A St. George Thanksgiving!

We were excited to spend several days in St. George with Hillary and Patrick this year.  Garrett's roommate Danny Arana joined us as well. Fun group!

This is the response I usually get from this 17-year-old...

I was both nervous and excited about cooking my VERY FIRST Thanksgiving dinner!  We've always gone to parents, in-laws or siblings houses for Thanksgiving so attempting the whole meal was what prompted me to attend a Thanksgiving Basics class the previous week.  Boy did it help!  I cooked the turkey in a bag and it was done sooner than it said on the bag so I learned to take it out a little earlier next time...

I made homemade cranberry sauce--SUPER easy and tastes 1,000x better than canned!

Not sure if I'd make this sweet potato casserole again since I prefer my yams with marshmallows.

Mashed potatoes in the crockpot is absolutely the way to go and there's no stress right before it's time to eat to mash the potatoes...

The pan gravy turned out like it was supposed to but I still need to figure out how to make my mom and Nana's gravy since it's the very best I've ever had.

Pomegranate raspberry jello salad with homemade whipped cream is always a hit!

Homemade Lion House rolls were delicious--just not used to the St. George oven so they got a little browner on top than I'd like but Grayson said he preferred them that way...

No time to make pie (which I don't mind) with traveling and doing everything myself, but Veyo Pies were killer and the coconut cream pie in the middle never made it to the table because I ate it all by myself over three days!! (don't tell...)

Cooper enjoys our movie nights and snuggles up to anyone who will let him or he gets his own Luv Sac...

The boys went dirt biking a couple of times and enjoyed every hour!

Made a stop to see the lights at the St. George temple and we took turns zipping Cooper up in our coats since it was only in the 30s...

Played four square, pickle ball, went on walks to the duck pond and there was an extreme amount of video gaming going on...

SO thankful for my amazing family and the fun times we have together.  Only 3 more days until Sister Tebbs is home to make our family complete again!!!

November in a Nutshell...

November came quickly and was filled with lots of extra-curricular activities!  

This fun group went to the Mystery Escape Room at Gateway in SLC and had a blast!! We had an hour to escape with lots of difficult and crazy clues and we escaped with 52 seconds to spare!  The escape rate for that particular room is 17% so we were quite proud of ourselves...

I accompanied my parents to Hacienda Heights, CA for the funeral of our dear family friend Jim Smith. We flew out at 7 am and flew home at 9:30 pm. It was a long day but a great day to see old friends and neighbors from California. We attended the viewing, funeral, gravesite service and luncheon and my 80-year-old parents were troopers--even with me driving on the crazy California freeways...

Jim's wife Brenda is an absolute gem.

Jim's daughter Chanda Smith Davis is one of my oldest and dearest friends and we have fond memories of attending BYU-Hawaii in 1984 together...

I hosted a fun ward and neighborhood baby shower for one of our awesome Primary teachers and daughter of our last Bishop, Allison Brewster Bell. She will be an amazing mommy!

So lucky I was able to reserve a much-coveted spot at A Bountiful Kitchen's Si Foster's Thanksgiving Basics class.  The best part (besides the amazing demonstration of everything to make for a Thanksgiving dinner in 3 hours) was getting to EAT IT!

John and I were privileged to be invited by our friend and neighbor Jill Parrish to her investiture as a United States District Judge in the new federal courthouse building downtown. It was a wonderful program filled with remarks from Supreme Court justices, the Honorable Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch, her husband Blake presenting her with her robe and a fabulous response from Jill. Fun to run into lots of friends and neighbors as well...

Bring on Thanksgiving--I'm ready!!

Birthday Boys!!

I love November! Big party at our house with back-to-back birthdays, Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping and a lot of "together" time...

Garrett started out the month turning 22 on November 4.  The kids always choose a favorite restaurant on their birthday.  We met Garrett at Winger's in Orem so he could get his all-you-can-eat sticky fingers and asphalt pie.

These two are always laughing and goofing off together.  Even though they're 5 years apart, they're close friends and I love it!

Grayson turned 17 on Friday the 13th.  Friends are a big part of his life so he took 5 of his closest buddies to his favorite place the night before his birthday and celebrated with the family the night of his birthday at The Old Spaghetti Factory.

I love this amazing family of mine and can't wait until Sister Tebbs returns home in a couple of weeks on Dec. 2 and we're all together again.

8 States in 48 Hours!

I know many people think I'm crazy to jam in so many states in such a short period of time but it really wasn't hard at all to fit in 8 states in 48 hours.  The flight on the plane was actually longer than the time spent in the car driving!  And since I only needed 3 of the 8 states as ones to check off my list, I accomplished my goal and then some...

State #1 - New York.  John and I flew on a red-eye to JFK Sunday night.  Usually I LOVE when pilots get me to my destination ahead of schedule but when I'm trying to get as much sleep as possible I was a little grumpy when our 4-hour flight became a 3-1/2 hour flight!  We landed at JFK at 4:30 am and had our rental car on the road by 5 am heading toward Greenwich, CT.

State #2 - Connecticut.  Since it was only a 45-minute drive, it was still pitch dark and nothing was open at that time of day.  We drove around downtown a little and it "looked" like a neat place.  

Connecticut - CHECK!

State #3 - New Jersey.  Drove many miles on the New Jersey turnpike and paid lots of tolls.  I've already been to New Jersey so it wasn't one I needed to check off.

State #4 - Pennsylvania.  Philadelphia was the bait to get John to come with me.  He has wanted to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell forever so he was excited to get the opportunity.  We spent a half day in this city and John got his fill.

This room had special meaning to John since he played the role of Josiah Bartlett in 1776 at Rodgers Memorial Theater several years ago.  He loves anything dealing with American History--especially the Constitution and signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Walked around Independence Hall square and surrounding areas and toured the US Mint where they make our coins.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Reading Market Terminal... that's probably why I had two different types of Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches from two vendors, homemade pretzel and THE BEST donuts I've ever had by an Amish family.  Half the fun of trips for me is experiencing the local food!

State #5 - Delaware.  We spent the night at a hotel in Delaware and the area was beautiful.  The Fall is such a great time to be back East.

Delaware - CHECK!

State #6 - Maryland.  Already visited this state so we just drove through on our way to the next one.

State #7 - Virginia.  Again, just a drive through.

State #8 - West Virginia.  This was the 3rd state on the trip I needed to visit so we went to Harper's Ferry, WV and spent a couple of hours touring this cool historical town.  It's situated right where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers merge and where Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia meet.  It's also almost the exact middle of the Appalachian trail.  It's best known for John Brown's raid on the Armory in 1859 and its role in the Civil War.

West Virginia - CHECK!

We flew out of Reagan International Airport and had a 2-hour layover in Florida before landing in Utah exactly 48 hours after we left.  I guess if I count those last two we covered 10 states!  I've only got 4 states left to visit--Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky which I can't wait to see with Hailey when she returns from her mission!