On Friday Hyrum spent the day (and night) in Ogden with his family. He was able to go to the temple with his parents and sister, which was a neat experience for him. The Ogden temple is recently re-opened, too, so he was able to see the changes they made. That night he watched his nephew play soccer, and then had a sleepover with them. (Every time he talks to Elliot on the phone he is asked when Hyrum can come visit and sleepover... so it was a few years overdue.) The next morning he went to Provo to visit friends. Originally he was going to play soccer with a bunch of guy, but it was pouring outside, so they ended up just hanging out. Meanwhile, I didn't do much. In fact, I was probably bored out of my mind just hanging around watching Tiago for two days.
Fortunately, Jenna came by for part of Saturday which was at least something. And I went to visit with friends on Friday night, which was fun. And I probably went to a few stores. So in reality, I didn't do nothing.
Sunday was an adventure. Hyrum's friend Manuel invited us over to dinner. (That's the friend he met up with in Brazil for the World Cup.) They live in Lehi, and we had the address, but our GPS didn't recognize the address. We ended up driving around and around trying to find their house, and had to stop at a convenience store and ask someone if they had a smart phone we could use. (We were getting by during the 3 weeks without even cell phones-- very old school of us.) Eventually we made it, and it was fun to catch up with them. There were a bunch of kids around for Tiago to play with, and they had Colombian and Mexican food... best of both worlds.
On Monday I took Hyrum to see Amie's house, which he hadn't seen before even though she's lived there for a few years already. After that we went to Hyrum's parents' house. During the time we were staying with my parents they were in the middle of getting their basement finished, so there was a lot of sanding and painting to be done. I wasn't very much help, but Hyrum spent some time down there with my mom working. I don't know how their arms didn't fall off. With the little helping I did, I got kind of sore. Maybe that's why they all liked to get in the hot tub so much...
The next day Tiago woke up at 5 am, which is never a good start to a day. It really took almost the entire vacation for him to get adjusted to the time change. Fortunately, Hyrum usually was the one who woke up with him while I continued to sleep. The only noteworthy things that day involve food. First we had spicey Italians at Subway. I miss $5 sandwiches because here in Germany they're at least $6.50 (on-post). That night we all went to Maddox, a steakhouse that my parents like. And with good reason. It was delicious! We had a bit of a wait, which is when Tiago entertained us by 'walking' up and down a long ramp and falling over. But the steak was to die for. Hyrum got his practically raw, as usual. I didn't get a picture of the other side of the table, but also there were my parents and a family friend, Del Joy. While we were up in Brigham City we drove by the temple so Hyrum could see it. (It's been built since the last time he was there.)
At some point (or multiple points) this happened... Tiago ended up on the floor of the pantry eating whatever food he could reach. (That just happens to be where the candy bars were.)
On Wednesday Hyrum and I got to go to the temple together, then we went shopping. That night some of my siblings came over in anticipation of Thanksgiving. I'm sure they all went in the hot tub while I stayed inside.
Thursday was Thanksgiving. We tried to figure out a way to spend time with both of our families, so we did breakfast with the Suarez side and then dinner with the Hatch side. It was a lot of eating, but worth it.
Emma's birthday is the week of Thanksgiving, so in addition to breakfast we got to eat cake.
Tiago got spoiled by his Abuela, who spent most of the meal feeding him jello on the couch.
Oscar, Stella, and all their grandkids. [Unfortunately, Oscarito is missing. He and Bertha were arriving from Colombia only a few days after Hyrum and I flew back to Germany. Bad timing!]
And finally... everyone together. [Just missing Oscarito, Bertha, and Edna's husband Mike, who didn't have the week off from work.]
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| Back: Lindsay, Sariah, Helaman, Hunter, Edna, Sofia, Tiago, Hyrum, Heather Middle: Kaylee, Elliot, Stella, Oscar; Front: Lily, Emma |
It's surprising, because in the past, when my family celebrated Thanksgiving in Kentucky, there was such a mix of people--friends, neighbors, family. And yet this year (with family only) we still had way more people than ever. It's nice that everyone lives in the same area for the most part, and there are also more 'significant others' than ever before. I think we had 19 people for dinner, and no shortage of food. [The credit for that goes mostly to my Mom...]
We didn't get a group picture, but here are a few people sitting around visiting before we ate.
We probably prayed, then devoured everything and fell into food comas. Several hours later, we put out the desserts, which included derby pie (my favorite) a delicious cheesecake, and several other types of pie.
Tiago was very entertained by his cousin, Andrew. The dining room table was moved out for dinner, so instead, the dining room was full of legos and other fun toys.
The rest of the day was spent talking and eating, on constant repeat. At one point a bunch of people went to the hot tub, then we decided to go early-black-Friday-shopping at Station Park. There were some good deals to be had. Hyrum got a new pair of jeans--when he tried them on, he came out of the dressing room practically dancing, so Matt and I decided they were his dancing pants. We also may have bought a few baby girl clothes... hard to resist!
Here are a few pictures from the next day. This first one looks like when Tiago just woke up from a nap. There was no shortage of toys around for him to play with. We spent the day trying to fit in some last minute-things. We met up with Jenna for lunch at a sushi restaurant, which I was afraid we weren't going to squeeze in. It was everything I hoped it would be. (There aren't really sushi options in the area where we live in Germany.)
That night we enjoyed a beautiful sunset from my parents' porch, then went with Courtney and her friend to Temple Square to see the lights. Fortunately, it wasn't very cold. Unfortunately, that meant it was VERY crowded.
Tiago got left behind at home to play with everyone there. Since Thanksgiving, these two have gotten engaged, which isn't too surprising, but still exciting.
Saturday morning we spent packing, returning a few things last-minute, and boxing up what we couldn't fit in our luggage to be mailed home. We miraculously didn't leave anything behind, and took off on our long flight home at 5 pm.
I don't remember much from our flight--I probably have mentally blocked it all out. On our long flight across the ocean, Tiago spent a lot of time in the kitchen/galley in the back of the plane walking around. I was glad to have that space! He also liked to walk up and down the aisle picking up trash and bringing it to me. We had a short layover in Paris, then on to Munich. It is always a good feeling to make it back to the car (luggage in-hand), have the car start (thankful the battery didn't die!), and be on familiar roads home. And it's an even better feeling to sleep in your own bed after three weeks and know all the traveling is over. It was Sunday evening before we were back home.
Jetlag was a killer with Tiago. He routinely woke up around midnight for several nights, but after about a week was adjusted. That, plus a few loads of laundry, and any evidence of our trip was gone. ...Until our boxes showed up and we got to look back through all the fun stuff we bought.
It's crazy to know that next Thanksgiving/Christmas we'll probably be living back in the States and thinking about how we'll celebrate in 2015.
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