Thanksgiving

My Thanksgiving break started off with a major blizzard warning in Utah.  We were told it was supposed to be the worst blizzard in 40 years or something.  Campus closed more than a day early and everyone worried about traveling for the break.

We got nothing.

Of course, I was out of town for the break, but I'm not even sure that it snowed much while I was gone.  Everyone was pretty disappointed that the big blizzard turned out to be a big nothing.  Well, I was glad at least that it didn't interfere with traveling.  Besides, I don't really like snow that much.  Or at all.

Well, I flew to Phoenix for the break to visit my grandparents who live there.  It was much, much warmer there, and I loved it!  It was good to see my grandparents who I haven't seen for about 3 years.

Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill

They have 6 cats and a bunny.  I'd never met any of the cats until now.  They were really sweet!  They seemed to like me too and it was cute when they would come up and want me to pet them.  Five of them were all grey, so it was a little hard to tell them apart at first, but they each definitely have their own personality.

This is Buddy.  He was my "buddy" while I was there

He's missing his front leg there.

Lucky the bunny :)

Lucy

(she likes to come up behind you when you're sitting and  tap you on the back when she wants to be petted)

Another one of Buddy.  Aww, he's so sweet!

It was a nice, relaxing break in Arizona.  I got a lot of sleep, which was lovely.

On Wednesday we went to Arizona Mills and saw "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1."  (If you haven't read my previous post already, it tells why I didn't get to see it at midnight.)  The movie was so so so so good!  I heard that a lot of people thought it was too slow and boring, but I liked watching interactions between the trio, who were the focus of most of the movie.  I think this movie was a really good representation of the book as well.  I absolutely loved Dobby, who kicked some serious trash.  I also really enjoyed the scene in the Ministry of Magic where they were disguised as different people.  I also liked Ron a lot more in this movie.  He usually bothers me.  The scene at the beginning where Hermione modifies her parents memories is so sad!  And the part at Godric's Hollow with Bathilda Bagshot is soooo creepy.

After the movie we ate at Panda Express- yummy!

For Thanksgiving my grandma ordered most of the meal from Mimi's Cafe.  Oh boy, was it delicious!  Those mashed potatoes were the best one I've ever had! It was nice because that took a lot of the hassle out of preparing the food, so we could have a more relaxing time.

We all took a nice nap that afternoon after eating.  Then we watched "Elf" (my favorite!).  It just cracks me up every time!  Good stuff.

My grandma and I went shopping at midnight at Arizona Mills to check out the Black Friday deals.  We mostly just wanted to go for the experience, though we did get a good deal on fleece pullovers at The Gap.  That was all we bought, and we left after a little bit.  There were lines waiting to get into some of the more popular stores.  I couldn't believe how many people were out and about at midnight!  But I guess that's Black Friday for ya.

Slept in a bit on Friday, and then went to Old Navy to check out the sales there. I ended up getting some pretty good stuff for a good price!  I've been needing some warmer clothes. :)

Later that night we went to Cici's Pizza for dinner (yum yum yum!) and then to the Mesa temple to see them turn on the Christmas lights.  It was really cool!  The lights seemed like they were even better than Temple Square in Salt Lake.  I was playing with my grandma's digital camera which has some neat features, so I was able to get some great night shots of the temple and the lights, and some awesome panoramics as well.  Check them out! (You might want to click on the panoramics to see them bigger--they really are neat!)

Mesa Temple

Love this shot

One of the panoramics 

(click to view larger)

House of the Lord - Holiness to the Lord

Lights!

The palm trees were really cool!

Me and Grandpa Bill

Temple and the garden lights

(click to view larger)

View from the street

(click to view larger) 

Nativity with an awesome big star

What a great Thanksgiving break!  Thanks for having me, Grandma and Grandpa!

Maybe I can go again next year.  :)

I got some cool shots out the plane window on my flight back to Provo:

Isn't the sky beautiful??

Flying in close to Salt Lake

Some sort of mine.. it was huge!

I wish I had thought to take pictures when I flew out of LA (I had a layover there).
It was so cool flying out over the ocean and then looping back around over LA.
I even got to see the Hollywood sign on the mountain as we flew over.
Pretty neat!