Mott Family Reunion - Thanksgiving 2007

We had such a fun Thanksgiving this year. Some of Daniel's family (his mom, one of his brothers, and one of his sisters with her husband and their two kids) came to stay with us.

First they flew into Dallas and we drove up there to meet them (Dallas is about 3 hours north of us). They had never been to the Dallas/Fort Worth area before, so we wanted to stay up there for a few days and show them around. While we were there we went to a rodeo in Fort Worth, the JFK Memorial and Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas, and the Fort Worth Zoo.

As usual, I took several hundred pictures to document all the fun. How else would we remember what a good time we had?


The First Night - Eating out at Carino's Italian Grill; Rodeo at Stockyards Station

JFK Memorial and Downtown Dallas

The Fort Worth Zoo

One of my sisters lives near Dallas, so she and her three kids were able to meet us at the zoo and spend the day with us. All of the kids got along great, and it was fun to be able to spend time with my sister.

On Tuesday we drove down to Austin to get ready for Thanksgiving at our house. We stopped for some shopping at the Round Rock outlets, and then ate dinner at Rudy's BBQ - a true Texas experience. The next day the boys went golfing and Gretchen and I took the kids to Austin Children's Museum, which they loved. They could stay at that place for hours. That night Anita babysat all the kids while we went to the Melting Pot in downtown Austin.

Thanksgiving day went perfectly, thanks to Daniel's mom - I consider myself very lucky to have a mother-in-law who knows her way around the kitchen and thinks cooking up a huge feast for everyone is fun. I don't know what I would have done without her.

On Thanksgiving the temperature literally dropped 35 degrees, and the next day we headed down to SeaWorld, San Antonio in 40 degree weather. It was freezing! We bundled everyone up, and all the kids were good sports, so we still had a good time. I did NOT envy the dolphin trainers this time around - that water looked much too cold.

Saturday we got to watch the BYU game, so that was fun. That evening the boys went out to Tokyo Steak House, and then they came back and watched the kids and the girls went out and did a little shopping. It was a good day.

Daniel's family left on Monday morning to go back to Utah, and it came much too soon. I wish Texas was a little bit closer to home so we could see everyone more often.

Austin Children's Museum in downtown Austin

SeaWorld, San Antonio in 40 degree weather

Dinner at Maudie's Milagro and Obstacle Courses for the Kids

After we got home from Maudie's, Daniel organized lots of races and an obstacle course for the kids. After all the excitement, Gretchen led them in some stretches and relaxation exercises to help them get ready for bed.