Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful trip to California for Thanksgiving! Day 1: Driving, spending the night with Grandpa-Great, and enjoying a walk in the beautiful weather. 

Day 2: The best doughnuts with Grandpa-Great, heading down to Grandma and Grandpa's house, swimming in the 65 degree pool for adventurous souls, and thanksgiving prep. 

Day 3 - Thanksgiving! It was a wonderful day despite some plumbing problems. The kitchen sink was backing up so we did dishes camping style all day. Luckily many hands make light(er) work. The food was wonderful and the company even better! Alicia and TJ also made the trip, so all of Michael's siblings were there. This is the first time in our marriage that all of his siblings have spent a holiday in California!

Also, I love this picture progression... Conrad is being a goof-ball...

Grandma holds down his hand... 

Conrad uses the other hand! Hazel, Eliza, Lenora, and Alicia all get distracted by Conrad. The photographer is also getting distracted and cuts off the top of Grandpa's head.

Grandma tries two hands so Conrad pulls a silly face. Hazel's still distracted. 

Conrad keeps up the silly faces, Hazel loses it, and everyone is distracted! 

Day 4 - Celebrating Grandma's birthday at Red Robin and a walk around the mall. California malls are something else at Christmas time! The kids rode the carousel, lost their minds in the Lego store, imitated nutcrackers, and generally were awed at the grandeur of it all. The younger kids got the ride the little train, and just like that Conrad's entire trip was made perfect.  

Day 4 (continued) - Jamie also had a ton of Harry Potter themed surprises planned for the trip. We were sorted into houses, she decorated with "floating" candles, made chocolate frogs, had a Harry Potter puzzle out, and she gave everyone a mini wand. The kids LOVED it!  

Day 5 - We spent the morning visiting Mama Faye and briefly seeing the ocean (we never actually made it down to the beach this trip). That evening we treated Grandma to a walk on Balboa island for Balboa Bars for her birthday. I've never seen Balboa around Christmas, and it was magical with all the lights. The kids definitely approved! 

Day 6 - We left California super early to try and beat traffic home. We still hit some traffic from accidents, but made it home for dinner. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thankful

Here's a very small sampling of things I've felt thankful for this month in no particular order... 

1. Cousins! It's so much fun living close to our cousins. 

2. Dear friends who love my children. This picture was taken after sweet Mama Faye sent these cute kids a Halloween surprise in the mail.

3. Dio de los Muertos - We were invited to celebrate this incredible holiday with friends. It is truly a beautiful celebration of family (and our friends hosted an incredible evening). Thanks Price family!  

4. The Girls' Book Club - Our book club is back this year even bigger than before. These girls are the best! In November, the group presenting chose the book Ocean Born Mary and led a cardboard regatta at the lake! One team managed to build a vessel that actually made it to the middle of the lake (before sinking as it got wet). What a fun day! Then in December they read Mustaches for Maddie and acted out scenes from Shakespeare in mustaches (you'll have to read the book). I feel so thankful my girls get to have such a great group of girls in their lives. 

5. Sweet moments like this little guy tucking his baby and his doll in to bed. 

And other moments of him (and all the kids) working hard to serve others. They raked leaves for three hours to help out someone in the ward. 

7. The view from our backyard. When we moved from Kentucky, it was so hard to leave our beautiful yard. Thankfully, we were blessed with this amazing view out our back windows here in Utah.

8. Moulting chickens - Our chickens have been moulting over the last few months and it has provided us with hours of hilarious chicken TV. They look so ridiculous! This poor chicken (Midnight) lost nearly all of her feathers at once right as it turned cold. We could tell she was just freezing, so Eliza put a sweater on her. Midnight was afraid of the sweater, so she walked around all day backing up, turning sideways, jumping, and running away to avoid the demon sweater. Just thinking about it makes me laugh! 

9. Inspired Minds Academy (our new homeschool group) - This year we joined the most wonderful homeschool co-op. We meet all day each Monday, and each of the kids get to attend their own class with peers. The kids are learning the most wonderful things in such fun and creative ways. Not to mention we've all made lots of friends. My personal favorite part of the day is the hour set aside for a Mom's class while the kids have recess. It is SO nice to go and get my cup filled each week by some truly inspiring women. I didn't realize how much I needed that until I found them. Homeschooling is a lonely, isolating road sometimes, and having a great support system has been incredible! 

10. Beauty in the most unexpected places. This bridge is a true work of art despite the fact that no trail leads to where I took this picture and very few people will ever see it. 

11. I'm especially thankful we were able to spend Thanksgiving in California with all of these amazing people.