Thanksgiving (the long weekend of long drives)

Indeed it was. We were quite the travelers this past Thanksgiving weekend.

We left Provo around 4:30pm or so on Tuesday (thank you Devon for letting Johann off work early!) and made it to Apple Valley around 1:30am-ish. The drive was actually one of our better ones: Henry slept almost the whole time we were in the car and we had a nice stop in Las Vegas to eat at Inn-N-Out with my friend Amber who was driving home to Apple Valley as well.

Thanksgiving day we traveled to Henderson, NV where my cousin Nancy, her husband Justin and two girls Alexis and Ariana live. Again, Henry slept basically the whole way there and back-amazing. Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and as always it was lots of fun to see family. Henry just LOVED Alexis and Nancy; I thought he was going to die of the giggles from Nancy running him around to chase Alexis.

Alexis playing 'peekaboo' with Henry while Nancy holds him

Dinner was delicious, I even really liked the yams and this is coming from a traditional 'no thanks on the yams, ma'am' kind of gal. Also, if you've never been around my family then you probably don't know how much we l-o-v-e to talk and occasionally stick both feet in our mouths. Anyway, there were some great lines delivered that night that I just have to share:

Aaron: "Yeah, Hamp looked crazy...you know like one of those homeless war Vets? Like not just any war vet but those crazy Vietnam vets." *note, my uncle Jim served in Vietnam...and someone said, "oh like Jim" and lots of laughter ensued.

Justin as he's brushing a 'my little ponies hair' says to Johann: "Don't worry, you get to the point where you don't even realizing you're doing it anymore."

Nancy: "You know if I wasn't mormon, I think I'd drink wine...you know sometimes you just have those days and need to take the edge off"
Everyone else: "Alright, lets all name what sins we'd commit if we weren't Mormon!

Good food, good company, good conversation. What more can you ask for? Thank you Ashby's for hosting a wonderful Thanksgiving!


The following day we headed to Riverside in California to be with Johann's family. His twin brothers had just recently sent in their mission calls and we were kind of sad because we knew with the holiday they would come later and we'd miss it by just a few days. We hung out for most of the day, Johann's mom made milanesas (sooo good) and we all made official guesses about where we thought Derek and Kaleb were going to be called.
It was around 7 or so Johann's dad decided to go get the mail. We were all sitting in the front room and Johann's mom says, "He's running, he's running!" which I thought, "huh? So?" Then he came in holding two big white envelopes!!! "I knew they had come when I heard him running-he doesn't run for anything!" (haha-I guess that's where Johann gets it from).

Some friends were called along with Bryan and Natalie who were out and once everyone got there we gathered in the front room for them each to open their calls. Derek opened his first, "You are hereby called to serve in the Rochester, New York Mission!" WOO! Next came Kaleb, "You are hereby called to serve in the Seattle, Washington Mission!" WOO! We are so excited for them and so proud of each of their decisions to serve missions. It was so perfect that we could all be there for their special moments. They'll be wonderful missionaries!Kaleb on the left, Derek on the right.
(I got this image off my sister-in-law's blog. Sorry to mooch Nat, but it was really cool!)

All in all it was such a nice weekend. We're so blessed to have a vehicle to drive to see our families, families who support us in any way they can, and a beautiful little boy-who can be a stinker sometimes but is such a strong and determined little spirit. We're so blessed to have a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ; to know that He has made it possible for us to return as families to live with Him and our Heavenly Father, nevermore to go out. In sum, we are grateful.