Our Thanksgiving Trip

We went to Utah to visit Mom & John for Thanksgiving. We had SOOO much fun. Of course the visit went by way too fast, but I think that is because we had lots of things planned.

On Wednesday, Tony & I took what is becoming our annual "One Night Getaway" and went to the casinos in Wendover NV for the night. It is no Vegas, but it was nice to get a night away from Collin & have some fun. Collin of course was spoiled with a trip to the Toy Store & surprise surprise he choose a remote control car. We realized that we were not missed by him at all, he did ask about us - but no tears were shed & he was happy go lucky.

We came back just in time for Thanksgiving Breakfast/Brunch at Mom & John's house. John's kids & spouses (Rob, Becca, Becky, Justin & Richard) were there and we ate a really nice Brunch. John's kids were going to their grandparents for Thanksgiving, so it was just going to be the 5 of us. A week prior to our visit, John had suggested we go to the Grand America Hotel for Thanksgiving Dinner since it would be easier than cooking. WHAT A GREAT SUGGESTION!! It was SOOO good. I will say that it was nice to be pregnant for Thanksgiving. Everything was great, but the desserts were just fabulous. It was also nice not to have to worry/deal with cooking & all the cleaning that Thanksgiving entails. The pictures from Thanksgiving are posted towards the bottom of this entry.

On Friday we went out for my birthday dinner to the Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse. Collin now refers to this as "The Volcano Restaurant" because our cook made a volcano out of onions. He also enjoyed watching the cook toss shrimp in the air for Tony & Richard to catch. He is still talking about the whole dinner experience. We also made SEVERAL baby blankets on Friday for Baby Avery & for baby gifts for friends. I know Baby Avery will never be cold because she will not be lacking in the blanket department!

Saturday we went to Park City and went clothes shopping for Avery. Instead of getting a birthday gift, I choose to go girl clothes shopping instead. Let me just say that we did some damage in the short hour we were out. It was so much fun & we got lots of cute little girl clothes for next winter. Even Tony thought that some of the outfits were cute. It had snowed in Park City & Collin was SOOO excited about seeing the snow. He would walk in snow drifts intentionally to get the full effect. It was cute.

After the short shopping spree, we went to Heber to ride "The Polar Express." Collin was SOOO excited to ride on a train. Mrs. Claus stopped in and visited with every kid. Collin informed Mrs. Claus that he "wanted a yellow remote control truck with big wheels." We had cookies & hot chocolate and then listened to the Polar Express story. Once the story was done, Santa made an appearance! Santa also visited with the kids & Collin again informed him of the item on his wish list. (Luckily we found a remote control truck with big wheels for him, except it is blue - but we think he will be ok with it). On the train ride back to the station, the story narrator led everyone in singing Christmas Carols/stories. Each time, she would ask for a helper & kids would volunteer. Well Collin kept volunteering, I think he went up there about 6 times. A few times, she asked if anyone had Christmas jokes they would like to share. She would usually let the kid read from a list of jokes she had or she would tell them the joke & have them repeat it. Well Collin decided he wanted to go tell a joke. So he gets up there and says "Reindeers ride in elevators with bells on & they go up & down." It was SOO funny to see him up there in front of about 100 people telling "his joke" that he made up. We couldn't believe that he kept wanting to go up there in front of everybody. I guess deep down he isn't shy after all!!

On Sunday it snowed at mom's house. We had a couple hours before our plane took off, so we took Collin out in the snow. He tromped around a little bit but he decided that next time he needs to bring his gloves to Nana's (I forgot to pack them). We got home from our trip late Sunday night. All in all we had a great time. Next year we will have Avery with us & I'm sure things will be a little crazy with a new baby around!