Life Among the Stars: Thanksgiving in Utah

We were excited to have a Jex/Robinson family reunion a week later to celebrate Thanksgiving. I love time spent with family! We got a "bonus day" to add to our trip because Dave needed to visit with a subcontractor in Utah. So we were able to drive over on Tuesday and not count it as a vacation day. Tender mercy. We drove to Orem first and stayed the night. It was great to visit with Grandma Jex and Grandpa and Grandma Robinson!

Playing and snuggling with Grandma. So fun!

The next morning Dave drove us to the Whetstones to play for a few hours while he took care of his work assignment. The kids jumped right into playing even though it had been over six months since we'd seen them. The Coulams came over for awhile and all of us just enjoyed our time together. I believe Harry Potter was the theme of choice...

Henry, Emma, Natalie and Joely

Most of the kids...Lucy wasn't happy at the moment.

Hogwarts Students

Carson should feel so loved when he's with Anna and Abigail!

Dave picked us up and we drove up to Heber for the rest of our stay. It was our first time to be at Aunt Myra and Uncle Craig's beautiful new house. And the best part of the house was that it was full of cousins!!

Our first night in Heber was terrible simply because Carson coughed the entire night. Dave eventually went downstairs to sleep on the couch. By 4 or so I was desperate from not having slept a wink and got Dave to find medicine for Carson. It was rough. We were in charge of breakfast for everyone Thanksgiving morning, but I was such a mess that I couldn't figure out up from down. Literally. I was sent back to bed while Dave and the rest of the clan cooked up the oatmeal pancakes and got everyone fed. Thanks to those who stepped in for me and let me sleep so the rest of the trip was good!

While the Thanksgiving feast was cooking, we took all the kids to the elementary school nearby to play at the park. It was chilly, but the outside air and freedom to move was just what we all needed!

Emma was enjoying the photo shoot opportunities...she wanted me to take lots of pictures!

I LOVE this picture of Alexis. Look at that beautiful face!

Beautiful Elli

Joely had fun being pushed on the swings by dad.

Madi got a kick out of hanging on the swing. These are her stomping grounds!

Wheee!

Higher!

Another of my favorites from the trip. Look at Atti's long lashes!

Emma loves her grandpa!

Buddies

Wild woman

Lucas is so handsome.

Sisters

Carson was so glad to be able to run around and play football. Nothing makes him happier.

Grandpa and Grandma Robinson came up to Heber to share Thanksgiving dinner with us. We were so glad to have them there!

The "little kid" table.

The "big kid" table plus Austin. He wanted to sit by his brother, not with all the girls. :)

Uncle Dave playing with Lexi

Love these three...

Myra "handling" the stress! :)

Thanksgiving dinner was WONDERFUL! The only complication was that Uncle Craig sliced his finger during the food prep and had to go to the emergency room for stitches. Amazingly, he was in and out in less than an hour. They told him he was their first patient of the day, which worked well for him! That night Uncle Craig and Dave drove the Robinsons home while Justin, Gretchen, and I went Black Friday shopping at Walmart. When we finished there, Craig joined us and we drove to the Outlets in Park City to do a bit more shopping. It was fun but oh so late!

The next morning we all went to Kamas to swim at their new Rec Center. It was a fabulous pool with a giant slide, a lazy river, and a playground area in the pool. I didn't worry about the kids at all and even Emma could go down the giant yellow water slide on her own. The highlights for me were jumping off the high dive for the first time in years (and I may never do it again, but at least I did something that scared me a little...makes me feel alive!), and seeing Melanie Holt and her family. Who would have guessed? The kids were ecstatic the whole time and didn't want to go home they were having so much fun.

We all headed back to Heber to clean up from swimming and then it was back down the canyon to Orem for an evening with Grandma Jex and the Robinsons. We started with a full family picture in the living room, which actually turned out great! Then it was Brick Oven pizza, root beer and apple beer for dinner. While we were there, we thought it would be fun to set up Grandpa and Grandma Robinson's Christmas tree. The kids played downstairs with Grandma Jex while the rest of us worked at decorating the tree. It turned out so good!

Many hands...

Even Joely helped decorate!

Grandma added her special touch to make it just right.

Expert tree decorators

Great grandparents enjoying sweet Alexis

Carson and Grandma Jex got a kick out of Grandma's Magic Eye book.

Austin had fun with Grandma Jex too!

Beautiful Christmas Girl

Grandpa liked the Magic Eye book too! He was mesmerized. :)

All the kids were loving time playing with Grandma.

Lucas dressed up to be just like Grandpa!

Atti and Grandma

Grandma loves Elli

Mission accomplished...

It was a fun night being all together. Everyone soaked up the time with all the grandparents.

The next morning, Carson and Emma got to go rock climbing with Uncle Ryan and Uncle Craig. They had a BLAST!!! Joely stayed in Heber with all the aunts and did fun crafts. Dave and I took a drive back down to Lehi to see Grandma McClure. She was finishing up her lunch when we got there, so we sat and visited for awhile. She wasn't all that responsive, but it was so good to see her. I miss Grandma McClure!

There's a big grin!

When we finished visiting with Grandma, we had some extra time, so we decided to walk around our old stomping grounds at BYU. Our first stop was Wymount, where we lived for the first four years of our marriage. We were shocked to see that several buildings had been torn down and a new large facility is being built. We aren't sure what they're building, but it's definitely changing the look of the Wymount entrance!

Apartment C 207 -- Our very first apartment, 2nd floor on the right.

Apartment 202 -- Where we moved right before Carson was born. 2nd floor on the left, just on the other side of the wall from our first apartment.

We walked around campus, shopped at the Bookstore, and just enjoyed reminiscing. Lots of things have changed, but it still feels the same!

We drove back up to Heber for game night. We played a rousing game of Bingo with the kids, put them to bed and then played again with just the adults. It was a fun way to end our Thanksgiving weekend reunion!