Thanksgiving in San Antonio

I have three lovely cousins living in Texas and they were kind enough to invite us down south to spend Thanksgiving with their families.  (Even though the 8 hour car ride--- and no, it's not SUPPOSED to take that long--- wasn't pleasant) it ended up being a crazy fun family vacation!

The day before Turkey Day we headed to Sea World.  It was a great day to go because the crowds were so small and the weather was AMAZING.

The whole park had a Christmas theme with decorations, music, and even the shows were Christmas oriented which was surprising in this anti-religion world we live in (it was definitely more Santa focused).



Hyrum was tall enough to go on almost all the rides and LOVE, LOVE, LOVED them.




Waiting for Shamu...




waiting...




waiting... 
(expecting a 17 month old to wait for ANYTHING is literally asking for a melt down- thank heaven for jelly beans and cookies!) 



Still waiting...
Ivy and Hyrum are at such fun ages for theme parks and shows- everything is so magical!



One of the few rides Ivy could enjoy (due to height requirements).



Feeding the seals- too bad Hyrum refused to touch the slimy fishes.



THANKSGIVING DAY



Two cute little girls!




My cousin gathered marshmallows, candies, and toothpicks so the kids could make their own turkeys while the food was being prepared- so fun!



Finally time to dig in!!!

As you can see, Hyrum had his usual meal of carrots and rolls.

After the DELICIOUS meal we headed to the park- it was such amazing weather the whole time.

Here's the whole group



And here's the cousins

It was such a fun day being with family and catching up with my cousins who I haven't seen in years.  Being with them took a little bit of the sting out of not spending the holiday with my fam.  THANKS LADIES!!!

We decided to spend one more day at Sea World before we headed north.  It was a little bit more crowded and we were all a bit more cranky from fatigue, but it was still another fun day.

dolphins



I love this shot- pure joy



Delia was a little trouper hanging out in the stroller all day.

Catching another ride.

They had this GIGANTIC jungle gym the kids loved, so this picture was actually taken like forty feet in the air!



Catching another ride... daddy style.



penguins

We loved walking through the candy cane forest.

Saying goodbye to Shamu.

I'm so glad we decided to take a quick trip to spend some quality time together.  I can't wait to go back!

Utah

Our Utah Trip was crazy.  First of all it was FREEZING!   We ventured up to my parent's cabin and it actually snowed a few inches... at the end of May people!   We were hoping to go fishing, hiking, and relax by the campfire- instead we were trapped inside.  At least we had lots of family to keep us company!

The girls did puzzles

And the boys watched Star Wars

While the men were constructing walls

I've never roasted marshmallows in the snow before.



Here's a beautiful view of the snow



We made it safely down the canyons through the snow to Grandma Trump's.  The weather was a tad warmer, but we still hid inside.

Video games with the cousins

Movies with cousins

FINALLY the weather was warm enough for a dip!

And swings

And tether ball (Hyrum totally reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite attacking that ball.)

And lounging on soft Utah grass
(If you've ever tried to lounge on Virginia or Texas grass, you know why I say "soft Utah grass") 

And more swings

And uncle loves

And Grandma  snuggles

And tree climbing

Hyrum discovered tree climbing on our trip and judges a tree worthy enough of his praise if it is "climbable".

It was so great to visit with family and friends before we started our new life in Texas.  We love you all! 

Try not to smile when you watch this video- I DARE YOU!

Quick DC Trip

If you ever have the pleasure of visiting our Nation's Capital, I would recommend getting a hotel room for at least a week.  I'm sure you could stay for months and never completely discover all the fun sights.  There's SO much to see.  Every time we stop by I can't help thinking how much we're missing and how I can't wait to come back and explore more.  With little ones who have minuscule interest in most museum exhibits and a hard time walking long distances, (plan on walking A LOT in DC) our quick weekend trips wouldn't be considered "efficient", but we still have fun and at least we weren't home cleaning the house all weekend.

For this, our last trip to DC in many years, (weep, weep) we enjoyed beautiful weather and lots of fun little family moments. The camera ran out of batteries only a few hours into the day (of course) so I didn't take as many pictures as I would've liked, but we did capture a few:

Sandwich smiles

Hyrum had a difficult time being the "big boy" all day.  There was no stroller for him to lounge in and he is too big for the backpack.  He got so fed up with walking he exclaimed with all his Hyrum muster, "MOM, I'm too exhausted to walk anymore!  I need to run."  He then proceeded to run the short distance between Bry and I until he regained his energy to walk.

Capital Building (I think)

Washington Monument

Natural History Museum and School Pride:)

There's dinosaur bones somewhere back there

We were very disappointed the police wouldn't let anyone close to the White House... little did we know heroic US soldiers were killing an evil tyrant somewhere in the Middle East.  Maybe they had good reason to protect the President that day.

Ivy was completely sacked out at the aquarium.  It wasn't very comfortable for the mommy, but it sure was cute.

We were super sad we didn't get to see Ali and Lincoln, or Amanda, but I'm sure we'll see each other soon.  Even though huge distance will seperate us, some friendships can't be lost.

Virginia is such a great place to live.  There's so many cool places to visit and explore.  We've been so lucky to live here for these few years.  I get so emotional every time I think about moving.  I thought I'd be so excited to get out of this crazy place when we first moved here.  But, it's become our home and starting over again is daunting and intimidating and scary.