Thanksgiving

It was a whirlwind trip.  We left at 5:00 a.m. to try to make it up to Utah by a reasonable hour.  Ada was amazing.  We made sure to stop occasionally to let her run around

and before we knew it, we were in Midway!  With stops and a long lunch, it only took us about 12 hours!  Good thing we've been training Ada with long road trips since she was 3 days old.   We made it just in time to play some Just Dance and pull out the train set (Bryan's favorite toy). 

 

 And Grandpa gave guitar lessons.

We had a great time meeting a new cousin, eating delicious food and hearing about Grandma and Grandpa's recent trip to Australia.

Then it was off to South Jordan.  Time for Ada to meet her cousins from Alaska!

Tony, Julie and their kids moved to Fairbanks only a few weeks before Ada was born.  This was her first time seeing them in person and she loved them as much as the rest of her cousins.  These ones are a little older, though and can take care of her!

Carol, Mike and Ellie also came up from Phoenix and Jamie was able to get enough time off from his job to spend a few days with everyone.  This was the only meal out as a group,

 

but even at home, they were pretty chaotic- at least for our family.  We were so spoiled when we all lived in Utah- now these gatherings are too infrequent. 

 

We stopped in to see Grams and the aunts and got to meet baby Calvin

 

 and get a kiss from Grams.

 

The next day was spent cooking, and Ada was able to finally try her first Thanksgiving meal.

 

(of which she ate only the tomatoes)

On the way home, we were able to spend a couple of nights in Escalante and realize, again, how much we miss it.  Overall, it was a perfect trip.  We saw all of our family members and didn't really have any meltdowns from Ada unless she was getting hugged to death by cousin Ellie (just kidding, Ellie!).  She did so well on the drives that we have decided, that yes, it will be possible to do it again for Christmas!