Walton Thanksgiving Week in St. George
SATURDAY
We left Saturday morning at 7:30 and drove the 11 hours to St. George. It was mostly a smooth drive with no problems, however I got a migraine that was pretty severe – so a hard drive for me. It subsided about an hour and a half before we got to the St. George house. When we got there Dan and Sarah and Scott and Elisha and Grandma and Grandpa and Brian were there waiting for us. Grandma had a baked potato dinner ready and waiting. Chris and Amy arrived soon after. We spent the evening talking and laughing as the kids ran around the rental house laughing and being too excited to sleep. The house was on the North East corner of St. George with enough rooms and bathrooms for everyone. It worked well.
SUNDAY
Sunday morning we got up, had pancakes or breakfast and got ready for church at 11 oclock. Fun to be at church with my whole family. After church we went over to the St. George Temple and walked around, took pictures and went into the visitor center. We watched a video about families that made us pretty emotional. Especially Chris, since part of the video showed a parent dying. I’m so grateful to have such a great family. We also watched a video about Joseph Smith and then sat by the Christus.
Grandma and Grandpa with all the grandkids…
The Silva Family…
The girls…
Amy and I…
Megan found an Albanian Book of Mormon and wanted to take a picture of it for Ryan.
When we got home we ate sandwiches and then went straight into a family home evening activity Grandpa had put together. He created some really neat BINGO boards with all of our ancestors and relatives. Each of the 25 boards were different with siblings, aunts and uncles, grandparents and ancestors. The only grandchild included in the boards was Ryan. Grandma and Grandpa had put together some prizes and it was really fun to hear each person’s ‘bio’ and find them on our board.
When Dad read the ‘bio’ for Amy he said… “And she’s expecting her 4th child.” It was a fun surprise!!
After BINGO we played some games, ate soup for dinner and then watched videos from when my siblings and I were young, that Chris had put together on our Apple TV. It was fun. Then we played Quirkel. It really was one of my favorite days.
MONDAY
Monday we headed up to Snow Canyon. Such a fun place to explore and walk around. We had beautiful weather and had the whole place to ourselves. We wandered and climbed for an hour or so.
These cute cousins are inseparable. They just love being together and it makes us so happy!
It was Peter’s idea to get his picture taken with Chris and Grandpa. So cute!
We had a picnic lunch under the trees by the Sand Dunes and then explored Jenny’s Canyon.
Our caravan - my van, Dad’s SUV, Scott’s van, Amy’s van, and Dan’s SUV…
Great excursions. Then we headed over to a new playground in St. George and played around and went on a trainride. Then over to the grassy area nearby to hang out and play Spikeball.
That night Amy and Chris picked up pizza’s for all the kids, and the adults went to Benja Thai restaurant for Thai food. So good and fun to be with just the adults. Then we went straight to the movie theater to see ‘Murder on the Orient Express’. Fun night.
TUESDAY
Tuesday was our big excursion day to Zion National Park. We caravanned an hour to get there and started out with a really great hike to an overlook of the canyon. It was pretty great.
Love this one of everyone at the top of the lookout.
Luke and I took off to climb some rocks and take some pictures of him and the scene below. He was pretty excited to be hiking on his birthday.
We went to Zion Lodge and had lunch underneath the big tree on the grass. The boys played spikeball, the kids ran around and played tag, and then Dad and the kids played some football. Even Peter wanted in.
Luke kept asking me what time he was born and then urged me to check my blog for the accurate minute. I did – 3:32 So at exactly 3:32 we stopped and sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him. I think it’ll be a tradition from now on. Love this kids’ face as everyone sang to him. : )
We hung out for awhile by the river and then headed back home.
Through the van windshield but still a pretty picture. Love seeing all the fall colors.
That night Chris and I and the kids got Tacos ready and made brownies and Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream per Luke’s request. Fun to celebrate his special day! He loved his birthday. Grandma and Grandpa gave him a lunchbox – which he exclaimed that he really needed.
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday morning Chris, Chris, Scott and Dan went golfing and the wives stayed home. I went running and then made pumpkin bars for the next day while Grandma made some pies. It was fun to just hang out at the house and do lots of talking.
Sarah brought a ‘THANKFUL FOR’ activity for the kids and it entertained them for a long time.
