So this is the story of the adventures and misadventures that happened this Thanksgiving...
Trent and I planned to spend Thanksgiving down in with my brother's family. Mom had decided to go to Disneyland with sisters' families for Thanksgiving (They all left on Monday complete with a turkey in a crock pot, but that is their adventure story).
Wednesday evening Joe and his family came down to play games and we had a lovely, quiet evening. Thanksgiving Day was wonderful, too. We had turkey with all the trimmings, played a little football, ate some pie... Then as we were getting ready to go ride horses, Trent's brother calls to tell him their sister, Shelly is stranded in Cedar City. Within 5 minutes Trent and Joe had unloaded the jeep off the trailer and he was on the road to pick up Shelly, her family and their van. I was worried the turkey tryptophan would kick in and he would fall asleep on the road down but he made it to Cedar City safely. He got their van loaded on the trailer then they pulled it back up to Orem with no more incidents.
I was supposed to drive the jeep back up that night after riding horses but first Joe took us down to the farm on Orange Hill. He had fun and a little bit of exercise trying to trim our horses' hooves. Once Pepper and Oreo were ready we went for a ride but it was a short ride because it was getting dark.
I hate driving in the dark. Hence, Joe easily persuaded me to stay one more night, play games with the kids and head up early the next morning. Done. Joe and LaNae decided to hit the Thanksgiving sales in Price so I had their wonderful kids all to myself to play all kinds of games. I taught them to play the flour and penny game and it was hilarious.
The next morning I throw my suitcase in the jeep and take off. Trent had told me the jeep was going to be a bear to steer so I wasn't worried when I pulled the jeep out of the driveway. It was awful to steer and started making a terrible noise. I pulled over in front of Stewart's to call Trent but he didn't answer. I kept going hoping that once it warmed up it would be better. Nope. As I turned out of town the jeep started trying to throw me off the road. Hmmm. By the time I was to the junction it had tried to jump off the road a couple more times. The front tire seemed like it was sliding not rolling down the road. I was convinced this was not just a little steering problem so I pulled off the road. Trent would not have me drive something so dangerous. I called Joe to rescue me when I still couldn't get Trent on the phone. We piled everything, even Trent's tools in his truck then went back to borrow Mom's car.
Finally, I headed up through the canyon calling my sister-in-law, Shelly to see if she could find Trent and get the turkey in for his family's Day-After-Thanksgiving celebration at our house. I got there just a few minutes before the rest of the family arrived. I caught my breathe and dived in. We had a wonderful time. I love the football games, the basketball games, talking with nieces and nephews and my sisters-in-laws. I love playing games until after midnight and hearing the teenagers hit the fridge again at 2AM. I don't care for the silverware that ends up in the garbage and the pencil line on the wall but it can't dampen my love and gratitude for my wonderful family.
