee is my buddy and I adore her.

So we spent Thanksgiving watching her little brothers (Kobe, Kortland and Kole) and taking pictures. Kortland is a cute little bugger and I gave him my pink gloves because his hands were cold. He tried to do a "too cool" face for the camera but I caught a good one.

Anderson Football is the greatest. We just play two hand touch--otherwise we might end up with lots of broken bones. We always let the little kids help out, and there are always great stories. My dad is always the QB for his team and before each play there is a huddle and a specific lineup and strategy. You feel like you're a real football player because you are all sneaky trying to trick the other team. The teams are as fair as we can make them, and even though Anderson men can't get rid of the competitiveness completely, we are always nice and fair--it's family after all.

I didn't get any super great pictures, I brought the wrong camera, but here are a few to give you the feel of our wonderful family tradition.

Here is a typical play:

1. Attempted organization

2. Line up

3. CHARGE! (Hike)

4. Melee

5. To throw or to run?

6. Points or no points: Whatever benefits the most people wins. :)

And that, my friends, is Anderson Thanksgiving Football.