Thanksgiving

Even though B is the low man on the totem pole, he was able to get the entire week of Thanksgiving off! The only bummer is that means he's on call Christmas day, the day after Christmas and the day after that, so, that's not great. But, to have him home for the week was truly amazing! We had planned on going to my beautiful older sister's house for Thanksgiving. As an added bonus, her daughter, B was getting baptized the day before Thanksgiving. We were going to be able to be there and that was awesome! We were going to leave Tuesday morning to make the six hour drive to their house. We decided last minute to leave on Monday night and go half way. B and I decided, while the kiddos were at school,  to leave early, so they had no idea that we were going to leave that night. When we told them that we were leaving early, it took them less than an hour to get all their clothes ready and eat dinner. Since we were going half way it meant that we got to stay in a hotel. Best. Day. Ever! The hotel had a pool that was open until 11:00, so we were able to go swimming. Now, when I say we I mean that B took the kids and went swimming. I "forgot" to pack my swim suit. I blame it on the fact that we were trying to be so fast leaving our house. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that I hate swimming because pools are always freezing cold. Not to mention, someone has to be on picture duty. How else would we document that we were there?

 It's official, Little B is a total bum. When in a picture, if you get him looking at the camera or smiling, it's by total accident on his part. He makes goofy faces like that on purpose.

Isn't she lovely? I love this sweet little thing so much!

What's not to love about this little fella? I don't remember what he was laughing at, probably something gross, but it made for an awesome picture!

His picture is so dark because I couldn't give the camera time to adjust to the light. He was looking at me and telling me how happy he was to be swimming, so I snapped the picture. These three littles make me so happy!

The next morning when I woke up to work out, I walked out of our room and saw white stuff falling from the sky. We had looked at the weather before we left and it said there was a chance for snow. We had hoped they would be wrong. They weren't. 

I have a lot of anxiety in general, but especially about driving in the snow. When K was a baby I was driving to a family Christmas party and it was snowing. On the freeway, our car slipped, I hit the van next to us, bounced off, and hit the cement barrier. Our car spun in a circle and we stopped facing on coming traffic. It was truly terrifying and increased my anxiety about driving in snow. The offspring was excited about playing in the white stuff with their cousins, I just wanted to make it there alive!

B has no fear and so to drive in the snow was no big deal to him. I am so thankful that he was there to drive us because heaven knows I would have freaked out and it would have taken us months to get there because we would have left the car at the hotel and walked the rest of the way to Montana.

I will say that it's beautiful. I am happy that we had left the night before. The rest of the drive should have taken us three hours, but it took close to five. We saw one car that had flipped over onto it's roof. The ambulance was already there and they were putting the guy on a stretcher. Not great! Hopefully he was ok and able to spend Thanksgiving with family and not in the hospital. 

We got there Tuesday afternoon and every day we were there, four crazy children bundled up and played in the snow.

They made this awesome tunnel that they loved to play in. I don't know what all they did while they were out there, but they would play outside for at least an hour, sometimes longer. They would come in the house, have some hot chocolate, warm up for a few minutes, put on their snow gear again and go back out.

They had so much fun playing in the snow, but they especially loved that they had cousins to play in the snow with.

Little B was so convinced that he wanted to go outside and play. We didn't have any waterproof gloves for him to wear. We tried telling him that his hands would freeze. He still wanted to go. B put his coat on him and took him out. He was out there for less than five minutes. He slipped and tried to catch himself. Once he felt the snow with his bare hands, he was done with the snow. When B showed me this picture I asked why there were tears. When he fell, he started to cry, B wanted a picture of him in the snow. Since they didn't have time to take the picture before little B fell, they took it after. Poor little thing. I don't blame him, snow leaves me in tears too.

B is from November to May older than K. They have always been friends and I am so happy that even though we haven't lived next to each other since they were two, that they are still good friends. B's baptism was amazing and I am so so happy that we were able to be there for it.

Thursday brought crafts and good food. I really don't like turkey, I never have. It seems dry with no flavor. My sister is truly a culinary genius and her turkey was truly amazing! Her's is the first turkey in my whole life that didn't taste like turkey! She had soaked it in a magical brine and it was truly amazing. One of my favorite things to do when we are with family is to play games. Thursday night was game night.

Not all of us were up to playing games. Little B climbed up in my lap, folded in half and went to sleep. I didn't want to put him to bed because it was only 6:30. I didn't think that he would stay asleep for very long like that anyway. I was wrong. He slept for three hours. We didn't think that he could be very comfortable. B picked him up and left the room. I went to find them a little while later.

 Thanksgiving wiped out more than just the two year old. 

My sister and her husband own a sporting goods store. We had never been there, so on Friday we went. Little B found the helmets and was in heaven. I think he looks like a bobble head. Their store is pretty sweet!

We had so much fun at their house and on Sunday morning when it was time to go, I cried. A lot. No matter how long it's been since we moved away from family, saying goodbye doesn't seem to get any easier. I was the last one to get in the car. I heard sniffles from the back and turned to see that M had  her head in her pillow crying and K was trying so hard to not cry, but finally gave up and let the tears come. Seeing them so sad made me even more sad. We loved spending Thanksgiving with them. My sister is hot a lot, so is their oldest, C. I had no idea it was so bad until we got to their house and found out that their heater, when it's on, which isn't often, is only set for 50. I truly thought I was going to come home with frostbite as a souvenir. Now that we know that we'll be more prepared next time. I know I could have asked her to turn the heat on or gotten another blanket or another coat, but if I had I would have looked like the kid from A Christmas Story, and not been able to put my arms down. Being with family is so amazing and we truly loved every second we were there and can't wait to go back!