Happy Turkey Day Part 1

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah again this year. On Wednesday Connor and Caleb had a half day and were out of school by 12:00. Cody was out by 12 and we picked Cayden up early so we could hit the road. The drive was uneventful other than seeing lots of deer in the fields on the way. We stayed at my brother's house this time instead of at my mom's house. It was a little crowded this year and my brother had lots of room. We got into Orem around 7 and headed straight to my mom's to say hi to everyone. Suzanna and her family are living there while they look for a house to buy and Laurel and her family came from Albuquerque. We headed to the Hotel de Gessel and settled in. Instead of the traditional mints in our pillows we were greeted with a lovely box of 12 yes count them 12 chocolate covered chocolate donuts. Much better than a mint! We got to help with Miss Lexie Lou the mornings that Chris and Anne had to work so that was fun. The boys have such a good time playing with her and she was such an angel this time! She has the most adorable huge smile that goes from ear to ear. We play "dancing phalanges" and she laughs and laughs. I borrowed this little game from the TV show Bones if you were wondering. Thursday morning about 5:30 Chris and Anne left work and we turned on the baby monitor so we could hear Lexie when she woke up. She got up around 7:30 and we fed her and played with her and got her ready for her other grandma to come and get her. Anne only had to work until 2 and then they spent the day with her family because they have to trade off with holidays. I got ready and headed over to my mom's with a shopping stop at Harmon's to get the items for our dinner assignment. As I was pulling into Harmon's there was a wreck in the parking lot. What a bummer! When I came out the cars were gone so it wasn't too bad but still a bummer. After a trip back to mom's then back to Chris' to get the family our food festivities began. We of course had way too much food as usual and especially because we had a cheese ball and stuffed celery and chips and dip. The cooking takes all day, the eating takes 15 minutes and then the clean up takes HOURS! I don't think I have ever washed so many dishes in my life and we took turns at the sink! Chris and Anne and Lexi were the only ones missing from our side and Katie and Joe and their kids, and Amy, Mark and Michelle were absent from my aunt's side. We ate pie a little later and watched football of course. Around 5:30 Laurel, Cody and I went to Old Navy. Yes, they were open on Thanksgiving. Lucky for us but not so lucky for the workers or my Old Navy charge account. Good thing they raised my limit last month! We got back around 7 and started our traditional showing of Christmas Vacation. No matter how many times we see this show we still laugh and laugh amidst the quoting of course. We Facebooked my brother all evening quoting to him back and forth. It was quite entertaining. We hung out for a while then headed back to Chris'. The weather was nice enough that the kids could play outside most of the day. They played in the leaves and played catch and stayed out of our way while we were cooking and cleaning up. It was a lovely but fattening day!