When the husbands got home we took all the adults to Even Stevens – which is one of my favorite sandwich shops here in St. George. No one else had been there before so it was fun to take them. Then we went home to pick up the kids, who were having fun playing at the house and headed to SWIG for sugar cookies and wild mango Mountain Dew. (I took a couple sips but I haven’t had soda since May so I didn’t want to ruin my streak. The cookies, however, I devoured. Yum. With cookies in hand we headed to the park to play a huge game of soccer, and then baseball, and then football. it was definitely one of Chris’ favorite days because of all the sports!! The kids were so anxious and excited to play everything – which made Chris happy. They did such a great job playing soccer. After the park we headed back to the house and Scott and Elisha made orange chicken for dinner. Then we played lots of games. Some of our favorite games are ones on Jackbox TV. Funny stuff.
THURSDAY
We left our house in St. George at 9:00am headed to Las Vegas, two hours away, where we spent the entire day at my Uncle Jim’s house with all my aunts and Uncles and cousins on the Polley side. All my cousins except two (Becky and Laura) were there. It was SO fun to see everyone.
We said hi to so many people and then headed to the park where Chris and I led some relays, games and activities to keep the kids busy. It worked great. Then we headed over to the playground while the men played Spike Ball.
We went back to the house and ate Thanksgiving Dinner. So much fun. Turkey, ham, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, pomegranate salad, green beans, pretzel jello, and rolls. Chris and I sat with Angie and Eliza and Scott and Elisha. We sat outside in the backyard and talked while the kids jumped on the trampoline and more Spike Ball was played. Fun to talk to Katie and Amy Redford and Eliza and Emily Dastrup. Great great women.
We watched the intense ping pong tournament. Seth, Todd and Tanner in the finals. Such a tradition.
We left Jim’s at about 9:30 and headed back to St. George. Great day to celebrate family. So grateful for mine.
FRIDAY
Mike and Carly came back from their trip to Australia and New Zealand for Carly‘s sisters wedding in Arizona right before Thanksgiving. So on Thanksgiving day they drove from Arizona to Las Vegas to meet us. Then on Thanksgiving night they drove back to St. George with us to be with us for Friday and Saturday.
Friday started out with a run with dad, Scott, Elisha, Dan, Sarah, and Carly. Mike wasn’t feeling great so he didn’t come with us. We ended up running about 3.5 miles. Glad we did it. Chris shouldn’t have come with us because he ran 9 miles the day before with Scott and Elisha – but he couldn’t say no. On the way back he had to walk because his knees were hurting so bad and then missed the place to turn so I had to track him down with the van.
Then we got ready and went to the Red rock cliffs above St. George and hiked around. Fun to go through ‘the crack’.
We went back home for lunch and then the girls went over to down East to go shopping and we met the dads and kids were at the park. More spike ball for the dad’s.
Luke and I spent quite a bit of time passing a baseball back-and-forth. He really loves to do that.
And these girls are so cute…
Cute Owen…
Matt and the scooter boys…
That night we went to red Robin for dinner and then exchange Christmas presents and open them, which was fun. We gave Dan And Sarah an ice cream maker and bowls etc. Mike and Carly have our family but don’t have the presents yet so we’re going to Skype later in the month to open. It was a great week!
SATURDAY
Saturday we cleaned up the Saint George vacation house and parted ways. The girls have been doing manikin challenges all week so they wanted to do a goodbye mannequin challenge, which was fun. Chris and Amy headed back to Modesto California. Dan and Sarah headed back to Reno Nevada. Scott, Elisha and Brian headed back to Orem. Mike, Carly, grandma and grandpa came with us over to grandma Johnson’s St. George house. And we spend one more day together.
We ate leftover taco stuff and then dad took off to the golf course with Megan, Luke and Matt. They had so much fun!
Meanwhile grandma, grandpa, Emily and Katie and I did some shopping. When we met back at home, we played several games of dominion and then went to eat at Even Stevens and then headed to grandma’s indoor pool and sat in the hot tub. Another one of Dad’s favorite days. Two late night games of Dominion with Mike and Carly and we finally headed to bed at one. Great day. We drove back home on Sunday in a record 9 1/2 hours. Beautiful weather and hardly any traffic. So excited that it’s officially CHRISTMAS TIME NOW!!