Thanksgiving

I was really excited to get a break from school, but I almost didn't think I was going to get out of Utah because of the blizzard that was supposed to come through on Tuesday afternoon. When my flight took off at 2pm, Salt Lake still hadn't gotten any snow, but it was cloudy and windy.

It was nice not having to go to school, but not necessarily restful. We hosted the family Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year, so we had 17 people. Not too huge, but definitely enough. Mom and I went crazy making sweet potato pie and green bean casserole and stuffing and turkey. We made two huge pans of everything so that there would be enough for everyone, but after dinner there was still a pan and a half of everything. And we didn't even finish off a whole turkey (we made two, because my immediate family has been known to polish off a whole turkey). I wish I'd taken a picture of all the pretty food, but I didn't think about it until after everyone had started eating. Oh well.

Friday we didn't get up too early, but we did do a little shopping. Favorite bargain of the day: 7 bottles of Bath and Body Works lotions and shower gels for $20! That was a combination of Black Friday sales and coupons my mom had, but when they're normally $10 each, I didn't think we did too bad. We got the house set up for Christmas and did a little bit of Christmas shopping. As per family tradition, I wrapped a bunch of empty boxes to put under the tree so it doesn't look so sad. The boxes aren't just for decoration though, they're the empty boxes of Christmas presents that we're already using . . . I blame my father for not having patience. I got an awesome new camera because mine had stopped focusing, and it has some really cool features: smile detect and wink detect! Of course I didn't feel the need to shove my camera in everyone's faces and tell them to smile just to watch the camera automatically take pictures :)

Saturday morning we had to get up early to head down to Papago Park on the east side of town, about an hour from home. Tommy has been taking an archery class (which is pretty cool, I have to say). The only problem, I was dead tired and it was 41 degrees! I could not stop shaking. Violently. Finally Mom, Dad, and I left and found a nearby Circle K gas station and bought hot chocolate and muffins to warm us up. When I went to give Tommy a drink of hot chocolate after we got back to the class because he'd been standing outside in the cold the whole time he just gave me this look and then asked what it was. Apparently he has no faith in me, because the cups from the gas station said "Premium Coffee" on the side. Like I'd be drinking coffee, let alone give it to my eleven year old brother!

Sunday we went to my cousin's farewell. He spoke about the Plan of Salvation and his testimony, and directed it toward his non-member friends that had attended. He's headed to the Little Rock Arkansas Mission, and reports to the MTC on December 15th. Then we ran home, ate lunch, and it was time to head back to the airport. I felt pretty cool because my gate was by all of the international gates, so I got to walk past the currency exchange, and they kept calling flights for Vancouver and Calgary. And I got a couple awesome pictures of the Grand Canyon from the air! The roads were scary getting back to Provo, but everyone made it back safely.