Thanksgiving

Well, if you haven't noticed by now, I've been a lazy blogger. I really don't know where my time has gone. I feel like all I do is sleep, run around, sleep, pick up or drop off kids, sleep, work, prepare food, sleep, work...are you noticing a pattern yet? And with the holiday season upon us, it makes it even more hard for me to keep up.

I think a quick summary of our Thanksgiving is due for reporting. This is year we spent it here in town with Kerry's side of the family in conjunction with his big family reunion. We had reservations at the Switchback Grille in Springdale (entrance to Zion Nat. Park) for our turkey dinner. Upon entering Springdale, we were greeted with this gorgeous, wet scenery. It started to rain that morning and rained for most of the day.

When we arrived at the restaurant we were surrounded by hoards of people. People who still hadn't been seated for their reservation. Our somewhat quiet and quaint restaurant that we've frequented before in the past, has now become a three-ring circus. Our little secret was out and there was no backing out now. I believe they overbooked the place and we were forced to stand in the buffet line for more than 25 minutes! How crazy is that? Oh, I forgot to mention it was $26 per adult and $13 per child to eat. And somehow we ended up on banquet chairs and tables instead the nice long solid wood tables and high back chairs in the dining room. The food ended up being so-so, but when all was said and done I think we all ended up having a good time.

Do any of you recognize this man in this picture? It's Elder Jeffrey R. Holland...!!! If he could handle what we had to deal with at the restaurant, then I'm sure I could too. This is my friend, Kandi giving him a hug. She was fortunate about 9 yrs. ago to have him give her premature son a blessing while they were at the Primary Children's Medical center in Salt Lake. You can say they go "way back". I was glad I was able to capture this shot from my cell phone. And she was so happy to know I got this too. I was glad to have seen him in person. As you can see, he was dressed like an average man, he was very down to earth and cordial with those he came in contact with. It was fun to see him scramble around the parking lot outside making sure all of his family made it to their cars. He's one Apostle I truly adore!

After dinner, my sister in-law Jen, took a big family picture of all of us with Zion National Park as our backdrop. I frolicked around the surrounding area capturing anything that represented Fall to me. I found this tree with the most vibrant yellow leaves. I'm sure the rain had everything to do with it. The yellow was so pretty.I have also captured a few shots of the leaves on the trees that shade the parking lot of the St. George Temple. I love how the rain turned the bark of the tree really dark...almost black and that the branches look almost like veins with yellowy softness on the ends.This picture made me realize that Christmas wasn't too far off. The mountains at their highest point were topped with a light layer of snow. It looked so heavenly with the low-lying clouds that softened the mountains. I'm thankful that I live in such a beautiful area with the different colors of nature that surround me each day. And I'm grateful for the time we spent with family. It was a beautiful Thanksgiving day in more ways than one.