Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving the Whitmers invited the whold Andrews family down to their house in Arizona. Gordon only has 2 days off of work for Thanksgiving and it is such a long drive so I decided I would drive down with my parents and Gordon would drive down the wednesday before Thanksgiving and we would ride home together. The plan was to leave the Monday before Thanksgiving and drive straight to Arizona. The friday before Thanksgiving at about 10:45 pm I get a call from my mom (I was suprised to see my mom was calling since she isn't a night owl and I would never call her that late). She said that she and my dad had been watching the weather and a storm was coming so they wanted to leave Saturday instead. I still had a few errands I needed to do for Kimberly and I had to work at the salon Saturday morning from 8 am to 11 am. To make it work I stayed up til 1:30 am packing and my mom agreed to run the errands for me in the morning, and Gordon drove to Salt Lake to pick up a new car seat for Taeya. I did my 2 appointments at the salon, Gord met me at my mom and dads with the girls and we were on the road at about 12:30 pm. Phew!

Since we got such a late start we knew it would be a little rough driving all the way to Arizona, so we decided to stop in St. George and stay the night with Ryan, Kristy, and Daylen. It was an added bonus to visit with them. Taeya and Daylen always have so much fun to gether, I didn't mind breaking up the long drive, and we were able to go to the "Jubliee of Trees." It was very similar to the "Festial of Trees." All the trees were donated and the money went to charity. We had a fun time getting into the Christmas spirit. Taeya and Daylen got to sit on Santa's lap for the first time of the season.

Taeya was more than thrilled to get her face painted - even more exciting than seeing Santa!??

Back at Ryan and Kristy's Taeya and Daylen played with toys while we watched the movie "Bounty Hunter." We were on the road again by 9:00 am Sunday morning. We didn't arrive in Arizona til about 5:15 pm. (My dad was pulling a heavy load for work). Wow, what a long drive!

Monday night we got to go to Kenzly's violin recital. Thank goodness the weather wasn't too cold since I spend the majority of the evening outside with the little kids. (I just can't figure out why they wouldn't sit and listen to the concert??!)

Kenzly did an awesome job and I should have taken a picture of her. I did get a cute one of Kierra though. She was so funny, she kept asking me to take her picture.
The kids sure love Papa, Karsten and Anastyn sat and enjoyed the concert for a few minutes on his lap.

Tuesday night Kent and Kimberly took us to a yummy steak restaraunt. (I got the salmon, which was delicious!) This place was really cool. You could either sit inside or outside. Inside was a normal restaurant, outside you lit your own fire and enjoyed some live entertainment. Unfortunately since in was a Tuesday night the kids were our only entertainment! They enjoyed playing on the stage and supplying us with plenty of firewood. I didn't realize we would be eating outside so we weren't dressed appropriately for the cooler weather. Thank goodness for the fire which kept us nice and warm. Too bad I was paranoid the whole time that Anastyn was going to burn herself. Besides that, everyone had a great time.

I couldn't resist posting this picture because of my poser, Taeya, and cute little Karsten, he is usually not a fan of the camera! (Kimball, Taeya, Karsten, Anastyn, and Kierra)

Kierra has all day Kindergarten so on Monday and Tuesday we picked her up after lunch so she and Taeya could play together. Kierra made these Pilgrim and Indian costumes at school. Thought I should get a shot of the girls in costume since it was thanksgiving!
Anastyn loved playing with all the new toys, this car was definitely one of her favorites.
Karsten and Anastyn played so well together. The bad thing is that they both suck on the same binki and Karsten really loves his "B," and Anastyn's too! I had to keep hiding them. It was cute and suprisingly I don't think I lost any. (I brought at least 5!)
Thursday morning Kent had a bounce house delivered for the kids, the boys started driving R.C. cars in the empty lot across the street, and the women all worked together in the kitchen. (Kierra, Taeya, and Cael in the bounce house)

Thanksgiving turned out to be a "blast!" Kimberly couldn't find the rocker to her pressure cooker. Her mother-in-law told her she could stick a match stick in place of the rocker. About 10 minutes later, which was way too long but we were all pre-occupied with other dishes for the meal, we had a pressure explosion. Because of all that stored up pressure the match stick finally blew out, but along with the match stick came a grean bean mist that went everywhere......the floor, the counter, the stove top, the backsplash, up inside the hood over her stove, on the rising rolls, and it even broke the light about the stove. We laughed it off by deciding that it would be good for the rolls - sneaking some veggies in!
Me and my girls - missing dad, this was the 3rd year in a row we haven't been together for Thanksgiving - I am beginning to wonder if Gordon prefers it that way! He had the house to himself for a whole week - that sounds nice.
Thursday night we went swimming at Chantel's hotel. Some of the big kids braved the pool but most of us just enjoyed ourselves in the hottub.

During the day on Friday us ladies went to the Chandler Mall, that night we ate leftovers and played games with prizes. (back: Chantel, Cael, Cynthia, Mom, Dad, me, Kelly, Taeya; Front: Collin, Kenzly, Kimberly, and Cameron; missing: Kent, Garrick, Chelsea, Kimball, Jayne, Karsten, Anastyn ).

What an awesome week we had. We had all been looking forward to this fun visit and it did not dissapoint! The girls were so great in the car, and we really loved our time with family. Maybe next year we will all be together??!