It is so rare for us to be around family for the holidays. This year since Tiffani was going to be headed to Utah and had recently had cancer surgery, we decided we wanted to be there too. It was wonderful to get to be with family for Thanksgiving.
On Friday the 17th, we flew into Salt Lake. The twins came on an earlier flight in order to meet a friend who came home from her mission in Italy. We didn’t get in until 11:00 p.m. But we made it without getting bumped at all!
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| Columbia |
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| Chicago |
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| Utah |
Check out that nutcracker!
I was excited to see the pillow Tiff and I had ordered for grandad. It's made up of a bunch of his funny sayings. It turned out great.
Saturday the 18th was the BYU vs. Oklahoma football game. We joined Tiff and Dave’s nephew, Karl Landrith, for his amazing tailgate. It was an early game so the tailgate was breakfast with eggs, biscuits, bacon, sausage, hashbrowns and more!
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| Thomas, Grandad, Jalen, Baylie, Clara, Lauryn, Cameron, Grammy, me, Karl, and Nick |
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| Love these kiddos |
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| Karl & Grammy |
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| Karl is Krazy |
It was cold and rainy, but not too miserable.
It was a great game, but BYU lost 31-24. Many had expected a blowout so it was better than expected, but BYU had a chance for the upset and missed out because of turnovers. It was wet and cold, but not miserable. The Cougar Tails were perfect.
We also tailgated after the game - this time with brats, chips, burgers, etc. Karl is quite the chef!
After the game, the kids helped decorate Grammy & Grandad's for Christmas. It's a lot for G&G to do on their own and the kids loved helping.
Grandad decided to escape to the basement and watch football.
That evening some of our favorite South Carolina missionaries (Evans & Allen) came over. It was so great to see them. They brought a couple of friends - one of whom used to date G&G's neighbor (awkward!). Turns out he was also good friends with Parker and Kolton and had served for three months in SC while waiting for his visa.
On Sunday the 19th, we went to sacrament meeting with Grammy and Grandad and then the twins flew back to Vegas. On Monday, I went shopping with Grandad for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of food!
Best of all, the kids ran into their comedy idol - Matt Meese from Studio C!
Tuesday the 21st we did baptisms at the Provo temple. Our temple is closed until January so we've been grateful to be able to go in Utah in September and October.
We went to Erik's to play games that night. Tiff's family drove in late that same night.
On Wednesday, we met up with Ashley and her family at the zoo. It was freezing cold! While everyone was at the zoo, I picked up David at the airport.
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| Jalen, me, Lauryn, Tiff, Cameron, Clara, Baylie |
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| Tiff, Cameron, Clara, Lauryn, Baylie, Jalen, Rosie, Ashley, Bea, Will, Simon, Tyler, Me, Dave ( |
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| Bea just wanted a nap! |
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| It was so good to spend time with Tiff. I hadn't seen her since her diagnosis. |
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| Tiger up close |
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| Look at the tail on the snow leopard! |
Later that evening, David fixed Grammy & Grandad's piano. He fixed a key that a professional tuner hadn’t been able to fix. He also cleaned out decades worth of dust and it sounded completely different. Grammy was so excited.
We had a visit from Jess Cornwell, one of Grandad's ball players from way back in the Blanding days. He's always been special to our family.
That night I made the pumpkin cheesecake and sweet potatoes, David made Gigi's banana pudding, and the girls prepared the stuffing. Grandad and I had started brining the turkey that morning.
I had a little mishap while melting the butter...
Thursday was Thanksgiving! It was so wonderful for our little family to be with family. That's something we don't get to do often enough. The turkey was smoked in Grandad's Traeger and was so moist and yummy. We also had ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls from Kneaders, jello salad, green salad, carrots and beans from the garden, macaroni and cheese (a Southern staple), and stuffing. We also had the banana pudding, pumpkin cheesecake along with pumpkin, apple, razzleberry, and pecan pie. So much food!!!!! I did most of the cooking by myself since Tiff is still recovering and it's hard for Grammy to do things like that anymore. Fortunately, I'm very Type A so it didn't seem like much since I just did a little bit at a time. It made me very happy to be able to do it and be surrounded by family.
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| My grandmother's Christmas china |
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| Full plate! |
After dinner, we went to visit Casey and Gracie who live in Orem now. Casey has had a difficult recovery from her scooter accident. Her brain injury makes it difficult for her to remember things. She is waiting for her disability to be approved. We had a nice visit with them.
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| David, Jalen, Baylie, Gracie, Casey |
That night it snowed a lot. The kids were so excited to wake up to several inches of snow.
Everyone decided to go Black Friday shopping. Crazies! Normally I stay home while David takes the kids out, but I decided to go this time with the rest of the gang. The original plan was to go to Park City, but we heard the roads were bad because of the ice and snow so we decided to stay local. We started out at University Mall to see the gingerbread houses. We met Erik, Shanelle, and Asher there. There were some amazing ones on display.
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| Jalen, Asher, Baylie, Clara, Grandad, Ava, Grammy, Lauryn |
Next we headed to Traverse Mountain. The girls shopped and shopped. It was freezing cold since it is an outdoor shopping center. We had to wait in line just to get into some of the stores! Even so, we bought way too much stuff.
Afterwards, we went home to eat and get warm. Some decided to continue shopping at the Riverwoods as it has a great holiday atmosphere. I was shopped out and skipped.
That night, we all met for desserts at Clark & Di's. It was the first time in several years that all my siblings and their spouses were together. We even had most of the grandkids together. It was absolutely wonderful and I'm so glad we didn't miss it. We were missing Ashley and her family, Riley and Bailey, Parker and Jessa, Hailey, and Camden. What a blessing to have so many of us together.
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Back: Kolton, Frederick, Baylie, Cameron, Grammy, Grandad, Lily, Jalen, Jonny, Nixon
Front: Lauryn, Clara, Ava, Rowan, Molly, Asher |
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Back: Di, Clark, Grammy, Grandad, Scott, Shanelle, Erik, Dave
Front: David, Me, Beth, Tiff |
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| The Davids |
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| Rowan & Tiff |
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| Such great genetics! |
Shanelle was also recovering from surgery. We were so glad she was still able to come. (The little one in the back is Beka's.)
Frederick (Kolton's companion from Ghana) is an only child. He finds our family a little overwhelming!
My cousin's Bekah and Rachel (Milt's daughters) also dropped in. I was so glad they made the effort to come.
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| Bekah, Grammy, Di |
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| Rachel & Tiff |
On Saturday the 25th, David and Baylie flew back to South Carolina as they had to be back for work and school. We had purchased them tickets and it was a good thing because they wouldn't have made it standby. Later, all of us but Grammy went for more shopping! We went to Costco and back to Traverse Mountain. I am officially shopped out!! It wasn't quite as cold or crowded as the day before.
That afternoon we watched the BYU vs. Oklahoma St. game on TV. It was a heartbreaker as BYU lost 34-40 in double overtime. BYU will probably not be invited to a bowl game this year. After the game, Tiff's family drove back to Vegas.
The following morning, Jalen and I flew from Provo to Vegas on Allegiant to spend a week with the Jennings. Dave had been working from home ever since Tiffani’s surgery and I went so he could spend some time in the office. I also wanted to help take care of Tiff since there is so little I can do for her. The Allegiant flight is short and inexpensive. So convenient!
While we were in line at security, we ran into the family of my good friend Kristin DePew. Such a fun surprise!
It was hard to say goodbye to Grammy & Grandad. We don't see them often enough. I'm sure they were exhausted and ready to get back to their peaceful life!
