On the Saturday before Thanksgiving Michaels was doing one of their free craft days, and there were multiple crafts you could make. I made invited Andy to come with us, since I know how much he LOVES crafts. We decided that since all the t-shirts were maroon Kylee, Ally, and I would make shirts, and Colby and Skyler would make the decorative jars.
As much as Andy complains about attending events like this, once he gets started he has fun. He helped each of the boys, and the old ladies sitting across from them thought it was so cute that he was there doing it.
These two white jars are the finished product. They did a great job! The two little Christmas trees are Skyler and Colby's free Micheals craft from a couple of weeks ago, and the snowman and reindeer are a gift from mom. It makes our house look festive!
Later that day the kids were saying they were bored, so I jokingly/not jokingly suggested we could go on a hike. Surprisingly, Skyler immediately agreed to go with me. While we were getting ready to go Ally decided to join, and then at the last minute Kylee joined as well. We used the AllTrails app to find a hike in the mountains not too far away.
Somewhere along the way we took a wrong turn and headed way up the mountain on the wrong trail, but eventually when we realized it wasn't right we used the GPS on the app to get us back on track. The kids complained a little bit about the extra walking they had to do, but in the end they admitted it was a fun adventure to feel like we were lost for a minute.
Plus, when we were on the wrong trail way up high we could see REALLY far across the valley. They found this train bridge off in the distance that they thought was cool.
This water is supposedly mixed with a hot spring farther up the mountain, so it's not supposed to be freezing cold. Ally felt it, and she said it felt pretty cold to her!
Andy had to work on Monday but then had the rest of the week of Thanksgiving off for vacation and the holiday. After he got off work on Monday we headed down to Utah. There wasn't any snow happening, but when we got to about Layton(ish), it was SUPER icy. We passed at least 100 cars that were slid off, spun around, and/or crashed into each other between Layton and Orem. At one point we came around a curve and very nearly got caught in a wreck ourselves because there were already 10-12 cars slid off, and one was facing backwards partially blocking our lane. The car in front of us hit their brakes and started sliding, and the car beside us was doing the same, so there was nowhere to move to. Luckily instead of slamming on the brakes Andy just tapped them lightly over and over really fast so we slowed but didn't slide, the car in front of us got traction just in time for us not to hit them, and we somehow made it around the one partially blocking our lane as well. We both thought for SURE we were going to end up in a wreck, but we didn't. PHEW!
Colby played UNO.
On Tuesday Rin arrived from Tucson, and then Connie and Sugi were coming that day as well, but they were supposed to be arriving around 2am because they had to wait until Sugi got off work. They made GREAT time (especially since the first part or their drive was super snowy), and actually arrived around 1am. Bruce, Mom, and I waited up for them, and when we saw that their dot was coming down mom's street, we took this picture and texted it to them saying "YOU'RE HERE!" Then we went outside and started jumping up and down on the driveway and waving our arms (it was really late!). When they saw us, they turned around and pretended to drive away. Haha! We're lame.
On Wednesday we went to Walmart Market to get some groceries for our Thanksgiving meal.
One night I found Colby sleeping with his leg on top of Skyler. Crazy kids!
Since Michaels is a nationwide store, Rin and her kids had gone to the craft day at theirs in Tucson, and Bruce and Mom went to the one in Spanish Fork (or Orem?). I forgot to bring mine to Utah, so I didn't get to wear it with everyone else.
For Thanksgiving dinner we had a whole crowd, and it was so fun!
After completing our Black Friday shopping, we were all hanging out at mom's house when Santa stopped by to see the kiddos. We sang some songs and each kid got to tell him what they wanted and get a candy cane. They loved it!
Santa made reindeer antlers on each kids head for the photo.
As always, Skyler was nervous and shy. I'm not sure why he is so shy about everything?! But we did get one decent photo of him.
Colby was scared but he sat there long enough for Andy to take a picture as long as I was right there with him.
Can wasn't able to come down, and we all missed Tiff, but it was fun to get together with those of us who were there!
On Saturday we headed up to Pat and Kacey's house to spend some time there. Before we left Spanish Fork we stopped at the cemetery to put this flower pinwheel I've been saving for Tiff. I had to stuff it into the frozen ground beneath the snow, but then it almost immediately started spinning super fast. I think Tiff liked it! She always loved flowers, and it's always nice to have some color during winter!
On Sunday we went to Andy's dad's ward because Mia was blessing her baby. They had lunch at their house after, and we took a photo with three generations of Costin men...
...and then four generations.
Ally wanted her picture taken, too.
We were in Utah for 6 days and it wasn't enough! I always wish we had more time to visit everyone and spend time together. It was really nice to be able to spend a holiday with family, though. We've missed that the last four years!
