Thanksgiving Wrap Up

So much has happened this past week!  Whew!  Where to begin....Well, first we had a blizzard last week that closed school on the day before Thanksgiving.  It was Grandparents Day at Riley's school so that was a disappointment, but he got over it quickly by having the day off and being able to play in the snow!  Uncle Kevin and Aunt Cara were going to go with him to school that day to represent his family.  He was bummed about that, but he said they plan to reschedule Grandparent day.  To keep the kids occupied, we dug out the Christmas decorations and started to go through all of them.  The tree is now up and we are ready for Christmas!  Since we didn't get to decorate our apt or a tree last year, this was a real treat for all of us.  We even have both kids' trains running under the tree!

On Turkey day we headed over to Cara's mom's house to celebrate all we've been given with her family.  They are so kind and loving and accept us into their fold as if we really were related.  We are so thankful for them and their willingness to include us in their lives.  The kids had a blast even without their buddy Tristam there to play with.  Aunt Heather introduced them to Beauty and the Beast that night and both kids were glued to the tube!  Uncle Tom was there and that was Kendall's excitement for the night.  She flirted with him the whole night.  She was playing hard to get though.  Thankfully she always went right into Uncle Kevin's arms and not Uncle Tom's!  She knows who her favorite "uncle" is!  ;)

On Black Friday I ran out for a few errands around 8:30 am.  I didn't buy into the get up at 3am and find huge savings hype!  I just can't stand the crowds or the lines.  I have done that a time or two in the past and never felt it was worth the hassle!  Later that day we headed out to Gardner Village to go on an Elf Scavenger Hunt!  It's the same place we went to see the witches around Halloween.  We somehow missed two of them in our search so now we'll have to return (maybe during the daytime hours) to find the missing two and get our reward for completing it!

They had some of the displays in empty store fronts which made for creative displays.  This one was the elves baking and packaging cookies!

Saturday was the day Andy decided to head into work to try to get caught up on some things that needed to be completed by the end of the month.  He traveled a lot and had some important people visiting his region this past month so things didn't get done and he needed that uninterrupted time so the kids and I went to see Tangled at the movie theater.  Both kids LOVED the movie and mom did too.  Disney did a pretty good job on that one - sometimes I'm not thrilled with their humor or vocabulary in G rated movies, but this one was pretty good.

After Andy got home from work he wanted to take us to Thanksgiving Point to see their Christmas lights.  It's the type that you drive through and see the different displays.  At the end of the experience you get to drive by the shops and restaurants where they have a pen of reindeer.  We always stop and get out to see them.  This year Kendall really went nuts over them because she understands the idea of Santa and Rudolph.

This one was so cool - it was a lighted ice sculpture

Checking out Comet and Blitzen

Sunday was the second Sunday in a row that it snowed...seems to be the norm around here now.  We've got about 10+ inches outside right now...may be up to a foot of accumulation by now.  After church the kids convinced Andy to take them sledding.  They all had a blast!  Kendall loved going down the hill with her dad because they went so fast and pretty far.  Riley has a sled that looks similar to a boogie board and he loves to try to go over jumps with it!  I was grateful for a little quiet time away from the kids.  I was able to get almost all of our Christmas cards addressed and ready for stamps!

This morning there was even MORE snow!  I am convinced winter is here to stay!  Thankfully we have some awesome neighbors who've been kind enough to offer their snow blowing services when they notice our drive isn't done or if they see Andy out there with our shovel!  I think we're finally in the market for yet another snowblower.  He was checking out prices online last night.  Here are some pics of Kendall and Penton playing this morning.

She thought it was loads of fun to get a running start and crash into the snow bank on the driveway

You can see how much we've had by how much is piled up by the mailbox

It drifted in the back last night and filled the fire pit to the top with snow

Penton can't get enough of the snow!  She missed the cold and white stuff when we lived in Florida

She'd had enough...time to go inside

Not without falling down in the snow first

Penton decided to be helpful and lick all the snow off Kendall's face!

All in all it was a great weekend and we were all sad to see it end.  Three more weeks of school until a two week vacation and a week+ long visit from Nanny and Pappy Hershock!  We are all thrilled that they are coming to spend Christmas with us here in Utah!  Maybe we'll get some skiing in during their visit?  Riley's lessons start at Snowbird in less than 2 weeks!  I'm sure the time will fly by!  We've got some other fun stuff to do with the kids between now and then.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!