Thanksgiving Adventures

For Thanksgiving we headed out to Queen Creek (Phoenix area), Arizona for some fun in the sun with Scott's family. We were able to convince Ryan, Scott's older brother and his family to come for a couple of days from Utah as well. His sister Ashley is living with his parents, so everyone was there except his little brother Taylor who is serving his mission in Washington state. We had a lot of fun!

Here is Jake and Nathan on their big wheels that Grandma and Grandpa Nelson bought for them. Nathan never did quite get the hang of the peddles, but they had a blast anyway.

Jacob Nelson, showing us how its done!

Nathan scooting himself with his feet instead of peddling.

I'm not quite sure how they managed this in the grass.

One day we decided to go for a hike. It took us a couple of hours to go just under a mile and back. All three boys ended up being carried back to the car. Nathan also decided that cactus' are scary and would cover his eyes every time he saw one (which was quite a lot as we were in the desert).

I tried to keep Caden covered as we forgot sunscreen. He ended up falling asleep, and sleeping most of the way.

This was one of the highlights of the trip. The little boys decided they wanted to do a bit more than just soak their feet in the water and started splashing to make sure the adults got in the fun. I am not sure if it was Scott or his mom that started it, but suddenly there was a war going on. The water was less than 60 degrees, and Jolene absolutely hates the cold, so this was a one time experience. Now I know who Scott gets his playfulness from!

Scott was doing just as much splashing, but I only kept catching Jolene getting him!

Here is a wet and cold Mama.

Ashley and I did are best to avoid the fight, and mostly succeeded.

Gary was smart and took control of the dinner, rendering himself immune from splashage. The dinner he cooked for us that night was excellent I must say.

Scott finally giving up.

This was a fun evening. It was the night before Thanksgiving and Gary was smoking a Turkey so he had to stay up until midnight to cook it. Scott, Ashley and I stayed up to keep him company, and Ashley ended up painting his toenails. As I took pictures, Gary warned me not to put them on my blog. So, here is a picture of happy Gary after his pedicure. We had matching red toenails.

Ashley was a big help with the boys while we were there. This night she kept them entertained by having them decorate and eat cupcakes. They loved it. All the way home Nathan would periodically cry for Ashley.

The boys watched a lot of movies too. Here is Jacob and Nathan curled up together. Nathan adores Jacob!

Friday I was finally able to get Cade and Arden awake at the same time. Arden was born just two weeks after Caden.

Aren't they cute!

Arden doesn't look a thing like Jacob did as a baby. Jolene thinks he looks a lot like Scott's cousins, Caitlin and Alaina.

They actually held hands for a while, it was so cute.

The big boys wanted to get in on the action.

Ahhhh, sweet cousins.

Friday night we went to the Phoenix Zoo to see the Zoo lights. It was so fun to see al the lights. Cade didn't make a peep the entire night. If someone tried to talk to him he completely ignored them and looked for more lights. It was so funny.

This Ashley and her friend PJ, who Scott sweetly dubbed Peanut Butter and Jelly. I think it made her feel like part of the family :).

Here is the whole crew. We had such a good time together, and hope it won't be so long until we can get together again!