Thanksgiving 2011

We were SO fortunate to have Justin’s family come to Thanksgiving at OUR house this year!! The only down side was that his sister, Jenny, and her family couldn’t come:( It was a busy and fun-filled week.

We played a lot of games…board games, Wii games and phone games. I think Bryce needs to go to gamers anonymous now:)

We also took a trip to the Strip a few times. This time we stopped to see the lions at the MGM. We got a front row seat and they came right up to us.

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Camryn also got to see Minnie and Mickey Mouse. She loves Mickey.

Then we made a stop at the M&M Factory. Camryn was so excited she could have died. I let her wander freely and she touched and picked up every stuffed animal in sight. She was in heaven.

Here’s Camryn with the stuffed animals. She held them:

Sat and stared at them:

And even pulled a whole shelf of them down to hold them all at once. The kid LOVES stuffed animals!

Then we went to the Circus!!! It wasn’t a big circus, but it was still very entertaining. Bryce loved the clowns and laughed out loud at them saying, “What are they doing!!” They had a petting zoo, pony rides and elephant rides.

Here’s the petting zoo…with llamas?! Kinda weird, but whatever.

Then Grandpa bought a ticket for Camryn to ride the elephant. We all knew that Bryce would have died before he would ever get on an elephant, so we sent Camryn. She’s usually fearless. She was doing fine till the guy at the top scared her and then she continued to scream for the whole ride. At least she can say she rode an elephant, right?!

Grandpa also bought a this sword for Bryce. It has since been attached to his side…even to go to bed.

The best part was the end when the elephants came out and did their little show. Awesome.

I guess the advantage to a super small circus is that you get to sit extremely close. It was so fun! On the way home we gave Camryn ONE tiny chocolate candy and she turned it into this:

Then on Saturday our sod got delivered!!…at 5am. So at about 6 Justin and Lonny got up to start the process. I joined at 6:30 and then the rest of the cavalry came to finish the job. It was a tough job!! We were all tired, out of breath and sweating by the end.

And the finished product!! In our neighborhood you can’t have wall to wall grass. There has to be a 3 foot border from the wall. Remember, we DO live in the desert and are basically breaking the law by even putting 1 square foot in!! We put in as much as we possibly could. Our water bill might be hundreds of dollars now, but I say it’s more than worth it.

Then we jumped for joy when it was done cause we could barely lift our arms.

All I know is that as soon as it went in Bryce and Camryn squealed for joy and were the first ones to run and play on it. I’m even so excited I could squeal. This morning when I woke up and came downstairs I did a double take when I happened to glance out the window. The yard looks enormous and lush compared to what it used to. I just want to go out there and sleep on it, roll on it and kiss it. And look! The sprinklers work perfect! Keep in mind that Justin did this ALL by himself. When I asked him if he would do it again he said definitely. He might think he’s invincible now…

We also played at the park. It was 71 degrees one day – kinda hot for me for this time of year, but it made for good park play.

Then we tried out this new bakery in town called Bread and Butter. It was absolutely delicious. The food was superb and filling and the owner even gave us free pastries. We ate and then we drank...rootbeer:

But the bad part was that this was our last day together. We seriously had a GREAT time!! I love having company at my house. This ALSO was the first time I’ve ever cooked a turkey. Supposedly it turned out good, but I’m not a connoisseur of turkey or meat in general. We ate well and too much and now I’m going to have to explain to my doctor why I gained so much weight in one month. All worth it though! Too bad it’s going to be SO long before we see these people again!!

Video of the kids: