a michigander turkey day.

this year for turkey day we headed down to:

poor justin has not been home on this holiday for 12 years...football schedules, work, and prices have all had their hand in foiling his holiday plans. but this year a true miracle occurred when we found $117 round trip tickets ($135 after tax)...told you a miracle had occurred!

we have not seen round trip tickets to Michigan for that price EVER.

delta...thank you for dropping your prices for the one day we booked on. you made my husband a happy happy man...although I think it was more blessing than luck...we know Heavenly Father must have had more to do with this one than delta!

so justin got a week off cleared and we hit the road...air.

we discovered how easy travel is with kids that are no longer babies. you have to pack so much less, they can walk, be entertained by a DVD player, color, and yet are still young enough to pass out before we even leave the runway (ali on the return flight).

justin calls me a weather snob...what can I say a childhood in san diego ruined me for all other weather. so I will first say...it was cold.cold.cold. but the fun we had with family balanced all that teeth chattering out. actually the only day that was horribly cold was the day were supposed to see this guy...

play his last college game. gee jeff, could you look a little more intimidating? luckily justin is fully aware of my pansy-ness and opted to have ali and I stay home and away from the freezing temps. good thing to, he called me a few minutes in and said even he (who shovels snow in shorts) was freezing and ali would have been a mess there...not to mention me.

but cole and justin braved the elements and stayed to support jeff and ....

(central michigan)

and watch jeff...who is huge...play. cole was a trooper (with 15 layers of clothes on) and loved the time with daddy and family.



this is not from the game they watched but it illustrates how fun jeff is to watch!

we had a fun filled week. ali and cole were obsessed with everyone there and soaked in every minute. their cousins katie and kyle are their new favorite people. they played adorable together...especially cole and kyle...total BFF's. It was so fun to watch them all run around together.

we headed to battle creek for the actual turkey day festivities, with the extended fam. which is where uncle jordan and papa were finally able to win ali over. from that day on she was obsessed with them both.

cole was attached to nana's side the whole time.

justin got to meet up with his high school pals aaron and ryan. it was fun to see him reminisce and hear all the hilarious stories.

cole loved every minute of having a backyard to play in. even if there were no kids out there with him he was totally content. this is how I know he has his father in him...he loved being outside in the freezing cold. it was so cute to watch him through the windows exploring and just being a total boy.

we had a wonderful time. we saw Tangled (adorable), got to go to a real mall (we are deprived here in st. george), and curled up watching movies while eating warm cinnamon rolls, or fresh from the oven cookies. with a few bouts of the flu being the only down side (12 hour bug)...it was pretty much a fabulous vacation.

cole hated to leave nana, and ali's last words to papa were "tell me a story". it was adorable. we wish we could see them more often...so basically bring on those $117 tickets anytime!



my only regret? we didn't bring the camera...hopefully we get some pictures emailed to us soon!

we miss you already!