Happy Thanksgiving!

It's hard to imagine Thanksgiving and not be in Arizona. We decided to make a little vacation out of our annual trip to Mesa. We headed south the Friday before Thanksgiving and stayed with Aunt Doris is LaVerkin. Her accommodations are some of our favorites! We stopped in St George for breakfast on Saturday morning and had breakfast with cousins Rachel and Chris, then down to Las Vegas for some more friends and fun. We stayed with one of my old roommates who has a boy Lincoln's age, and they had so much fun together...though I think Marcus was glad to get Lincoln out of his hair by Sunday morning. We couldn't go to Las Vegas without a quick trip to "the strip". We were so excited to show Lincoln the fountains at the Bellagio...well he hated them. They were too loud and powerful, or something, but he loved the aquarium at Caesar's Palace, so our hour in Vegas wasn't totally in vain. We went to a Spanish ward with Amy and Juan on Sunday morning. Both Dean and I both were happy to have understood everything. I think I'll always understand church Spanish better than other Spanish...I guess that's what I learned in Ecuador. 

Caesar's Palace

Dean and Oliver liked the fountains, but Lincoln wouldn't let me let go of him, he just wanted to get away.

 On Monday we headed to the zoo. It was fun to see different animals and especially be there with all my boys. I think the animals all ate their Thanksgiving dinners early this year, because they were mostly taking naps.

Lincoln won this starring contest...at least I couldn't see him blink through his sun glasses.

 We had a surprise birthday party for Linda. My grandpa was great with the details of the party. He helped with the ideas for decorating and balloon placement and had the candles lit in plenty of time.

Linda's birthday party.

 On Tuesday we wanted to go for a little hike. Well we must have missed the hiking trail, but made it to the salt river instead. We threw a couple rocks into the water and were there just long enough for Lincoln to have a 2 year old melt down moment. He had a good nap that afternoon.

 Our makeshift hike.

This part of visiting grandpa will always be my favorite. Grandpa loves the babies. I was nervous because Oliver has had a hard time with new faces, but he warmed right up to GGPA! 

Khari made it on Tuesday night. It is more fun to have friends there for Lincoln. It's also good for him to have other kids around who can stick up for themselves.

Thanksgiving morning was time to prepare for the dinner. We never did figure out how to get the table to expand, but they had fun playing under the table.

Lincoln's side kick "kiddy-cat" made the trip with us too.

Grandpa had a few projects he was anxious to have done. Dean was so great to help out, and Lincoln was a pretty good helper too.

We headed home on Friday afternoon and stopped at only one "black-Friday" store. We stayed with Doris again on Friday night, then headed up to the Utah football game that started at noon on Saturday. Lincoln was exhausted, but Dean was a good sport and let Lincoln go to the game. 

During our trip, it was the one year anniversary of my grandma's passing. She has been gone for a year, but I wasn't prepared to miss her so much. I thought I had finished the mourning process. I guess it was the first time she really wasn't there. It was hard to be in her home and not have her there. It was hard to do the things we've always done in Arizona, and not have her there to ask us the questions she always asks, and make her snide comments, and give us her two cents on everything. It was so fun to be with grandpa, but it was hard for me to actually see how much he misses her. I suppose it just didn't hit me until I was actually there.
How grateful I am to know that I'll get to see her again someday. I'm so glad to know my grandpa will be able to be with her forever...someday. They have a love for each other that will never die, and I felt that love again over Thanksgiving. Now that Christmas is just a few days away, I am even more grateful for baby Jesus, who grew and lived and died and was resurrected and made the entire "Plan of Salvation" possible. I can't imagine life without that perspective.