November 2021 Part 4: Thanksgiving

 We spent Thanksgiving in Idaho. On our way up to my Mom's house, we stopped in Pocatello to see Cal and Cassidy and check out Cal's flight simulator game. 

Michael, of course, loved it. 

But Cal helped everyone fly the planes. 

We had fun hanging out with family at my mom's house. 

Jack really loves the little dogs. I can see him having a little dog when he moves out on his own. I couldn't resist taking this picture of him with Taryn's dog, Milo. 

Or this picture of Michael helping his Grandma. 

I ended up feeling insanely dizzy on Thanksgiving, and so I couldn't really help with the preparations. I tried to be helpful cuddling children, reminding myself that that IS helpful. 

I watched while everyone else worked, which I hated. 

Aside from eating a delicious dinner, we had lots of bonding time. 

The day after Thanksgiving, Rachel was complaining that her ear hurt, so Brian took her to the doctor. While they were gone, we decorated mini trees to donate to a local nursing home. 

I took a photo with my Grandparents.

We helped put up my mom's Christmas tree. It's amazing how some of the ornaments are still in the boxes from when I was a kid. So much nostalgia looking at this box! (It has the silver beads in it). 

We got all packed up, made all the beds we'd slept in,  and got all our stuff loaded into the car when Rachel let me know that she REALLY wasn't doing well. She'd thrown up... and other things. We weren't sure what to do. Taking a four hour drive with a girl who is expelling bodily fluids sounded like a bad idea, but we also didn't want to have to start over the next day. I was helping Rachel get showered and cleaned up, and Brian took the kids to go with my mom and Taryn's family to deliver the Christmas trees to the nursing home in Rigby. 

Then we met up at a grocery store. We bought wipes, ziploc bags (to be barf bags), crackers, and some flavored water in case she was up for it. I rode in the very back of the car with her to take care of her if she needed me. Michael rode shotgun, and we scooted the middle passenger chair all the way up so there was more room. Rachel stretched across the rest of the bench, and thankfully slept the entire way home. 

She was very surprised when we pulled into our garage. She thought it had only been 20 minutes since we left Mom's house! 

Despite the illnesses, we had a great Thanksgiving with family. We're so grateful for family, cousins, warm homes, safe and reliable cars, Ziploc bags, baby wipes, medicine, and pie.