Thanksgiving Vacation

Just a warning to all; this is probably going to be a long post! Good luck to you! :)

Well, Thanksgiving was last week, of course, and we went up to Lovell for it this year. Last year we stayed at home because I was mucho pregnant and couldn't travel for fear of having a baby on the side of the road. No such worries this year, I assure you! Tuesday afternoon when Joel got done with his clinicals in Cheyenne we picked Jenna up from school about an hour early and hit the road! The trip was uneventful, except for the fact that Adam didn't fall asleep until we were 30 minutes away from Lovell. We arived safely Tuesday night.

Not much happened on Wednesday. Joel went hunting with his brother Dane, and I think that "hunting" became the theme for the vacation. He was only hunting rabbits, though, so they were only gone for a few hours. The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out and relaxed before the big day.

On Thursday morning the Robertsons do a "Turkey Trot". Some just walk, and some actually trot. We weren't planning on going, but the walking group stopped at Brenda's house (that's Joel Mom for you who don't know. That's where we were staying) and told us to get our walking shoes and get out there! So Brenda and I, and Jenna and Will went along for the 3.6 mile walk. Jenna did great, but she could have used a hat (she kept complaining that her ears were cold). And Will did okay, but he could have used some longer legs! After 5 blocks or so I think he got tired and from then on he rotated on shoulders of various family members. After the walk I felt a little tired, but completely justified in planning to eat as much pie as I could manage! At 12:30 we took family pictures in front of the church in Lovell, then we ate at 1:00 in the church gym. I heard he had a crowd of 70, so we definitely needed the space! It was a great dinner, with tons of delicious food. Joel's grandparents on the Asay side joined the Robertson crowd, as well as my sister Cindy. It was great to have our family all in one place and not have to run around to different houses to see everyone. After the yummy dinner we hung out at the gym all afternoon. Some people played basketball, and there was a Scrabble and Boggle tournament. Later they took down most of the tables (and pushed the ones that were being used to the side) and set up the volleyball net. Now here is the big difference between my family and the Robertsons. Exercise before dinner! Exercise after dinner! Exercise the next day! Exercise for fun! They are amazing! And so active! Anyway, I forgot to mention that after dinner Joel took off to go hunting with two of his brothers (the theme continues). When he got back he went to play volleyball as well. After he was done with v-ball he and Dane played some b-ball, and really worked up a sweat. But they had fun.

Later that evening I went over to my aunt's house and played a few games with some family, which is always enjoyable. Unfortunately I didn't get very many pictures on Thanksgiving, and no good ones. I'm sure other family members got a few, maybe I'll be able to post some later.

On Friday Joel went hunting with his brothers (again), and then in the evening they participated in a town volleyball tournament. Joel's team was a little slow to start, but after awhile they got a little better. They didn't win the tournament, but they did okay, and I think that had a good time. :) I know I had a fun time watching. I can watch Joel play almost any sport, and it's interesting to me. He's certainly the only person I can watch play volleyball that can make me care about the outcome of the game!

The tournament continued Saturday morning. After it was over we ran to Powell to eat at China Town. The food was okay, and it was a buffet so how can you go wrong with that. :)

When we got home from Powell I got to work on Adam's birthday cake, since Adam's birthday was that day! Unfortunately he was pretty cranky for a lot of the day because of the way naps worked out, plus I think he just wasn't feeling well. (He still isn't).

After dinner Saturday evening Adam opening his presents. Of course he had no idea what they were about, and probably couldn't have cared less about what was going on. :) Below is Adam actually working on one of his presents...



Here is the cake I made for him. You can't tell too well, but the frosting is actually a baby blue color. I liked the way it turned out...

Here is Adam with his first piece of birthday cake.

Not quite sure what to do with it.

Is this where I put it?

Now I know what's going on!

Yum!

He definitely liked his cake, and he even had seconds. He was messier than he looks in the picture, but he was definitely one of the more efficient b-day cake eaters I've seen. He wanted to eat it, not play with it!

He got a fun card from Grandma Flash that played music. He had a blast opening it and groovin' to the tunes...

A few times over the week we would wonder where Will was, and we found him here. Under the kitchen table, eating Spongebob Cheez-Its!

We had a great vacation, and we were sad to leave Sunday morning. Our trip home was uneventful, except that Adam slept a lot more than he did on the way up! When we got home our house was freezing! Five days without heat will do that, I guess. We had to really crank up all of the heaters to try and make it warm before bed. We are happy to be home. No matter where we go, or what we do; if the trip was two weeks or two days; we are always happy to be home, together, as a family.