Thanksgiving

Lots of THANKS to everyone who hosted us for Thanksgiving. It was quite a trip. In Saint George, anytime you go out of town, when you get back people ask, "Where'd ya go? Up north?" And they aren't talking about Canada. They are talking about the endlessly fun Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas. Nope, we didn't go "up north" this time, but down south to the perennially warm Phoenix and surrounding areas. We lazily drove down through Page, Arizona and let the kids explore the Glen Canyon Dam visitors center for an hour, which I highly recommend. We also had to stop about three times in Navajo Nation for potty stops. And then again a few times between Flagstaff and Phoenix. Splendid.
We finally made it to Gilbert and had a fun night staying at Jonah's brother Josh's house. The kids and I got to spend the next day with Shawni and her kids, which delighted my kids to no ends (and me too, I love glimpsing into Shawni's great life). Then, we attempted to make our way down to Tucson, AZ to spend Thanksgiving with my dad and his family, but the 90 minute drive took three hours with all the traffic (and more potty stops). We were very relieved to finally make it.

My dad's aunt Pam had a few houses down there for us all to crash at, and it was great to hang out with my brother, uncles, aunts, cousins and Grandma and Great-Grandma for a few days. We had some mean Rock Band moments that I will never forget. My dad treated us to a good hike through the amazing desert down there, and we got to spend a day at a desert zoo. The only disappointment was that my wish to see some real live wild javalinas was never fulfilled, so I just had the girls take some photos on some statues.

After Tucson, we made our way up to Wickenburg, Arizona to visit my mom in her new home there. She's got a great set-up, and Ana's wishes came true when my mom let her help put all the Christmas decorations up (we're not decorating this year because of the uncertainty of our moving status). We spent a day and night with my mom, and then attempted to make it back to Saint George. True to the theme of the week, the drive took extra long with those dam two hours it took to get over Hoover Dam. Jonah and I took turns hiking along the road with Ana to see who could walk past the most cars before traffic got going again and our own car caught up. Ana and I hit the record with 50 cars!

Cam was so happy to be home (he said about twenty times on the ride home, "I can't believe we're actually going to be HOME today!"), but the rest of us love travelling, so it was a great week and we were sad it was over. Many many thanks for all y'all!

The girls on statues of those ellusive javalinas.

After visiting the Sonoran Desert Museum (zoo).

Wanted: Orthodonture.

Elsie's two states: this or happy.

Camden's only state.

Well, I guess there's this one too.

Ana's masterful tree decorating.

It only took 18 rearrangements to get the Nativity just right.