Turkey's Not The Only Thing Gettin Roasted

All I know is the first couple days of this week were wack - trying to finish assignments and prep for a big test and then still pay attention to the new stuff. Foundations lab was more fun than usual because we got to roll around on a mat, but it was still rough before Thanksgiving break.

Terrible pictures always ensue. Love it.
And yes, I'm still allergic to games. 

Brandi and I drove to her grandma's place in Kanab, where I fell asleep real fast in front of the wood burning stove. Love.

Then we stopped in Panguitch to gas up and ran into Jake! (and family.) We made plans to meet up again in Beaver for ice cream and cheese curds (as one does). But they didn't want to have dinner at Cafe Rio with us too, so we just met some of Brandi's friends.

This is a candy cane factory that took us wayyy too long to figure out. 

Thanksgiving at Ben & Joy's was a party. Sarah, Emma, and Hunter were there, plus a couple of friends who didn't think joking about incestual cousin-dating was funny at all. Weird. I ate so many potatoes and watched MI3 before I could fit in dessert. Lauren even joined the party eventually.

My favorite of all the trees. 

We kept the new Netflix show The Final Plate on in the background all day and I warmed my toes up by the fire. Joy killed the Christmas decorations and Hunter killed our cousin date (feeding us steak and taking us - and Lauren - to see the lights at Spanish Fork).

I love how the whole fam knows that if I'm in UT, Lauren's hanging out too.

I did go running on the non-holidays, and Joy told me all about this lovely hill called Battle Creek. The uphill was a fun challenge. The downhill threatened to severe my patellar tendons from their attachment site. She promised to show me the easier downhill next go-around.

This is a view from the top.

After the run, I helped clean Joy's cupboards. (I love cleaning for her because she lets me throw things away.) Then we all went to Meg Hay's futsol game, which was freezing, but fun. And we ate delicious soup and rolls and Lauren and I went to the temple and the creamery (so we could introduce Graham Canyon ice cream). And we came back to a full house of children!

The literal weirdest. 

 So after a minute, we went to the Bellon's residence to finish watching the BYU football game - which despite the inspiring start, ended in disappointment. As usual. Then Lauren let me sleep on her couch underneath Hani and Donny and coming soon, Ronnie.

"Wait! Let me look at you lovingly!"

We made French toast and crashed a linger longer and wrecked a girl for her lack of geographical knowledge. And then Brandi and I drove for hours and hours and hours. We enjoyed a 4-for-4 on her grandma and didn't enjoy anatomy and told crazy stories all the way home.

Nice sky.