Thankful for Family....

Ryan and I were so excited to have ALL our kids here for Thanksgiving this year.  We hadn't all been together since our wedding in June.  We had been looking forward to this day for so long.  We were a little worried on the Tuesday before when the "biggest blizzard in seven years" was supposed to hit SLC and the boys flight from Las Vegas was also supposed to fly in.  Ryan and I got half way to SLC when we got a text message from Southwest telling us the boys flight was cancelled.  Ryan was soooo disappointed.  He wanted to spend the whole next day just with the boys playing the xbox kinect while I had to go back to SLC to get Briyana and my Mom.  But, we just got them on a flight for Wednesday and they came in a hour before Briyana so it all worked out!



Waiting for Briyana at the airport....

 We got back to Vernal late on Wednesday and the kids were excited to get their  early Christmas Present....the Xbox Kinect!  They stayed up until 1am playing. 

Thanksgiving Day my Mom, Step-Dad, Step-Brother and Sister and Grandma came to spend the day with us!  We had fun playing games and of course stuffing ourselves. 



Kids playing games.....





Ryan also got to carve his very first Turkey....he did a awesome job!!!

After the company left we had a family Xbox bowling competition.....here is a little video of some of the evening fun!

Friday we decided to participate in some of the Holly Days activities.  The kids got to go ice skating and drive some go carts.  It was packed but I think the kids had a great time and it gave us something to do.  We also took advantage of a special photo session since we had the whole family together. 

Saturday we got invited to go Tubing at the Tubing Park in Park City with all my brothers and their families.  It was perfect tubing weather and we all had so much fun.



Ryan and I with Grandma Esther



Ryan and I have talked about starting a family tradition with our kids every holiday season and we decided that we wanted to take our family each year to Temple Square to see the lights.  We did that Saturday night before the kids left on Sunday.  It was such a great experience and I always get such a peaceful feeling each time we go to Temple Square.  I think the kids all had a great time too!  We got hot chocolate, went to the Joseph Smith Film and after we spent some time walking around and enjoying all the beautiful lights.

We stayed the night at the Little America and of course all the kids wanted to swim so we ended up going back and swimming.  The crazy kids were getting out of the pool and having snowball fights and then jumping back in the pool!  It was a great weekend and we loved every minute with our whole family together!!