Thanksgiving in St. George - November 21-25, 2013

Thanksgiving ended up in sunny St. George this past year and surprisingly, the entire Dayton family was able to attend. We hadn't really planned for it since we had just been together a few months earlier for our Dayton Family Vacation in California. But it worked out that everyone was kinda free to get together again, so we figured, why we don't?

Those of us who live in Utah (Damian, Ethan, Brandon, Lucy, and I) all drove down together in the Blaster (nickname for the Ford Expedition usually reserved for towing the boat down to Lake Powell) from Salt Lake. Buffalo family (Brandon's dad, Adrian, Natalie, and Taylor) flew in from New York, and California/Arizona family (Cameron, Erin, and their five kids - Olivia, Owen, Morgan, Aeva, and Beatrice) made the long drive from California to Arizona and then to St. George.

A big shout-out has to go to my sister-in-law, Natalie, who was already 32 (or 34?) weeks pregnant and made the long flight out and had just flown out over a month earlier to support her husband during the St. George marathon (which we got to come out to as well). We also stayed in Natalie's family's brand new, gorgeous vacation home that we had in October so we were very comfortable (with the exception of poor Ethan and Damian who didn't get their own beds or bedrooms - they deserve brownie points for their great sacrifice).

Damian was in charge of the dressing and made two different types - one in the crockpot and one in the oven. You can see some of the apple pies that I made in the background - 4 apple pies and 2 custard pies.

Lucy loved sitting on the counter in the kitchen munching away on bread and watching the excitement. It's such a treat for her to spend time with her Dayton cousins who she doesn't get to see that often.

Adrian and Natalie took care of green beans.

And Grandpa Dayton gave the grandkids lots of love and attention.

We had our Thanksgiving dinner with Brandon's Aunt Liz and Uncle Lyman in their home with some of their family and I wish that I had taken a picture of the amazing spread but I was much too busy eating. 

We took a little hike up the canyon the day after Thanksgiving to work off the calories. Here is Lucy hamming it up for the camera:

More of the grandkids taking a rest at the top and enjoying the beautiful weather.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was my 29th birthday and Brandon was extremely thoughtful to bring my favorite fruit tart from Cafe Normandie all the way from Salt Lake to St. George in the cooler (with some help from his brother, Damian). It may have gotten a little squished on the car ride down and I may have accidentally discovered it in the fridge but it still tasted wonderful. I was treated to a prenatal massage in the morning at the Sagestone Spa at Red Mountain Resort and my sister-in-law, Natalie kept me company and got one as well. Then Damian watched Lucy for us as Brandon and I had dinner. When we returned, Erin had made me a birthday cake and the whole family sung happy birthday to me and my nieces and nephews made me a bunch of birthday cards. It was a sweet and lovely birthday and Thanksgiving weekend.