The Man Cave and Other Fantastical Adventures!

Thanksgiving was great fun this year!  We were planning on going to Arizona but found we only had funds to make it 1/2 way.  So, we went to Cedar City and crashed at Marlo and Wyatt's house and ate and cooked and ate and cooked the entire weekend.
We were surprised at how quickly we got there.  Even with all of the Holiday traffic we made good time.  Marlo had chili waiting to eat and the cousins were primed and ready for playing.  We didn't get any sleep really the entire weekend but we didn't go so we could sleep.
Wyatt has completed his garage that used to just be a carport.  It is a magnificent garage that was transformed into a most glorious man cave.  Complete with sofa chairs tables and free standing event heaters generously acquired by Marlo from her work, and not just music but a sound system.  There was even carpet on the floor carefully taped down so no one accidentally tripped.  We were all impressed and delighted to be invited to spend time in there. 
After getting to bed around 12:30 or 1 am.  We were wakened by excited and loud children ready to get in some serious play time before the perpetual buffet started that afternoon.  Others started arriving and the turkeys went into the oven to cook, the rest of the food was prepared and by about 2pm we were all ready to ruin ourselves on great food.

Carving the sacrificial bird.  It was delicious!

Tag team water boiling.

This is the headless shirt.  I am not sure which family ghost joined us for dinner, but we got a picture of them. 

Mmmmmmm!

Eating.....

More eating.....

 Still more eating......

And finally, more eating.

Seconds anyone?

Cute eating.  May I mention that Josh brought a cute girl to lunch the next day and she didn't run out of the room screaming when she met all the cousins.

Some of these pictures are of the second Thanksgiving Holiday tradition, the eating of the leftovers.  We had tons and enjoyed them just as much as the first time around.

Cedar City does a wonderful start to the Christmas season festival and we made sure we attended that night.  We showed up just in time to see the fireworks display right in front of us.  They were shooting them off the parking garage across the street.  They were so loud.  It sounded like machine guns firing and the ground vibrated throughout.  It was awesome.

On our way to the tree festival!

After the fireworks we went to the Heritage Center and wandered through their Christmas Santa Land.  They had decorated trees all throughout and were pretty cool.  Upstairs they had a north pole that was full of polar bears and penguins.  We had a great time. 

 

Marlo was the first one in the Heritage Center.  Isn't that a crazy tree?

 

There was a cool nutcracker collection.  The lady at the door said we will have to keep our kids from touching anything in the display areas.  I stifled a laugh because that is nearly impossible.  The kids did pretty good.  

 

The Barbie tree and princess trees were pretty cool.  The pictures don't do them justice.  

 

Boys.  I am speechless.

  

I am not sure why there was a shark display.  But hey, who doesn't love a shark?

 

The hanging pirate was fun too.  ????

  

Royalty is definitely necessary at a Christmas celebration.  They arrived in a limo too!

  

This was my favorite room.  The entire room looked like a winter wonderland.  It was so hot in there.  Oxymoron?

 

Daniel was Cupid in the school play.  Daniel's hair has been shorn since.  Thankfully.  He was looking like Sarah's older sister.

 

Love and pirates.

 

These were the superhero trees.  

 

The little people needed a picture too.

 

This one was hysterical.  The deer was singing and talking to everyone. 

 

Last but no least, the Shrek tree.  What doesn't say holiday like Shrek?

We were able to stop by the cemetery and visit some of our family graves.  It was emotional for me to be back at my grandparents grave site again.  It was a little weird not seeing her this time when we were in town.

Sarah was cute walking around straightening the flowers on the family graves. 

On the drive home Daniel and Sarah decided to have a pillow fight in the back of the van.  It ended better than we hoped.  Sarah's front tooth has been barely hanging in there for weeks now and she refused to pull it out for fear of excruciating pain and gushing blood.  I am pretty sure it had already turned gray because it wasn't really attached to anything.  It was very snaggley and required her to eat in a most creative way since she was afraid to apply any pressure to it at all.  Thankfully, Daniel blasted her in the face with the pillow and knocked that tooth out!  We decided it was worthy of ice cream so we stopped before getting home.