When we were driving home from Utah back in October, we passed Horseshoe Bend near Page. I have passed Horseshoe Bend countless times on the route to Utah from Arizona but never understood what all of the tourist-bus-hype was about... so I googled it to see what it actually was and why people travel across the world to see it! ;) We finally stopped on our way to Utah this time and our pictures don't do it justice - it was breath taking! (Partly because of the beauty and partly because I thought my kids were going to fall off the cliff! There were no rails or fences!)
We timed it wrong and Kate fell asleep BEFORE we got back in the car, dang it!
I loved the signs in the bathrooms - a sure sign that people from Asia visit often ;) These signs were always all over the western McDonald's bathrooms in China :)
We spent most of the week at my in-laws helping with and visiting my mother-in-law and family there. After Debbie got pneumonia over Labor Day weekend, she hasn't been able to stand or walk by herself, and talking and eating food gets more and more difficult for her every day. My brother and sister-in-law and their 4 young kids moved in with my in-laws back in January to help and we are so grateful for their sacrifice that makes it possible for Debbie to still be living at home! It is fun to always have cousins for Jack and David to play with when we visit and we are happy to help everyone as much as we can when we are there! Life is too short to live so far away from family! :(
When we were there, my father-in-law got out his rock collection and Jack was soooooo fascinated by it!
Debbie went through some of her recipe books and shared some of our favorites:
On Wednesday, we stayed with my family the entire day and did Thanksgiving dinner a day early with them. Maddie and James flew in from California and we went on a hike right when they got there. We love Neff's Canyon trail and it's so close to my parent's house!
Gingerbread turkey making!
My sister Elizabeth had to work in the afternoon and she insisted that we go visit her :) Jack and David loooved where she worked and Kate did too! I think we have another fish in the family :)
I failed at picture taking at my family's Thanksgiving dinner. This was the only picture I got. 4 generations :)
On Thanksgiving morning, my dad, Spencer and I went on a hike. I think I have finally surrendered and given up on the idea of ever playing in a turkey bowl again. Those days are over as a married Mormon woman and I should know that it is my job to cook Thanksgiving dinner while watching the kids while the husband goes and plays ;) But seriously, don't get me started on this topic, I can get pretty worked up about it!!!! I'll have you know that the first Thanksgiving that Spencer and I knew each other, Spencer came to watch me in my turkey bowl game since he couldn't play because of track and we started dating right after that. I'm pretty sure he fell in love with me because of my awesome football skills and now I am just a waste of turkey bowl talent ;) Luckily, my mom knew her place this year and watched my kids while we went on the hike ;) THANK YOU MAMMA!!!!!! If I can't play in turkey bowls anymore, my goal is to either race in a turkey trot and/or go on a hike on Thanksgiving instead and I've been able to do that almost every married Thanksgiving of my life so I'm so grateful for that!
My dad and Spencer accidentally dressed the same!!!... kind of. About few years ago, Spencer expressed that his personal style is a lot like my dads and my jaw about dropped to the floor! hahaha REI and Nike is where it's at I guess. hahaha
We went to Spencer's grandparent's house for Thanksgiving dinner and I failed again at picture taking. This is the only picture I took. Jack and David sure love playing with cousins!
On Friday, we celebrated Jack's birthday with my family. Spencer's cousin reminded me of Dinosaur Park in Ogden which is the perfect place for a dino obsessed almost-six-year-old! It was a hit! Jack made Spencer follow him around and take pictures of him with every dinosaur. It was hilarious! Sorry for the picture overload, but Jack's poses cracked us up!
Checking Spencer's phone to see how his dino pictures turned out! haha I hope one day he appreciates that I posted every single one of them on this blog ;)
We also got to meet with a "real paleontologist" aka a bunch of dino-obsessed volunteers and Jack listened to them in fascination for 30 minutes straight! David said, "I didn't know that paleontologists were still alive!!!" This is when things went south. While Jack was listening to the volunteers talk, David threw up and my sister Elizabeth went to the bathroom and passed out. Everyone was falling apart and Jack didn't notice a thing because he was on cloud nine!!!
My dad and Elizabeth went home early and we stayed for another hour or so. Jack bought a dinosaur hat and a "cozy pterodactyl" with some birthday money.
Then we spent another 20-30 minutes in the parking lot because we thought that my mom's purse got stolen. (Turns out my dad just hid it really good #tendermercy) Then we stopped 3 times on the way home because in David's words, "My throw up keeps ssssploding like a volcano!!!" Poor barfy boy :(
When we got home, we did pizza and presents and my grandparents and cousins came over. It was quite the party and we kept partying after Jack and David went to sleep :)
My family gave Jack a geode kit and he was soooo excited!
My grandparents gave Jack the perfect dinosaur book!
Jack went to the store with my parents to get birthday donuts since he doesn't like cake. Of course he needed to wear his geode kit goggles :)
(My view from the grocery store picking up saltines and sprite for David!)
4 generations
PSA - buy the game Fibbage! It's kind of like speed balderdash and it is SOOOO FUN!!!! We played all night!
On Saturday morning we took family pictures with my family in the cold. This is how we all felt about it ;)
Then we went to Kaysville to help get everything ready for my father-in-law's surprise 60th birthday party. My mother-in-law can't walk or talk but she somehow managed to plan and execute the perfect party for him! He was so surprised!
We didn't tell Jack or David about the party because we thought they would blow the surprise, and since they walked in with my father-in-law, Jack totally thought the party was for HIM! hahaha
We went to temple lights with some of Spencer's siblings afterwards then went to bed for the early and long drive home the next day.
Pretty Sunday sunrise
We are grateful that we got so spend Thanksgiving with all of the people we love in Utah and feel lucky that the weather was so amazing while we were there!!!
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