Thanksgiving weekend was packed with lots of fun, family and FOOD! Wednesday (11/22) Jonas didn't have school and I was watching Carter and Everly that day so we decided to meet up with the Tanners at the Museum of Natural Curiosity for a morning of fun. I think Jonas is slowly growing out of this museum. There are still activities that he enjoys, but give it another year or so and I think he'll think he's too big for all of it. Yet, if the cousins are there, he always finds fun. Carter and Everly loved it too! I loved watching them explore the museum. Everyone liked the water area the best. Jonas and Lincoln even got into a full on water fight! They were soaked...yet both had smiles on. We finished up around lunchtime and grabbed some Chick-fil-A for our way home.
Later that afternoon, Nichole, Ryan, and Kate came into town. They had been with Tyler and his girlfriend, Sydney, in the beginning of the week exploring some National Parks in southern Utah. Tyler and Syd had a reunion to go to for the holiday weekend so Nichole, Ryan, and Kate came to celebrate with us. As is tradition, we headed to Peaks Ice Arena where we met up with Dallin, Jacob, and Amber (Laurin's family went to Ogden this year for Thanksgiving). Nichole and I sat out while the rest of the family skated. After ice skating, we went to The Wash where we enjoyed a churro ice cream sandwich.
The next day, Thursday, November 23rd, was Thanksgiving. We headed Cracker Barrel that morning for our traditional Thanksgiving breakfast. Again, Jacob, Amber, and Dallin joined us while Laurin, Casey, Carter, and Everly were up in Ogden. Jacob and Amber did eventually join Jacob's parents for the Thanksgiving feast, but I loved that they were able and willing to join us for other aspects of the holiday weekend. After our breakfast, we returned to the house to get ready to eat again. Haha! Isn't that what we do on Thanksgiving? While Nichole and I finished last minute food prep, the rest of the family jumped in the pool. Yup! You read that correctly. They went swimming! Crazy huh?! Thankfully our pool is heated but it was like 40 degrees outside! Still, they swam all weekend long! Even after it had snowed (spoiler alert: it snowed Thanksgiving evening into the next morning). Finally, Katie, Greg, Gma Penny, Grumpy, Brad, and the Tanners came over to share our turkey feast. And it was a feast! It felt like we rolled from one food festivity to another. After dinner was over, we indulged in pie then grabbed hot chocolate before we finally ended the day with a drive around the Spanish Fork lights in the dump truck. Jacob and Amber (and Jacob's parents) even joined us for that activity. I love our traditions!...even if the execution of it all may have set off my vertigo again. (I'll get to that in a minute.)
The party continued that evening and into the next day. Nolan and Lincoln got to spend the night. Camden was unfortunately sick. Poor guy! Jonas, Nolan, and Lincoln made a couch fort downstairs and slept in it that night. It was pretty impressive, but I didn't get any pictures. When we woke up the next morning, snow blanketed the ground. The boys immediately ran outside for some snow fun. They went sledding and helped Ryan and Kate build two large snowmen. The snow was perfect for building snowmen. The boys stayed out there for at least 2-3 hours just playing in the snow. They made snow angels, had snowball fights, and were completely frozen and soaked by the time it was all done. We then quickly grabbed lunch and headed north to meet up with Krystle and Addie. Camden was still feeling sick so he opted to stay home. We, on the other hand, decided to enjoy some holiday displays at the Grand America, City Creek, and Gardner Village. We saw the window displays and giant gingerbread house at the Grand America, admired the candy window displays at Macy's in City Creek, and wandered through Gardner Village looking for the elves. We even made our way to the gingerbread village at Traverse Outlets, but opted not to do the reindeer scavenger hunt because of how insane the crowds were! I mean c'mon! We knew it was Black Friday but we figured by 4:00 p.m. the craziness would have died down...it definitely did not! Still, we were grateful that we got to see what we did because the next day was a completely different experience.
Saturday morning (11/25) I woke up with my world spinning again. I felt so defeated. I wished I had never experienced vertigo. Thankfully, this was a much more mild experience than the last time, but I was still sad that I was limited in my physical activities for that day. Thankfully, Nolan and Lincoln had spent the night again and none of the boys seemed to mind just staying home. Nichole was even ok to just lounge around and watch Hallmark movies with me. She was feeling a little sick (a cold) too. She did take Kate out to run a couple of errands in the morning and Ryan took Kate out in the afternoon to teach her how to drive a manual car. The boys went for another swim in the morning then Krystle, Jordan, Camden, and Addie showed up later in the afternoon. The little kids (with Jeff and Jordan's help) made rockets and set them off after the Tanners showed up then we had pizza for dinner that night. We were supposed to go to the Light Parade in SF that evening, but it had begun snowing again and several of us just weren't feeling up to going. I was really sad that the day didn't go as we had originally planned. I wanted to take everyone to Gordo's for a winter festival or go out to see the parade or just do something, but we didn't. Thankfully, no one seemed to mind. I was really grateful for that! I was grateful that everyone just seemed to enjoy a slower paced day. We switched between football games and Hallmark shows throughout the day. Ryan and Jeff really stepped up so Nichole and I could just relax. It all worked out, and I was grateful for that. This was not how I thought this weekend would end...nor how I thought our next month would begin, but it all works out. I think I need to slow down and prioritize things. I probably need to work on delegating...or simply letting things go. Maybe we all should. I'm just grateful that I am healthy. I'm grateful that this is the only thing (as of now) that I have to deal with. And I'm grateful for family that simply loves being together!
