Transition From Thanksgiving to Christmas

 On our way back from Thanksgiving, we stopped by my sister Jackie's.  Her husband, Val,  had an accident where he was hit in the head and knocked over.  He was still recovering from that when he had a mild heart attack and then a septic gallbladder.  They have both been through a very rough time, but fortunately he is doing much better and she was planning to go back to work that Monday.
Sunday, we had Hilary's family to dinner and ate a bunch of leftovers and Tiffany's wonderful chicken and dumplings.  Afterward the girls decorated our tree and Steve left to give a blessing to one of his home teaching husband's who was suddenly very ill and had spent the day in the emergency room.

 Monday morning Abigail was thrilled to wake up to SNOW!  Out she went to shovel the driveway.  She was half finished by the time, Shawn was ready to join her and Steve got the snowblower going for the season.  Abigail loves the snow!  Tif--not so much.

 She built this snowman face on the deck.  There wasn't enough time for a real snowman as we had to travel to SL in the middle of the day due to the canyon situation.  It was bad enough.  I was happy that Shawn was driving and we had a 4-wheel drive vehicle.  Steve had driven down ahead of us and gave us a warning.

 We wanted to catch the lights on Temple Square before Shawn flew back to Texas the next day.

 As usual it was beautiful.  The snow added to the ambience and kept a lot of the crowds away.  It was a wonderfully gorgeous evening.

 There was hot chocolate and a Santa visit inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg.  After our walk through the lighted plaza, we got dinner at Johnny Rocket's in the City Creek area.  It was a fun evening.

 Before we took Shawn to the airport the next day, we HAD to have breakfast at Penny Ann's Cafe.  It is a few blocks from our SL place and has become a family favorite for Shawn and Abigail.  I don't mind eating there either.  Yummy pancakes!

 Abigail is always sad when her dad leaves and we don't blame her.  Those times with her dad are precious.  We headed to the zoo directly afterward which helped her adjust.  It was briskly chilly but nevertheless a good outing.

 With the exception of two lions, they were all bunched up together right next to the glass.  I think that is the biggest group of lions I have ever seen together.  We literally had the zoo to ourselves.  We only saw employees until we arrived at the gate to leave and then we ran into two other families who were arriving.

 Wednesday morning Tiffany scheduled a tour at Sweet's Candy company.  They mostly do the tour now with videos and real time cameras.  We had our own private guest host and he answered lots of questions and controlled the videos and cameras.  We think that we got to see more stuff than we did years ago when they allowed groups to actually go into the factory.  Abigail got to do a hands on step where she dipped the candy molds into cornstarch.  Fun!  We were happy to discover that they sell non-GMO products that contain only natural coloring agents, etc.  We were able to purchase some candy to help Hilary keep Jameson away from red dye.  It was a great discovery.

 Steve and the girls headed back to CV after the tour.  I had a few sub for Santa things, and work related stuff to take care of.  This beautiful photo is the sunrise in our beautiful CV.

 The fireplace guy finally came to finish his work on our new fireplace.  Steve spent the next two days, sanding, puttying, painting and make it look great.  The guy knew about installing fireplaces but is not a finish carpenter.  With Steve's diligence, it looks very nice now.

 Saturday, Tiffany and I took Abigail and Korinne to a free, first Saturday of the month, activity at the USU Anthropology Museum.  It was a textiles day so the girls spent several hours making a yarn and stick doll and then weaving purses out of yarn.  I was impressed by their focus and the fact that they persisted until their projects were complete.

 Steve continued his fireplace project during our absence.  When we returned, I finished making goodies to take to a neighborhood party Saturday night.

 It was a nice gathering.  Here is a picture of our hosts, Andrea and Jeremy.  They are true party animals.  They make everything fun!

 Sunday was a busy day, but we managed to gather with Hilary's family in our basement to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  It was nice to have the fireplace to warm us and make it cozy.  Tiffany leaves tomorrow so we will be heading back to SL soon.  It sure has been fun to have her and Abigail around.  Abigail and Korinne have had a lot of fun together.  Often we would have 4 or 5 girls running in and out and around.