St. George Thanksgiving 2013

We spent Thanksgiving in St. George with Aaron's family. First thing Wednesday morning, Ollie was up and ready to go. "C'mon guys, let's get this show on the road!" is the look he gave me after he climbed on top of the suitcases. :) Cute little fuzzball, turned 9 months! Crazy.

The drive went well. Thanksgiving Day was lovely. Lisa's kids got out their giant KEVA block set, and everyone had a great time, building and building and building some more. Aaron and Jordan and Spencer made a tower that touched the ceiling. 

And then they knocked it down. While These two cute girls and I watched.

Adelia, Aneya, and Krystal

Dinner was at Stacey's house. And it was excellent. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the food, but I promise you, I spend a good deal of time eating it, even though I didn't photograph any of it. :) 

After dinner was the hula-hoop competition. Aaron and Spencer were neck and neck in the championship. They were going so long, that we decided they had to walk over and touch the back wall while still hula-hooping. Spencer's legs weren't long enough to reach the wall, and his hula-hoop brushed against the wall. So Aaron won. But it was really close.

No Black Fridaying for us this year. Instead, all the girls went out to brunch.

Audrey, Adelia, Krystal, Aneya, Lisa, Melissa, Debbie, and Claire. Stacey was taking the picture.

After brunch, we went and picked up the boys, and headed up Snow Canyon for some hiking and caving. I love Snow Canyon. I'd love to have the time to explore every nook and cranny of it. It's so beautiful.

Aaron, Adelia, and Ivan getting read to go down into the first cave.

Aaron at the cave's entrance.

Adelia, Ivan, and Lincoln just inside the cave. They thought the cave was so cool.

Adelia and I waiting to go down the next passage. There were some drop offs and ledges, so the adults stood in a line and handed kids down one at a time. 

Del in the cave. She kept saying over and over, "We're bear caving! It's so fun to go bear caving!"

Aaron and the kids at the end of the cave.

Rob pretending to be stuck at the entrance, and Aaron and Jeremiah pretending to rescue him.

After the first cave, we hiked a little to a second cave that wasn't as closed in as the first one. Aaron took the kids down. I went with Stacey and Chuck to hike up a big bluff and take some awesome pictures from the top.

Looking out on Snow Canyon from the top of the bluff.

Looking the other direction. The black hole in the ground in the middle is the cave Aaron and the kids were in. 

After our hike we came back to Lisa's for a taco bar dinner, and to watch Planes.

One of my kids' favorite thing about the trip was playing with Bob, their cousin Aneya's guinea pig. Adelia was asking to hold him every five seconds or so. And Ivan and Lincoln are convinced we need to get one of our own.

Saturday we decided to go check out the Children's Museum that just opened up in St. George. And it did not disappoint. The kids had a blast! It's similar to the one at Gateway Mall in Salt Lake, only admission is free, so it was even better. :) 

Lincoln spent a good thirty minutes pretending to be the mail man. He took the job very seriously. When he finally decided to take the costume off, he spent about five minutes explaining to the next kid exactly how to be the mail man. :) 

Bennett and Lincoln joined the Air Force.

Ivan was a crack-up in the Karaoke room.In this picture he's singing Twinkle Star. But he looks like a rapper if you ask me. :)

Adelia was in heaven when we found the castle room with real princess dress-ups in it. She and Aneya even sat on the throne.

The Royal Family: Adelia, Claire, Audrey, Aneya

Ivan and Jeremiah putting foam blocks into buckets that were attached to a pulley system to get them across the room. 

Ollie and Claire in the baby pit.

Bennett, Adelia, and Lincoln trying to trap themselves inside a bubble.

Audrey, Jeremiah, Aaron, and Ivan on the carousel.

Saturday evening we ordered pizza and played some more with the KEVA blocks. And much fun was had by all. Aaron and Ryan built a giant Colosseum looking tower, using every block. Then they lowered Adelia down inside of it, and had her break out. It was really cool to watch.