*Thanksgiving Revisited*

Better late than never I always say! But here is the rest of our trip to Utah and Idaho for Thanksgiving as well as some other fun activities we did (Nov 24th-Dec 3rd).

Thanksgiving was spent up in good old town Filer Idaho! I have many memories as a kid there. Visiting my favorite cousins and staying at my aunt and uncle's house and all the mad craziness there. But it was all so much fun. This year was my first year back since probably I was 11 years old. (15 years...wow) We were so involved with soccer tournaments over Thanksgiving that we stopped going to Idaho. But now that we are all done with soccer, it is back to Idaho!

I love being in Idaho with my cousins, the Richards. We grew up with all of them and I miss them. It is fun to reminisce about old times and stay up late and talk. I remember that is what my parents would do and all the kids would run around the house and play with every toy and stay up way too late. But it was so much fun. And now that I have kids, it is me and my cousins sitting and talking and then our kids are running around and playing and terrorizing the house. Weird to think I am getting old.

But anyways, my dad and mom, Curt, Jantsen and Kambryn, and myself piled into my dad's truck and drove the 4 hours up to Filer on Wednesday night. It definitely wasn't as crazy as I had remembered but it was just as fun! Thanksgiving day came and we all helped get the rolls and pies made. My aunt goes all out and makes everything from scratch. She is amazing. And it all turned out beautiful and delicious. I think we ended up making 100 rolls and 15 pies (pumpkin, banana creme, chocolate creme and lemon meringue).

We had dinner at their church because it is hard to now fit everyone in my aunts house. And when I say everyone I am talking about 70 people. My mom has a family of 11 brothers and sisters and then they all have about 6 kids each, and then some even have grand kids, so it gets to be alot of people. And there were even about 20 people that weren't there. Kyle gets alittle overwhelmed when he gets around my family, which is understandable, as most people would. But to me, it is totally normal and I love it!! I love having alot of cousins and I love family get-togethers! My mom's side are just a wonderful group of people too. Always there for each other, total farm families, but show so much support and love. Fun times!!

They had a fun parachute for all the kids to play with and Jantsen just had a blast with all the kids. Kambryn wandered over and stood in the background and observed, which is what I preferred. She might have gotten alittle banged up if she tried to get involved in the games. It was a great time and the kids had so much fun.

I wish Kyle could have been with us and we missed him alot. He was busy in Omaha studying for finals but he was able to get together with some law school friends and eat a great thanksgiving dinner. This is him being lonely at the Taylor's home for thanksgiving! I am so glad he was able to get a good dinner that night and he didn't end up buying a frozen Hungry Man TV dinner. Thanks Maranda and Krista!

That night we planned our Black Friday attack schedule with my aunt and cousins. My mom and I ended up being in charge of the Target run. Target was opening up at 6:00am but there were some door busters that we really wanted to get and so we were there standing in line (outside) at 4:50am. It was cold but I was grateful for the hot chocolate that my mom went and bought. But we had a great time shopping, spent a lot of money and got some great gifts for Christmas and it was a good thing we had my dad's truck so we could get all our "loot" back down to Utah. We drove home later that day.

Here are a few of the other things we did while the kids and I were in Utah.

1- Went to Kangaroo Zoo with the Coles. Jantsen, Kambryn and I met up with Jeannette, Dylan and Jaxson and spent the afternoon letting the kids jump and run around. Of course, they absolutely LOVED it!

2- I got together with my high school friends. We had a shower for Angie (she is having her first baby...a girl) and so we went to Chili's. Britney, Angie and Ryan, Buffy and Joe, and Kambryn and I were there. After a fabulous time at dinner, Buffy, Shannon, Britney and I went to see Twilight...yes again! (we were re-living our Titanic days)

It was so much fun going out with these girls. It totally felt like we were in high school again. Shannon was at my parent house while I got ready and then Buffy and Britney came to get us. It was crazy and carefree and so much fun! I love girls night out with my friends!!

3- James and Cami blessed my cute twin niece and nephew Adam and Abigail. It was a wonderful Sunday. The whole sacrament meeting was wonderful. James did a great job on the blessings. For the rest of the meeting the bishop opened the time up to the congregation to share their favorite hymn and then we sang the 1st verse of each hymn. I love to sing the hymns and the spirit was so strong! We sang Called to Serve and it made me think of my wonderful brother Dustin serving down in Argentina! It was a great Sunday and I was so blessed to be able to be there with Jantsen and Kambryn...we missed Kyle!!

We had a great time hanging out in Richfield with all our family. Parker and Jantsen had a blast playing together. Jantsen of course also LOVED holding the twins! He will be a big helper when we have our next little one! Kambryn on the other hand is having a hard time not being the "baby" of the family! Oh hopefully she will learn and deal with it!

4- Saw Santa at the Riverton City "Light the Town" night. (I am not sure if that is what it was really called, I sort of made it up. But sounds good to me!) Anyways, the kiddos and I met up with Kyle's family. I love having wonderful in-laws that I get along with so well.

A few of the things we did that night:

1-went on a "rousing" hayride! ha...I think it lasted at most 72 seconds. But we were pulled by a big tractor and so Jantsen was in heaven!

2-Jantsen wrote a letter to Santa. He wrote his name all by himself and then I wrote the rest. He asked for a truck with 4 trailers, a skateboard and helmet, transformers (all of them) and a sled. Long list huh!

3- Frosted some sugar cookies. My children inherited their dad's dislike of desserts and so all this activity consisted of was just the frosting part, not the eating. We threw the cookie away as we walked out the door! My healthy, eating kids, so Proud!

4- Made/attempted to make a Christmas ornament with Kambryn. Attempted and failed miserably. Glue stick and little foam carrot noses and buttons just don't work with a 19 month old and a non-crafty mom! But we enjoyed ourselves!

5- Roasted marshmallows over the open fire. (only roasted them and then threw them away. So we are alittle weird, who cares! ha)

6-Waited in line FOREVER...almost 2 hours...to see Santa. At least there was a movie playing on a big screen for the kids to watch. Jantsen was happy to tell Santa what he wanted. In the attempt to get Eme and Kambryn near Santa, this is the best picture we could manage! 2 hours of wait and what was the result...

...at least I was able to smile with dear old Santy Claus!

Last I wanted to wish my favorite sister Natalie a Happy Birthday!! It is her birthday today and so I just want her to know I was thinking about her! She is getting married in a month and she is completely and entirely twitter patted! Ha, it is so fun to see her happy and totally in love! I am so happy for her! She is amazing and deserves the best! I love her to death. Happy 23rd Birthday Natalie!! Hope your day is fabulous!