Thanksgiving

We realized this year that we've had quite a wide variety of Thanksgiving trips in our marriage, in this order:

Japan (Murrays)

Japan (Murrays)

Madera/San Luis Obispo (Hansens/Wallwork Grandparents)

Pocatello (Murray Grandparents)

Maui (Murrays)

Denver (Harveys)

Diamond Bar (MacKays, with Hansens)

Santaquin (our only Thanksgiving at home!)

Fruit Heights/Pocatello/Rexburg (Murrays/Hansen siblings)

and now this year,

back to Southern California to the MacKays, now in La Verne.  

After looking at this list, I can't say this year was our BEST Thanksgiving ever, but it was REALLY REALLY great!  Our drives went smoothly, the kids had the time of their lives with their cousins and got to spend quality time with grandparents and cousins, and Eric and I got to relax as I talked to my family for hours.  Allison, Kent, and my mom and dad did most of the cooking and cleaning, and I felt GREAT because I got to rest tons!  The weather was beautiful, we got to go to the beach, and overall it was perfect.

As for the Grand Canyon part of our trip, it was pretty cool.  We are glad we went, but we are ready to check it off our list and will probably never go again. :)  It was too far away and on the way home Eric got a speeding ticket in rural Utah and we had our first carsick child- Whitney actually threw up in the van!  Very eventful.  Being at the Grand Canyon did increase me and Eric's desire to go on a cool hike with no kids again though!  and we are totally going to take our kids on a family rafting trip when our youngest is old enough.  It will be the best vacation ever. :)

So here are the pictures.

This was the best one we could get on Thanksgiving of us all.

 Surprisingly, Owen LOVES pumpkin cheesecake!

 Whitney with her lemon cake and ice cream

 Cake loves cheesecake too!  (the girls helped me make their adorable turkey shirts)

 Owen held Seth (2 1/2 months old) several times, he loved him and was so interested in him and Ryder (6 months old).  It was so cute, he is going to be a great big brother!

 Kent and Phillip convinced Eric and Derek to get up from lounging with their full stomachs and play a little basketball.  They had fun and of course whatever team Derek was on won every time.

 Whitney, Caleb, and Jenna cheered for them out in the warm dark night.

 and Natalie and Katelyn played Harry Potter-- or actually they played as young versions of older characters- James, Lupin, Sirius and Snape. :)

 This happened several times- story time with Grammy!

 I had to include this picture of Katrina's adorable children since I didn't get any others of them!  Seriously Lydia is so cute and hilarious and Ryder is SO SMILEY and happy-screechy it is the best ever.  And he likes me because I look like his mom. :)

 Owen's "here I go" face

 He ate it like 20 seconds later and went shirtless the rest of the time. He just kept running in and out of the water FOREVER.

 I thought the kids were crazy at first, but actually I swear it was just as warm as some times that I've been to Pismo in the summertime! 

 Kate and Jenae went pretty far out!

 Owen and Jenna in one of the moments they played together- usually owen would freak out when she was around. :(  She's so cute, he'll get over it.

 Seriously he loved it!

 We love the beach!

 This is the only picture I got of Owen and Caleb, which is too bad, because they were SO cute together.  A few times each day Caleb would be like "Owen!  Do you want to play?" or Owen would go around calling "Cay-luv, Cay-luv" until he found him and then say "wanna play wif me?" and they would run upstairs to find a toy. They have a great future together!

 Of course I had a great time talking for hours with each of my siblings that was there- Jenae, Derek, Allison and Katrina.  

 And I'm always happy for the kids to be with my parents.  Some of my favorite moments were my Dad's tickling matches with all the kids, my mom reading to them, my mom playing Zingo with Owen and Caleb, and my dad holding Owen and helping him blow out all the candles after our Thanksgiving feast. 

Also I didn't take a picture of this, but we had a memorable time visiting a rest home to sing Christmas carols.  We came to visit 2 specific ladies, but then several other people heard us and asked us to come into other rooms as well. The kids sang great and we all felt the spirit and it was a good time.

Grand Canyon pictures to follow!