Thanksgiving in Utah

It's no secret around here that Thanksgiving is my favorite. It's my holiday, and a big part of the reason it is my holiday is because it's when everyone comes into town to visit. But this year that couldn't happen because Andrew didn't have much time off work teaching and Jimmy and Mallory understandably didn't want to travel with a newborn. So we did the next best thing, we went to them!
You will recall our last Utah trip did not go well...
But the boys were older now and I wasn't 6 months pregnant, so we hoped for the best and expected the worst. Plus we put Captain Pee Pants (jaxton) in a diaper and drugged Sir Pukes Alot (Lucas). 

Our car is great for a lot of reasons, but one of the biggest flaws is it's lack of space for luggage and stuff. And since we were traveling with Laura we had to get a bag to attach to the top to hold all our stuff. And we had a lot of stuff. Brilliant idea #1- pack everything in space saver bags. 

We were packed full and everyone had drinks and we had movies galore so we took off Tuesday after Preston got out of school around 3. 

I decided for blogging purposes I would keep a log of all the things that happened. But then I got crankier and crankier as the trip went on and so the fun posts ended. But this is what it looked like as we traveled for that first day. 

We also played the license plate game where we tried to find 1 license plate from every state. The hardest part was trying to remember all 50 states! Took Laura and I like 20 minutes and then we remembered Ohio. We also predicted what the temperature would be like in the places we were going. I was really good at that game. I'm probably part psychic. 

We stayed the night in Blanding and the next day drove to Roosevelt to see Patricks Grandma and Aunt/Uncle. His family had never met the boys before so it was fun to introduce them. We all had lunch together and it was a nice to break up the trip that way. 

About an hour after we left Roosevelt on our way to Provo it started to snow. Which was fun, but then turned into stress. Patrick wasn't stressed as the driver though, he did great. Laura and I were a little anxious, but not scared. And it was really pretty to see! Looked like a Christmas card. Then about 15 minutes outside of Provo it quit. 

We spent that night hanging out at Jimmy and Mallorys and meeting Bennett and getting our plans adjusted for Thanksgiving.
The next day we cooked our different dishes at different places but then headed to the church to all eat together. That was nice because then we didn't have to worry about fitting everyone in a small place and the kids had room to run.
I don't think Lucas napped any of the days we were there, so he was a little more fussy and cuddly then normal.
He and I dressed up like Pilgrims. 

Since Jimmy was chief he sat at the head of the table. 

We played football inside for awhile in our Cardinals attire, per tradition, and then we had to go outside to cool off. There wasn't any snow, but there were massive amounts of leaves which we had a leaf fight with, and that pleased Preston. 

Here we all are dressed up! Patrick decided last minute to be the turkey which was a nice touch! And Jimmy and Mallory were Indians who stole a little pilgrim baby. Preston and Jaxton were channeling their Asian Indian roots and Lyla lost her hat, but we still looked good! 

Being in a food coma makes you find a spot to sleep wherever you can. In this case it meant the stage in the cultural hall with jackets for pillows. 

After we were done there we headed back over to Andrew and Janieces house since they literally live across the street from the church and hung out there eating more and visiting. And holding Bennett. 

We really didn't want to leave Utah without playing in the snow, so Friday morning we drove to Provo Canyon and found some snow to play in. It. Was. So. Cold. I know that snow and winter is cold, but this was like 19 degrees cold. As soon as we got out of the car Lucas started crying and didn't stop the entire time. 

He wouldn't even look up for a picture. 

 We were a little braver then the boys, but still cold!!! 

I literally couldn't feel my cheeks in this picture and couldn't tell if I was smiling or not! 

Mallory and Rox stayed in cars with babies and eventually Patrick headed back to the car with my crying cold boys but we still had fun. 

That night we went to a bakery across from our hotel called The Cocoa Bean and warmed up with some hot chocolate and cupcakes. Then I tucked everyone, including Patrick into bed and went with John, Andrew, Laura and Janiece to go see Creed. 

When we got out of the movie that night it was snowing and it snowed on and off all night which means the boys woke up to snow the next day! They were so much happier this time since it wasn't nearly as cold. Preston got to make a snow angel which was on his list of things to do in Utah. He's the only one who wanted to make one. 

Look! No tears! He calls snow "snowman" so every time he would see it he would just say "Oh snowman! snowman!" 

I taught them the art of making a snowball. And throwing it.

And we tasted the snow. 

Sunday before we left Jimmy and Mallory had Bennett blessed in their home. He looked so cute in his little outfit & didn't cry at all. 

No, Lucas is not wearing church clothes. I had him dressed and then he dumped hot chocolate all over himself. If you are wondering if that made me angry, the answer is yes. 

Then we left and started our drive home. We split the trip in half again which means we only had to drive to Vegas. Along with half the world as there was traffic. 

Patrick wasn't feeling well when we got in, but the boys needed to get some energy out and I wanted them to see the lights of Vegas so Laura and I took them out on the strip. We're so brave. We had a groupon to stay in Excalibur, which was shaped like a castle so they loved that. 

After we saw the mini statue of liberty Jaxton would pose in each picture with his arm up in the air like he was holding a torch. 

Our view from Excalibur. 

They enjoyed Vegas. We stopped at a Jack in the Box for breakfast on our way out of town and Preston had a breakfast jack for the first time and thought it was the most amazing thing ever and now associates that with Vegas so when Patrick and I went to Vegas a few weeks later for a work thing he asked us to bring him back a breakfast jack. 

It was a good trip. Had some ups and downs. It was really hard having 5 people in 1 hotel room. Not a lot of space from each other. And we had coughing boys so I feel like I just listened to them cough all night. So while I prefer to stay home in our own our environment it was nice to have everyone experience new things. I think Preston is the only one of us who would be happy to live in snow. The rest of us will be Arizonans for life.