Thanksgiving

The house is quiet. Rachel is at a book club. I just read two chapters of "Ms. Beard is Weird," and now the kids are in bed and acting really well behaved. They must be tired. The mess from dinner is still sitting on our table, but writing this is more important to me right now than cleaning. When Rach gets home we will probably read our book together (currently reading The Martian) while the other person cleans, and then maybe talk for a while about our days or the news or her book club or something, and then finish off our night with an episode of The West Wing. It's a pretty typical night for us.

This last week has been a whirlwind and it is hard to know where to start. At the same time, I feel like I am sort of at a loss of what to write about, since it seems like so much more has happened than what I can remember. I think that in my last post I mentioned that we were heading down to Utah for Thanksgiving, so I guess I'll start there.

We drove to Rexburg after I got done with work on Wednesday, and then finished our trip to Sandy early the next morning.

Thursday was mostly a sit-around-and-relax day, since Wendy had to work at Target.

On Friday I got up early, and since nobody else was awake yet, I went shopping. I didn't buy anything, but I did take myself out to breakfast at Ihop. It was a good morning. Later that afternoon we had our Thanksgiving meal at Wendy's house with all of Rachel's family in attendance.

Saturday morning, Rachel and I went to Mimi's for breakfast where we met up with Jill and Lee. We had a good conversation with them and it was fun to catch up with each other. Later that day we went to Layton where we got a professional picture taken with the whole Almond side of the family, and then hung out for several hours at Shannon's house. That evening, Rachel and I (and the kids) went to my Grandma and Grandpa's home in Draper and caught up with them, as well as with my aunt Natalie and some of her kids. They had all just returned from a trip to Rio where my cousin had just finished serving an LDS mission, and it was neat to hear about their experiences. I'll tell you what- if I am anywhere near as active as my grandma and grandpa are when I am their age, then I will consider myself a very fortunate man!

We went to church on Sunday with Wendy, and then hung out some more at her house. That afternoon we drove up to Logan where we had dinner with my family. It was great seeing them, and we had a good evening together. That night, we stayed at Griffin and Ashland's house (my brother), and then spent the next morning talking with Ashland. Around lunch time we packed the kids in the car and drove the 9 hours home in one shot. It was a good drive. Our kids are good travelers.

...Which is a good thing, because this next week we are doing it all over again.

In short, lots of family, lots of driving, lots of food, lots of talking, and lots of fun.

Enjoy the pictures!

They sure like their cousin Tirza

Pizza at Shannon's house

I think Rachel and I need more sleep

This was very sad. Froggy (the stuffed animal on the bottom left) has, for all intents and purposes, become a member of the family. He is Jackson's best friend. Well, unfortunately for him, he got stuck in the microwave on a waxed plate, and burned his legs off. Our kids were devastated. Being the totally empathetic dad that I am, I took a picture of their misery. It really was very sad, and they got lots of hugs.

Allison and Gracie are soooo talented.