We had such a fantastic Thanksgiving! Ellie and I flew up the week before Thanksgiving, while Mike stayed behind to finish up classes and study for finals, which started right after Thanksgiving. I felt slightly guilty leaving him behind in Phoenix for the holidays, but the big reason we went up was because my brother's family from Alaska were making the trip down. They've lived in Fairbanks for the last year and a half, so it was very exciting seeing them again!
We also got to spend some time with Mike's family. Ellie enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa. And Tiffany and I made some cute Thanksgiving cookies!
Ellie also loved playing with Kingsley. She likes to hug and hold hands with babies, and she does so in a very loving, albeit rough manner. She also doesn't like to take no for an answer, so if Kingsley is done hugging, and Ellie isn't... well, the hug doesn't end. Same with her cousin Ada.
He sure had fun in the snow, but I think he might regret his wardrobe choice in a few years!
Kings became a full-time walker too! My theory is he had to learn to walk in order to avoid Ellie's "hugs of death". It was very cute to see him toddling around!
Since we had the whole family on my side together in who knows how long, we took family pictures. You might be thinking, "Hey! I thought you said Mike stayed behind in Phoenix?" Completely unbeknownst to me, he found someone to watch the pup and bought a plane ticket to Salt Lake. And it just so happened that he made it right on time for family pictures. He completely surprised me, even though most of my family knew. It was a very nice surprise, and although he studied almost the entire time he was up, it was still nice to be together on Thanksgiving!
My parent's house was a circus! 16 people sleeping in beds, cribs, couches and on the floor. The laundry machine and dishwasher were used more in that two weeks than in the past 5 years combined. It was so much fun to have the entire family together!
And Ellie LOVED having her cousins around. She'd wake up in the mornings and say, "Where's my boys? I LOVE my boys!"
Here's a video of the family playing Just Dance. Ada is perhaps the best dancer I've ever seen.
Thanksgiving day was wonderful as well. I insisted that my Dad teach me how to make his *delicious* rolls this year, so he supervised while I did all the grunt work. I kept thinking to myself, "If I mess this up... Thanksgiving could be ruined." Everyone knows the rolls are the best part of dinner. Surprise, surprise... the rolls didn't raise, so we had Thanksgiving biscuits instead of rolls. I was so disappointed. We later found out we had accidentally used old yeast instead of the new stuff my Dad had bought. So I guess someday I might muster up enough courage to try making them again.
And these are the infamous sweet potatoes that my Mom makes. Every year the smoke alarm goes off from the burning marshmallows. This year though, they came out perfectly toasted. Congrats Mom!
I think everyone felt like this afterwards!
It was such a fun trip, and I'm grateful to my parents for housing and feeding everyone! And I wish Fairbanks wasn't quite so far away. But it does make you appreciate more the time you do get to spend together!
How fun that your whole family was there and that Mike surprised you! Glad you had a good holiday.
ReplyDeleteYou guys look like you are doing well. Tell Kyle's family hello from us. They live in Mesa, Higley, and Scottsdale. They seem to really like it there. I love your family photos as well!
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