Thanksgiving 2011!

I honestly cannot say that this Thanksgiving was better than last year, but it was still pretty dang awesome. (See previous posts of the h.k.a. trip! :) It was great to be home with my family and feel what Thanksgiving is all about. I ached when I thought back to last year, but I tried not to focus on that and enjoy what I got to have this year! It was wonderful! I only got a few days off from work so I was determined to make the most of it! 


I woke up super early (4:30...) and began the trip I had been looking forward to for several weeks! The drive went quickly and my car held up well. Thankfully. The weather was good except for this crazy fog that I could not see 3 feet in front of me!

See? It went quickly :)

soooo foggy!

Let's face it, I'm really not a very good driver anyway,
and trying to be a photographer and a driver...
I'll just leave it at that.

The fog added to my pictures though, so it was all good.

This is going to be a long post, just to state the obvious. What post of mine isn't extra long?


I stopped in Heber to suprise Mom at work, I came in the office with my hood on and she didn't even recognize me! She was happy when I revealed myself though.


Then I stopped at my old home, Skechies, to visit my favorite prego Nina! It was SOOOOO good to see her and catch up on her crazy life. Crazy is an understatement, Neens' life is usually out of control, but I love her anyway! That's probably why I love her actually, and the fact that she was my momma when I worked there. She looked out for me and protected me and fed me and gave me advice and ALWAYS made me laugh and taught me everything I know about that place. I learned a lot working there and I miss our family! We were so tight. Life has taken the wildest turns since we all worked there but, I honestly believe it has worked out for the best. And it will continue to do so. The point is, I love Nina and I am so happy I got to see her. I miss her and things fall right back into place every time I see her.


Just a side note: There was a RIDICULOUS accident in Silver Creek Canyon and it was backed up, at a complete stand still for hours and hours and hours. I got caught in it, but luckily after waiting only like 15 minutes I did a little reversing and pulling forward like 14 times until I squeezed out of my space in line and turned around to get out on the shoulder and come down through Brown's Canyon. 


When I finally got home I got to bake bake bake!!! I made chocolate chip coconut banana bread, in honor of Kahuku Grill Thanksgiving last year. It was not nearly as good as Kahuku Grill, its impossible to replicate that amazingness. 


That night I got to hang out with two of my favorite people!!!!! Gwen and J! YES! They make my life! J and I went to Gwen's house and we pretty much just talked and talked allll night long. And watched Dancing With The Stars. But ohhhh man it was GREAT! We got all caught up, and it was just super happy. Those 2 rock. 


Wednesday morning I got to cook some more!! I'm obsessed. It's kind of weird how excited I get about cooking... I don't know what to do about it. But I honestly love those days (like this one, and the one before) when I can take however long I want and cook until my creation is perfect! This time I made Snickers Fudge... Just the smell is delightful! I cooked the nougat layer a little too long so it wasn't as fluffy, but it still tasted amazing. And super sweet. A little goes a long way. Recipe from Pinterest, from some cooking blog about a farm or something. I can't remember the name. I also made chocolate chip cookies with OREOS INSIDE!!!!! Just tell me how exciting that is!  I have been dying to make these for a long time and they were so much fun, and pret-ty good if I say so myself. The ones I made with full oreos inside were HUGE, so I started breaking them in half or fourths. Much Better. Not as cool on the inside, but much more functional.

That evening I went to Evanston to hang out with Matthew Russell Thomson, a guy from Randolph that Hil set me up with. We went to the Chinese Tunnels and it was legit! Stoner's tunnel in Henefer doesn't really compare... Don't ask me why they are named "Chinese" and don't ever ask me to find them off the freeway again. But they were cool! And it was freezing! But it was a blast! I asked Meg if I could stay over at her house that night and naturally she said yes and I was so excited to see my boys again! I didn't get there till late that night but I'm pretty sure they were excited to see me too because I woke up to their little footsteps on the floor above me and Kolbs and Bubba peaking out of the stairway to see if I was wakers. Ohhh they make my heart happy! We played and played all morning; freeze tag, books, blocks, basketball, and helped Meg make a salad. Then we got to go FLYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Little Evanston Airport

 Colt has been working so hard for a really long time to get is private pilot's license. He is so cool! Thanksgiving day 2011 was his first time taking passengers with him! We were the lucky ones. (Matt and Kelv first, then Kelv and I, then Meg and I, then Matt and Kolbs.) We really were lucky, all morning I was so so so so so so so excited! And we are so proud of you Colt! It's so awesome, it was a BLAST and a gorgeous, safe ride! 

See? Excited!

