Thanksgiving Day and Leila's 7th Birthday

The kids are all tucked in the king sized bed down the hall. Baby Joy is sleeping in the port a crib in her grandpa's office. I just finished reading a novel. Sam is downstairs finishing up an old movie with his parents. It has been a wonderful day.

Leila, Amelia and Lucy

       We drove to Utah yesterday arriving last night. The drive was quite uneventful compared with our last trip to Utah (stomach flu, wrong sized chains, windshield wiper fluid that froze up due to the CA regulations, the snow, waiting at the SLC airport for a flight that was severely delayed... but we sure missed having Grandma Burgoyne with us for this trip) we did have to chain up over the pass, but even that was comparatively easy. When we got to the snow I was under the impression that all the kids had fallen asleep because I hadn't heard them in a while, well minus Leila because she rarely falls asleep in the car. Then I heard Lucy say, "I like the small ones". I asked her what she meant by that and she said that she liked "the small Christmas trees". The girls then excitedly chattered about how beautiful it was outside. It is at times like those that I especially love being a mom to these lovely girls. I loved hearing their excitement over the natural beauty that surrounded us.

Restaurant on the way to Utah

         So today was Leila's birthday. We celebrated it on Monday with a birthday party and opening gifts. Grandma made pumpkin pancakes with cinnamon apples and whipped cream. Seven candles were placed in a stack of small pancakes and we got to sing to her. Leila enthusiastically told us this evening that the pumpkin pancakes were her favorite part of the day. I sure love my Leila and can hardly believe that she is seven years already. She is a sweetheart.
         For Thanksgiving dinner we went to Aunt Tamra's. I was told that there were 64 people there- amazing! It was delicious and great   fun to catch up with the Swenson side of the family. It has been a great weekend. I am so glad that we made the trip out here even if it was just for a quick long weekend. So sad that I did not take pictures though.... I guess that is typical of me...oh well.