This year for Thanksgiving, we decided to spend it together as a family. Typically, Jared goes to Utah and spends the week before Thanksgiving helping his dad set up Christmas Tree lots for the season and I take the children for a trip to Disneyland. But we felt this year we would head to the cold and keep Grandma Parker company as the men went off to work. It was an amazing week of visiting family and friends, shopping, and eating. We spent a few nights with Aaron & Brooke in their cute new home, visited Grandma & Grandpa Storer, and spent most of our time with the Parkers. For such a short week we were able to do so much and see so many family members. My kids didn't want to go home. We were lucky enough that on Sunday night it snowed just enough for the kids to play in in the morning and then it melted mostly by that afternoon. They thought it was pretty neat!
Cole's snowball...
Kate's snowball....which she just ate instead of throwing. Don't worry, Jared already taught her the do's and don't's of snow eating.
They loved throwing snowballs at me! Cole even got me right in the head! Nice shot!
Nearby there is a children's museum that we got to spend a few hours dressing up, playing trains, climbing up the tree house, playing musical instruments, tea parties, and taking care of the babies. It's an amazing place and my children are already asking when we can go back!
In the museum, they have several houses from around the world that talk about some of the famous things that come from them. In the Germany house, we told them the story of Little Red Riding Hood and saw some pretty neat coo-coo clocks.
Grandma showed them how to milk a cow - they thought it was pretty neat that there was milk that really came out!
It's never too early to start them riding!
Yee-Haw Cowboy Cole!
We also spent one morning with Grandma Parker and Natalie, Aaron & Anna going to Ms. Cavannaugh's chocolate factory and seeing the factory and how chocolate is made and tasting lots of chocolates. Cole said..."Hey, I only got to eat 3 samples!" Don't worry, we left with our fair share of chocolate. And yes, it was eaten by the end of the week.
In front of Ms. Cavannaugh's Chocolate Factory with our cousin, Aaron.
Lizzie wasn't scared of the snow, she picked it up with her hands and played with it. She must be Jared's daughter - cold doesn't bother her!
Thanksgiving morning we woke and weren't sure what to do. Jared and his Dad got all their work they needed to get done on the Christmas tree lots and so we got to spend the WHOLE day together. What a treat! The morning was spent cleaning up leaves in the yard, playing checkers and Candy Land with Grandma, and playing outside. Then we headed out to Jared's sister's home, Natalie and Steve, and spent the afternoon playing with Cole's favorite cousin, Aaron, and visiting and eating A LOT of GOOD FOOD. Thanks Natalie for the treat!
Of course, there were requests for tractor rides on Grandpa Parker's tractor!
There weren't many leaves but they were happy to jump in whatever they had. They thought it was pretty neat to be outside jumping and running all over the backyard!
Part of our trip we spent some time visiting Grandma & Grandpa Storer. Kate just loves her Grandpa Storer and wouldn't leave his side as we ate dinner at Sizzler one night. He even gave her a handkerchief so she can make her own little mouse. And Cole just loves to help his Grandma Storer every time she needs a door opened or when she needs help getting up from a chair. In fact, there were times he'd ask her to sit back down just to help her up.
The night before we left, Jared was able to get tickets to the BYU vs. Utah game from his niece and spent a few hours back on our old stomping grounds. And it was a beautiful game to be at. His tickets, luckily, were at the end of the field where the magic happened that night. Go Cougars!
Then it was back in the car for a 12 hour drive home. The children traveled really well - we must have worn them out. The next week was spent getting Christmas decorations out and on Sunday night for our family home evening we decorated the kids Christmas tree - they had a blast! Even Lizzie helped....take them off, that is!
Jared was able to get a tree just for the children and they thought it was pretty neat to have their own tree and put the decorations anywhere they wanted....including on their faces!
It was a fun week of celebration and visiting family. There really is nothing like family for the holidays!
2 comments:
Life is so much more exciting with the Parker's around! Thank you for being our very first visitors in our house. I hope you were comfortable, even though you had to sleep on the floor! Emma thinks you're the greatest aunt ever! She wants me to be like Aunt Wendy! I guess I'll try to work on being "cooler". I love the kids little Christmas Tree that Jared picked out for them. Thanks for picking out a great tree for us. We love it! Love you all so much!
Kate is such a poser! She looks so sweet and innocent ;) Sounds like a super fun trip filled with tons of great memories. Sizzler is a classic...did you get the salad bar? Did Grandma and Grandpa have the same waitress they always have? Love them! :) Glad you had a great trip and made it home safely!
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