Remember November

Apparently not much of note happened the first 3/4 of the month of November! I can't remember what we did, and we only have one picture, so here it is!

Elliott's preschool has great, big, old trees outside, so the kids loved playing in the autumn leaves there.

Later that same month...We spent 9 days traveling through Utah, Nevada and Arizona on our way to our Thanksgiving destination: Gilbert, AZ to be with the Morgan and Christa Johnson family and the Garinos, Pappa and Gramma Johnson, and Uncle Warren. We had some great fun on the way. The morning we set out, it was snowing so hard that we had to change our route...the Nevada pass was snow-chains only. We hit some crazy snow in southern Idaho, passed about 20 cars off the road, but made it safely to the Utah border where it was clean and dry.

After 13 hours in the car, an In N Out burger stop at the closest one to our house (only 330 miles away in Centerville, UT! Mike's counting), potty breaks ever 2 hours (hey, I'm pregnant remember?), and a few geo-caches, we made it to Las Vegas.

That night, we bunked in Las Vegas where we had dinner with two of my cousins, Alexis and Mckenzie Haglund. They had super-fun stories, super-cute kids, and it was an amazing time together. Here is a picture Lucy took of the action.

The next day we stayed in Vegas to play a bit. Just so you know, there isn't a whole lot for little kids to do in Vegas...make a mental note. But, we did find some fun at the M&M factory....

....an arcade...(a tear of pride glistens in my eye when I see my kids following in my skeet-ball footsteps)...

....and at a 4-d SpongeBob and Polar Express ride in Excalibur Casino....

I was happy because we got to eat at Panera Bread...a place I fell in love with in Minnesota last summer.

It was probably the coldest, windiest, rainiest day in November EVER in LasVegas, but the wind steadied long enough for us to catch a few fountain shows at the Bellagio...certainly the highlight of the day.

At 2:20AM in our hotel in Vegas, Lucy woke up throwing up. After everyone in the room was awake, she had a bath, and we improvised new sheets, we went back to sleep and prayed for a healthy trip to AZ in the morning. Alas, it worked! She was better in the morning and we were able to continue our adventure.

The car ride was fun in our new Honda Pilot. The movies were helpful, and it was a very cozy ride, so cozy that Lucy fell right to sleep ( a miracle for her; the girl doesn't nap).

Onto MESA, AZ!!!! My first trip back to the valley in 8 years! I was a little excited to see my old home, and Mike and the kids were just excited to get out of the car. Next post will be our fun times in the Valley of the Sun.