Thanksgiving Week in Utah {Part One: SoJo}

Almost every year we've lived in Colorado we've traveled home to Utah for Thanksgiving.  The past couple of years we've made it a week-long Thankful fest, spending part of our time in South Jordan with the Blanchards and the other part in Logan with the Elwoods.  It's so great to see friends and family and play and eat and visit and lounge about.  Hooray for Thanksgiving Week!  (And hooray for Kim's blog, where I stole some of these photos from - thanks, Kim!)

We planned to leave Colorado pretty early on Saturday (November 22nd) morning to try to beat a storm that was forecast to roll in that afternoon.  Well, Cal must have sensed the excitement that was about to happen because she woke up extra early, and after trying unsuccessfully for a half hour to get her back to sleep, we just decided to head out then, at 6:00 am.

Ridin' in the new seat with her buddy, Moose
(pronounced "moosh").

Pretty morning drive through the desert.
Gregg took this cloud pic for me, since I was driving.

"Eyes, ears, mouth and nose!"

It all worked out for the best, though, since we made it to Paul and Kim's home in time for a yummy soup lunch and we did beat the storm (only had to drive through some rain in Spanish Fork).  We spent the rest of the day just relaxing and enjoying being out of the car, with Papa Murphy's pizza and a movie for dinner.  It was a lovely afternoon/evening.  Sunday morning we all got dressed in our Sunday best and headed to church.  Laurel and Bret and kids joined us.  Then we came home and finished up preparations for our Blanchard Thanksgiving Dinner later that afternoon.  What a feast we had, with everyone pitching in to prepare delicious dishes and desserts!

These girls are ready for church.

The ladies prepping food.

Let's feast!

It was Grandma Gallagher's birthday the day before,
so she got birthday candles in her pumpkin pie
before opening presents and then taking her
afternoon nap.

After dinner, we we gathered in the living room to play games (the kids are really into Go Fish these days - Dray won, but just barely), Skype with Uncle Ryan in Belgium, and watch Cal take her first steps!  It was quite the momentous day, indeed!

Skype time!

Hi, Uncle Ryan!

Cal was just playing with the kids here by the fireplace when
Uncle Bret asked her if she wanted to walk to her dad.

Yep!  I guess she does.

Blurry, but full of glee and gladness!

That's one proud baby.

And a proud momma.

And a proud daddy.

Walking!

All smiles.

After the fun and games downstairs, it was time for dessert!  Cal didn't wait her turn.  Instead she helped herself to some Insanely Naughty Pumpkin Cake that Auntie Heather made while the cream was being whipped and the dishes were being cleared.  Oh yeah.  It's that good.

The spread: (clockwise from front) Pumpkin Pie, Chocolate
Caramel Pecan Pie, Apple Pie, Pumpkin White Chocolate Mousse
Cheesecake, Tillamook vanilla ice cream, whipped cream,
Insanely Naughty Pumpkin Cake, Huckleberry Jam (not technically
a dessert, but tasty enough to eat with a spoon, for sure!)

Cal shared with Dad, too - gotta have a taste of everything!

After dessert, we enjoyed more visiting, photographing, playing with cousins and general relaxation.

Four generations.

Cal LOVED playing with the kids.  She thought she was as big
as any of them and they were so great to play with her and
try to make her laugh.

Grandma snuggles.

All the kids (minus Katie and Elisabeth in Virginia) with
Grandpa and Grandma.

On Monday morning Gregg headed to the mountains to get some turns at Park City and Brighton while Callie, Kim and I took a lovely walk in the sunshine.  Our walk took us to the fire station, where we peeked in the windows to see one of Cal's favorite things: a fire truck.  But they were hard to see, so we moved on to the swings at the park next door.  As we were leaving we saw another fire truck pull up in front of the fire station. We walked over to get a closer look for Cal and the nice fireman let her (and me) sit inside!  Whee-oo, whee-oo, whee-oo, indeed!  That afternoon we took a little shopping trip to Carter's to buy Cal some new clothes for Christmas - she wasn't that amused by the shopping, but luckily Gregg came along to keep her entertained.

Hooray for firetrucks and really nice firemen!

Selfies in the security mirrors.

Amazing sunsets - oh how we miss them!

We finished off our stay in South Jordan with a date-day on Tuesday (and sorry, no photos of Tuesday at all apparently, so you'll just have to use your imagination).  Gregg and I left after Cal was down for her nap, doing a session in the Jordan River Temple followed by lunch at In-n-Out and a bit of computer browsing at Best Buy (did I mention my laptop kicked the bucket the day before we left?).  Ah, romance.  Callie had fun entertaining her grandparents after she woke up from her nap (early, I might add - the stinker!).  She was so tired later in the afternoon that she actually took a second one in Gregg's arms, something she hasn't done for months!  Guess those grandparents really wore her right out!  When she woke up, we went out to Sweet Tomatoes for a fun little dinner.  There we learned that Cal loves pickled beets.  Who knew?  Home again for leftover pie and fireside chatting rounded out a fun day, and ended part one of our Thanksgiving Week travels.