WHEW.. Thankful for Thanksgiving.. (and being back home again)

This year was our year to go to my parents' house in Utah for Thanksgiving. As the trip was coming up, I was actually getting really excited to make the drive and get going. We haven't gone on a trip in a while and I think we were all ready to get out of town. That lasted for the first 10 miles for me, until I heard the first and second "how much longer is it?" Just kidding. Actually, the kids were really great driving both ways. We stopped in Vegas on the way up, which they thought was really fun. Too bad Circus Circus doesn't actually start any circus acts until 10, so our buildup to the excitement in the morning was a bust, luckily any problems are solved by a quick trip to get a toy at Wal-Mart.

One thing that is reaffirmed to me every time I go to my mom's house is that she is an awesome cook (along with all her other talents). How she can make dinner every day, along with a full Thanksgiving dinner, I have no idea. Not that I didn't help, I mean I did sit and talk to her while she was baking sometimes. She even fed more people for an Open House for my niece's baptism.

The cousins had so much fun hanging out together and running around my mom's house. Aunt Emily stepped in and filled in any gaps playing with the kids (along with new hubby, Uncle Dan's help, of course). Anyone that can play Life with a group of kids more than once is a really good woman. I am a little concerned because she had Ashley and Lauren hooked on being lifted up on her arms and then leaning on her legs doing hamstring stretches and lifts. It could be good to incorporate into my workouts, though.

Thanksgiving Day was great. We went to see the Bee Movie at 12, which ended up being a perfect time. Last time we went to a movie on Thanksgiving we went in the evening and we were fighting crowds and having trouble sitting all together. This time, there were only 5 people in the theater when we got there. A few more people trickled in, but it was so mellow. Then we got back and it was "go" time. I made my cranberry relish (if I can count it as mine when it is just the recipe on the bag) and then helped finish up one of the 3 salads and all the other food. By the time we all gone done eating it was perfect time to give ourselves a couple of hours and then we were able to hit the kitchen again later for dessert (two kinds of pie, 4 layer dessert, and an awesome pumpkin roll that emily made).

One of the biggest breakthroughs of the day might have been the introduction of the game "scum" to the family. I think everyone is now addicted. We played every night after that and the kids were asking us every day all day when we could play next. I'm not going to lie, it was funner when just the adults were playing, but the kids did add a new dimension and it is fun to see them master a new skill (but the "awesome, I got 3 aces" does get a little old.

The rest of the week was great - we got a family picture taken with the entire family, did a little shopping at a cool home decor store called Tai Pan and did a lot of hanging out. We did each (except for Ashley) get a 12 hour stomach bug at different times at the end of the week (thanks, Liz, for bringing that in from Texas). We even went to the Kaysville light parade (possibly the shortest parade ever, I mean it is freezing after all). As long as they throw candy out of the cars, the kids didn't care.

Now that we are home, I can't believe we were gone for almost a week - instead of California dropping into the ocean, isn't there some way that Nevada could just disappear and then Utah would be that much closer?(maybe that's just my bitterness that the Primm outlets didn't even have anything good)

If this isn't my longest blog ever I will be surprised.. sorry everyone!