A week of Thanksgiving

The Jackson clan came to visit again, this time for the WHOLE week! It was crazy mayhem in the house most of the time, but everyone seemed to enjoy the time together and of course we didn't want it to end.

For Monday night Family Home Evening we headed off to POPS and introduced them to the store with every flavor of soda one could think of.

Kordale even got a sample of rootbeer, that he promptly spit back out at his dad and all over his Aunt Shishi.

Double Trouble didn't miss a beat or an opportunity!

Before we all feasted we got in some exercise. Chad took the older gang to early morning football. Then organized a vicious game of kickball for the afternoon.

We went all out with the southern Thanksgiving- Chad tried out the fried turkey idea. It turned out pretty good...I called it a cardiac turkey after being immersed in all that oil!

Kordale got to sample some pie--okay, just the whipped cream part of pie.

When the day was over we found exhausted bodies scattered throughout the house. Tori fell asleep while assembling her "Black Friday" wish list

Little does she know the grown ups went and hit the sales without her. All the kids were still sound asleep when we left the house at 3:30 AM and only Jordan was stumbling out of bed when we snuck back in at 8:30 with a car full of goodies. (Oh dang it! Tori will know after she reads this post :)

Saturday came to soon and it was time to say goodbye. We had shared our sick germs with everyone and sent poor Aunt Shishi home with the beginnings of sick kiddos. Everyone had to get a final moment with Kordale and smother him with kisses, he will be nearly 1 the next time they get to see him.

Farewell Jackson's...it was a great week and we look forward to seeing you all again in June!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We started out our road trip to Arizona for Thanksgiving weekend with a full tank of gas (thank goodness prices went below $2/gal.) and the cruise control set for 80!
We had nothing but wide open roads ahead for the next 6 hours. It was great to get in the car and just drive...without having to turn corners or dodge parked cars.

We crossed the Hoover Dam and entered Arizona. We couldn't believe how low the water level is, I remember when I was a teenager and the water was going over the top of the overflow.

We spent the first night in Tempe, where Uncle Adam, Grandma Marty and Richard were waiting. It was a short visit with them because they were headed to Las Vegas. However, Uncle Adam joined the craziness of the car and drove the next 2 hours with us to Grandma Jackie's. Our first order of business when we got to Green Valley was go run at the park.

Thanksgiving day, we went to our Aunt Ande's house. Two of her daughters came also. It was great getting to see them again after 10 years. We had quite the spread of wonderful food to eat!

In traditional big family dinners, the kids have a smaller table. Tori wasn't to happy about being considered a little kid.

The adults and older kids had a good time relaxing and catching up on years gone by.

Tori with her Great Grandma Morris. I'm so happy the girls get the chance to visit with her and know her. Tori got in a lot of hugs from grandma, guess she knows what a special lady she is. I love you Grandma!

To work off our turkey and potatoes, we started a round of boxing on the Wii. It was a mother daughter match between Aunt Ande and Jenny. They were tired before the training level was even finished.

Then it was the 2nd cousin face off! Sorry, Hailey but if I remember right the 8 year old boxing champ took control.

To finish off the night we all headed for the movie theater and watched "Bolt".

Then it was off to bed for another action packed day to follow!

Sonora Desert Museum

We took a trip to the living desert museum in the Sonora Desert outside of Tucson. What a contrast to where we have lived the past few years. From lush, tree covered mountains to barren, cactus covered mountains. It still has a beauty of it's own though.

How about those thorns!
We saw owls,
Snakes,
Hellamonsters,
And CHILDREN monsters emerge from the rocks!
Morgan called the mountain goats sheep...not sure why, but we couldn't convince her otherwise
Closest to the rain forest we are used to was in the hummingbird atrium
We had a fun day with Uncle Adam, but it's always fun when he's around. Wish we could see him more often!
A hummingbird at rest (only way to get their picture actually)
Jordan thought the storm rolling in over the red rocks was just beautiful.

A safari in the desert??

We didn't really go on a safari...we were in the desert but not the African desert.
Jordan found a friendly giraffe to stand beside
Morgan and I rode the baby elephant!
Then everyone needed a break so laid down and took a ride.
I love it when they work together to accomplish something...SISTER POWER!

We found 6 monkeys hanging from the tree

I got to see my cousin Jenny. It seems nearly our whole life we have only seen each other every 10 years.

Early Christmas and Gingerbread house building

Before the weekend was over Grandma Jackie treated us to an early Christmas. We made a gingerbread house (that even survived the trip home) and opened presents.

We got a family Christmas stocking along with the story of how stockings came to be. That was hand made and will be cherished for a lifetime.
The girls each got their own pillowcases made especially for them from Grandma Jackie. They fit their pillows nicely and there are no more fights about who's pillow is who's (WHEW!)
We all got a chance to help decorate the gingerbread house and tried not to weigh down the roof to much.
I think it turned out cute! The girls are looking forward to eating it after Christmas. They don't realize it will be hard as a rock by that time.
For a late night snack we roasted marshmellows, we couldn't do it outside so we compromised and used the stove for our fire. The smores were delicious!
It was a fun weekend, just a long trip home with all the holiday traffic. Now it's catch up week since we leave soon for Washington.