Thanksgiving in Tucson

This year, Brad and I decided to spend Thanksgiving down in the southwest.  We picked Brad's brother, Logan, up in Provo and drove down to Tucson via Las Vegas and Phoenix thru the night, making it there just in time for everyone else to wake up and start the meal preparation.  My sister, Ayrel, and her husband, Ben, and little girl, Avery, just moved to Tucson in August and we all were looking forward for some family time and warmer weather.  We enjoyed resting, eating, resting, going on some bike rides, eating, resting, and more bike rides.  It was the perfect long weekend.  And I can't forget to mention that I got my Mexican food fix...and it was perfect, sopapillas and all!  

Avery loved "Bratt"

Ben smoked the turkey...super delish!

Kris soaking up the rays...

...with Avery enjoying the shade.

The food was fantastic!!  And there was no shortage of pies and desserts...true heaven :)

We also were able to make it to a desert museum where we were able to see all different kinds of animals in their natural habitats...you wouldn't think there's so much life in the desert, but there is a ton!!  

At our finest...

Avery telling Kris about the fish.

Group shot -- Logan, Dad, Kris, Avery, Mom, me, Brad, & Ayrel

I just love me a little Avery time...I like to think we have a special bond since I got to babysit her a few months ago for about a week.  Her friend, Griffin, came over for a little bit too; they just love each other, it's adorable!

Look at that love!

 And to finish off the fantastic weekend, we even got Dad's famous waffles [and he taught me his unconventional methods of making them...I don't think I'll be able to repeat it on my own anytime soon].

Like I said before, it was the perfect [quick] weekend getaway with amazing hosts and great family time.  There's nothing better than a little family fix.



Just as an addendum [so I can remember our adventures in the future], we had quite the experience driving back.  We decided to drive up on highway 89 thru Page, Arizona and Kanab, Utah.  During the last 5 mile stretch before we connected back to the I-15, we noticed the car ahead of us start swerving and stop [this was around 6 pm, right at dusk].  We thought maybe his tire blew but when we pulled over and went and checked on him, we noticed that his front tire was bent and there was damage all along the side -- he had hit the side rail on the two-lane highway and we couldn't move his car off of the road because of his bent tire.  It was super scary because he was right at a blind corner and the road was busy because of the Thanksgiving traffic, he was sure to get hit!  We spent the next hour trying to flag down people to slow down ahead of the car while we waited for a highway patrolman and a tow truck to arrive.  Thankfully, there weren't any other catastrophes...besides getting home super late and being tired for work the next day...but we were grateful we were there at that time and able to help the college student out.  Be safe, people!