Thanksgiving in Utah

As soon as we found out we'd be having a baby in January and would be home again for Christmas, we decided that Thanksgiving would be the perfect occasion to take our last cross-country trip just the two of us and spend time with family while I was prego. It was also our first time leaving Maryland for Thanksgiving! We both took the week off of work (a much bigger deal for Joe than for me) and looked forward to a fun, relaxing 9 days in Utah Valley.

We managed to squeeze a lot of fun things into our trip while still having time to just chill. Of course we had to hit up some of our favorite eating establishments - Cafe Rio (I've been craving it for months), Jamba Juice (I kept craving it while I was there), Brick Oven (yet another "craving"), and for Joe .... getting to try a polish from JDawg's for the first time, and satisfying his four-year craving for the California Burrito at Rancherito's (formerly Beto's). It did not disappoint.
Just look at that goodness (looks nasty to me).

Strangely enough, the first day of our trip was when I started to experience a few of the not-so-fun parts of being pregnant that I had previously avoided. After being on my feet packing, doing laundry, and running errands all day and then sitting on the plane all evening, my feet and legs were swollen and killing me by the time we went to bed. Consequently, the rest of the trip I had to make sure to spend a little time each day with my feet up, and Joe was a great sport and started giving me leg and feet massages at night.

Here we are dressed up for church ... me at almost 32 weeks.

Things were a little bit different than usual due to the fact that my dad was only 4 weeks out from his knee replacement surgery. He was able to get out and about a little bit, but not for very long. Hence we had to enjoy all the BYU sporting events without him - not the same!! On a trip to Target he realized he was never going to be able to make it all the way around the store on his crutches - hence the motorized cart. We got a kick out of it.

On Thanksgiving day Joe played in a turkey bowl with Katie & David and I stayed in bed. Then I sat around with my feet up and watched everyone else cook! Actually, I was in charge of the rolls and salad. But I definitely did a little more watching than I would have otherwise ... my family was great to make sure the little guy & I were taken care of :) Joe took charge of brining the turkey the night before and roasting it the next day, as well as making the stuffing (or dressing ... since it didn't actually get stuffed). He was a champ and we enjoyed one of the best turkeys EVER!

After dinner, it was time for our annual Thanksgiving tradition of decorating our gingerbread house! Since I haven't been around lately to participate I was pretty excited about it. I helped my mom plan out the design, shop for the candy, and bake the house the day before. In the morning she glued everything together and added candy windows. And while she made all the frosting, I got to work.

Gingerbread-house decorating (Lewis style) is a very long and involved process. Basically, it means that the men get neglected for the rest of the day while they watch football, and we exhaust ourselves adding detail after detail. But it is fun!

Here's our finished product! We didn't quite finish it in one day, but we got it done eventually.

With lights!

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to attend 4 BYU sporting events - 2 football games and 2 basketball games. For the 9 years I lived in Utah I rarely missed a football game, and after 5 years it was great to be back!! The Utah game was especially exciting.

I predicted we'd come out on top ...

And I was right! Joe was so excited he insisted on rushing the field while the rest of us headed to the car. He pulled up some grass to bring home to my Dad so he could feel like he'd been there as well ;) And when we got home and were watching a replay of the final seconds, we noticed that Joe was caught on camera! The first fan to be shown (although very briefly) after the big win. Sweet.

The best part of the week was just getting to sit around and enjoy being around my family and spending more time than usual with Joe. I feel very grateful to have had those 9 days with them at this exciting time in our lives. My mom & sister loved feeling the belly and watching it grow. The next time I see them, the belly will be (mostly) gone and they'll get to see our baby boy!!