thanksgiving...

here's what our plan was...
leave on wednesday after school/work and drive to st. george to spend the night; drive the final 5 hours to tooele on thanksgiving morning, meet up with my dad's whole family at the best western hotel for dinner & swimming, join the yorks for dessert later that night, and then a little black friday shopping with the girls; on friday visit with family & friends, birthday party for my nephew grant, enjoy dinner at chuck-a-rama with my family, and then salt lake temple when they turn on the christmas lights; family pictures with the yorks on saturday morning with lunch afterwards in salt lake; attend alex's mission farewell on sunday morning, stop over at my grandparent's house for kerianne to receive her patriarchal blessing, then dinner & visit with the yorks and wish alex well; head out early on monday morning to drive the 12 hours straight home. john, kaisha and myself all needed to be back at work on tuesday morning!

here's what we actually did...
family movie tradition on thanksgiving morning (rise of the guardians), kaisha & kerianne helped john with the 20lb turkey, watch lots of football, enjoy a wonderful meal together; lots of rest and relaxation for me all weekend, with a little shopping on saturday and then church on sunday.

it was a very difficult decision to stay home and not travel up to see our families. we had so many things planned. i especially felt guilty for not being well enough to travel. we would have flown if john had had enough points with southwest airlines, but that wasn't the case. i consulted with my surgeon last week and he advised against sitting for that amount of time in a car and being that far away from him. i knew that being in another state would pose a problem should a situation arise -- i was just barely a month post-surgery.  we sat down as a family and weighed the pros and cons. the kids were extremely upset. but we hope this helps them understand that sometimes you have to make difficult decisions and sacrifice for the health/safety of others.

on the bright side, we felt so blessed this year to celebrate and be thankful in our new home. we spent good, quality time together. john & i are planning to fly with kerianne up to utah after the beginning of the year to receive her blessing. we are truly grateful for all that we've been blessed with this year. we've enjoyed so many good times, and survived a few trials. our children are healthy, happy, and thriving. we have stable jobs in a struggling economy, and a beautiful home. what more could we ask for =)