Happy Turkey Day!

I know, Turkey Day was officially 5 days ago. But, I've been too busy running my household of 11 to mess around on the computer. Marion and the kids made the trek across the country to spend some quality time with their dad, who has been bunking in Mitch's room since he took a new job in town. Marion and the kids will be joining him as soon as they wrap things up on the home front.

The cousins had great fun getting reacquainted. Tess and John spent hours running in circles. Spencer and Mitch spent most of their time engrossed in their Wii tournament and Abby and Rylee had fun making jewelry out of yarn. (Abby was such a great sport).

On Monday we visited our almamater's bookstore for fudge and sweatshirts and had hamburgers, caffeine-free Coke, and ice-cream at the Creamery on 9th. Wednesday night the boys stayed home with the kiddies while the girls endured the painful eye-rolling scene of Twilight. (Don't you think our favorite book deserved more than a 37 million budget?) On Thursday we gorged ourselves on succulant turkey, marshmallow yams, sourdough stuffing, green bean almondine, gooey pumpkin butter cake and a 2-lb handpicked box of See's chocolates (yummy!). On Saturday we braved the frigid 50-degree weather to see the lights on Temple Square (this heat wave is too good to be true) and had dinner at the Lion House.

On Sunday the weary travelers loaded into the rental minivan and headed to the airport. Last report was that they made it home safe and sound with only a few baby Grace meltdowns. Hopefully, John is happy to be back home to his "real" guns and swords. I guess Mitchell's Nerf Blaster just didn't suffice.

I am thankful for: holiday breaks to spend time with family, a good husband, healthy children, and my testimony of the Savior. I am also thankful that not one soul in this family had the stomach flu this Thanksgiving!