Thanksgiving trip to Washington

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to make a trip to Washington where I have 5 sets of Aunts and Uncles. My mom and dad decided to meet us there too! I have to start by saying that I failed miserably at taking pictures on this trip. I don't know if it was the freezing cold temperatures that froze my brain, or the lazy feeling that came over me while being out in the country, but for some reason or another the camera just didn't make it out of the case much!

We made the trip in 2 days. On Wednesday we drove to Boise, Idaho and got a hotel for the night. We learned that driving about 5 child waking hours is just about all that Talan can tolerate! The roads were icy and in some places traffic was brutally slow and so I think stopping in Boise was a wise choice. Both for our safety and sanity! Thursday morning we woke up early and hit the road again. As we pulled into the Tri-cities we called my dad and he was just picking my mom up at the airport. It couldn't have been more perfect timing! We met them at the Pasco airport and then followed them to Uncle Scot and Aunt Lana's new home for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so much fun! There were so many people there and best of all, I didn't have to cook a dang thing! No pictures were taken and yes... I feel a terrible amount of guilt!

We drove out to Uncle Wade and Aunt Nancy's place to sleep. Our kids had SO MUCH FUN with their kids! They played and played and played. Even my clingy Talan was at ease! He fell in love with Casey! But what's not to love? She played and payed attention to him full time. This is EVERY 5th child in the family, 2 year old's dream come true!

Reagan and Lauren were in little girl heaven together! They sat down and wrote out lists of things they were going to do together. They then woke up the next day with lists in hand completing and checking off their things to do one by one! They played games on the computer, they played games on the Wii, they watched movies, they played in the snow, and we can't forget their matching hair do's! That was almost top on the list! SO CUTE AND SO FUN!

Bradon, Carsten and Justin were M.I.A. most of the time together. Or at least that's how it felt to the rest of us! We hardly saw them! No complaining, no fighting, just pure boy fun! Justin taught our boys a new game that they LOVE! It's called sock wrestling. Justin kicked their butts every time they played and they still loved it!

I enjoyed Nancy's commercial kitchen. Nancy is one amazing lady. Every morning at the crack of dawn she was out in the kitchen making up more candy. I learned some new tricks while watching her. She is my inspiration!

We had the opportunity to visit with Uncle Kim and Aunt Susan at their place. And then we went to Uncle Mark and Aunt Cindy's. Sweet Hannah is home from Seattle now while her Leukemia is in remission. The Make A Wish foundation came over and gave her her wish.
She wished for a movie room. They turned their garage into a room and then Make A Wish brought in a big flat screen T.V. with surround sound. They gave Hannah a huge stack of videos and a love sac. Not to mention a party! Hannah chose to have pizza and Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was fun to experience Hannah's Make A Wish with her.

David and I took the kids to Uncle Ron and Aunt Sally's house. In all the times I've been to Pasco, somehow I've never been to Sally's. So now I can envision where she lives. This is important for me. I know... Weird! But I love knowing where people live and SEEING where they live too. I feel more connected that way!

Our last night in Washington we stayed at Uncle Scot and Aunt Lana's house with my mom and dad.

And before my parents had to head to the airport and we had to hit the road we took a few pictures to document the occasion!

I have some wonderful parents! They don't get much better than these two! I wish we lived closer to them, or rather they lived closer to us!

We did a repeat of our trip up but in reverse order. We drove as far as Boise again, staying at the same hotel. However this time we stopped in and hung out with the Bradbeer's for a little while. Stephanie Bradbeer is my 2nd cousin and use to live by us when we live in Phoenix. It's been something like 9 years since we last saw them. Our kids enjoyed teaching their kids the new found game of sock wrestling and fun was had by all!

The next morning we got up and drove to the Boise State football stadium. Our boys wanted to see the SMURF TURF first hand! Unfortunately it was covered in snow!

They were in the process of plowing the snow off the field while we were there.

By the time we left you could see a little bit of BLUE!

Anyways, that was about it! I think we hit every rest stop from there to here on the way home and finally around 7:00 in the evening we arrived home safe and sound!
It was all in all a fun trip! Now we can just rest here at home and have a relaxing Christmas season since all of our holiday travels are out of the way.