Mimi flew to California for a day to pick up Garrett and Addie, and the three of them flew to Utah a few days before Paul and I and Charlie drove out. They had a fun week! And I had a lazy, relaxing week. They rode the train, went to the children's museum, the aquarium, played in the snow, visited family, and more.
I felt like I was away from them for a lot longer because when we got there, we stayed with Scott and Laura, and the big kids stayed at my mom and dads. So I still avoided getting them ready for the day, ready for bed, down for naps, and most meal prep. (But I missed them a little.) Scott and Laura just finished building a new home about 5 minutes from my parents, so it worked out quite nice. We had a lot of lazy mornings and late nights with them.
We ate a lot, netflixed a lot, laughed a lot, hosted Thanksgiving dinner, did Black Friday shopping, got family pictures taken, went on a triple date with my brother and a blind date, and my childhood best friend Brandi, and her husband, got my hair done by my other childhood best friend, Mandi. And then we ended the trip with a couple of days in St. George for my new nephews baby blessing.
I keep telling myself that we have too many little ones to fit in the van we have and to keep making the drive. I hate that drive! My kids are little troopers. It's me who cries for most of the time. But seriously, I think we're getting close to needing to be rich enough to fly, or people need to start coming to us. Especially in the winter! The mini trip to St. George helped a little... but not much.
My in laws celebrated their 30th anniversary just before thanksgiving so we went out to dinner. (With just one kid!)
St. George pit stop. Charlie was eye-balling that snuggly. William wasn't havin' it.
Beef Jerky. Road trip snack.
The next generation in the kitchen.
Turkey makes them tired.
These two love pie. Even pumpkin. Or as they call it, Jack-o-lantern pie. They didn't get that from me.
My grandpa shared some old Thanksgiving memories. I promise it was more interesting than my kids make it look in the next pictures!
Somehow Scott and I got into a little debate earlier in the week about who makes a superior rice crispy treat. So we had a little content. The top picture (all hands but one) is for mine. The bottom picture (one hand) is for Scott's. Better luck next year, bro.
All five grandkids, together at great-grandpa Garrett's house.
Charlie learned about the back scratch on this trip. She was constantly on the move unless Scott started this. Then she'd freeze in place for as long as he was scratching.
The uncles were fixing Christmas lights on the roof. I was not here during this, otherwise this probably wouldn't have happened!
James' blessing day.
I wonder which one of my nephews loves me more. It's a toss-up, really.
Another great trip. But it was nice to get home and jump right into Christmas!
