Thanksgiving!

This year we made an impromptu trip to Utah for Thanksgiving. It was our first time home for Thanksgiving in eight years. It was so much fun. We had a blast. Probably our favorite trip to Utah we have ever had (and that is saying something, because we always have a fabulous time visiting family)! We drove in a leisurely fashion, which was really nice, for a change. We didn't drive through the night, and we made plenty of stops, including a stop for two days in St. George. During our stay in St. George we stayed at a really fun hotel that had indoor and outdoor pools and hot tubs and indoor and outdoor play grounds. The kids had a blast! The staff was so friendly and the continental breakfast was a favorite of our kids.

We visited the Johnson Dinosaur Museum and a fun bounce house called "Jumping Jacks". We went out for ice cream and did some shopping, but mostly we just played at the hotel. The kids were having such a fun time in St. George, but when we woke up after our second day there and asked the kids if they wanted to stay another day in St. George or get in the car and drive 5 hours to go visit family, they all yelled excitedly "Go visit our cousins!!!". So we went. It was a surprise to our cousins and to our kids and it was fun to surprise everyone.

Our first night we spent at our cabin and played in the snow. It was nice and COLD.

The night before thanksgiving my family always does a HUGE family dinner, with my moms side of the family and my dad's side of the family. My little brother Ned was there (he lives in Las Vegas now). Aunt Aleta brought a pinata for all the little kids and they had a tough time trying to break it. We have a long running tradition of playing musical chairs with the adults. It can get pretty rough, but the glory of winning is worth the broken bones, bloody noses and black eyes (it's not really THAT rough, but pretty close)! There is even a trophy handed from winner to winner each year. Unfortunately I did NOT win (due to some sketchy circumstances) and I merely came in 4th place... I was not a happy loser- I planned to make my come back by winning first place! It was not to be. I was distracted by a CHILD (not mine) sent to engage me in conversation while the music was being stopped... it was a sneaky and underhanded thing to do!

On thanksgiving day we did a nice sit down family dinner with my brothers and sisters. It took some extra effort for all my siblings that came to make it there. I love spending time with my siblings and their kids. We do have a lot of fun together and I hope that someday they will all go to college together and get married at the same time... ! I also got to go see Curtis and Heathers new home that they are in the process of renovating. It is so cute! It is in West bountiful and I am so excited to have them close to my mom so we can spend more time visiting them when we travel to Utah.

Olivia had a great time with Zahara (we call her little "Z"). "Z" is about 7 months younger than Olivia and they get along fabulously. They are going to be great friends as they get older (they already love each other so much).

Friday we went to the cabin with Heather and Ilesha's families. We played in the snow and rode snowmobiles. Saturday we went to a Thanksgiving feast with Travis's family. It was a fun event and we walked away with a new member of our family (more on this in our next post). We drove home through the night and got home Sunday. It was such an exciting trip and we mad a lot of memories that we will carry with us for years to come.