a wisconsin thanksgiving

We finally made it to Thanksgiving, and as always, it came and went way too quickly.  But we made so many fantastic memories during our trip to Wisconsin, and we're already looking forward to the next time we can go back.

We decided to fly out of the Las Vegas airport and were very glad we did when we started hearing about all the crazy buzz about a huge Utah blizzard.  

{The SUU campus even shut down early!} 

So while everyone was headed north driving in the bad weather, we went south to spend a few hours basking in the warmth of Vegas.  Except... it ended up being freezing there!  We had a few hours to kill before our red eye flight, so we did some shopping and a little sight-seeing along the strip, all while trying to stay warm.

We were so lucky, and everything went smoothly with our flights.  We made it safely to WI and were greeted by Paula and Hannah at the airport.  Paula took us to a fun little place just outside of Green Bay for breakfast.  The food was yummy and we were entertained by a camel, alligators, fancy motorcycles and old cars, and an antique shop.

 As soon as we got to the house, I crashed while Bryce went out for a few hours with his dad.  
That evening we spent chatting and preparing for our travels to the Dells.

Day 3 (Thanksgiving!) we arrived at the beautiful Chula Vista resort and met up with the whole gang.  The room we had was amazing with an incredible view of the woods and river below!

 {hannah, katie, and me on the balcony}

Paula had spent hours and hours preparing Thanksgiving beforehand, so we could just warm it up and enjoy, without the stress of cooking it there.  
Paula is an amazing cook and everything was delicious!

{we were too busy stuffing ourselves to take any pictures}

After we allowed some time to digest, we headed down to spend the evening at the waterpark.  

Wisconsin Dells is known for all their waterparks, indoor and outdoor.   

Before Bryce's mission, we went to Noah's Ark, which is the largest waterpark in the country.  It's a big deal.

So basically every hotel has some kind of water attraction.

I was amazed at how big Chula Vista's was... it was a blast!  There were tube slides, mat slides, a watercoaster, lazy river, and other water play areas.

 

 {view from outside}

On Friday, we spent the morning at the outdoor hot tub, did some shopping at the nearby outlet mall, ate a lot more food, got in more waterpark time, 
and took family pictures.

 

The rest of our time at the Dells was spent eating,

playing,

hot tubbing,

games,

visiting,

and relaxing.

Just before heading back to Gresham, we did some more shopping and stopped for dinner at a fun place called Buffalo Phil's 

where an electric toy train brought us our food on the track and we got to wear cool hats.

That night we enjoyed some time playing games and catching up with Bryce's dad before we had to pack and get ready for an early morning departure.

We saw Hannah off first that morning, then Paula treated us to lunch at Texas Roadhouse before we got on our plane to head back to Utah.

This Thanksgiving I'm very grateful for wonderful family, near and far.

I'm glad we were able to go on this trip to visit with those that mean so much to us!  Thank you Paula for all you did in making this such a special visit, 

we love you!  Can't wait to see you all again next summer! :)