Thanksgiving in Utah 2015

It's always fun to celebrate the holidays with family! We were glad we could make the long trek to Utah this year. We listened to two books in full there and back to help pass the time. We listened to "Navigating Early" on the way down and then we listened to "The Scarlet Pimpernel" on the way up. Austin likes to get in "the zone" with a good book to listen to. And these are definitely fun to listen to. We stayed in a hotel Monday night so we could break up the trip a little bit. We're glad we could stop in and see the Johns family. Wish we could be there longer! We always seem to sneak out too soon. The kids are so fun and we loved hanging out with them and also talking with AA and Gary.

We decided last minute to make the trek to Provo to watch the last BYU women's vball game and that was so fun! The first time for me. We ran into a good friend from Rexburg. It was great timing because she was about to move to Boise and start a new job there so it was fun to catch up. It was also timing to see her because just earlier Austin realized his keys weren't with him and ran to the car to see where they were and that's when he saw Maddie. We found out that we left our keys in the car with the door locked. Since Maddie lives in Provo, she went to go grab a wired hanger to see if we could pry it open. Finally we called campus security after a while who was nice enough to do it for free. We were blessed again as we driving home and we almost hit a deer but able to stop in time, scary!

Our sign that we were excited about it. 

The "real" Cosmo behind us. 

The next morning we just hung around a talked while the Davis family and Nate and Bec's family were arriving. That afternoon, Dad Doutre put together a fun competition game with the couples. There were 5 different stations and we had to complete each one in a certain time. One was doing so many puzzles, another was writing down all the apostles in order and first presidency of the seventy, another was a memorization test, another was a Disney contest (I failed hard core!) and another was an online trivia of where to put the correct state at on the map. It was really fun!


We watched the BYU basketball game that night and then made pies. I made a PB&J pie that was a new adventure. It actually tasted like a sandwich and it was pretty good!



Thursday was last minute preparations (I made a new sweet potato casserole). All the food was great. After our meal we gathered around the living and talked about things that we're grateful for this year. Austin mentioned the diversity that he gets to experience with those that he works with and how it brings a new perspective and great experience into his work/life atmosphere. I talked about how I was grateful for gospel learning and being able to take Institute and the class of Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel. I feel like I've learned more about Christ than I have in a long time. Every time I leave the class, I just get an extra boost.

Bree! Aka the fashionable one.

The soon to be newlyweds! 5 days as I write this!

Thanks Dani for capturing this. ;)

Highlight of my week was actually having this girl want to play with me. It was a rare and wonderful treat!!

Both men in the zone. 

Rough life. :)

Edie, as cute as ever! Just wish I got her scowl face too, just about as cute.

Ryan, Brigham, and Eden watching a show.

Friday, Cami and Sean headed off to Wyoming and Becca and Nate went to Park City where they were celebrating time with Becca's side of the family. It basically left Dani and I to chat it up for a while which I loved. Austin finished putting together the night stand that we have been wanting since we dug out the old wood from the dumpster in Rexburg two years ago. His Dad was so good to let him use his tools and help him with the project. It's lookin great! Dani, me, A, Bree, and Dani's kids decided we should go out for a dinner date while the parental units were also going out for dinner with some friends. They were nice enough to oblige me to go to Targets so I can buy some boots because I literally am at my last pair of closed toe shoes (that are getting a hole in the toe so it doesn't work).

Couldn't resist. Had to hold this baby as much as I could. So precious! Jorie Love.

I most definitely just woke up too. 

At it with the tools building the nightstand.

The next day we had to leave so we could get home at a decent time but of course it's the day that it snows! We wanted to make a trip to the Temple before we headed on the road and it was a blessing for sure. The amount of time it took for us to get to the Jordan River Temple and do initatories and then get back on the road, it was more slushy than icy. It was so nice to have Mom and Dad Doutre there with us as well. Thank goodness for The Scarlet Pimpernel to get us through. Books on tape are the best!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Doutre's!