The never ending Thanksgiving...

I've been putting this off for a week or so now, but since this blog also serves as my journal, I figured I better get it done before Christmas. So, we went to Utah for T-Day to spend the holiday with Christian's fam in Fruit Heights. It started out great- we were given buddy passes to fly from Albuquerque to SLC from Christian's buddy, Logan. We actually got on the first flight we tried for, which is a miracle on T-day weekend. Arriving early on Wednesday, we had plenty of time to hang out before the big day. We celebrated Thanksgiving with Christian's extended family at a ward building and after eating turkey, potatoes, stuffing, veggies, and the yummiest pear and pomegranate green salad I have ever tasted, we played soccer, chatted, and had fun letting all that food digest. Anyway, the whole day was topped off with my personal favorite, banana cream pie- yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.

And then there was Black Friday. Well at least we made plans to take advantage of all the sales. We didn't end up shopping, though, until Saturday, and even then, it was only Target. (BTW, I LOVE Target.) And, we made it to the Park City Outlets on Monday, but that's a whole other story. We had a fabulous family game of tennis on Friday in lieu of shopping and after an obviously frustrating 30 minutes of doubles (Christian and I vs. Greg and JoLynn (Christian's parents)), I was exiled to the neighboring court with JoLynn to "learn" some basics (JoLynn, being the teacher- she's practically a pro). That night, we had a get together with some of Christian's high school friends and then met up with the fam again for an adult night out. On Saturday afternoon, we met up with our friends, Carrie and Jeremiah, at Ange's (Christian's sister) to watch the BYU vs. Utah game (Go cougs!). We all know how that ended:)! The day was topped off with the baby blessing of our niece, Molly. Tired yet?? There's more!

So, my brother Beau, drove up to share Sunday dinner with the Bell family and it was so good to see him. I loved catching up. We planned on flying back to Albuquerque on Monday morning, but when we got word that all the flights were overbooked, we extended our trip one day. I wasn't bummed at all though, mostly because I really love hanging out with Christian's family, but also because we got to do some more shopping. Oh, and by the way, I'm not usually so in to shopping, but the selection in Albuquerque REALLY struggles.

Well, we had a great going-away present on Tuesday as the snow started falling in SLC while we boarded the plane back to Albuquerque. Now I won't feel so bad if we don't get snow this winter! The Bells are the best and made us feel so welcome and comfortable. I honestly could have stayed another week!

Ok, this was before T-day, but I love how Oliver tries to stuff the whole apple slice in his mouth.

Cousin love... although Oliver doesn't look like he's loving it as much as the others.

More cousin love, and this time, Oliver's in to it. Oliver and his cousin Benny really bonded.