Yeah, we're just now writing about the holidays...

Alright we caved. After getting e-mail after e-mail of requests for more blog posts we are pleased to announce a new post for everybody!

So the holidays are over and we have returned from all of our travels. This post is going to be a two-parter, so be ready for that.

My part of the post is going to be dealing with Thanksgiving.

I am not sure if any of you are familiar with the drive from Utah to Oregon, so I am just going to key you in on a few facts. From Provo to Gresham it is 798 miles. I am no math major, but if you were to travel an average of 75 MPH that would get you there in just under 11 hours.

Well on this particular adventure it took us 8 hours to get to Boise alone. We would like to express our thanks not only to UDOT and IDOT for not even bothering to clear the roads, but also to all of the expert winter drivers out there.

We ended up staying in Boise that Wednesday and finished our drive to Gresham on Thanksgiving day. Road

conditions may or may not have looked like this:

This was a good stretch of road because there was no ice, or traffic. Double bonus!

We were certainly grateful to have been done with driving for a little bit.

Thanksgiving at my place was huge as usual. I am pretty sure it is a bigger holiday in my family (celebration wise at least) than any other. Each year my mom bakes pies for pie night (always the night before Thanksgiving, which we missed this year. Thanks again crappy roads...) and each person gets their own pie request. Alex chose peach pie and I chose black bottom banana cream pie. They were kind enough to save us some by the time we rolled in.

Personal faves from this year's feast:

Baked cauliflower

Mashed potatoes

Rolls

Yams

Homemade mustard

Fruit salad with pomegranate

We had a lot of fun hanging out with family and just relaxing for a few days.

Thanks again to for the good times and letting us take over Corinne's room.

Now for a few pictures. Enjoy!

The Thanksgiving spread

Corinne attempting to each 2 oreos, 5 candy corn, a mini reese's, and a bunch of frosting all at once.

Olivia having attempted the same...

Yeah we went to OMSI. Alex inside the USS Blueback. Cross that one off her bucket list.

I looked out the window and what did I see...

Maybe its the Thanksgiving season (or the fact that our Oregon vacation is so close I can almost touch it) but I'm feeling especially grateful this morning. Thus, I get to take a moment before running off to school to talk about how awesome my husband is.

We woke up this morning before the sun even came out. Troy had to be at work before 8 in order to open the call floor. Because I kick and drag my heels every morning as he is trying to leave on time, he only had about 20 minutes to get to work.

After he left, I was sitting on the bed, pretending to get ready for the day when I heard something from outside. I opened the window and this is what was going down.

So this is my special thanks to a wonderful husband who decided to de-snow/ice my car before heading to work even though he probably didn't have the extra time to do so. Isn't he great? I don't think anyone could ask for anything better than to not have to deal with an ice car. I sure do love him, that's for sure.

We Went to Hoover and All We Have to Show for it Are These Dam Pictures

I feel like I have been waiting 24 years to create a blog with that title. Dream finally come true.

This past weekend we went down to Vegas to visit with Alex's family. We left after work on Friday and made it down there Friday night. Saturday morning we got up and went to Hoover Dam (for you olde tymers, you may know it as Boulder Dam). Now I had never been previously and had really only seen the dam in movies, games, and this clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6oxhLz9l5s

Needless to say I was inspired with all sorts of amazing quotes. It was a fun tour, and the place is massive. If you don't believe me just take a look:

The view from the newly constructed bridge.

Hello generators that produce power for everyone...

At the Nevada-Arizona border. You can tell that we are not used to seeing a ton of sun this time of year.

Need I say more.

We may have a third wheel in our marriage, but at least our third wheel wins. Just saying.