Thanksgiving in St. George

I love my job for many reasons, one of which is that I can set my own schedule for the school year. So I decided I won't hold class AT ALL the week of Thankgiving so we could spend more time in St. George with my family (9 whole days). Every one of my siblings and their families were there, and it was such a blast! :)Monday night, we had family home evening with my parents and Steve's family. Here's Emily, Katrina, Allison, and Amanda playing the opening song. Steve even taught us the actions to some primary songs. (yeah, he and I are A LOT alike)

Then after the lesson, we all enjoyed Wade's famous no-bake cookies.
On Thanksgiving day, we decided we had to get a picture of Whitney and Alex saying, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!" hehe
Wade and Austin hanging out
Ruthanne, Margaret, and my mom working hard in the kitchen
I promise I was helping, too. I just took a quick break to snap some pictures, hence the reason I'm rarely in the pictures on our blog. You know how it goes! ;)
Lizzie and the beautiful Thankgiving spread set up behind her Steve and Jason

Ruthanne, Austin, and my dad watching Wade play "airplane" with Jonny

Funny story about the clown outfit Jonny's wearing...My mom bought it at DI as an extra just in case any grandkids have accidents at her house. It's the cheesiest outfit, and when Emily was playing dress-up with her cousins, Jonny found this outfit in the closet and brought it upstairs so we could put it on him.

Nick and Ruthanne talking while Preston is just chillin'

All week, Jonny wanted to climb a tree, just like the big boys. Wade finally gave in and helped him get up in the tree so he coudl feel "so big" for a 1/2 hour or so. It was the highlight of the week for my 2 year old!

After giving thanks for all of our many blessings, we helped Grandma get ready for Christmas. :)

It really was an incredible week being with the Lang family, and it was one I will never forget because it was then that I heard my friend, John Jones, died after being trapped in the Nutty Putty Cave. Our families go way back since our moms became friends at BYU nursing school. They worked together for years as home health nurses, and we had dinner and family home evening with their family a few times.

We all went to the same schools, and I had the biggest crush on John in middle school. I think he means so much to me still to this day because of the way he treated me, during my most challenging years, when I had such a low self-esteem, feeling ugly, chubby, awkward, and different. He was just the type of guy EVERYONE respected and admired because of his kind nature.

His older sister, Cherie', has been one of my dearest friends since the college married ward when we served in the Relief Society Presidency together. And the hardest part of the weekend was trying to decide whether to leave my family and drive back up north early so I could be there for her at the funeral. I asked Carolynn and Summer for advice, since they have both lost a family member, and they said that she may need me more later on after things have quieted down. So I went to spend the day with her two weeks later. I think we both needed that visit. We had a really good talk and shared testimony of how we know we WILL see John again. She's amazing to me how she's clinging to her Savior and her testimony of Him at this time. I love you Cherie'!