Thanksgiving update

Well, my goal was to post something gratitude-themed every day until Thanksgiving, but obviously that didn't work out. I was too distracted by being around my wonderful family! Here's what I did instead:

Monday, November 24th: Waited anxiously for by brother and his family to come to Provo. They live on the other side of the country, and I hadn't even met my little 14-month-old nephew Andrew until they walked in the door. We took a walk down memory lane to BYU campus. Here's their cute family:


Tuesday, November 25th: Packed up everything but the kitchen sink (it really felt like it) and drove to my parents' house. Trev came later that night with my younger brother. I left my parents' house while Cassie was napping (oh, the perks of having so many people around during the holidays!) to shop for an umbrella stroller, which we used to walk the kids to the park that afternoon. Cassie got excited just seeing all the older children on the playground and was itching to go play. Grandma was happy to have her grandchildren around. She kept saying, "I'm in Grandma heaven!"
Wednesday, November 26th: Hmmm....I can't remember. Maybe this was the day we played some tough games of Mexican Train dominoes and Ticket to Ride. I'm sure there was plenty of lounging around, too.

Thursday, November 27th: Food, glorious food! We ate a lot of it.
And after Thanksgiving:

Friday, November 28th: Woke up at 3:30 am to go shopping, of course! Actually, this was my second year participating in Black Friday, and I really couldn't pass up the amazing deals. I think I'm hooked. It's just so satisfying to look at your receipt and know you paid about a fourth of the normal cost. Some advice for future Black Friday-ers: don't bother going to Walmart. It's absolute madness and the first people to walk in the door buy an armful of whatever is on sale, so you're lucky if you find anything. There were no parking spaces, no shopping carts, and the main aisles in the store were jam-packed. Anyway, after Kohl's and Walmart, I got home before anyone else was awake and went back to sleep. Trevor and I went out shopping again later and bought our Christmas gift: a 32" LCD High Definition TV. Woohoo! Our extended family Thanksgiving party was Friday, too. It was fun to see so many cousins and shower my sister-in-law Sarah with baby gifts for number 3, who's arriving in February.

Saturday, November 29th: Trevor and I attended the temple together for the first time since April. (again, the perks of having babysitters during the holidays) It was so nice to be together and feel so peaceful. We met Trevor's family on Temple Square in Salt Lake that night and looked at the beautiful Christmas lights. My favorite addition this year is a white nativity right in the middle of the reflecting pool by the temple. Beautiful! Here is a picture of the nativity from behind (we were in a hurry and didn't go to the other side of the pool):

Our little family

Sunday, November 30th: Took pictures of the grandkids in their Sunday clothes. How cute!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week:
Cassie grinning for her Daddy

Lucy making a delicious cannibal soup on the play stove (yes, those are little people in the pot)