A Thanksgiving to remember...

Spending time in Utah for Thanksgiving is always a treat but getting to witness my brother Sean and his sweet wife Amy exchange rings in honor of their marriage added a special element to this trip. After being together for over five years, Sean and Amy decided to tie the knot but rather than plan an extravagant wedding, they made the decision to make things simple and just elope in Vegas. Yes, they actually got married in one of those chapels you see on the strip. They invited no one as they didn't want to worry about anyone feeling left out. Of course, they knew they had to do some sort of ceremony if even for both of their kids' sake, so this evening was dedicated to that and what a nice night it was celebrating with their closest friends and family. We are so happy for Sean, Amy, and the kids...all five of them! With a family of seven to care for now, Sean most definitely has his hands full but if anyone can manage it's him! We love you guys!







Before learning Sean would be having a ring ceremony, the original purpose of this trip was to do some house hunting but after spending a couple days checking out a few developments and becoming more confused about the area we should focus on and then compounding that with the distraction of a fresh snowfall, neither Jack or I were feeling ready to seriously consider any options so we instead spent the remainder of our time enjoying the mountains, and time with family. We had been hoping for snow and as you can see, within a couple days of arriving, my parents yard was covered with poop snow. Nothing makes the holidays feel more magical to me than a fresh snowfall! And the timing was perfect because we had been really hoping Nova would get to experience snow on this trip. While we didn't make it up to the slopes as they would have been packed with it being opening weekend, we sure loved seeing how much Nova also enjoyed the snow. Speaking of Nova, this trip Jack offered to bring him out on his earlier flight since he had to be back in UT for a meeting a day earlier than we were all coming. Of course Jack's experience traveling with Nova was far different because since he was the only one traveling he booked himself a first class ticket to allow for more leg room for Nova! Yes, now Nova gets more leg room than the rest of us...haha!

Here are Nova and Luna (my parents new dog) enjoying each other's company...before and after the snowfall!



Taking Nova up to Sundance to enjoy the mountains and snow!




Not only was Ty hitting the gym in Utah doing his swimming, he had said he wanted to run to the top of the 'Y' for some extra conditioning. When I asked him if he actually made it to the top, he shared with me his "Rocky" photo...lol! Love this boy!



Thanksgiving with the Knudsen gang...minus Steve who came into town long enough to witness Sean and Amy's ring ceremony but had to skip out and get back to CA since he had already made Thanksgiving plans before knowing we'd all be there!



Learning my lesson last year about not waiting until the last minute to get our photos with Santa taken, I made certain we hit up Santa out in Utah. The lines are never long during Thanksgiving weekend. We first went to River Woods where they had a Santa but no professional photographer. While I got a decent photo, it's kind of tradition to pay for the overpriced mall photo so off we went to the mall. I still take my own photo but there is something about getting the professional one printed right then and there. Thankfully the kids were good sports knowing it was better to get it over with now rather than go through what we went through last year in Orlando to get one...haha!





Good Byes! I think Nova is starting to get the hang of the flying thing. Now if we can just figure out a way to turn him into a "comfort" dog... Happy Holidays!!!