Black monday.

We all arrived home last night from a 5 day trip to visit my family for Thanksgiving. Which turns today into a jumbled mess of laundry, grocery shopping, unpacking, breaking out the Christmas decorations, and basically recovering from our "vacation". We got off to a rough start. Half of our lights for the Christmas tree are burned out. Lily succeeded in breaking one of our snowglobes while fighting with Rachel over it. On our trip to Costco today, I pretty much ran over someone while disciplining Lily. The poor lady was not happy. I was awfully embarrassed and sorry. Maybe next time I'll actually park the shopping cart before exacting punishment. By the end of our shopping trip, all three girls were champs, begging to help me load groceries onto the conveyor belt, staying close by my side without threats, and showing the utmost kindness to each other as they shared lunch in the car on the way home. I love motherhood.
Thanks to my family for feeding us and providing us with hours of good company and entertainment for the few days we camped out at their house. We spent most of our time at home, though we managed to take the kids on their first light-rail trip to downtown Salt Lake for the lights on Temple Square, free hot cocoa, and a visit to the Conference Center. Anna was pretty stoked to be standing where the prophet and apostles speak to us semi-annually. Tim and I also swapped babysitting duty to visit with some friends. And brought back a few extra pounds, of course.

Anna , Rachel and me, Grandpa and Lily, on Trax (in that order).

Lily and Rachel with my brother's baby Jane.