This year we spent Thanksgiving with my family. We had 8 days - we spent the first in Las Vegas with my parents then went to Cedar City for 3 days. We stayed with my sister Jenny and her family. While we were there we did a lot of hiking.
Our first day we went with Cam and their 3 oldest sons to Yankee Meadow. Even though it is quite close to our family cabin it was the first time any of us had been there - and it was quite spectacular.
The next day Ryan and I went hiking at Three Peaks, which is pretty much right in Cedar City. I guess it was more a walk and climbing around on huge boulders, but we had a good time. We also spent some time driving around Cedar City so Ryan could reminisce about his mission (Cedar was his last area) and just hanging out with Cam and Jenny and their family.
We met my parents in St. George the next day to hike around in Snow Canyon. On our way to meet them I decided to try calling one of my closest friends form high school, Krissie. I hadn't seen her since I got home from my mission and had only talked to her on the phone a couple times. I wasn't actually expecting her to answer the phone but miraculously she did. She lives in St. George (hence the idea to try calling her) and she was actually home, so we stopped by to visit for a few minutes while we waited to meet up with my parents. It was so great to see her.
My grandparents lived in St. George almost all my life. I visited them a lot, and passed through St. George a ton. But I had never even heard of Snow Canyon. I couldn't believe it - it is amazing. We loved hiking there. We'll go back again I am sure.
Thanksgiving was great - lots of super tasty food and tons of people and chaos - normal for my huge family. Since we were ALL together we also did family pictures. I'm not sure when we will ever be all together again. We've had everyone together for most holidays,b ut our family is getting BIG and peple are moving and leaving on missions, so we shall see. Hopefully we'll get everyone together again soon.
Ryan and I looked up a bunch of different activities to do in Las Vegas during the days following Thanksgiving. We took some of my family along on our adventures, but it turns out a lot of the things were closed for the holidays, which I wasn't expecting (even nature preserves). So that was disappointing. But we still had a good time.
All in all, it was a great trip.
