As mentioned in my last post.....I took my three girls and drove to Utah to spend some time with family. My mother had been in the hospital a couple of times recently and that was enough excuse for me to make a trip. T tried to get time off work and couldn't get enough days in a row, so the guys stayed home. We left Friday afternoon right as soon as the kids got out of school on a half day and stopped in Laramie for the night. It was bitter cold there (talkin 11 degrees without the wind chill which was frigid) and so we were anxious to finish up dinner and get back to the hotel for a dip in the pool and hot tub before heading to the room for movie watching. It sure was a nice way to break up the drive and we got to my parents house without being too tired of driving.
And we made it with time to spare before we hit the annual Palmer Family Christmas Party. I miss it every year as we never go to Utah during the holidays and when we do they have it scheduled for early January or something goofy like that. So it worked out great that I had the chance to see cousins, aunts and uncles, and every Palmer under the sun that I haven't seen in like....forever. My dad comes from a large family who had tons of kids so there is always tons of people there. However, that was not all of them....I would say maybe half.
**Told you there are a lot of us!
**Number 1 on the agenda....food....Mexican!
*a niece and her son
* Another niece with her husband and son
*and a nephew with his wife and son
*2 of my aunts
*the funniest uncle you could ever have...never would guess he was a BYU professor!
*Uncle Gary......Aunt Mary Lou......the best dad ever! (Sadly we have lost the other 3 siblings over the years)
*out of all those millions of cousins I only have ONE my exact age......Paige
*there are 3 sets of twins in my cousins...here are the ones I played with the most when young....Heidi and Holly!
*all my cousins that were there.... we are missing about 16 more!!
Yea.....told you, there are a lot of us Palmer's out there and they are the best family ever. We had dinner before we had a trip down memory lane about our grandparents and then Bingo. It was fun to visit and catch up. Some of my nieces and nephews were there as well.........my girls were bored stiff as they knew only them. Thank goodness for their own cousins!
It was a nice evening and best yet, is that it was at my parents church building so we had to only go around the corner to get home. Awwwwwww bed!
We had a great time doing some shopping to finish up Christmas gifts and eating out at restaurants that we do not have at home.....In N Out Burger, Crown Burger, Brick Oven and we can't forget the world famous Utah Noodle and Farr's Ice Cream Parlor!!!!
We spent one day in downtown Salt Lake with my niece and her little boy. We loved hanging out with them for the day. We went to the new Natural History Museum and had a blast watching Percy get so excited about the things around him.
We stopped for lunch and a quick trip to the cemetery to see my father-in-laws new headstone.
Then it was on to Deseret Book for shopping and to Temple Square. The bookstore had a cookie baking machine in the window and we even got to have one of those yummy gingerbread men.
My parents and Percy's dad met us down there later to see the lights. Meanwhile, I was determined to "accidentally" run into my niece (Percy's aunt) who is a missionary on Temple Square since summer. I am sure it was not right, but after all, I was there as a tourist and who says I can't happen to see her there....am I suppose to turn and run if I were to see her??? Anyway, we got lucky and found her in the North Visitors Center and had a great talk with her after the tears were shed. She was even able to see my parents before her and the companion had to leave for another assignment.
We headed upstairs to the Christus and into "God's Plan". It was so great....the hustle and bustle of people everywhere but still the spirit was ever present. How can anyone not feel something here at Temple Square.....it is one of my most favorite places here in UT.
We headed outside to watch the Nativity and then walk around to see the lights and take pictures. So pretty and my family was getting tired of my "tourist" ways with my camera.
The Reflecting Pool was gorgeous with the Nativity in the center and the floating lights all around them. And the temple reflecting off the water......so wonderful!
I wanted to get a pix of the temple from up by the Church Office Building and when I ran up there with J, there were many different nativities around. So I sent J back down to get the others so they could see them.
We had a great time and I really didn't want to leave, but it was pretty cold and everyone else was ready for dinner, so we had to leave. But it was the best night ever......being with my girls, my parents, and some extended family. Only thing that would have made it better was to have my 2 guys with me. It was fun to see my missionary niece and also I ran into a sister missionary we had in our home ward that we loved. It was a good night.
Since my mom hasn't been home lately and my dad has been taking care of her....there was no Christmas tree up in their house, so we decorated for them and that sure made us feel happy. I know it made my mom happy too. We even added a couple of presents to go under the tree after it was finished.
It was fun to see some old decorations that I remember from my youth.......like this was the tree topper for so many years.....
Kind of a strange topper I know, but it has good memories. And we can not forget "Blinkie"......
This has been under our tree since my parents were married 57 years ago. It is tradition and that is why I have had a blinking snowman under my tree since I have been married.
And then there are these.........
I laughed so hard when I pulled them out and my girls were like "What are these?" My Uncle Dave made those for our family one year. The best part of them is that they are two sided and they have our backsides as well.....
Totally funny and I just had to add them to the tree once again in memory of my favorite uncle on the McKay side of the family.
We had a great time with my parents....I really needed that "MOM" fix. And the time away from all the responsiblities of my life. It wasn't long enough and I left the day my sister was coming so I missed getting to see her. But I saw a lot of family and didn't even try to get with friends this trip...wanted it to be all about family (sorry friends....still love you all) I missed my guys but knew I would be with them for Christmas. We were lucky as home had 2 big snowstorms while we were gone and it was sunny and mostly dry all the way home the day before Christmas Eve. I know we were blessed so that we could be together on Christmas.
*it's tradition to get a pix under the Christmas tree.....too bad it was the morning we left and we didn't look our best
Thanks mom and dad for a great time.....as usual. Love you! Glad we could be with you and MOM....stay out of the hospital!!!! Get better and be happy! Best parents EVER....just sayin!
