Thanksgiving

We took to the red rocks of Southern Utah to meet the Hunts for a weekend of thanks and fun. Other than the epically (I may have made that word up…) long drive home, we had a great weekend.

Thanksgiving morning, Grandma Marian let the kids help her baste that turkey. That is one thing my mother in law is so good at and that I am aiming to exemplify…she is so, so good about involving the kids in everything, making it about them. Those kids loved rubbing that raw bird. Tessa got salt, Addison pepper and Parker garlic salt. She did not get the whole, “don’t mind rubbing raw meat” from her mother. That’s for dang sure. I tried my hand at roasting a chicken a few weeks ago, brought the chicken home only to realize I had to scoop the giblets out of the center and dry heaved about 6 times. Ole Bode, he just crawled under the table looking for scraps and smiling. Dinner was delicious and the company even better.

The next day I visited my cousin and his sweet wife as they lay in the hospital desperately trying to hold off labor continuing at 22 weeks. It re-enforced my immense gratitude for healthy children and left me nothing short of impressed with two individuals so faithful, so committed, and so peaceful. They were working through a tremendously difficult situation and doing it with grace. When their opportunity arises, they are going to be extraordinary parents. I was grateful for spend some time with them.

Later that night we took Tessa and the cousins to see Arthur Christmas, it was cute and clever. T just chilling waiting for the movie to start…

On Saturday we went and checked out the “Narrows” that everyone had been talking about. Essentially it is a super narrow slit in the rock that kids walk through and adults challenge themselves to fit through. I made it. But was wishing I had a Xanax about half way though. It was TIGHT! Wade didn’t suck in enough and/or had a panic attack. Tessa is narrow enough that she could just walk straight ahead and make it fine, but that’s about the width. We hiked around a bit after and enjoyed the fresh air.

This is my favorite boy ever in the world…

Tessa really took to Carter this trip. He is so sweet and patient with these crazy little kids.

We got in a few runs, Wade got in a mountain bike ride and we miraculously got all our Christmas presents to fit in our car. We have some generous family. The ride home left something to be desired. What normally is a 5 1/2 –6 hour drive was 9 due to the entire population of Southern California returning home Sunday night. But even that could have been loads worse. The kids were great sports and eventually fell asleep. Tess tuned into the Grinch and was a-ok. It was a great long weekend and kick off to the holidays.