Thanks for Giving

We found ourselves in the air with the millions of others who decided to travel this Thanksgiving. Comforted by the fact that the airlines were going to be on their best behavior due to the fact that they would be under the public microscope over the holiday week, and the knowledge that military airspace had been opened up to help expedite air travel, we were pretty confident our trip would be uneventful. Upon boarding our plane for our connecting flight in Dallas, we were notified there had been a power outage that had shut down the air traffic control system in the Dallas Fort Worth airport. Suddenly our hopes were dashed and we pictured ourselves standing in long lines at our next airport begging for a seat on the next flight to our destination. We sat in the plane at the gate in Nashville for about an hour before taking off. Lucky for us, the airlines were on their best behavior and were really working to make up the difference. Our connecting flight wasn't delayed at all and we were able to get off one plane and on the other one really fast. Of course, the Dallas airport is HUGE so when we say really fast that actually means...getting off your plane....finding a bathroom...walking, walking, and walking....escalators up and down....being happy to see that they have a monorail system....getting on the monorail....being amazed at how large the airport is....getting off....walking, walking, and walking....escalators up and down....finding your gate....seeing that your flight is already boarding....wondering if you have time to find something to eat, because they don't give you anything to eat on these flights anymore (not even peanuts)....ordering a smoothie (which seems to take the girl FOREVER to make)....knowing that your husband has now missed his special "platinum" boarding privileges which allows him to board with group 1....secretly laughing to yourself because you have been assigned to group 6 and he'll have to board with the rest of the "nobodies" (actually, he makes me board with him and I always feel like I'm cutting in line or something)....and then finally....boarding the plane....finding overhead storage, a blanket off of someone else's seat (those are limited too, you know).... sitting down knowing you can now relax and maybe go to sleep....discovering that your seat doesn't recline because you are in the emergency row's window seat which you find out was booked intentionally to give your husband more leg room....dealing with this small disappointment and suddenly realizing you are now in a position of responsibility....half listening to the flight attendant's schpiel....hoping you won't need to know how to rip the door off and send people sliding down the wing of the plane.... (Bob asked the flight attendant if he should practice opening the door. She said no, that was all right) assuring yourself that everything will be ok....buckling up....looking out the window and bidding farewell to the flattest land you have ever seen....and then taking off! Whew!

We were off and geared up for a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We loved every minute of our time together. Our San Diego kids drove up, our BYU boy made it, and our Utah kids were most hospitable and let us all have a huge sleepover at their house for a week! It was a week full of memories, so I've picked my top ten memories of our week together:

• 10. Movies and Oprah's Favorite Things on the new plasma tv.
• 9. Dinner at Aunt Carma's and seeing Uncle Ken who just celebrated his 90th birthday.
• 8. Robyn and Joe running in a 4 mile turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning.
• 7. Devon's lifelong dream of rock hunting fulfilled.
• 6. Hugs and kisses from cute grandkids.
• 5. Cafe Rio.
• 4. Blake giving Michael the "what for" in baby talk.
• 3. Michael's key lime pie.
• 2. Parker getting sick and Kimberly and Devon coming to the rescue saying they are pros at this kind of stuff.
• 1. Joe and the Big Green Egg! It took a little longer...but well worth the wait!

Thanks for such a wonderful Thanksgiving to remember. I love you all!