Friday Night Lights

I debated about whether to bore you all with our Thanksgiving festivities... basically two trips to Logan, two Thanksgiving dinners, and two laundry runs thanks to a jello salad and toilet water (long story) but have decided to share our Friday Night Lights adventure instead. But for my family who reads this, I will post a few Thanksgiving pictures.

So you may be wondering why we didn't just stay in Logan all weekend if we ended up driving back and forth twice. Well, tradition has it that we set up the Christmas tree the day after the turkey tryptophan-induced comas have ended. Jeff was a good sport about bringing up the boxes of decorations and trees but that's when things get turned over to me. We did manage to get the tree up and the nativity out but that's about it. Unless you consider turning the house into a complete disaster with decorations strewn in every room, half emptied boxes scattered in the halls, and pine needles on every inch of the floor an accomplishment. Pearl was quite the helper pulling out everything in the boxes. She did put two bells on the tree though but then was quickly back to unwrapping everything. I gave her one of our kid-friendly nativity sets to play with in hopes of teaching her about the birth of Christ but the only part of the story she picked up was "mom", "daddy", and "baby." She likes to hide the baby in blankets and cups and babbles some made up nativity story as she moves the figurines around. Oh and the best part is, she makes a fist and pounds her hands when we show her the wise men - you know the "Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock" song?

After realizing I wasn't going to turn my house into a winter wonderland with an 18 month old helping, Jeff decided to take us down to the Gateway to watch their Christmas tree lighting celebration and Jon Schmidt concert. We didn't want to battle traffic and parking so we took the train downtown. Pearl wasn't too impressed, as is evident from the picture below (she spent most of the time climbing on the seats) but I thought it was a great way to get to Salt Lake. And the best part about the train is my sister who was meeting us there after work, ironically only a couple blocks from the Gateway, got stuck in traffic as we breezed into town! We ate dinner then headed back outside for the free concert. Pearl was so funny to watch - she wanted to dance while sitting in her stroller. Every time we tried to get her out to dance she screamed and climbed back into the stroller. So we all just danced around her and clapped. I'm sure people thought we were crazy but when you have an 18 month old bundled up to the point of almost not being able to move, you've got to make a fool out of yourself to keep them happy.



After an hour of listening to music and nibbling on cookies and hot chocolate, Pearl had about reached her breaking point when all of a sudden.... the moment we had been waiting for....The announcer said there were over 85,000 lights on the tree. I'm not sure I totally buy that big of a number, although it was impressive to see it light up. I still think my trees (yes, trees...I'll post pictures another time) are prettier but hey, who can compete with 85,000 LED lights in sync to music? The train ride home is when Pearl really reached her breaking point, screaming, crying, and yes, the dreaded stinky diaper! Oh well, she slept good and we all had a great time. My sister asked us why we didn't do cool things like this when she was living with us to which Jeff and I replied in unison, we did! You just never came home!We had more fun Friday night together than we've had in a long time. Not only did it put me in the Christmas mood, enough to finally finish my decorating tonight, but I think we may have just stumbled upon a new family tradition!

Last but not least, the Thanksgiving pictures.Pearl loved the Redi-whip Uncle Roy kept giving her. I mean what goes better with a can of olives for dinner?That turkey tryptophan must be kicking in because this is a somewhat decent shot of us all together, well minus Pearl's weird Frankenstein moves and her missing Happy Thanksgiving shirt I tried desperately to get a picture of!
Uncle Kurtis was a great sport to play with Pearl. She kept him going up and down the stairs all weekend!Who doesn't love this cute face? We've moved on from teaching Pearl "grobble grobble" for turkeys to "ho ho ho" for Santa Claus. Let the feasting begin. Thanks to Jeff's homemade grape juice and cranberry sauce, Kimmy and Nick's homemade rolls, and enough food to feed an army from my mom, Thanksgiving Dinner #1 was a delicious success!Who's idea was it to give Pearl jello salad and then laugh at her when she started rubbing it all over her face, hair, and tummy? Hmmm...grandpa!!! It's only funny because mom has to clean up the mess!