Thanksgiving in Utah

Spending Thanksgiving in Utah with my family was a first for us this year. Usually we travel to Utah to spend Christmas with them (it was part of the pre-nuptial agreement) but when it came time to purchase plane tickets, we still weren't sure as to whether or not I was due with baby #4 in January or February so we played it safe and bought tickets for Thanksgiving. We spent 2 weeks in Utah at my parents home and thoroughly enjoyed our time there. It was especially nice to have my sister Carrie and her family staying at my parents place as well. Our kids played nonstop and got along surprisingly well for being together twentyfour-seven. Her two kids are similar in age to Max and Lincoln and are such great kids. Avery, loved our Eden and was like a second mother to her. She is going to be a fabulous babysitter some day.

My parents were wonderful hosts, as usual, and we enjoyed visiting, relaxing, shopping, going out and eating lots of good food and a couple of freezing BYU football games for Herb. We managed to squeeze in a couple of visits with good friends, but didn't get to see everyone I would have liked.

Much to our delight, we got dumped with snow our first weekend in Utah. It was the kind of snow that makes for great snowmen, snowball fights and sledding. The kids were in heaven. Before our trip, Max had asked me several times if there would be snow at grandma and grandpa's house. He remembered the details of the snowman he and his dad had built last Christmas when we were visiting. To be truthful, I don't much like being out in the snow and find it a royal pain to get the kids outfitted for the fluffy stuff, so this year I spent much of the time peeking out at them from the window.













My parents hosted Thanksgiving this year that included my own crew, my sister Jaclyn and her husband Dave with their two boys, my brother Casey and his wife Cali with their two girls, my sister Carrie and her husband Shane with their two kids and my youngest brother Jeff who was solo. It was so nice to be with my family for Thanksgiving. It has been 10 years since I have sat down with them for a Thanksgiving feast. Hopefully it won't be another ten years before it happens again.

I was in charge of the turkey this year as I had ranted and raved about how good my turkey turned out last year. A friend gave me a brining recipe, and truly it results in the best tasting turkey ever. Unfortunately, my timing was a little off and the turkey wasn't cooked all the way through! It was too late to post-pone Thanksgiving dinner, so the turkey ended up being served at the end of dinner, just before the pies. It was still delicious, just a little late. Fortunately, there was a host of other delictable dishes to keep us satisfied.








After dinner, Herb was out cold, right in the middle of the living room. Now that's a Thanksgiving nap!



Instead of shopping the day after Thanksgiving, my mom, sisters, aunts and cousins got together to work on crafts. I didn't get hardly a thing done, as I've barely a creative bone in my body, but I loved being around these women whom I only get to see but once or twice a year. I just wish some of their talent would rub off on me!





We took the kids out one evening to see the Christmas lights in a nearby community. It wasn't long before we heard a chorus of, "I'm cold, I want hot chocolate."




Grandma Stott bought each of the older grandkids a Christmas craft and we spent a whole morning working on them. The kids were so pleased with their handywork and did a great job staying focused. As you can see, however, Lincoln's stable didn't stay put together for very long. Max made it all the way back to Virginia with his Santa house and we were able to display it on our counter top for decoration.




This is the Place Heritage Park is one of my favorite places to visit during the holiday season. Beginning after Thanksgiving the park hosts a Candlelight Christmas where you are transported back in time to celebrate Christmas in a pioneer village during the late 1800s. My parents and I took Max, Emma and Avery and we got to enjoy a ride on an antique train, a visit with Santa, hot cocoa from the old hotel, penny candy from the ZCMI merchantile, made old fashioned Christmas crafts, watched a puppet show, danced the Virginia Reel, learned about making candles, printed old-fashioned Christmas cards, listened to stories of Christmas past and visited a live nativity scene. Being transported back in time put me in the Christmas Spirit and made me wish for the simpler version of celebrating Christmases past.








A quiet moment with grandma before bedtime. We sorely miss having grandparents close by. Thanks mom and dad for such a great visit!