Thanksgiving

Just a few days after we returned from our cruise we left again to drive back to St. George for Thanksgiving and then on to Las Vegas for Britton's soccer tournament.  The weather reports were not good for travel and I can honestly say that if Britton's team wasn't depending on him for the tournament we would have canceled the trip altogether!

It was a white knuckle drive through Sardine Canyon. There were several cars off the road and conditions were absolutely terrible. I was very thankful to make it through without incident. We were ahead of most of the traffic on Wednesday so after we made it through Sardine it was smooth sailing the rest of the way.

Bethany hosted Thanksgiving dinner at her home in St. George.

Britton, Korinne and Jenna playing cards with cousins.

There is never a shortage of people when the family gets together!

Traditional Thanksgiving food picture. 😀

Adam with 2 of his brothers, Stephen and Micah.

Dessert!

We originally thought that I would just take Britton to the tournament in Vegas and Adam would stay in St. George with the kids for the weekend, but after only 1 day in St. George it was obvious that AJ was too overwhelmed to stay with the big crowds so we changed our plans. Adam and I took Jameson ,AJ and Britton with us to the tournament (Jameson doesn't do well without either parent around) and the 5 of us spent 3 nights at a hotel about 2 blocks off the Vegas strip for a VERY COLD and WINDY soccer tournament.

Did I mention it was cold? Yeah, it was.

Britton's club soccer team is really good, but once we saw the schedule we knew it was going to be an uphill battle. They were placed in the Gold division and were playing teams that were ranked #6 in the entire country!

We were pretty excited when they won their first game on Friday morning.

Britton in action.

It was cold, but the boys still swam every day we were there. Thank goodness for the swimming pool!

Britton's team lost their next 3 games, but they played some really tough teams so I think they were happy with their tournament.

Most of the boys on the team have been playing together for over 10 years so it was the end of an era for them. Britton was brought in just this last year so we were the newbies to the team.

On Saturday Adam and I left Britton with the boys in the hotel for about an hour while we walked down the strip to see the fountain show in front of the Bellagio. Adam had never been to Vegas so it was all new to him. I have been to Vegas a few times with the K-1 crew, but we don't spend very much time on the strip when we go. I will say that the one advantage to going when it is super cold is that all of the show girls walking around were definitely more covered up! I appreciated that!

The New York Hotel

It was a longer walk than we thought and we almost turned back because we were worried about leaving the boys for so long (they were having a tough time), but we made it.  Adam had zero expectations so I think he was pleasantly surprised and the scale and scope of the show. 

Bellagio Fountain Show

 Britton's last game was late Saturday night.  I stayed back at the hotel with the boys for that one. It was cold and dark and the boys just couldn't sit through any more games.  With the cruise being the week before it was just too overwhelming for them to be out of their environment and comfort zones for so long. They really struggled and were either fighting, crying, or complaining. We were anxious to be on our way so we got up bright and early Sunday morning and hit the road. We made it to St. George to pick up the girls and go to a Sacrament meeting and then we started for home.  Jameson and AJ are very talented at making sure that long car rides are absolutely miserable for everyone and they definitely didn't disappoint this time around.  Needless to say I don't think there will be any more car trips for the foreseeable future!