Trip to Utah for Thanksgiving

We drove to Utah for the week of Thanksgiving.  They get the whole week off of school here.  We left of Sunday the 23rd.  We stayed the night with Doug's brother Eric so we only had to go to SLC.  It took us 8 hours (7 hours driving).  We can make it will just one stop at lunch.  The kids did pretty well in the car.  It was crazy windy, but the storm that was supposed to go through didn't show so that was good. 

Everyone had fun playing with their cousins all week.  We were able to visit all of Doug's and my siblings during our trip.  

We went to Temple Square for a bit on Monday.  I think Damon was the only one who remembered being there - Tyler was a baby the last time we went.  Some of the tree lights were on - probably for testing.  We did a quick tour of the Conference Center and we were able to go up on the roof.  Doug and I hadn't been up there before.  The kids enjoyed the statue of Christ - they thought the space mural on the wall was cool.  It was a bit chilly but we were glad we went. 

This was the trip of multiple locations.  Sunday night we were in Salt Lake, Monday and Tuesday we stayed at the Petersens, Wednesday and Thursday we were at the Datwylers, Friday we went back to the Petersens, and Saturday we stayed in Farr West with Doug's sister Amy - then home.  Poor Doug had to load and unload the van so many times and packing and unpacking was a bit of a bother too, but it was ok.  We were glad to go home by the end of the week and fill settled again.  

At the Petersens the boys like to play with the Legos - big surprise.  

 The girls played with the marbles a lot and the car race track.

I got my hair cut on Tuesday and did a few errands in town.  Doug and I went to see the new Hunger Games movie that night, we went to the 8:00 show after we hurriedly put our kids to bed  Well, it was too swift of a exit and the kids were upset that we were leaving them, so poor Grandma and Grandpa Petersen had to deal with very sad kids - all of them, including Damon.  Mostly it was the girls though.  We felt so bad when they told us.  We should have just gone to the later one and waited until they were all asleep. 

On Wednesday and Thursday we had a mini Datwyler reunion - in as much that we were all together and had planned activities to do.  We made Thanksgiving cornucopias and turkey name tags. 

 Grandma helped the kids do a puppet show and taught them a cute turkey song. 

I was in charge of a treasure hunt, I made the kids do some math and puzzles to get their clues to their treasure.  They each had 3 easter eggs filled with legos, then when they found them all they could put it together.  They were Mixel sets. 

Jenna and Kaylee liked playing with a yo-yo.  Grandpa was good to wind it back up again, and again so they could watch it fall. 

My sister-in-law Tannie was good to map out our stores for Black Friday.  I like going around 6 in the morning.  The real craziness is gone and the stores are pretty empty.  It picks up again around 9:00.  We found lots of fun things and I bought way to much.  Doug was not very happy to have to fit it all in the van.  He made a good effort of not being mad, but I'm sure he was in his head. 

Friday afternoon we met up with Wendy and her family and decorated stockings and then went to a live Nativity program in North Logan.  They also had hundreds of Nativities displayed throughout the church.  It was pretty cool to see that many.   

 One from South Africa, we also saw a few from Thailand.

Saturday morning we visited with Karen and Brenda then drove to visit with Amy in Farr West.  We went to the Ogden Light Parade that evening because Ashley and their foreign exchange student were marching with the band. It was fun to see the floats and it wasn't too cold.  The girls liked it.

And we got to see Santa! 

It was a fun trip.  It was nice to have Doug around for a week.  It has been hard for me to have him gone so much.  

The trip back was snowy at times, the roads were not that great for the first couple hours, but thankfully it got better as we drove.  We were glad to be home.