AZ Thanksgiving

My doctor gave me the okay to travel to AZ for Thanksgiving and we were grateful I was feeling well enough to go! Cade made me a bed in the 4Runner so I was able to sleep through the night lying down. If he hadn't have done that, I probably would have had to stop every two hours. With the girls sleeping in the car through the night, that plan woulnd't have worked very well.  But overall the trip was really good and the girls travel so well. They slept both ways all but maybe two hours each way. I'm very grateful that both girls travel so good through the night. Now...traveling 10-11 hours during the day would have been a nightmare :).

We had a great time with the family! This Thanksgiving was more intimate with only our immediate family and Great-Grandma and Grandpa there. It was small, but very enjoyable and pretty stress-free. This year's trip had to be pretty short due to baby Carter being born the Sunday before Thanksgiving and baby Noah being blessed the Sunday after. It made for a shorter trip than we would have liked, but still had a great time. Unfortunately, Grandma Close had to work every day except for Thanksgiving day- Thanksgiving week is crazy busy for the Post office! We loved seeing the kiddos all play so well together. Emma and Ashur LOVE being around each other and this year was easier than ever. Now that they're 4 years old, we don't have to keep a close eye on them all the time and wonder what they are getting into together. They are a lot alike and play so well. Reese and Taft are sure learning to play well with each other too. They are so funny when they chase each other around the room giggling :).

 The day after Thanksgiving, Tara and I drove to Phoenix and spent some time at Aunt Gale's house with a lot of the family. Aunt Virginia and Uncle Johnny, Aunt Kelly, Cousin Tamara and her little Miss Liberty were all there. We went to spend time together and learn how to make tamales. I mainly spent time talking with Tamara and it was SO much fun to catch up! Then we went to lunch with Tamara before heading back to Prescott.

The day after Thanksgiving was also Reese's birthday this year so we got to spend it with all the family on the Close side. Reese does not like cake so instead of making cake or cupcakes for her, we bought a donut with sprinkles on top and she LOVED it :). On her first bday, she gagged at her cake and refused to eat it. So the donut was exciting to her. Reese and all the other kiddos got some ice cream cones. 

We had a great holiday and most of all were extremely grateful I was able to be healthy and travel safely there and back. It was the first time we were able to even go to AZ for Thanksgiving since 2007! Every other year when it's our turn to have Thanksgiving in AZ with the Close side we have a baby :). This year we barely were able to make it...and it was great to be there!

I am also extremely grateful for God sending me these wonderful people in the pic below. I love Cade, Emma and Reese with my whole heart and feel so blessed to have them in my life.