Thanksgiving 2017

Before posting school events for each girl, I've decided to do our Thanksgiving post. We had a lot of last minute plans this Thanksgiving. Tyler had a work conference the weekend before Thanksgiving in San Antonio and in the past, we've taken all the girls with us and stayed with Scott and Nevla and then drove home only to drive the next day up to Utah for the weekend of Thanksgiving. We originally planned to do that again this year, however Abby's volleyball schedule meant she had to be in town the Friday that we normally would have left for San Antonio. So we started making plans for just Tyler to go to his conference and I'd stay home with the girls, but the day before leaving town, I had a genius idea. I asked my parents to watch our girls so that I could go with Tyler and have a weekend with just the two of us. I'd get to hang out with Scott and Nevla and all their kids while Tyler went to his conference and our girls wouldn't have to sit for hours in the car when we were planning on driving up to Utah that same week. So that's what we did. Chloe and I had fun taking lots of pictures. Here's our selfie with me, Chloe, and baby Danny.

Chloe took a lot of pictures with my phone the weekend we were there, but most of them were of blurry little girls who wouldn't stand still to have their picture taken. Here are the best pictures of Nadia and Alexa. We had quite a few more pictures, but they included Haylee so I'll have to wait and add those before I print out my blog books. It was so much fun to just be a mother's helper and not worry about my own kids. Chloe and Nevla both missed my girls though and they really would have had fun too had they come with us.

After Tyler's work conference, we took a long trip back home. Instead of driving straight back to El Paso, we drove up to Canton, Texas first which is outside of Dallas to look at a horse trailer that we wanted to buy. Tyler had decided for a Christmas present, he wanted to buy his dad a pony. His dad had been looking at Welsh ponies for the last couple of years, wanting to buy one to have for the grandkids. Tyler was worried that he'd never find that perfect one and then not ever get one. So Tyler started doing his own research and found a Welsh pony name Dutchess in Cortez, Colorado which is right on our way to Utah. So we found a small, used, one-horse trailer in Dallas and drove it back to El Paso. Tyler worked a couple days, and then we loaded up and headed to Utah and stopped to pick up Dutchess on the way. The girls were immediately in love with the 6 month old pony.  And when we drove up to Tyler's parent's house that night, it was the biggest surprise to everyone. They were all shocked, but were also immediately in love with her. It was dark by the time we got there, but first thing the next morning, we took Dutchess out of the trailer to walk her around and set her up in their backyard. The grandkids couldn't get enough of her.

We tried feeding her carrots, but she didn't really care for those, but she would eat hay right out of your hands.

She's only 6 months old, but since she's a Welsh pony her full size will still be pretty small for a horse. The boys spent the day making a temporary pen for her until Lee was able to get the equipment he needed to build her a bigger pen. Dutchess loved rolling around in the dirt and the kids thought that was the funniest thing ever.

Here's our big family picture that we took while we were together. We had to have Dutchess in the picture as well. This is the picture that Grandpa and Grandma Gibbons used as their Christmas card picture too.

Grandma and Grandpa still have chickens and the kids love going in the chicken coop to see if there are any eggs. Here's Taryn inside the coop.

The cousins enjoyed the outside. The weather was nice for November in Utah! They played and visited and watched the animals in the backyard.

The loved being goofy for the pictures. They even took turns riding Grandpa's riding lawn mower. Here's Abby taking her turn as she came around the back of the house. 

The day after Thanksgiving, we always drive up the mountain so that the kids can find their Christmas tree and cut it down. The grandkids love to play in the snow. I took some pictures of my girls as we wandered the mountain. Tessa decided to make a snow angel. And Aubrey was always at the front of the group leading the way as they decided which path to follow.

There were many snowball fights and Taryn wanted an action picture. You can see her snowball that she's ready to throw. While waiting for the parents to pick out their trees, Aubrey, Jacob, and Parker found some random animal bones by where we had parked the cars. They were gathering them all into a pile and showing everyone who came by. Aubrey always had fun with whoever she was playing with.

Since we wouldn't be spending Christmas together, Grandma and Grandpa had put up a small tree and we had our gift exchange that night. There were still plenty of presents just from what Grandma and Grandpa had gotten everyone and the grandkids gift exchange.

Taryn got a Lego set from her cousins and Aubrey got a purse.

Tessa got a chess set which was on her Christmas wish list and she was super excited when she opened it.

Finally, another picture of some of the girls playing. Lucy and Taryn are always like two peas in a pod. They do everything together. They were watching a movie on the ipad before bed this night. Aubrey hung out with them whenever she wasn't with the boys or the older girls. The teenager girls stayed down in their room the entire time and we hardly ever even saw them. I love how close all the cousins are; and how with even only seeing each other two or three times a year, they are like best of friends when they get together. We love our family. Happy Thanksgiving!