Waking Up With the Whitmores: Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving and went down to SUNNY AND WARM southern California. The weather was amazing!! Meg and Taylor drove down with us as well. We left Tuesday after work/class and picked up Taylor in Las Vegas, switched cars, toured his "hotel" and were off again. The first day, Josh, Taylor and Meg went to Disneyland...yes-without me. My back has been having some major problems. I hope this goes to show just how bad if I can't even go to the happiest place on earth! So I went shopping with Annie and she got some great stuff. I was scouting out what I wanted for Black Friday. Later that day, my family got home from quading in the desert. They all had a blast. I got to play with the kids for a bit before bedtime. I can't believe how big the twins are getting. Lillee is talking so well now, too. The next day was Thanksgiving. We had homemade cinnamon rolls delivered to the house (which were wonderful) and then we hung out until it was time to go to Jim's house. There was a smaller group this time. It was great food though and nice to just relax. At 6:30, we went over to Jeff and Abby's house to see Meg and Josh's cousin, Amy, who is serving in their ward. We were able to visit with her and her companion.

That night at midnight, we got up and went BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING!! We went to Target and the line was extremely long. We waited a while in the car and tried to figure out if we were going to get out. Finally, we did. I thought Meg was going to bail on me for the rest of the day of shopping...thank goodness she didn't! We got into Target and there were a ton of people. We went back to the electronics. Meg and I both bought "Catch Phrase" for 50% off. Then I bought a body pillow and cover (doctor's orders) for $7 each. The checkout line went probably faster than on a normal day. We were in and out within 20 minutes. We then went back to the house, took a 2 1/2 hour "nap" and left at 4:00 AM for the mall. About a month ago, there was a Living Social deal for the Shops at Mission Viejo for valet parking and access to a lounge that was set up in the mall. I bought it for Meg and I and it was totally worth it. We were the first ones to be valet parked and throughout the day we were able to get refreshments and bottled water. We even were able to check-in our bags...and thank goodness, because we had a lot! We were at the mall (and ran across to Burlington Coat Factory) for over SEVEN HOURS!!! If you had told me that before I went, I would have not gone, but it truly didn't even seem like that long. Half-way through, my mom came and joined us. We all ended up getting great deals at the LOFT. My mom is the winner with a pair of jeans for $2.44! I wish we would have got a picture with all of our bags. My new favorite store is Francesca's. We ended up spending our entire budget (what a shock). It was so fun though. After Burlington, we went home, showered and got the boys and went BACK to the mall, Best Buy, and Nordstrom Rack. Later that night, we went to Temecula for a surprise wedding anniversary party for my aunt and uncle, Heidi and Dave. It was a really nice evening, being together as a family and celebrating Heidi and Dave's 25 years together. The next morning we had cinnamon rolls delivered AGAIN. Then we all went to the swapmeet. I love the swapmeet, but I don't think other people (who haven't grown up with it) appreciate it as much. I could have spent a couple more hours there. After, we went home and hung out around the house, ate lunch and then for dinner we went down to Laguna Beach and ate at BJ's.

Swapmeet

BJ's...yes, we can wait outside in November!

My favorite!! The next morning we left around 5:30 am and made it home in time to unwind and have an enjoyable evening. Overall, it was a good trip. Christmas is going to be even better! Three more weeks...can't wait!!