Thanksgiving

Wait. Before I do Thanksgiving. I should at LEAST mention Dad's birthday. He had a birthday. Right smack in the middle of Joseph and the same day he picked to have a recital with his growing cello studio. It was a VERY busy Friday. But Mom made sure he had some fun. He happens to share a birthday with his boss and so Mom and his wife decorated the office with a BUNCH of balloons. They let us help!

We love listening to his cello students. Sam especially!

Okay. Now. Thanksgiving. It was a Romney year which meant we headed up north on Wednesday afternoon. We were supposed to leave later that night, but it was going to be the only evening Dad's friend who lives in Missouri was going to have free so we rearranged it all and left early. 

If only we could have left just a half an hour earlier like we planned! The drive up was great! Until about Nephi and then this happened. Can you SEE that black line?! It was crazy.

There was lightning and thunder and snow. Never really rain. It seemed immediately to go to slushy snow.

The traffic was pretty slow going starting in about Lehi. It was slightly miserable. (Add in the fact that Dad REALLY had to pee and it was almost comical.) But we eventually made it. We dropped Dad off at a restaurant and we headed to the Preslars.

The whole Romney family was able to be there for Thanksgiving. That's a first. We think. We weren't quite sure. Aunt Rachel did a BEAUTIFUL job on the turkey.

These were our appetizers. I think Mommy ate non stop.

Buddies

The outnumbered boys! 

Girl cousins rule!

We valiantly attempted a family photo. Sam was sleeping and our youngest girls seem to make it quite hard to actually find a good one where we were all smiling!

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We of course went to the zoo SEVERAL times since we were up in SLC for such a long time. We had to dress warm, but not too warm it turned out! The sun was shining and made it pleasant!

We originally thought that the Preslars were going to be leaving to go to their annual Christmas Tree Hunt, but in a miraculous turn of events they got their weekends mixed up and they got to stay! Mommy (tricked?) talked Aunt Rachel and the girls into coming to City Creek on Black Friday to meet Santa look at a few stores and then be present for the lighting of Temple Square. We also spent time looking at the candy windows at Macy's!

Look another zoo trip! This time the men joined us too!

It was kind of a colder trip and Iva insisted on taking a photo with every statue, but still very much fun. Hogle Zoo has a new male orangutan and he's HUGE. We loved getting to watch him.

There was another storm predicted to come through on Sunday so we packed up and headed home Saturday night. It was a smart decision as the storm looked awful to drive in when we checked the news the next day.

We actually spent that Sunday playing hooky from church and staying in our pajamas watching Christmas movies and decorating the house. It was so awesome.