a warm thanksgiving

Mr. Blue's sister invited us to her house in Arizona for Thanksgiving.  Spend Thanksgiving where it's warm?  Count me in!

The trip.  In a nutshell.  (Well as close to a nutshell as I can get.)

TUESDAY
Left a day earlier than planned to beat the blizzard on it's way south.
Packed for every possible emergency.  Literally.
(ahem...two backpacks full of snow boots, socks, pants, thermals, gloves, mittens, hats, coats, ponchos, first aid kit, emergency food, stove, water, etc., etc., and don't forget the swimming suits!)
Spent the night in St. George at our good friend's house.

WEDNESDAY
Drove to Gilbert.
Arrived at Aunt A's famished and went to Joe's Barbeque.

(picture stolen from mother-in-law.)

The line was loooooong.  I was starving.  The kids were ready to eat my legs.
Thank goodness for iphones.
The food was worth the wait!
I inhaled my food.

THURSDAY
Thanksgiving morning our kids were up early!

Mr. Blue entertained them so we wouldn't wake everyone else up.

(I don't think we were successful!)

(another stolen picture - from my father-in-law)

Spent the rest of the morning cooking up a storm.

Enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner:
grilled turkey
mashed potatoes
cranberry salsa
steamed green beans
corn
and pie, pie, and more pie.
(Mr. Blue made an excellent chocolate cream pie from scratch with (more than) a little help from his mom.

Kids spent the rest of the evening playing on I and A's ipads, watching movies and talking Uncle J into blanket rides.

(group shot - stolen from father-in-law)

Crazy bunch of people.
Joined forces with mother-in-law to kick some serious boot-ay while playing cribbage.
(insert me trash-talking to the crazy people mentioned above.)

Swimming in Aunt A's tub.  (The pool was too chilly!)

FRIDAY

Family pictures at Freemont Park in the morning.

(I'll post those later.)

(after family pics the kids rode on the ferris wheel.  cousin P wasn't too sure about it.  another stolen photo.)

Trip to the Phoenix Zoo in the afternoon.

Kids loved the giant tree stump.
Had to bribe them to get them off.

 Lions and tigers and giraffes and peacocks,
oh my!

Kids were convinced that this giraffe was real.
After seeing the flamingos, Mr. Blue and I had two flamingos (aka mr. orange and miss pink) follow us around the rest of the zoo.
Stopped at Freemont Park after the zoo to ride the train.

(yup. stolen photo)

Train ride was chilly.

Kids took a serious bubble bath to warm up.

(Thanks Aunt A!!!)

(stolen)

(stolen)

(stolen)

 SATURDAY
Left at 6:00 am.
Returned to Aunt A's at 6:15 for forgotten clothing.
On the road at 6:30.
Stopped at Hoover Dam.
Told Mr. Blue it was not a good idea to park on top of the dam in a no parking zone.
Made Mr. Blue drive to legal pull out to look at the dam.

Kids thought the dam was pretty impressive.

I thought the dam and the new bridge were impressive.

(not too shabby for taking this picture out of the car window, eh?)

Left Hoover Dam and headed to St. George.
Arrived in time to watch the BYU vs. Utah game (in fast forward).
GO UTES!!!!!!
Stayed a little longer than planned to go to dinner with the J family and N family.
On the road at 8.
Home at midnight.
Drove the speed limit the entire trip.
Had dry roads and good weather the entire trip.
So glad we didn't stay in St. George one extra night.
Would have loved the company, but would have hated the drive home on Sunday.