This year for Thanksgiving we were lucky to be able to spend the holiday with *almost* all of BOTH of our families. It worked out really nicely! We took a quick trip to Utah, and had a total of 5 days to spend between both of our families. It was a treat! Our main reason for going was that Brent's parents were leaving on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to the Lyon, France mission...and their farewell just happened to be the weekend after Thanksgiving. AND my mom and her husband will be leaving on a mission to Vienna, Austria at the end of the winter so we were saying farewell to them too...since it probably won't be very safe to drive to Utah at that time of year. AND my little sister flew in from New York with her husband to spend time with us. So between all those people, all the dinners and festivities...we didn't make an effort to see any of our friends. And we are sorry and hope we didn't hurt any feelings...summer will be here before we know it, and we will take a big VAYCAY to see all our lovely friends in Utah (we won't have parents to visit then ;).
The drive from Oregon to Utah...it feels like we've taken it a million times.
We arrived at Grandma and Granddad Jefferies' house in Draper to find that they had cut down the huge tree in their front yard. Someone was a little sad about that!
...so grandma could JUMP into them!! Seriously! What an awesome grandma!
lots of fun time with all the Jefferies cousins!
{yes, Toby is sitting in a high chair...I guess we were a little short on chairs}
all of Brent's siblings got a great laugh out of Ollie's shirt!
On Black Friday, we packed up our gear and hit the slopes at our favorite places in the world!
driving up the canyon which I have driven up hundreds of times...
glorious place!
that building on our left is Molly Green's Pub where Brent and I had our wedding reception...it was an emergency relocation from the LDS church across the parking lot, due to an extreme downpour. On the right, up in the trees is where the camp I worked at for 3 years is located. I {heart} Brighton!
closeup of Molly Greens...our reception was in the banquet room on the second floor.
we're all ready and excited with my sis and her husband to hit the slopes!
what an amazing day!! There wasn't much snow, so it was a lot of dodging rocks...but it was blowing fiercely cold snow all day, so we ended up with some fresh powder! There were a couple of moments where the sun or blue sky broke through.
The MOST AMAZING thing that happened was when the ski lift STOPPED unexpectedly. We were only two lifts away from being at the top when it stopped. We waited...and waited...and waited...and it didn't start back up again. We saw staff arrive on snowmobiles with several stretchers, and started wondering what could have happened. Then we saw workers running in and out of the top of the lift frantically. Finally after 20 minutes the backup diesel engine for the lift fired up, and with much exhaust and choking smoke we finally got off that lift. 20 minutes may not sound like it was that long, but remember that it was blowing very hard and cold, and snowing. Brrrrrrrrrr!!!! WE were SO COLD when we got off. We're thinking that's why they had the stretchers ready at the top, in case anyone had severe hypothermia. We were well enough {thankfully} to ski down to the lodge, where we took a break with hot cups of cocoa. That was a skiing first {and hopefully a last} for all of us!
after our cold adventure...standing in front of Molly Greens!
Afterward, we warmed up at my mom's house with some chili and corn bread!
Carlos, Heather and Ollie on left, Mom and Marvino on the right.
where we left her a big, colorful bouquet of Thanksgiving flowers in a lovely turkey ceramic. We are as always, very thankful for our angel girl.
next, we drove through the neighborhood where I spent my childhood days. We showed the boys my humble but happy childhood home on Yalecrest.
nostalgic SLC
Then we met back up with my family for dinner at my mom's, where we had an announcement to make:
Brent set the camera to take 10 shots in a second and then said "one, two, three, we're having another baby in JUNE!". Then there were a series of pictures to document my mom and sisters' reactions. Sadly, one of my sister's was missing. :(
This was the best "reaction" shot. Are we happy?? Or...??
anyway...here's a group shot of all of us there that night.
The next day was Brent's parents' farewell:
*almost* all of the siblings were there. 8 out of 10...not bad!
we had another fabulous day frolicking with family!
and a final chance to say FAREWELL, as Grandma and Granddad were departing in the morning.
"Demain, a l'heur ou blanchit la campangne, je partirai."
{tomorrow, at the hour of first light in the country, I depart}
That's the first line of a poem I memorized and won a prize for reciting at the regional foreign language fair...when I took French in 8th grade...from Brent's dad!!!! Ah... how life makes a full circle. Although, I think I absolutely butchered the spelling.
That night, we slept over at Brent's brother's house, just so we could spend more time with their family and hang out the next day:
SLEEPOVER!!
{this was a treat, since we usually don't do sleepovers...but since we were there, it was acceptable}
These guys LOVE hanging out with these cousins.
Ella calls Joshua "noodle" Toby "cookie," and she chases them around! Joshua and Toby call Ella "cookie-noodle chaser." :)
We took a trip to the new Utah Museum of Natural History in research park, which we got in for free with our Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Membership. It was spectacular, although I felt slight sadness and nostalgia for the old museum...as I did when the Hansen Planetarium and the old Children's Museum closed down to make way for brand new, state of the art facilities.
This was my favorite room in the museum:
It was a life science laboratory...and I took this picture becasue a) there is a meadowlark in the mural, and b) someday I want to build a house with a playroom/science room, and I want to paint a mural like this on the wall. I also LOVE that shelf along the top of the wall with the specimens on in.
earth sceinces
Then we headed over to the Church museum, where they have a great children's play area for free:
Ella had a great time doing some Spanish dancing!
3 adorable cousins playing with the pretend food...OH, be still my heart!
My sweet little Olives playing with the nativity.
we walked across the street to temple square to see the lights...such a treat!
The next day we were gone, gone, gone...on our way back to Oregon. There were lots of beautiful skies on the way back:
Thankful.
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