Thanksgiving in Texas

Thanksgiving break is just a little too short for me to take a big vacation. So, we've embraced our distance from family and have enjoyed time with friends for many years. But this year I felt compelled to go to TX for Thanksgiving. First I decided to just go by myself so I could stay longer than the five-days that C got off school. But then I talked her into missing two days of school and going for the whole week. 

When I talked to my mom about coming out, she asked if I wanted to invite Brandon and Whitney to come, too. I told her that was a long way to travel over their short break, but I would ask. They said they wanted to come! They're awesome road trippers! When Andrew heard that everyone else would be there, he decided to take a couple days off work and join us. Woo hoo! I was so excited!

We picked up C from school on the Friday before

Thanksgiving and hit the road!

It's so fun to be driving west as the sunsets.

They seem to last forever!

We made it to Atlanta the first night.

We stopped at The Works, one of our fave

Atlanta spots to grab some yummy food.

Elotes for me!

Their fun Christmas decor outside.

We stayed the night just outside of Atlanta.

The next day, we found a fun coffee shop that sold

beignets in Louisiana. That was our quick fun stop

because we had a LONG day of driving.

Yummy yum yum.

Oh, and then we of course HAD to stop at Buc-ees

when we saw one!

It's also fun to see random roadside Christmas

displays when you road trip at this time of year.

Andrew had been looking for barbeque sunflower

seeds at every gas station throughout the trip,

but had been thwarted. He was SOOO excited

to find Stubbs flavored Bigs in Texas!

He bought two.

We made it to Aunt Irene and Uncle Bill's 

house on Saturday night.

It's always so great to see them and catch up.

Care Bear is always happy to see their dogs. :)

We were so happy to be able to go to church

with them on Sunday!

It was a nice service with fantastic music.

It was a short visit, but I was so happy

we could see them for a little while.

A better picture of the coveted 

sunflower seeds in the daylight.

We got another pretty sunset that evening.

Look at all of those birds!

What the heck?

Our next stop was in Midland to stay a couple

nights with Destiny, Robby, and their kids.

I did a terrible job taking pics of that part

of the visit. Their kids were still in school,

so they were still having their normal routines

as we crashed their place.

We did get to spend some time with Bubba and Destiny

while the girls were at school.

Big Bro and Little Bro were so happy to

see each other and had a great time hanging out.

Midland is home to the Permian Basic Petroleum Museum.

Of course we had to stop and visit.

We learned all about the amazing benefits

of petroleum. It felt a little like propaganda.

But they had some great exhibits, too.

They had an awesome rock collection.

Care Bear is a rock lover and was in heaven walking around there.

A little glimpse of downtown Midland.

Bubba loved hanging out with C,

even while she was catching up on her schoolwork.

We took Trinity and Bubba to a circus that

happened to be in town while we were there.

It even had three rings!

The talent was spectacular!

Of course we loved watching the aerialists!

They had two and they were both awesome.

They also had these three contortionist 

guys that we had seen on AGT,

Bone Breakers.

They're the type of act that are amazing,

but hard for me to watch.

Elephants

Little Bro and Big Bro

They had a performing CAT,

which I don't think I'd ever seen before.

She was pretty impressive.

A trapeze artist being pulled by a motorcycle

The classic man being shot out of a cannon.

Boom!

There he goes!

This one is always the craziest for me:

how do those guys riding their motorcycles

in that little ball not kill or hurt themselves???

It was a mostly fun afternoon.

Trini got sad because I didn't buy her all the things

that the people were walking around selling.

Also, the tickets to the show were super affordable.

But then they are a HIGH pressure sales circus.

They try to get you to buy every little additional thing:

toys, light-up sticks, tickets to ride the elephant, tickets

to get your picture taken with the performers, coloring books.

Sheesh, people. We just want to watch the show!

The girls still had school on the days we were there,

but we had some quality time with lil bro.

Midland is The Tall City,

perfect for Andrew. :)

They have a cool library,

with fun murals painted on the side.

Aren't they gorgeous?

This was supposed to be my model pose.

Andrew and Caroline laughed at that attempt. Ha!

Always practicing.

Love the front of the building

with all of these book spines.

Then it was time for Big Bro and lil bro to say bye.

George W. Bush grew up in Midland.

We stopped by his childhood home,

but didn't actually pay to go inside.

Then we walked through a super

fun Christmas store!

After that, we drove up to Abilene.

We met at the movie theater and got

to watch The Chosen together. So good!

We tried to play rummy with Grandma

a couple of times. She doesn't remember

how to play, so we've thrown the rules

out the window. She kicked our butts

playing by her own rules. Ha!

We got to meet some cousins!

We had brunch together at Mom and Dad's house.

They were super nice.

We took Grandma out for ice cream.

Our AirBnb was super cute,

but the ceilings were LOW.

Andrew's head was ceiling fan height.

Yikes!

The next day was Thanksgiving and the big kids

got here from Utah! Hooray! They are SO NICE

to drive all this way to spend a day with us! Loved it!

Shenanigans with a duck on a bike. :)

We helped Gigi cook Thanksgiving dinner.

Yum.

It was a great meal!

We took the kids to the prairie dog park afterward.

I love them!

Then we had to get our traditional

stunt pictures. Love watching 

my kids do feats of strength!

These monkey bars created some 

fun opportunities!

Look at these crazy kids!

This was the one that really blew my mind.

How is she strong enough to hold

him up off the ground????

Whit had fun chasing flocks of birds.

Our visit with the big kids was way too short.

We got together Friday morning and went

to an arcade.

Took 2nd and 3rd on Space Invaders.

Got a bunch of tickets and bought random stuff,

including a giant memory game.

And a gummy "taco" that was just stuffed

with every random leftover gummy in the factory.

And before we knew it,

it was time to hit the road to get home.

Boo!

Not enough time!

The new cousin that we met told us that his

brother just opened up a coffee shop in Arlington.

It was right on our way, so we stopped.

It was so cute and yummy!

It was a fantastic little stop.

Unfortunately, our cousin had already left for the day,

so we didn't get a chance to meet him.

Saw a few more random Christmas lights 

on the way home.

And a replica statue of liberty.

Got to stop at another Buc-ees!

My car hit 20000 miles!

In seven months!

Sheesh...

After a quick stay in Meridian, MS,

we made it to Charlotte the next night.

Andrew had a coordinating council meeting there the next day, so we got him a hotel there and dropped him off. He rode home with someone from the Greensboro stake after his meetings on Sunday.

I'm so happy we could make this trip and see so many family members. I'm especially grateful that we could spend time with Grandma Cuca. Her cognitive abilities continue to decline and she needed to move into a memory care facility not long after our visit. While I loved this visit, I wouldn't want to do it again. It was too much driving in a short amount of time. I think next year, we'll stay put for Thanksgiving and save our big road trips for the summer.