Thanksgiving Weekend

Day #22 (Let's kill 2 birds with 1 stone - but not really kill them because that's mean and makes me sad)

I'm thankful for Thanksgiving of course! Or the holidays to be more general and specific at the same time... I love that we have 3 or 4 holidays right in a row that bring our families closer together :)

For Thanksgiving Day Ammon and I went up to his Dad and Step-Mom's house for an amazing traditional Thanksgiving dinner (including lamb - so good!). Like I've said before I love getting together with Ammon's family and this time was no different. It was so nice to see all of his siblings (the guy grew up with 2 brothers, 2 step brothers on his dad's side & 4 step brothers on his mom's side - crazy!) as well as Dad & Jeanie. It was really nice to see Rob (Ammon's step bro) who I haven't seen since the first month Ammon and I were dating almost two years ago and baby Maelin (!!!). Let me tell you Jon and Emily make adorable babies and Maelin is so beautiful :) I may be just a little biased since Iley has red hair and is adorable but oh well! It was so nice to just visit, eat and hang out. Watching Riley and Iley play with each other was adorable. We also discovered that Riley has a random but incredible throwing arm for a football and that Iley throws like a girl (go figure - you go girl!). I also made some rolls (I've been really into baking lately) which everyone said turned out really good. I was so glad because cooking for people besides Ammon makes me so. freaking. nervous. And the fact that we blasted the heater on our way there so they could rise didn't help my nerves either!

After a few hours with Ammon's family we went to Bountiful to visit my family at my aunt and uncle's. We were hoping my sweet Joshy cousin would be reading his mission call but no dice :( We visited for a while and I ate a nice big piece of delicious cheesecake (my family knows me so well). Our past few Thanksgivings as a family have been really fun as we've all gotten older (Mariah has gotten married, Josh has graduated, Mike is getting ready to graduate, Chris is in Jr. High - holy cow!). We also really like to play poker as a family - I need to remember to have everyone play on Christmas! And it was so fun to have Mike (we have so many freaking Mike's in our family it's ridiculous) and his kids over. This Mike is my Uncle Joe's oldest friend (like since Jr. High) and I've known him my whole life. My family is a hoot (in a good way) and we had a lot of fun. Unfortunately we couldn't stay long because Ammon had to work 2 shifts for Black Friday starting at 11 pm - yucky :(

Black Friday I don't go shopping. Call me crazy but it's not worth it to me so I had a nice relaxing day with Athena. That night I drove out to Farmington to visit my Dad and Step-Mom. They took me and Ammon out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I was so excited to see them :) I love when I get to visit with my Dad and Dana because they are my only relatives that live far away so I miss them lots. However, I'm grateful that it isn't super far so we get to see each other every couple of months. I also love and am grateful for the relationship that we are all growing. Being with my Dad makes me see just how alike we are and how much him and Ammon get along. We also got our Christmas present from them this weekend. A very nice cast iron casserole dish/stove top pot in lime green. I am so excited to use it! And it was just what we needed since we're pretty low on kitchen necessities but we cook a bunch.

Saturday we all got together again (Dad, Dana, Ammon, Mariah & me) for dinner downtown at Takashi, our favorite sushi place. We had a lot of fun and my dad just cracks me up. I was kind of tired and cranky and he reacted exactly the way Ammon did with me earlier in the day lol. The sushi we all shared was amazing and the Pink Something cocktail I had was delish as well. My Dad and Dana are so generous when they take us out and it really makes us feel so loved and special. We're very grateful for the distance they drive, the time they put into spending with us, the money they spend on dinner, etc and most of all their love and support. I'm very excited to go down and visit them in the next couple months :)

All in all we had a great Thanksgiving weekend/holiday even though we were pretty pooped out by Sunday. In three days we drove from Murray to Park City, Park City to Bountiful, Bountiful to Murray, Murray to Farmington, Farmington to Bountiful, Bountiful back to Farmington, Farmington to Murray, Murray to Farmington, Farmington to SLC, SLC to Centerville, Centerville to Farmington and finally Farmington to Murray. Holy Cow Babies.

I hope everyone's Turkey Day was filled with as much love, gratitude, food and family as ours :)

Love,

Kxoxo