Saturday, Nov 23 was travel day. Due to some cancelled flights, we ended up driving to Austin and flying out of there. It actually worked out really well. My cousins met us for lunch and dropped us off at the airport. We flew out of a terminal that is separate from the main airport. This meant quick check in and minimal wait in security. It had a nice outdoor area to wait and watch planes land. It was a great set up for young kids. We flew to SLC and stayed at a rental house.
Sunday consisted of church and visiting with Joseph's sister, Samantha and her family. The big kids and the family went to the park while Gemma and I napped. We enjoyed dinner with them and the big cousins helped our kids with some Christmas crafts. The kids played with their dogs and had a great time with their older cousins.
Monday, we drove up to temple square to see the Coon's. They moved from Lake Jackson earlier this year and live all the way in California now. We were thrilled that both families were coming to Utah at the same time. It was a very snowy and windy day, which led to some crying and screaming from our poorly-dressed children. We visited the sights at Temple Square and had lunch at Lion House Pantry. After we said our goodbyes, we drove down to Lehi to see Joseph's other siblings. We attended a birthday party for one of the cousins and the kids enjoyed decorating cookies there.
Tuesday was filled with Thanksgiving Point. We spent the morning at the butterfly biosphere. The kids got to release butterflies and play around there. In the afternoon, Gemma napped while the big kids went back to Thanksgiving Point for the children's museum. After dinner, a few of Joseph's siblings and us headed to the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point. Tanner and Gemma screamed for most of the walk through the lights. I think they were cold and tired. Ashton loved them and hung out her her aunt and cousins the whole time. I was grateful they came so Ashton could enjoy the lights and not be rushed through because of her whiny younger siblings.
Wednesday morning, we played at another cousin's home in Lehi and had lunch at Cafe Rio (my favorite Utah restaurant). After that, we drove down to Nephi to stay with Joseph's parents for a few days.
Thursday was Thanksgiving and most of Joseph's family made it to Nephi for the holiday. It snowed a lot on Wednesday and Thursday so the kids played in snow and went sledding. We had a yummy Thanksgiving meal.
On Friday, I headed up north to the Payson temple to complete some temple ordinances for my grandmother. Joseph hung out with the kids and went sledding again. It was a chill day to relax and regroup from the holiday.
Saturday was fun as we left Nephi and visited BYU. We got to see the new engineering building and Joseph enjoyed showing the kids around there. Ashton really enjoyed seeing some of the buildings on campus and learning what classes we took or which buildings we worked in. She kept saying that she can't wait to go to school at BYU. We headed to the BYU Store and spent a ton of money on lots of BYU apparel and things. It worked out that lots of things were on sale from Black Friday so the kids lucked out. Tanner really wanted a BYU helmet and we were doubtful we'd get one due to the price on them. But, they were on a good sale so he was happy. After that, we went to the BYU basketball game with the Ainge's. They used to live in Lake Jackson with us as well and moved to Utah a few years ago. We headed to their house afterwards so the kids could play and we had a pizza dinner. After all this, we drove north to Salt Lake City for our last stop at a rental house.
Sunday was church again. We stayed at a rental house right in downtown SLC by the capitol and Temple Square. Our assigned ward was in the Salt Lake stake, which was created in 1847 when teh pioneers came to Utah. It was neat to be in such a historic building and ward. After naps, we took a quick walk up to the capitol. It was open to the public and we got to see the beautiful architecture and paintings. After dinner, we did a quick visit to the temple square lights. The kids were pretty cold so we made it brief. Then, we headed to Joseph's mission president's home in north Salt Lake. His mission president is Bishop Waddell of the presiding bishopric. The kids thought it was very cool that he knew President Nelson. The Waddell's were kind to our kids and brought out toys and suckers for them. Joseph and I anticipated meltdowns from all our kids and were happily surprised that it didn't happen. We were thrilled to stay longer than we planned so Joseph could catch up with President and Sister Waddell.
On Monday, we traveled back home. The trip home went really well and had minimal issues. We didn't even hit much traffic in Austin and had a smooth 3 hour ride home.
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