Thanksgiving & Other Stories

Whew! It surprises me how much can happen in just a relatively small amount of time!! The last few weeks have been loaded with fun things, time with family and friends, and not much sleep... It's been AWESOME!!

My friend Mindy and I decided that we needed to really set up a work-out/get-up-early routine, so we started on the 22nd. She lives about an hour away, so we would wake up at 5:30am (yes, I did) and text each other to make sure we're both awake. Then we would do our own exercising routines. Mine lasts about half an hour. After that I go eat breakfast and do my morning scripture study. It's awesome! I'm on week three now!!

My Thanksgiving week really started when Mom and Dad arrived on the night of the 24th (Tuesday) after I got off work. We ran some errands really quick, and then checked into the Residence Inn where we were staying for the week (only a 10 minute drive from my apartment, but hey... not gonna pass up the opportunity to sleep in a hotel, in a king size bed, on a real mattress!

I woke up at 5:30am on Wednesday (still had to work), did my morning routine. Dad dropped me off at work, since they were borrowing my car, and then Mom and Dad went down to Provo to get Kimmy. I was picked up from work at 7pm, and we headed up to the Delta Center (Energy Solutions??) and watched honestly one of the best concerts someone could ever go and see!

I LOVE the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO)!! It's the perfect combination of hard rock and classical and Christmas music! This was my second time seeing them (Mom, Dad, and Kimmy's third time) and it's just amazing! We had great seats this time too! Here's some pictures of the lasers (a must for any rock concert)... and I've got some of their music in my playlist at the bottom of my blog:



Thursday - the day of Thanksgiving... Another perfect combination. This time, it's family and food! We spent most of the day making dinner and then eating dinner and then playing May-I (our family's favorite card game). It was such a good day! To top it all, Kimmy blessed us with her mad pie-making skills... complete with latticed top! (Needless to say, Kimmy was very pleased with her pie...)





Black Friday... words are just not enough. I did not even think about a single retail establishment the entire day! We got up in the morning and started our day at the Hogle Zoo. It was cold, but SO much fun! We are all generally fans of going to the zoo, but the number of new babies at Hogle Zoo made the trip that much better! (And Julie, my blog is dumb - or maybe my computer at work. The videos were NOT loading, so I posted them on FB. Everyone should check them out... I admit they're pretty darn fun!)









After the zoo, we went back to the hotel to eat leftovers, then headed to Jordan Commons MegaPlex to see New Moon! It was a lot better than I'd expected, and I think that in the movies I am definitely Team Jacob! HOLY COW!! We visited some of Kimmy's friends that live at the MegaPlex after the movie...


After everyone decided that we weren't hungry enough for dinner, we headed up to Salt Lake to meet up with some friends of mine, the Hale family (and no "S" means not related ;0). I used to work with Kevin a few years ago and his wife Annie and I hit it off so well that we've become great friends! I often watch their son Keenan, who has been known to refer to me as one of his "girlfriends". :0D The lights were amazing! But it was really cold, so we met up at Barnes & Noble for some Starbucks hot cocoa... and chatted until they closed. Such a great evening!!






There is nothing better than being with family for the holidays! The only thing that would have made it "best" is if the rest of our family had been there with us!! We definitely missed them! Mom and Dad flew home on Saturday afternoon, Kimmy went back to Provo, and I got to sleep in my own bed that night! :0D

Some highlights from the last week or so since then...

• I went to see Sleeping Beauty at the Children's Theatre in Salt Lake City! Nothing is quite so fun as watching a play with all the little kids in the audience to add their two-cents!
• I spent basically this whole last weekend with my friend Mindy:
• We went to the Provo Temple to do sealings and had a wonderful time!
• We visited Kimmy at the BYU Paleontology Museum where she works and got the grand tour. This is a picture from when Mom and Dad visited her, but those are toe bones from a new dinosaur she's been working on - SO COOL!!
• We volunteered at the Festival of Trees in Sandy, a night full of all kinds of adventure... and adorable little playhouses.
  
• We did a sleep over at Mindy's, complete with She's the Man and KFC Snackers.
• We went shopping with Mindy's Mom all day on Saturday - I'm now basically done with my Christmas shopping.
• Church was AMAZING on Sunday!
• I went with Mindy and her family to see the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center downtown - also amazing!
  

So the end of November was full of food and family - and the beginning of December was full of fun with friends! Makes for an awesome two weeks!!

Now... I really need to spend more time with my sewing machine! :0D