Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving! The smells, the nip in the air, the opportunity to express gratitude more readily, the promise of Christmas around the corner, I just love it.

Here's this year's thankful tree. We each put up a leaf almost every day in November. It was wonderful to be reminded, each time we walked by the tree, of how very richly blessed we are. It was hard to choose just one blessing to write down each day.

You may notice the one in the center here that says "Alex." He's a classmate of Bryn's. Bryn says maybe she'll marry him. He did ask, after all.

This year we scooped Jenna up and headed to St. George for Thanksgiving weekend. It was lots of fun. We got to see all of Nate's family, including the newest addition, tiny Elaina. Because the house was packed with visitors, we stayed at a hotel nearby and enjoyed playing games with the kids at night, watching movies once the kids were in bed, and taking advantage of the pool. I should mention, just so that our posterity realizes that our life is not totally peaches and cream all the time, that the first night at the hotel may very well have been the worst night of our lives. Nate and I have both blocked most of it from memory, but it involved a lot of throw up. In a bed that Addison was sharing with Leah. And very little sleep. I seem to recall that Asa didn't sleep very well. And he was sharing the room that Nate and I were in. And somehow Leah ended up on the floor by us, too. She would not stop swishing around in the sheets. I finally (probably tearfully) excused myself around 4:00 in the morning and headed to the couch in the front room area so I could just get a wink or two of sleep. Blah. Glad that one's done.

On Thanksgiving morning we tuned in to the good ol' Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade and constructed a fruit and cheese turkey. It was a great activity to do with the kids. They enjoyed skewering the fruits they wanted and making them into turkey tail feathers. The face was, let's say, artsy. I'm just impressed that we got it to stay on.

We headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the late morning and the kids and their cousins ran and played outside and downstairs while we made little contributions here and there to the dinner preparations. Great Grandma and Grandpa Waite were there too, which is always a treat. 

Dayson and Addison

Yum!

Bryn, Sky, Addison and Leah

The party planner herself. Grandma put together a delicious dinner and an enjoyable weekend for everyone.

Devon, Abbey and Jenna

Grandpa and Asa

We had to hit the usual St. George fun destinations- Judd's and the carousel. Grandpa came along for the ride. Here he is at the hotel helping the kids with the puzzle we brought down.

And the carousel. It just never gets old. The kids talk about it the whole way down to St. George and are thrilled when it's time to pick out their horses and ride.

Grandpa, Asa and Dad

Asa got to have his first ride.

And Judd's was closed, so we went to Baskin Robbins instead (and returned to Judd's the next day, let's be serious). Asa REALLY likes ice cream.

After the ice cream, we took Jenna to Red Cliffs so she could try her hand at rappelling. She did great! She managed to overcome the nerves and get down that cliff in record time. And then she went down again and increased in grace by at least 75%. Way to go, Jenna! You are so cool!

I don't know which I'm prouder about - that I haven't forgotten how to rappel, or that I can still pack my thighs into my harness.

Spending time at Grandma and Grandpa's is always great. They have tons of fun toys - lots of them from when Nate and his siblings were little. Grandma and Grandpa are always ready for a game with the grandkids, or a treat, or face-painting. They just love our kids, and it shows.

On Saturday we grabbed Grandpa and hiked the Hidden Pinyon trail in Snow Canyon. The weather was beautiful and so was the scenery. Our kids are fabulous hikers. Every last one of 'em.

We had a little picnic after our hike and then headed over to the sand dunes.

This girl was tuckered out by the end. She wasn't the only one.

Sunday we checked out of the hotel, made it to church (halfway through the sacrament), had lunch and got to attend Elaina's blessing, which was wonderful. From there we headed back home.

Dad, Mom, Michelle, Nate, Micah, Lindsey, Elaina, Aaron, Abbey and Devon

The drive home. Things got a little wild.