Arizona Thanksgiving

This year we decided to all gather in WARM Arizona to celebrate thanksgiving with the Jacobson family. We left Tuesday morning and drove to Las Vegas where we stayed the night. The kids loved it, even if the pool wasn't open! The next day we got up and drove, drove, drove some more....
The kids were very good in the car; thanks to food, candy, movies and coloring books!!!
We stopped at a few bizarre places on the way :) mostly for potty breaks...
Once we got there - it was all fun and games :) and lots of FOOD! Eric and Kaden loved playing with the trucks in the back yard.
We had dinner at the Inn and Out on Wednesday night -YUMMY.. and there was quite a crowd - but we really did just add to the crowd with all the family there!
Thursday morning we played football - in the sunshine... with shorts on (I just have to rub it in a little..or maybe a LOT). The kids loved being able to just play outside all they wanted.
Richard made us Thanksgiving breakfast - WOW - that was delicious!!

Then we headed over to my other brother's house for Thanksgiving Dinner... My sister in law had the tables all set and decorated - it was so fun to be together!
Look how creative she is... seriously I am loving the pumpkins/gourds in the candle sticks.
Doesn't it look warm??? :) It was so beautiful that day - it was a little chilly - like 65 degrees - but we were all just happy to be outside!
That night we took our family to the Mesa temple to see the Christmas lights. There were no crowds at all - and it was so beautiful! How often can you go see the Christmas lights in shorts? Eric was LOVING it - he doesn't like to wear pants at all!!!
Friday we went for a hike in the desert (or rather walk) and looked for geo - caches. That was fun for the kids. Then we went to this amazing park that had ponds and sidewalks galore! The kids had a blast riding their scooters, fishing, and eating delicious food. Abby caught her first fish! That was pretty cool.


Saturday most everyone went their separate ways... We stayed at our hotel and went swimming. It was a nice 70 degrees outside - it was so beautiful. We sat by the pool and just soaked up the rays, knowing we would soon be back in the cold Utah weather.
The kids definitely didn't want to get out of the pool - it was so fun to have it all to ourselves.
Even Andrew had a great time swimming...
That night we went to my oldest brothers house for dinner - we had some delicious Mexican food - it hit the spot!
Sunday was the dreaded day of driving... we did get an early start - 3:00AM.. and we stopped in Vegas at the new Hoover bridge - it was pretty awesome for sure!! No one wanted to stand by the edge. It still makes my stomach flip just thinking about it. It was a VERY LONG drive home. We hit some pretty bad weather past St. George. We saw a whole lot of slide offs and accidents - thankfully we were in none of them! Chris was a great driver, and safe too! We finally made it home about 6:30 - so it took us about 3 extra hours because of the weather. Oh well - it was worth being safe. The kids did awesome on the way home - especially Andrew!

We came home to a shoveled drive-way (Thank you, thank you neighbors!!) It was so cold - and unloading was enough work that having a shoveled driveway was heaven sent! I'm glad we made it - but I have to admit I really miss that nice warm weather by the pool!!!!!! I think we'll have to make another Arizona trip in the winter sometime!