Last week we had Thanksgiving in Las Vegas and vacationed on the beach in California! It was so so so so so so good! We left Tuesday afternoon when everyone was done with the things they had to do and drove to Las Vegas. We stayed at my mom and dad's house. We were sad to miss them as they were on a cruise but happy for them that they were having fun! That morning we cooked the turkey and potatoes and Emma came by to go for a run and Diane and her family came to talk and hang out. Around one we headed to Amy's church where we met up with Amy's family and Maggie's family! Everyone brought parts of the meal and we had a big turkey dinner in the church gym. It was fabulous to be with my sisters and their families. After eating, the cousins regaled us with a reprise of "Every Turkey likes to Tango," we played the "Guess Who" gratitude game, had a relay, and Ben and Hannah played songs for us on McKay's guitar while we sang along. It was a really lovely Thanksgiving. That evening we drove to Ethel M and saw the Christmas lights.

On Thursday morning we got up early and drove to California. We stopped for a picnic lunch in Barstow and arrived at our AirBnB in Mission Beach just before 4 in the afternoon. Of course, we dropped our stuff and ran the one block over to the beach. It was so beautiful! Some of us ran back, got on our swimsuits, and had our first evening of sunset boogie boarding. Everyone in our family was there (except for Richmond who is not quite official yet)--all eight of our kids, all three of our son-in-laws, and all five of our grandkids. We have so much fun together!

Friday and Saturday we played all day long! We swam and boogie boarded. There were two surf boards at the house so Kolby, Ammon, and Mariah did some surfing, too! We built sand castles and collected sea shells. Back at the house, we played games, sang, and had great food! Kolby had to fly out Friday night for work on Saturday but we were so glad he could be there. Saturday was Mariah's birthday! So we even had cake and presents and sang happy birthday! We love that girl and were so glad she could stay.

Saturday:

We left Sunday. Avery asked, "Why??" and that about summed up how much fun we had! We took a picture in front of the house and then drove and drove and drove and drove and drove some more! We had a picnic lunch in Barstow again and then splurged on a buffet dinner in St. George. We ran into some traffic and some snow. The babies did some crying and some throwing up, but overall the day went well. We made it home with beautiful new memories of being together.