We don't usually travel over Thanksgiving because it's so hard to fly standby. We decided to make an exception because the whole family was going to be together and Camden was coming home from his mission in Poland. The flights were wide open so we decided to go for it. I have no memory of what day what happened so it's all getting lumped together.
We made both our flights without a hitch and even had time to stop for Garrett's popcorn in Chicago.
We arrived in Utah to the airport cheerfully decorated for Christmas!
One of our first Provo stops was to the creamery for ice cream and cheese curds - two of our favorite things. We went with Grammy & Grandad - two more of our favorite things.
The next morning we went to the Orem Temple to do baptisms with Grammy and Grandad.
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| Grandad, Grammy, Baylie, Jalen, Me, David |
After the temple, we headed to the airport to greet Camden on his return from a two-year mission to Poland. His mission seemed to take FOREVER. His getting out of the airport was almost as long. Apparently immigration had a lot of questions for him and another one of the elders, thinking they may be Russian spies.
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| Kolton, Erik, Shanelle, Asher, Baylie, David, Jalen, Cameron, Grammy, and Grandad |
But he finally made it!!
On the way home, we stopped for lunch at Chubby's. The former Elder Noah Evans met us. We love him so much and it was great to see him.
Sometime over the weekend the kids played some backyard football.
And more football!
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Asher, David, Dave, Erik, Clark, Lauryn, Jalen, Baylie, Camden, Clara
Cameron, Kolton, two of Kolton's friends |
Back and Grammy and Grandad,s Erik and David helped hang up new lights. The colors can be changed for different holidays so you never have to take them down. Such a cool idea.
A little help from Shanelle.
Finished!
Grandad is in his welding phase and he made this amazing turkey.
Baylie was excited to meet up with her besties Natalie and Kaitlyn. They joined us for the big family Thanksgiving dinner.
We met at a church, which reminded me of my childhood when all the Bayleses would get together in Blanding. Lots of food and family.
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| Dave, Tiffani, friend, Hailey, Di, Clark, Jonny |
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| David, Erik, Shanelle, Shanelle's sister, Shanelle's nephew |
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| Camden, Cameron, Kolton, friend |
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| Clark has always been a big eater! |
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| so has Erik |
We played a really fun dice game and David won $81!!
We also pulled in some couches and watched BYU basketball.
Clark's family always plays jungle ball. I'm not sure exactly how it's played, but it's wild and crazy!
Somewhere during the holiday, Tiff took the kids to Park City. They love hanging out with the "fun mom."
During the BYU football game (we didn't have tickets, but Dad and Tiff's family went), we had a fun visit from Elder Chase Carter's parents. They were so nice and it was great to meet them. It was so sweet of them to make the trip. They were generous and gave us a Walmart giftcard because we feed their son all the time.
One of the evenings we went to see the lights in Spanish Fork. We pulled a big trailer for all the kids to ride in.
I rode in the truck with Grammy, Clark and Di.
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| Dave, Grammy, Grandad, Lauryn, Asher, Camden, Shanelle, Clara, Baylie, Jalen, Camden, Bea, David, Tyler, Will, Ashley, Clark, Simon, Rosie, Me |
And just like that, it was time to go back home. Sadly, there was a massive storm in Chicago, an Airbus maintenance issue, and effects from a government shut down. Our way back was not smooth. We had to leave before Camden's homecoming meeting.
We ended up flying to Houston. We got bumped to Columbia and tried for Charlotte. Only two of us could make it so David and Baylie got on because they had work and school. Jalen and I ended up flying to Charleston. Unfortunately our car was in Columbia.
We rented cars in Charlotte and Charleston and drove to get our car in Columbia. Baylie and David got a cool Jeep - Baylie's dream car.
Jalen and I rented an ordinary car with a flat tire. It made for an interesting and slightly scary ride home.
It was a crazy trip, but everyone made it home safely and in time for work and school. It was totally worth it and we were grateful to spend so much time with family.
