NaBlogPoMo 2009

Lights on Temple Square

Today is Monday, Nov. 30th - the last day of November and that means I did it!  I reached my goal of posting everyday in November.  Thanks to all of you who played along and acutally read each of the posts.  And a bigger thank you to those of you who left comments - especially my top commenters Tamara and Emily.  I appreciate all of you!!

To finish up the month I need to finish out our Utah trip.

Friday, after the movie and dinner the Jim Wilkes family headed up to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square which had just been turned on that night.  Tessa had  never seen them.  In attempts to be more green and environmentally conscious the display is not nearly as large or grand as it has been in years past but it is still beautiful.

There is a very sweet nativity presentation too between the Tabernacle and the Visitor's Center that we watched.

and I especially loved the floating lights on the reflection pool across the street from Temple Square.

Also, I loved the lumineres that lined the sidewalks by the church office building.  They all had Christmas words (joy, peace, love etc.) punched in them in all different languages.

But of course the best part was being there with these people!!

The weather was great - chilly but not too cold.  Afterwards we went to Hatch Family Chocolates  up in the Avenues of Salt Lake and enjoyed some amazing hot chocolate.  It was just like drinking a melted candy bar.  Jim chose peppermint ice cream instead!! 

Saturday was game day!  The boys and Cali went to the big U of U/BYU football which BYU won!! I chose to check out a few quilt shops instead! The game went into overtime so the boys didn't arrive at the Blazer/Jazz game in Salt Lake until half time. I met them at the freeway entrance with a bag of McDonalds - and they headed up to Salt Lake.   Unfortunately the Blazers lost that one.

All the girls got together while all the Wilkes men were at the Blazer/Jazz game at Emily's  We ordered in pizza and Bajio and had a fun craft night together.  We learned how to solder and made some cute necklaces from glass and wire - so fun!  Thanks Emily!!

A fun day!  I even got some Christmas shopping done!!

Home Safe and Sound

We made it home safe and sound in about 12 hours!  It was an easy trip with great weather.  We were so blessed to have sunny weather coming and going.

It's good to be home but I am missing these faces already!!

We had a wonderful time!

A special thank you to David and Tricia for always making us feel so comfortable and welcome and to Tricia for all her hard work to create an amazing Thanksgiving dinner!  Tricia is always a great shopping companion too.

Thanks to Eric for letting us use his bedroom and to Eryn for letting Tessa and Cali invade her space!

Thank you to Wynn and Emily for letting us borrow their car to Salt Lake and to Emily for hosting a fun dinner and craft night!!  And for their continued love and kindness to our children!

We loved seeing the Wynn Wilkes family too and thanks for a fun basketball game!

Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Wilkes for driving down to spend the time with all of us and to Grandpa Wilkes for great hugs - I love his big bear hugs the best!!

Thanks to BYU for pulling through and winning on Saturday (we wish the Blazers had done the same!)

Black Friday

Jim and I ventured out to make one purchase on Black Friday.  I have been eyeing the Cricut Inspiration machine for a while - for those of you who don't know what it is - it is a machine that cuts different shapes out of paper - great for scrapbooking, posters, banners, etc.  I have some fun plans for it on my party blog so stay tuned!

Thanks to a Black Friday sale at Roberts and Grandma Wilkes' Christmas money I am now the proud owner of one!  Now I just need to figure out how to use it!

Friday afternoon all the Wilkes men and two women (Mikala and Cecelia) had a family basketball game over at the church.  It was the Wynn Wilkes family agains the Jim and David Wilkes family.  The Wynn Wilkes showed up in uniform thinking they would intimidate the other team but it didn't work!  We won!

They did look pretty fancy in their uniforms though - I think Micah wins the prize for the most stylish!

And then Wynn's headband was pretty sweet - it says Pooh and Friends on it and it is actually the elastic waistband from a pair of underwear - way to repurpose Wynn!!

They even let our old man into the game for a few minutes!

Clark couldn't play because his knee is messed up - he's going to the doctor to have it check out next week!

I think my favorite photo I took is this one of Eric doing his little ballet leap!

After the basketball game we munched on leftovers for lunch and then went to the movies.  A group of the girl cousins went to see New Moon (a repeat for several of them) and 9 boy cousins and Jim and I went to see Blindside.  I HIGHLY recommend this movie.  It is one of the best I have seen in a long time.

I must admit I am rather partial to one of the main character's names - the one played by Sandra Bullock - her name is Leigh Anne - spelled the right way.

It is definitely a feel good movie and will move you to tears.  It was Logan's second time seeing it and he cried again.  Of course Jim cried through most of it - go see it!

After the movie Grandma and Grandpa treated us to dinner at Five Guys Burgers and Fries.  Our family then headed up to Salt Lake to see the lights of Temple Square as Tessa had never seen them before - pictures of that posted soon!