Day 5 - Thanksgiving, Day 6 - Back to SLC

Day 5 - A Munn's family Thanksgiving was in order today. Jeremy's mom came over mid-morning to start cooking, and his dad, the 6 grand kids and their parents came over around 2 to play and eat. The kids LOVED Pili. Well, once they stopped being afraid of her since she is kind of a big dog. They really liked giving her treats and kicking a soccer ball to her and trying to keep it away from her. I helped cook too, I made the mashed potatoes. They were, and I quote, "The Bomb!"

After dinner their family went for a walk and I stayed at the house for some quiet time. The 6 grand kids have a LOT of energy and make a LOT of noise. I'm just not used to that much going on at one time so it was nice to have complete quiet and relax from their fun, but tiring visit.

We ended the day with a movie. Jeremy and his mom and I went to see "The Blindside" which was pretty good. Its based on a true story and I found it so touching. The family took in a homeless teenager. They loved him like he was their own, even became his guardians. I am amazed at the way lives change from simple human kindness. The life he could have had would have been so much different had this family not crossed his path. Really a beautiful story.

Day 6 - This morning I headed to Trader Joe's on my own. I google mapped the directions but somehow missed something because I was headed to San Dimas and ended up lost in Chino Hills. All week long Jeremy has drove and he has a GPS. It was so nice to have for navigating the many freeways in the LA area. I got frustrated and was starting to feel helpless. I considered speeding in the hopes of CHP pulling me over to help with directions. Needless to say after a lot of laughing and stopping to get a coke, I found a Trader Joe's in Chino Hills and managed to get back to the house in West Covina without calling anybody or stopping to ask for directions. The freeways aren't so terrible, you just really have to pay attention.

When I got back to the house the grand kids were there again and the day really felt like a family day. It was my own thoughts and nothing that had been said by anyone, but I just felt it was best to head back to Utah a day early and let them spend time together. So I loaded the car and Pili and I hit the road. Leaving Cali we were in bumper to bumper traffic on a 4 lane freeway!!!! It was frustrating, but only fitting since its totally LA style. Traffic finally cleared out around Las Vegas and it was nice not to have cars everywhere I looked for the entire 10 hour drive.

We got home just a little after midnight Utah time. It was 35 degrees when we got home and I was freezing since it had been 75 in LA and I was still wearing shorts and flip flops on the drive home.

This California girl is a NorCal girl, but I loved the week in SoCal! The weather was perfect and I couldn't soak up enough sunshine. And best of all, it was a lot of fun to spend time with one of my favorite friends. Being a tourist was a lot of fun thanks to my fantastic "tour guide". Thanks Jeremy!