Thankful!

Here is the "thankful turkey" that Collin made in nursery the Sunday before Thanksgiving. I was actually substituting in nursery that day, and as far I saw, he was the only one who said he was thankful for the gospel or church! Sweet boy!

(I, personally, am thankful for wonderful nursery leaders!!! Oh my gosh...if I had that calling *and I realize this could be jinxing myself*, I would lose my head. I would rather prepare and teach a Gospel Doctrine lesson every Sunday! Seriously. That is not my cup of tea.)

He did this one at preschool. I am thankful for macaroni and cheese too! 

Sweet that he thought of Gavin and Lilly.

As usual, it is a busy week getting ready to leave town. 

My OCD side needs every piece of laundry done, all errands, cleaning and shopping done. We literally left with vacuum lines still in the carpet. Such a good feeling.

But even with so much to do, I had to sneak in our Buffalo tradition of eating donuts, drinking egg nog and watching Thanksgiving day episodes of FRIENDS, the night before. But for us, it had to be the Tuesday before. This pic is for you, Rach! :) We were thinking of you guys!

Trav got off late from work so we weren't leaving town until it was already dark outside at 6:30pm!

Nice part about that is, Collin was asleep a little after 7pm and shortly thereafter so was Weston. It was a peaceful drive listening to music! We stayed with the Evans, and just snuck right in the side door and got to bed. 

Trav had an early morning the next day playing golf with his cousins and brothers. No pictures... cuz they're guys.

I headed to Red Mountain park to walk the Turkey Trot with my sisters in law. Go Karen, for getting us all organized and out there! Props to Carrie for making it on her own with 5 kids, including her 3 week old!

Collin threw a tantrum near the end and when I finally got it out of him, why he was so mad, he grumpily demanded, "Where's my turkey!!" The kid thought everyone who ran the Turkey Trot got their own turkey. :/

The cousins played for a while, before we headed out to make it in time for the next event!

 Oh, but it was quite the debacle just trying to get out of there! I had parked on a side street that was closed by the time I got back to my car. So I wound all through a neighborhood, before finding an open street. Then I was personally escorted by a motorcycle police out to another side road, that was a winding mess to finally get to Power!

 On to the Lindsey Family Reunion! 

This is something I grew up doing every other year at Thanksgiving. It's all of my Grandmother's family, and in years past there have been relatives from Utah and Texas that made the trek!

It's always at classy, Pioneer Park. Which I hear was actually somethin' in "her day". Now it's the place for a good drug deal. :) (Comforting thought when we lost Collin for a while.)

Poor Grandmother was in the hospital this year! :( Her heart was giving her trouble. Thankfully, she was out a day or two later.

 One cool thing about it, you can see the Mesa temple. (Look way off in the distance!)

 I set Weston down in this, and off it zoomed, far away and FAST! Well, fast for a one year old. I kept picturing what would happen if he decided to stand up! Yikes.

 Josie came to party! She is the same as family.

 And I am not joking when I say I look forward to seeing this guy every time! 

That is one beautiful mullet.

Not sure how we're related, but the point is... we're related. :)

We met up with the Evans' that night for some leftovers and visiting. At one point, someone noticed what everyone on one side of the room was doing. :) Did you figure it out?!

Bless smart phones. The justification seemed to be that some were playing games with each other on them.

 They guys on this side were just oogling guns in the Black Friday ads.

 It's a fun time when all the cousins are together! All 14 together for the first time.

 On Saturday we met up with some Lindblom family at the park for Rusty boy's birthday. Wish I had taken a picture! 

Saturday night we went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with two of Travis's high school buddies and their wives. Jeff and Ashley live in Utah so it had been years since we'd seen them! 

I was a creeper wife and snapped this pic without them knowing. (They would have rolled their eyes if I asked them to pose.) Hopefully, that makes it OK! :)

 Sunday night, all the Evans got together again for the traditional leftover turkey flautas! Yum-my!
 I think the boys are looking a little worn out. But little Joshua made the pic! 3 weeks old!

We headed home on Monday afternoon, but not before Grandma Sharon busted out some birthday presents for the boys! Better late than never, haha!

What great gifts... scooters!! They've been wanting these for a while now. Grandma always knows just what to buy!

 He did this when I was trying to get him to smile by saying, "Show me your teeth!" I guess he did what I asked.

 OK, did he suddenly turn {14} or something?! Don't let his teenager-esque persona fool you. His favorite stuffed bunny and bear, that he takes everywhere, are right behind him. :)