They were excited too ;)

Runway...

"Annie, do you like roller coasters?"
"YES!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
As we did a little dive! Hahahah so hilarious and awesome!

Obviously, I was the back seat sitter.

Who knew Evanston could look so great?

Her was a little nervous... She was not a fan of the rollercoaster

Kelvie

Tip!

Welcoming crew!

Husband and wife

Co-pilot Kolbs!
He was the only one brave enough to go. Naturally.
Kyson and Bubba will go eventually, I'm sure.

The plane!

Take off!

He's offish!

Now Kys gets in the plane, when it is safely in the garage.

Who wants to ride with this kid?

Their daddy is their hero!

After we'd had our fun in the sky, we drove to Mom and Dad's, Kolbs and Kyson piled in Black Velvet with me. We had reaaalllllyyy good dinner, of course Mom's cooking! Grandma Lobrot came and Kelv and Meg's fam. Yum yum yum. It sure was good and the company wasn't too bad either. ;) Pretty much everyone helped Grandpa feed calves, and then we visited the horses (Jimmer is growing up so fast! Cutie.) Jacie Lin came to see me for a minute, that was good! I wish there was more time, however. We played all day and ate all day and pretty much every conversation Kelv and I had led back to quoting the hilarious Jimmy Kimmel Youtube video where the parents tell their kids they ate their Halloween candy. I can't handle that it is too funny! The Judd's from across the street came over and we had a jolly time catching up with them. Gosh it's been too long. I love all three of those girls, they are so cute and can all make me laugh so much! We headed up to Grandma and Grandpa's to visit with them and see their new carpet and paint and tile! It looks fancy schmancy. Gram and Gramps are always so welcoming and the best to talk to. It's been a LONG time since we've had the usual Sunday visit and it felt so good to be back. It's just right, you know, to go to Grandma and Grandpa's on Sunday. Grandma offers ice cream, Grandpa asks about life, we tell about life, Grandma says how glad she is we came because otherwise her and Grandpa just sit there looking at each other. :) Love them. EVERY Sunday I used to spend my days up there. Now its been months, and it makes me sad. I definitely don't love them any less, probably more so now. They are the angels of my life. We waited for the Porters to show up but they were taking their time so we headed home, and then they came over to my house! Great to visit with them as well. What a delight! So many beautiful people I haven't seen forEVER. I'm so thankful for my family, extended and immediate. 


I had to leave Thursday  in order to work Friday and Saturday, but Aunt Connie is so nice  I love that woman and she let me stay there Thursday night and I drove the rest of the way early Friday morning. I am now an official keyholder at work. YEP moving up in the world, BIG TIME. So I opened. Both days. And both days crazy things happened to me. The first day, things were going smoothly until EVERY SINGLE CREDIT CARD WAS BEING REJECTED. Nothing. Nada. Would decline, each and every one of them. I called everyone from the store. NO ONE answered. It was the busiest time of day. There was a line. Luckily the people were super nice to me, they could have been real jerks. But they weren't, they tried to use cash if they could. One family got free yogurt out of it because I seriously did not know what to do. Finally Katie called me back and told me how to fix it. I almost freaked out. Second day, some guys came in to beat the heavy weight record. Let me be clear here. The heavy weight competition is NUTS. Someone is going to die from it. But everyone loves it! Well, these 3, a dad, son and perhaps a cousin? had been planning to beat it for a long time. Today was the lucky day! They did not just beat the previous record, however. They CRUSHED IT. It was 111 ounces before. They ate 158 OUNCES. If you do your math correctly, that is almost TEN POUNDS of froyo. WOOWWWWWW. It was crazy. I was amazed, they were sick. Here's a pic: 

Crazier? TWO guys beat this record, by an ounce, and they ate it in 16 freaking minutes!!!!!!!!!! Human beings will never cease to amaze me. 

I got to have a second round of Thanksgiving with the Jenkins/Jones/Richmond clan, delicious again! I love that family, really more than I can say. Then dinner at Stef's again on Sunday, to celebrate Staci's birthday. Staci is so loved by this girl, let me just say that. Stef and her are like my adopted aunts and honestly, no one has better adopted aunts than I do. We also WACKEE'D it UP BIG TIME all weekend long! Can't get enough of that game, that's for sure! It's so addicting and so fun. Also Chad taught us how to play cribbage, which I also really like.

And that wraps up my lovely THANKSgiving for 2011. 

I am so truly indebted to my Heavenly Father for everything He has given me. 

I am so thankful for every single one of those blessings, though I will never be able to name them all.

He is just as His name states; a heavenly father.