Thanksgiving with the Johnson/Smith clan

This is a really long post because it covers the entire Thanksgiving week. You've been forewarned.

We decided to take advantage of the low gas prices and make the 15 hour (well, that's how long it is without kid stops and stuff) out to Utah for a Johnson reunion of sorts. The Johnsons know how to throw a feast!

I'm a stickler for car seats and using them properly, but I did make an exception on this trip. We let Kiersa ride front-facing because we took the middle seats out of the van and couldn't buckle Talea's seat if we put Kiersa rear-facing. It seemed to keep Kiersa happier to face forward, which made the trip that much easier to bear.


We left home on Monday night, and stopped in Ashland for a quick visit to drop off things that Weston left at our house.

We left their place at 11 pm and drove...and drove...and drove...until 2 am where we slept for a few hours at a gas station in Lakeview, next to a semi, listening to it's oh so familiar noises as it idled away.

We then drove on through the high desert of Eastern Oregon to the "cliffs of insanity",


where we made our traditional stop to roll rocks down the cliff edge. These pictures don't do it justice. The cliff is STEEP! And LONG! Those of you familiar with the back road route from Utah to Oregon know what I'm talking about.



We crossed the salt flats and the funky tree sculpture


and made it to Teresa's just in time for Dustin's birthday party.



I love this one of Starlett and Kiersa, not only because they're both displaying their tongues, but because they're pretty much the same exact age gap that Kiersa and our next little girl will be. Starlett is a year and 8 days older than Kiersa.


After food and fun, we drove by Temple Square, then went on to Maren's where she played the perfect hostess.

On Wednesday, we shopped our hearts out since there is an unbelievable selection of stuff for kids in every store in Utah. It was incredible. We not only found what we needed, but we had options too!!! Our area isn't that great for kid shopping, compared to Utah Valley. All of our kids were growing out of their clothes, so they all got a new wardrobe of the next size up. I grimaced every time we had to pay sales tax though. It's almost unbearable to pay sales tax when you're used to never paying it (Oregon has no sales tax).

On Thursday morning, Thanksgiving, we had family pictures since everyone but Susan's family was there. We missed you Susan, Whitnee, Anna, Hali and Maygan!

I love this picture because 3 years ago I took care of the 4 Garcia kids for 6 months, and I had all 5 kids together again in a picture. They've all changed so much!! Here they're 4, 5, 6, 9 and 13.


Here's what they looked like 3 years ago when they were 1, 2, 3, 5 and 9.


We attempted to take some family pictures of our little family, but they didn't turn out too well with so many wiggly little ones. I don't have any of the nice pictures that Maren took of everyone yet.


Hyatt got some much anticipated Nana love...


And everyone played on the playground.







Talea finally decided she was willing to learn how to pump her legs on a swing so she could swing by herself. She's been milking the "I need help" card for a long time.


Then we went on to Nana's to play some football and games while dinner was being finished.



Nana played games with her grandkids, which they loved. Talea was proud to have won a game.



We bloated our waistbands with delicious food, and had fun catching up with everyone.



Poor Tilly had a fever off and on each day the whole vacation. She spent the Thanksgiving feast and all the partying afterward asleep on the couch.


Kiersa joined her in a sympathy nap.


After dinner and digesting,


the family threw a baby shower for all the expecting girls in the family and our friend, Olga. Thanks Maren and all those involved in throwing us such a fun little party. I felt very spoiled since showers out here in my area are pretty much non-existent.





Kiersa displayed her tongue fetish for everyone. Is it forked??? Maybe she's part snake!


Hyatt had a grand time being a "bull". It's his new fascination. He gets on all 4's, scrapes the ground with his hand like the bull on the Bugs Bunny cartoon, then chases someone and rams them with his head. I caught footage of him attacking Braxton.


Then Maren caught Kiersa gagging on video. She lets us know she's full by gagging when you offer her more bottle. She shuts her lips tight for food if she's full. Watch close because she gags right when the video starts. I still want to catch a better sample of it on video. She just stops when she sees the camera!


We really miss being close to family!

On Friday we caught up with Tana, Levi and Sheri mom.












Unfortunately, our visit was cut short. We had fun plans with the Johnsons to go the movies and the Smiths were braving the Black Friday shopping. After a run-around game of which theater are you at, we found all the Johnson crew where Nana was taking all the grandkids to see Madagascar 2. Such a funny movie!!!

On Saturday, our last day, we did some "essential" shopping. I had to get my new bra!!! We did stuff with Maren and John all day, then we caught up with the rest of the family to go to Cabela's and see the lights at Temple Square. We made it to Cabela's but we ended up going to Spanish Fork to see the Festival of Lights with Maren and Rachel's families.







We headed home early Sunday morning and made the trip back in one day. We had a few vomitting episodes, as I mentioned earlier, but overall, it wasn't that bad.


Eastern Oregon actually even has some beauty to it.


Home Sweet Home! We came home to find all the felt put on our house exterior and the rest of the windows replaced (aside from the front door sidelights). Hurray! Some trim and siding and the outside will look brand new, though the inside is still a skeleton. Hyrum's been working on the upstairs, so now the master bedroom, closet, and bathroom are framed out. Also, the laundry room is framed out now! Wahoo! I'm so excited for each stud that goes up!

Next year, Thanksgiving is at OUR house!!! Start making arrangements and saving now!