We spent the week of Thanksgiving in St. George with family. It was really a lovely vacation. We relaxed and had a ton of fun. One of the days we were there, I took my two teenagers and their teenage cousin shopping for a girl's day out. We even did lunch :)
Stan took the five younger kids and some other cousins to feed the ducks.
The family dinner was on Friday to make it easier for everyone who wanted to see their in-laws, so for dinner Thursday, Stan, the kids and I went to the community Thanksgiving dinner. We thought it might be fun and would save Stan's mother at least one day of having to feed all nine of us!
It was pretty good, for cafeteria food. They even had live music and jugglers. The only drawback was that they gave us all way too much to eat! I kept saying, "Just a little, half of that, only a bit", but oh well.
After we ate, we took off to Snow Canyon, one of my favorite places in the universe, for a hike. We explored a split canyon...
...and then crossed the road to play in the sand dunes.
I found buckets of red sand in the laundry!
Niquelle helped Summer dye her hair a darker brunette while we were there.
The look on Kelly's face sums up the trip.
Woohoo!
Rachel wanted a day trip and finally decided on window shopping and a visit to an ice cream place I've been wanting to try. The ice cream was worth braving the freeway for, so I'm sure we'll go back :)
And, once again...
...went on a hike and made button rings.
...Rachel wet and braided all the hair she could get her hands on...
...and three different kids had a stomach virus, but we don't have any pictures of that!
She made this pretty box with a lid. 
Here are two bowls, the second one is made of little balls of clay smushed together.
Another tealight holder in the shape of an owl...
...and a mask, which didn't make it home in one piece, but was glued back together and is being modeled by Kelly!
... and a piano recital...
...with videos to be posted in the near, or maybe distant future.
Amazingly, all that mud came out of her clothes.
The Primary put on a play that was just adorable. Michael was a shepherd, if you can't tell because the picture is so fuzzy.
Everyone was excited to see Santa...
...especially Naomi!
The family dinner was on Friday to make it easier for everyone who wanted to see their in-laws, so for dinner Thursday, Stan, the kids and I went to the community Thanksgiving dinner. We thought it might be fun and would save Stan's mother at least one day of having to feed all nine of us!
After we ate, we took off to Snow Canyon, one of my favorite places in the universe, for a hike. We explored a split canyon...
...and then crossed the road to play in the sand dunes.
I found buckets of red sand in the laundry!
Niquelle helped Summer dye her hair a darker brunette while we were there.
The look on Kelly's face sums up the trip.
Gwen and Stan filled the reservoir with water.
We took it to the south forty and Gwen started pumping it to get the pressure up.
Heather and Kelly got bored waiting, so they visited the neighbor's dog.
Rachel pitched in and helped.
Gwen tried and Rachel tried, but it took Stan's strength to set it off.
Pushing on the stapler took two hands, but she got the hang of it pretty quick.
Here is some of what she accomplished with all that effort.
