Happy Thanksgiving!

We were so lucky this year to have my family drive out here from Utah for Thanksgiving! They arrived at our house Wednesday evening and we were sooo excited to see them. From the time they arrived, Mason had all the attention he could get. Everyone was a bit weary from the drive, so we just took it easy for the rest of the day. Mom, Chellese and I did have to make a last minute stop at the grocery store though :) We woke up bright and early Thanksgiving Day to start the cooking. Bowen went and played flag football with some other guys from the ward. I was so excited to "host" my own Thanksgiving dinner! Everything turned out amazing! I was so scared I was going to dry out or burn the turkey, but even it was so delicious and falling off the bone! Yesssss! I moved the table outside because nobody in my family has ever had a warm enough Thanksgiving to eat outside. Needless to say, we were stuffed!

Mason was thrilled to make a complete mess of his dinner. He did eat pretty much everything though

Even Lady was excited for the leftovers Lady popped Masons favorite blue ball. He wasn't very excited about that. I guess Chellese needed a creative outlet so she decided to style Masons hair much against his will. After she was done she asked what I thought. I started laughing because he looked like Kate Gosslin from the John and Kate plus 8 TV show.

That night we went and saw 2012 at the theater. It was pretty good. The graphics were amazing!

The next day we went downtown to Seaport Village. We spent a couple hours there walking around and shopping. It was such a beautiful day. We could've spent all day outside.

Grandpa Kurt with his favorite grandson :)

After that we went to Fashion Valley mall. It was insane! I guess that's what we get for going on Black Friday.

That evening Bowen and I went and bought a fire pit. Mason is such a little pyro. We enjoy some yummy smores. Mmmmmm!It started rain a bit so we put out the fire and headed inside. C.J. had stepped outside a little while later to talk on his phone when he started yelling, "Shaelyn, there's a thing on your fence...a monster." "What?" I yelled back, "a cockroach?" "NO," said C.J. "A POSSUM!"

I forget that there's no possums in Utah. It was pretty funny when the whole family came outside to take a look at it. C.J. being the hunter man he is wanted to kill it, but I wouldn't let him, so he opted for poking it with a stick until it jumped off the other side of the fence.

When we woke up Saturday it was pouring rain. Booo! Thinking it was going to let up we decided to head to the Wild Animal Park for the day. Well, the clouds got darker and the rain fell harder as we got closer, so we ended up not going. We all went to Red Robin to eat then walked around the mall a bit. Good thing too, because I found Bowens Christmas present. Woohoo!

When we got back to the house, Mom wanted to go walk around La Jolla so just she and I went. It was nice to get a break from babies and boys. Poor Chellese, we left her there to fend for herself. We did have fun going into all the little boutiques and stopping at Starbucks to get my new favorite drink, Soy steamer with hazelnut. So good!

Even though we didn't do a whole lot that day, we were exhausted. I felt bad we didn't get into the Wild Animal park so we made arrangements to go the next day.

I had never been there before. It was so much fun! Mom said she liked it better than the SD zoo. We walked around a good portion of the park before we decided to get something to eat.

Mason and Chellese in their "cave"

The view of the park. Another view...if you look hard to the left you can see the giraffes roaming the African Pride lands of the park.This was probably one of my favorite parts. There was a little aviary call Lorakeet Landing. You could buy a little cup of nectar and as soon as you walked inside of the cage all the birds would come and land on you to try and get a drink of the sweet nectar. Mason was a little nervous when the birds would fly over his head, but he looooved it! Daddy helping Mase. I think Bowen had fun in there too!

Another great exhibit was the gorillas. Mason was a bit nervous of them. I don't think it helped that Bowen kept telling him that we were going to let him stay with the gorillas. There was a display where you could push a button and it would sound off all the sounds gorillas make. Mase was nervous of that at first too. He kept looking for whatever was making that sound. I think he figured it out when he was courageous enough to push the buttons himself.

Daddy and Baby Gorilla

Bowen, C.J, and Dad

For the last part of the park we went on a 4D motion ride and the petting zoo. Mason couldn't get enough of the deer. I got some food pellets so he could feed them and he liked that too.

When we were done with the park we said our goodbyes. They headed back to Delta and we headed back home. It was sad that they left and I hope they had a good time while they were here! Thanks for making this such a fun Thanksgiving! Love you!!!