This Thanksgiving, it was was our year to be in Utah with Tyler's family. Tyler had a work conference in San Antonio the weekend before, however, so we tacked that trip on too. We took the girls out early and drove down to San Antonio Friday night and stayed with Scott and his family. It was fun staying up late, playing games, and hanging out. The girls decorated cupcakes and we got to see Chloe play her T-ball game.
We drove home Monday after Tyler's conference was over. Tyler worked on Tuesday while the girls and I washed clothes and repacked our luggage, and we left Tuesday night for Utah. We stayed in Farmington, NM and drove the rest of the way on Wednesday. We stopped in Moab for lunch. I wanted to take pictures but it was really windy and cold, so this was all I was able to get. I loved their funny picture though.
We spent the rest of the week with Grandma and Grandpa Gibbons and all the cousins. Taryn and Lucy were pretty much inseparable. Sometimes Aubrey led them around and sometimes Anson joined in, but these girls were always together doing the cutest things.
The three little ones made a "doctor's office" and colored lots of pictures of their patients. For some reason, they kept yelling "ohh" while they played so when I got them to stand still for a picture, they couldn't resist saying "ohh" for those too. I at least got them to smile long enough for one.
With all the family together, we had to use three tables to fit everyone (and this was minus Tara and her family who stayed home because Tara was about to have a baby). Here's the kid's table.
And here's the middle-aged girl's table. The oldest two grandkids and adults sat at the last table, but by the time we were all sitting down, we were eating, so I didn't get a picture. We had yummy food with the traditional items like shrimp cocktail, raspberry jello, and all the usual turkey and sides. It was delicious and so great to be together.
The day after Thanksgiving, we traveled up into the mountain so everyone (except us) could pick out their Christmas tree and cut it down. While the other adults searched for the perfect tree, I followed the kids around and took a lot of pictures. The snow was deep in a lot of places and the kids stopped to rest a lot, but those were the best pictures.
They all made snow angels during one of the rest stops. At one point, the kids decided to bury Jacob, so he's the black-hooded head in the middle of all the kids in the second picture. He said it was fun, but it just looked cold to me.
Poor Aubrey always seemed to be the odd man out, because she's the only one of my kids without a girl cousin close to her age. Jacob, who's only 2 weeks older than Aubrey, wasn't who she wanted to be buddies with, but the older girls kept leaving her behind, so she and I wandered on our own for a bit and took some pictures. I liked this selfie that we took together.
I loved this picture I took of Aubrey by herself so much, that I tried taking individual pictures of each of my girls, but no one else was as accommodating. This was the best I could get from Tessa, although I really liked how it turned out. She kept wanting to throw snow in the air during her picture.
Abby opted to have her picture taken with Kate and Sara which was fine by me. I love their bright colors against the white snow and brown forest.
Taryn took her picture with Lucy and Grandma right before they headed back to the car to get warm and eat snacks.
After Thanksgiving was over for a day, Grandma quickly decorated for Christmas a little bit, so we could have our Christmas gift exchange. The kids all put on their pajamas, decorated cookies, and waited to open up gifts. Here are all the kids decorating and/or eating their cookies. While waiting to open presents, the kids lined up chairs behind Grandma's reindeer and pretended to be Santa and his reindeer so I grabbed a picture. Jacob is Santa in the back.
The boys were all watching football and hanging out together while the kids worked on their cookies, so I took this picture. It's one of my favorites because the dads usually aren't in many of the pictures, and they were all just sitting there together perfectly like the perfect setup for a picture. I may have to frame this one for all these boys, I love it that much.
Drew turned 16 this year, but didn't mind playing with the kids or letting them follow him around all weekend. They were all watching him play a game on his tablet, so I thought it was a cute picture. So many cousins!
We had so much fun being with family. It's always hard to leave, but we left to drive home Saturday so we wouldn't have to drive as long on Sunday. We stayed in Moab and got there early enough to eat dinner at our favorite Moab restaurant called The Blue Pig. We sat at this big booth in the back and I had to laugh looking at Tyler on the opposite side, because it made me think how far apart we were sitting, yet when we were first dating, we used to sit right next to each other. But then I'd look at the four beautiful girls in between us and think about how much our life has blossomed since those days when we did sit side by side. How blessed we are.
I am so thankful for family!
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