Grateful for my family

Yesterday Mark and I drove to The Home Place (rebranded, it's a semi long story).  We had a nice drive and he kept us in good music.  When we got here there were flies to clean up (and my dad had already cleaned most of them) and all the stuff to bring in and Mark was vacuuming and hauling stuff and helping me make beds and he set up the internet and then sat down to work on the forms for his job he will start in January.

Adult children are kind of a marvel.  They go from grudgingly doing what you ask to saying, "What can I do?"

The grudgingly doing what you ask is still fresh enough that I appreciate this new stage!

Clarissa and Robert were out on a walk and they stopped by to say hello.

We went over to visit my dad and Katie and Charlotte (they were there as Charlotte is recovering from a tonsillectomy.  I got my mixer lamp and helped my dad vacuum a few flies.  He said, "No, you can't!" and I asked why not and he said, "Because I don't want you to!"

I said that wasn't a good enough reason and I owed him.  There are more flies than usual this year and if you live in a wooden house, you vacuum flies.

My mom and Olivia were driving home from Carson city and I invited my parents and their guests for dinner.  "Not you," I said to Olivia.  I didn't have enough.

Emma and Adam arrived later and I loved that we were all together.  Mark and I had FaceTimed with Braeden and QE earlier and we miss them and Anna, but I am grateful for modern technology that keeps us in touch.

We cooked some frozen pizzas (a dinner invitation to our house is never that fancy, especially here) and my parents, Katie and Charlotte and Ammon's family came over.  They had just arrived from Utah.  They had already eaten or we would have had really small pizza pieces!

It was nice to visit with everyone.  

I love being here and it is beautiful, but the main reason is family.  This place wouldn't mean as much to me without memories of my grandparents and growing up here.  Also every visit here is immeasurably enhanced by family.  I love visiting and having visitors and being interconnected to people I love so much.

Today we will all gather at Marianne's.  I told my dad yesterday that I would have wanted her as the oldest child too.  Whatever planning in heaven for that was a good idea.

We will miss the ones who aren't there and enjoy the ones who are.

I am also grateful for Adam's family and I think fondly of the Thanksgiving days we spent with them.  I feel doubly blessed in the family department.

When Mark and I drove yesterday we talked about the ways he is like both grandpas and Emma is like both grandmas.  

They could do so much worse!

Here is my grandma Jaynes's mixer in my grandma Dahl's kitchen that my dad made possible with an idea I got from Adam's mom.

I couldn't be happier about it.

Happy Thanksgiving!