A Thanksgiving to Remember

The Thanksgiving Break had arrived and we frantically packed the car Wednesday just as the snow started to fly. We left and it was a slow go the whole way north. We have learned that our van is very light, so it's not very good in the snow. We were safe for the most part, except for one scary part where we almost slid off the road, but luckily the tires started gripping again before we were too far to the right. Luckily for everyone, the weather got better around Snowville and continued to improve the further we got into Idaho.

We made it to Boise just in time to jump out of the car and run to the movie theatre to watch Frozen 2 with the Borups'. It was absolutely AMAZING and Claire was content to wander around the theater the whole time. It wasn't super packed, so we weren't too worried about her. After, we walked a block to see these amazing Christmas lights.

Who knew grapevines could be so pretty?

Afterwards, we ate dinner at Costa Vida. It was a fun night!

Greg had arranged for us to stay at his Aunt Gail and Uncle Dean's house, and they were as hospitable as they come! Sof kept calling Gail "Grandma" and it made my heart happy to see my girls so readily loved and welcome.

Uncle Dean built this Snow White cottage and it was absolutely adorable!!

I was very impressed with all of the little details!

Oh Claire, her range of emotion is pretty impressive. She went from shrieking on the swing ...

to having the time of her life on the trampoline.

Sof and Abby are the cutest little buddies. Abby stayed the night and the girls had so much fun playing together! It's cute little cousins like this that make me wish we lived closer together. It just means we will need to plan a trip up this summer.

Claire didn't sleep very well our first night, so she took a great nap on Thanksgiving Day. 

Greg's sweet Grandma turned 90 over Thanksgiving, which is why we were in Boise in the first place. Just about everyone was there, so the festivities were held in a church, which ended up being a lot of fun! Here is Claire cruising around the stage and inspecting all of the Balloons while Mark welcomes and introduces everyone.

The sweetest lady ever! We love her.

The kids were running around like crazy, and it was so fun to watch them run around the play together.

We bathed the girls in the awesome jetted tub at Gail and Dean's. We turned on the jets and I couldn't figure out where all of the bubbles were coming from. Turns out there was a bar of soap stuck on the filter. It was hilarious.

All the bubbles.

A giant Spjute family photo was scheduled to be taken the day after Thanksgiving at the Capitol. We made it there in time for me to attempt to take cute pictures of my girls. Sof is good at not cooperating. Claire isn't any better.

We went back to the church after to have some lunch. 

What would we do without Uncle Toby?

Someone was very smart to set up a coloring station for the kids.

After lunch, we had a few hours to ourselves. Greg went Christmas shopping on Black Friday while Claire attempted to nap and Sof and I watched some shows. Afterwards, we went swimming at the hotel where Greg's family was staying.

Afterwards we went back to the church for a devotional. Claire ran around like her crazy self in the back. It was manifest destiny to have the gathering in a church.

This was our last night in Boise, and Claire finally slept well.

Saturday, we packed and we drove to see Greg's Uncle Brian and Aunt Ann's new house in the middle of a mountain. It was a beautiful house and the girls had fun playing with the toys and spending some last minute time playing with their cousins they don't see often enough. Greg had bought some clay pigeons and I went out quickly to hit one - we both need to practice our shot. After, we inspected Brian's firetruck, then climbed in the car for the trip home.

I am not lying when I say we had a lot of fun and really enjoyed Thanksgiving this year. Greg has an amazing extended family and it is always fun to get together with them. I just wish we could do it more often.