Thanksgiving Adventures

 

How is it already the holidays? HOW?! This year flew by. A year ago, Mom and Dad shared the news of their mission call and I was kind of sad all last season knowing things would forever be different. We will officially be spending all holidays with Mark's family for the next three years, but I'm glad we have some family around to share it with. In true Thanksgiving spirit, we convinced Mark's parents that eating out is way better than working for days on a meal----especially a meal centered around turkey. I have yet to have a turkey that I actually enjoy. Just not my thing. Yes, you can now "boo" me for destroying the holiday. Does it count that I was really thankful we didn't have to cook or clean? We met Mark's parents and his brother's family at Tucanos. Delicious! We showed up, ate, and left a mess for someone else to clean up. It was really quite fabulous. We stayed at the City Creek Marriot so we could enjoy downtown SLC. After lunch, Mark, Paige, and I went  to Frozen. It was great and captivated a very tired little girl. Afterwards, we visited Paige's birth family. So great to catch up! Have I mentioned how much we ADORE them? Wish life wasn't so busy and we could get together more.

Paige convinced the makeup queen to give her a makeover, and Olivia was nice enough to let Paige loose with a brush and very nice makeup. Paige also managed to "put her socks away" in a spot where nobody could find them. I did get a text a day later that they were found in a file cabinet drawer. I will take responsibility for Paige wanting things to be in order.

 

Paige loves grandpa's!

 

 

Lunch was during naptime so we got a little creative trying to keep Paige entertained. She also wouldn't eat one single thing besides the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I brought all the way from home--yet another reason why lots of time in the kitchen is usually wasted. Paige will currently eat yogurt, sliced cheese, instant oatmeal, and PB&J's

 

The cast is a beautiful accessory don't you think?

 

 

Two of my most favorite girls in the world! Paige took the makeup tips very seriously.

 

Friday we had a lot of time to kill waiting for the Christmas lights to come on at Temple Square. Nothing we wanted to do less than shop on Black Friday, but since we had never been to Scheels, we thought we would give it a go. It's huge, so despite the fact it was packed, we didn't really notice. Paige begged and begged to ride the Ferris Wheel and actually liked it. Mark was initially nervous because Paige wanted off while they waited at the top for all the other riders to load and unload. Once the thing got rolling, Paige squealed with glee the entire time and I got lots of excited waves. Worth the buck for sure!

 

 

After two days without naps, and a late night, Paige was in rare form. We went on a scenic drive up to Alta and Snowbird while she snoozed in the car. It turned out to be a great drive. There was not a lot of snow, so I'm not certain why people were insisting on skiing, but it was fun to see the massiveness of the mountains. I lived in Utah all those years and didn't touch skis or a snowboard until we moved. Go figure. Paige was only more fussy post nap, and pretty much ruined the Temple Square experience for all of us. We had talked it up for so long and she talked like she really wanted to go, but really it was awful. If she had been more refreshed, I think she really would have enjoyed it. She really just wanted to sit in the Tabernacle the whole time. Mark and I were shocked with how small the old Tabernacle felt. I actually remember attending General Conference there once with my dad, one of the last ones before the Conference Center was dedicated (an event I also witnessed first hand).

 

 

Cute faces. Paige refused to smile, and yes we may need to have surgery down the road to correct the forehead issues. Poor thing needs to learn to stick out the hands when she falls! Well, hmm, that didn't work too well for me. Maybe tuck and roll?

 

 

We got home late Friday night, we couldn't take much more vacation without naps. This ended up being a huge blessing....more to come on that. Paige woke up Saturday bright eyed and ready for action. She persistently requested I take this picture of her and all her friends.

 

Saturday was catch up day and after a two year hiatus due to moving multiple times around Christmas, I convinced Mark we had to put up the Christmas decorations without waiting one more day. Also a blessing in disguise. Mark went down into the crawlspace to grab our decorations and discovered water. Yay. Our furnace is super fancy and heats the house by using water from our well. Long story short, the soil outside the house was saturated and the excess water was draining back into our  basement. There wasn't too much water since we caught the problem the day it occurred. We can be grateful we came home from our trip early and that I insisted on decorating. Only our entire storage and everything my parent's own is in our crawlspace. No biggie. The water was isolated in a bare area and nothing was damaged. 

 

Our living room. I am not too fancy. Someday I would like to fill my shelves full of Christmas décor I love and matches. I have a few things smattered in there with my normal, everyday stuff. Most of my stuff is from my mom who has great taste. My parents sent me a Kneeling Santa sculpture for Christmas this year.  It is a favorite of mine and completely reminds me of my childhood and them. I need more things of that nature, but I think it will take many years to build a great collection. I think that stupid glass on the counter is a nice addition and adds to the ambiance. Wish I would have noticed that before taking the picture and downloading it to my computer.

 

 

Paige came in to my bathroom Sunday with this ensemble telling me she was all ready for "church day." That puppy was a free gift from Scheels with a $50 dollar purchase. We saw a table full on the way in and took our own sweet time to shop and play. Paige would NOT stop talking about the puppy and we assured her we would get her one. When we finally got to checking out with our qualifying purchases, Mark noticed them moving the display and we just missed the puppy handout. Explain that one to the tired two-year old! They still had some left, but they had ended the Black Friday promotion. I guess Paige gave a cute enough sad face and convinced the guy to let it slide. The puppy has been well loved since!

 

And here is our nice little pool we are putting in the backyard thanks to the furnace. Mark and friends spent the better half of the last two days fixing it and I hope it is. The 5 inches of snow from last night did nothing to help the situation. Neither did the 14 degrees and gusty winds. I just loathe winter. Exactly one week ago today, Paige and I were at the park in jackets. I knew it was too good to be true! Sigh. Inevitable, but if it had waited just a few more days life would have been easier! Oh and see there is now a completely good reason we procrastinated doing any landscaping and yard planting this summer!