Thanksgiving Travels

Last Monday we traveled to West Jordan to spend the holiday with Brien's side of the family. Zarina had a hard time sleeping that first night, so Tuesday we spent our free time napping. We went to the temple with Brien's parents that night. We had forgotten our bag with church clothes in it, so Brien borrowed a shirt from his dad and I, fortunately, found a skirt at Sears for $8.

Wednesday was a small shopping day. That evening the siblings came together to eat pie and move some tables downstairs for the feast the next day. Zarina enjoyed playing with her cousins. Reese was walking around with a binky and thought Zarina should have one too. She found one on the floor and gave it to Zarina. My baby didn't quite know what to do with it. Z just kind of chewed on it. She definitely prefers her thumb.


Thursday felt a bit hectic with over 30 people in the house, but it was still nice to have so much family gathered together. Zarina decided to become a picky eater. I'm really not sure if she stopped eating because she was full, or she was just tired of eating.

Friday Brien and I got up a little early and showed up at Sears around 7:00am. We also went by Barnes & Noble (just for the Starbucks), TJ Maxx, Old Navy, and Target. We were able to find a few good deals for presents. The best part for us was being able to find deals on things that we need. Usually when we go out of town for purchases what we need isn't on sale, and we don't have the luxury to wait for a sale. We spent too much money, but feel happy with our purchases. On Friday we also had our third day of family togetherness. We had lunch with Brien's family (minus the other kids, we were allowed to bring Zarina) at the Little America. We were running just a few minutes late, then we made a wrong turn and because of one-way streets in downtown SLC it took a few more minutes to get to our location. We parked at the hotel and made our way through the hotel to the dining area. By this time we were about 10 or 15 minutes late. To our surprise we couldn't find the family in the restaurant. After a few minutes of confusion and asking the host if there was another restaurant, the host at the Grand America suggested that perhaps we were supposed to meet at the Little America across the street. After we were at the right hotel it was easy to find the family. We so late at that point. It was a buffet and most everyone had finished there first plate of food and some were on the second.

Friday afternoon we visited Grandma and Grandpa Unger. Zarina was well behaved and didn't cry when grandma held her. Brien was able to put up Grandma's tree while Zarina tried to escape and find the stairs.


Saturday morning we left Zarina in her Grandma's care while we looked at cabinet options at Lowe's. I was also able to visit Gardiner Village for the first time. We enjoyed a few pastries and found a present for Brien's parents. We bought them a quilt, and liked it so much that we got one for us as well.

As we finally headed back to Ely on Saturday afternoon it felt like a very long week. We were tired for the first half of the drive. When we turned south at Wendover we had an unhappy baby in the back who kept us awake for the next 45 minutes. By then we could see the lights of Ely. It's nice to be back home and able to get back to our regular routine.