And There was Thanksgiving

For our Thanksgiving 2012, we decided to make a trek up to Utah! Since we had been living in Maryland from 2007-2011, we hadn't seen much of our Utah cousins or Utah itself.

We made the 12 hour trip up there in 11 hours and celebrated by eating at In n Out (one of my favs!). It was so good to see Marrisse, Aaron and their 5 kiddos. The kids had a wonderful time- playing legos inside, jumping on the tramp, staying up late and of course, eating yummy food (the food was seriously very good!).

For Thanksgiving most of Marrisse's family came over, as well as Josh's sister Emily and Troy and their 5 kids as well. Emily and Troy have twins that are 13 now and it was fun to see them. Hannah, Marrisse's oldest is 13 as well and has grown taller than me!

We also hit our 2 top thing to hit in UTAH (besides family and In n Out): BYU and TEMPLE SQUARE. The weather was gorgeous (in the 60's- no snow for us!). We took the kids by the hospital they were born at (Utah Valley for the 1st 3), by our 1st and 2nd apartments (oops- we forgot the 3rd!) and to BYU. Quite a few things had changed at the Y, but it was great to see it! I conveniently forgot my tennis shoes, so no hiking the Y for us this year! Oh, well!

We also got to see my niece Charlotte's Grave site for the first time ever. There was a special spirit there and we were glad to make a visit.

Temple Square was wonderful! We got a tour of the Conference Center and visited the Visitors Center until the Christmas Lights went on. It was super busy, so we stopped into the Tabernacle, walked around and enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere.

Aaron and Marrisse were wonderful hosts and it was so nice to see family we hadn't seen for a while! We stopped in St. George on the way home and visited with Josh's Grandmother Renee. She is one of the sweetest ladies I know (she taught Kindergarten for 25 years) and she fed us turkey sandwiches and pie!

What a great trip! So glad we were able to go (thank you guys!!!)!

Jonah in front of the Utah Mountains

Maggie, Hannah, Katrina and Aaron

Maggie!

Sliding down the slide!

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Charlotte's Headstone in Holladay, Utah near Salt Lake.

Elizabeth placed a dandelion near her headstone- she is so thoughtful. We miss you, dear Charlotte!

The Conference Center

Josh pointing out the various buildings from the Conference Center. Asher came away saying "I'm famous!" After seeing the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. He now wants to be called Joseph, although I'm not having it, and brought home two papers with it written on them yesterday.

The Salt Lake City Temple!

A kind man offered to take our family picture- so sweet. It was starting to be chilly! A sweet volunteer cooed over our "triplets". I always say "twins and a younger one." (we get that a lot!)