The Christiansens made an extended vacation out of our Thanksgiving get together. They did various activities on the way to Arizona and on their way back. One of the places they saw was the Grand Canyon. They got some great family pics there and at home.
There is a town in New Mexico called Alamogordo. It is the closest town to the White Sands National Park. That was the destination for us and the Petes on Saturday, Nov. 26. We all cleaned up the Vrbo house on Saturday morning. The Simms left early because they were driving home in one day. The Christiansens headed to Phoenix and us and the Petes headed for Alamogordo. We arrived there early evening... the Petes went to the White Sands for a couple of hours. Then we met them for dinner and dessert. On Sunday morning we went to church at 9. Our little glitch there was a flat tire when we came out of church. So, Ron and I got to spend a couple of hours at Wal Mart to get the tire fixed. Then we met the Petes at the White Sands for most of the afternoon. We should have left a little sooner to drive to Fort Stockton to stay Sunday night. That was a long day of activities and driving... we arrived late. But that made our Monday drive shorter, to arrive back home.
Petes brought Finn and Simms brought Kai. We got a few group photos... but not everyone together. The Christiansens saw Gary and Quin on the way to Arizona. Audrey and Sam saw them the day after Thanksgiving. (I also included a pic of Andersons, M&M background. They spent Thanksgiving in St. George). The last pic is the zoom call with Elder Simms.
We had a BIG birthday party on Friday for a LITTLE girl. 😉🎂The theme was Twotti Fruitty. Lots of candy, fruit, cupcakes, balloons, and gifts. It was fun to have a big group of family together for this party. The singing of "Happy Birthday" was awesome.
Even though there was 21 of us for dinner... there was lots of us to cook dinner. 😁And Alison went "all out" on table decorations. I bought turkey meat from Costco, put it in the freezer, and then in the cooler to take on the drive. I helped Emmy, Savie, and Hailey make pies on Wednesday morning. Annie and Owen also made two pies. Alison, Ashley, Annie, and I all cooked the other food. We had a couple of little glitches with meringue, key lime pie crust, and green beans, but everything else turned out great.
The rest of us met in Pinetop Arizona. Simms drove from CA. Christiansens drove from Utah. Us and Petes drove from Texas. So there was twenty-one of us and two dogs. 😝 We rented a Vrbo house (cabin). There were four large bedrooms, so each family got a bedroom and a bathroom. Most of us got a bed... with a couple of the kids on air mattresses. It had a large kitchen with two ovens/stove tops. The Simms arrived first on Tuesday, and Annie cooked dinner that evening. Then us and the Petes arrived and later the Christiansens. (they actually left home on Sunday and stayed with Gary and Quin that night, then did some sightseeing on Monday and Tuesday.) Us and Petes left San Antonio on Monday morning (in the rain) and stayed in Roswell, New Mexico on Monday evening. Driving across that part of New Mexico was different than I expected. I was thinking of northern New Mexico with "real mountains". 😉 Other than leaving in the rain on Monday morning, the rest of the driving weather on road conditions were perfect. Just lots of hours of following a white Honda Pilot. We drove Audrey's blue car, to get better gas milage than the suburban. The snow was at a small park along the way. Here are pics from the drive and the house in Pinetop. I will do other posts of Thanksgiving dinner and Eden's birthday party, and White Sands National Park. (We went there on Sunday, on our drive back home.)
