Thanksgiving Down South
When Mumsie Bush flew to Singapore in mid November to help Chelsea with the new baby, our Thanksgiving plans shifted from driving to Logan for the weekend, to hosting Dad, Tasha and Gabe here in St. George instead! They arrived the day before Thanksgiving and we enjoyed an evening at the Riding house gathered around the fire in the backyard and roasting mallows.
Dan's parents had just returned from a mission in Guam the week prior, so we didn't get to spend Thanksgiving day with the Ridings, but lo and behold that morning we had a surprise visit from a darling little Indian and a pilgrim! Daddy and Burke were the master chefs in the kitchen and I offered moral support as Burke gutted our very first turkey! Look how lovely it turned out!
I loved having my family down in our little apartment, sharing the things they were thankful for as we passed the food around the table. It was delicious and just as we were settling down to a nice football game, Dad called the golf course and set up a tee time!
While Gabe and Tasha napped, Daddy, Burke and I played nine holes at Dixie Red Hills. The weather was perfect and we were able to play at our leisure with no one behind or in front of us the entire game! As we made it to the green on the third hole we saw a group of about 8 deer up against the red rocks only a hundred yards away with the moon still showing in the sky above the cliff ledge. Beautiful. I think Thanksgiving golfing may have to be a new tradition.
The next day we drove to Zions where we did a nice short hike to Emerald Pools. The water certainly wasn't very emerald, but we had a great time talking on the way up with Lydia hiding every 50 yards to jump out and growl at Gabe, Burke or Grandpa! My favorite part of the hike was playing trivia on the way down from Gabe's little world fact book. I'm sure the other hikers thought we were nuts as we shouted out "Oman! No, Egypt! Ireland?!" Every few questions Lydia would throw in, "Africa!" just to be a part of the game. 
On a side note, the week prior Burke and I went to Zions with his good buddies Todd and Kent to hike Angles Landing. We didn't do the last 1/2 mile on the chains because both Burke and I are afraid of heights and I didn't want to be anywhere near the edge of the cliff. As it turns out, the day we hiked with the family, Angels Landing had a ton of people on top and a woman accidentally fell 1000 feet to her death. It gives me cold chills just thinking about it and I am so grateful that our family was safe on our little hike.
Other highlights of the visit included a night out for Chinese food with my Aunt Maryanne (Dad's baby sis) and Uncle Glenn's family, an early morning session at the temple where Burke and I got to be the witness couple, Black Friday shopping with Gabie, and ME kicking bootay at Boggle. Burke and I also had a lot of fun having Gabe sleep at our house so we could watch weird Red Box movies together each night. Thanks again Bushbunch for making the long drive and making our Thanksgiving such a special time!
Dan's parents had just returned from a mission in Guam the week prior, so we didn't get to spend Thanksgiving day with the Ridings, but lo and behold that morning we had a surprise visit from a darling little Indian and a pilgrim! Daddy and Burke were the master chefs in the kitchen and I offered moral support as Burke gutted our very first turkey! Look how lovely it turned out!
I loved having my family down in our little apartment, sharing the things they were thankful for as we passed the food around the table. It was delicious and just as we were settling down to a nice football game, Dad called the golf course and set up a tee time!
While Gabe and Tasha napped, Daddy, Burke and I played nine holes at Dixie Red Hills. The weather was perfect and we were able to play at our leisure with no one behind or in front of us the entire game! As we made it to the green on the third hole we saw a group of about 8 deer up against the red rocks only a hundred yards away with the moon still showing in the sky above the cliff ledge. Beautiful. I think Thanksgiving golfing may have to be a new tradition.
The next day we drove to Zions where we did a nice short hike to Emerald Pools. The water certainly wasn't very emerald, but we had a great time talking on the way up with Lydia hiding every 50 yards to jump out and growl at Gabe, Burke or Grandpa! My favorite part of the hike was playing trivia on the way down from Gabe's little world fact book. I'm sure the other hikers thought we were nuts as we shouted out "Oman! No, Egypt! Ireland?!" Every few questions Lydia would throw in, "Africa!" just to be a part of the game.
On a side note, the week prior Burke and I went to Zions with his good buddies Todd and Kent to hike Angles Landing. We didn't do the last 1/2 mile on the chains because both Burke and I are afraid of heights and I didn't want to be anywhere near the edge of the cliff. As it turns out, the day we hiked with the family, Angels Landing had a ton of people on top and a woman accidentally fell 1000 feet to her death. It gives me cold chills just thinking about it and I am so grateful that our family was safe on our little hike.
Other highlights of the visit included a night out for Chinese food with my Aunt Maryanne (Dad's baby sis) and Uncle Glenn's family, an early morning session at the temple where Burke and I got to be the witness couple, Black Friday shopping with Gabie, and ME kicking bootay at Boggle. Burke and I also had a lot of fun having Gabe sleep at our house so we could watch weird Red Box movies together each night. Thanks again Bushbunch for making the long drive and making our Thanksgiving such a special time!
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