Thanksgiving in Nebraska!

Yep, we headed to Nebraska again!  We originally weren't going to since we just had our big trip with Steve's family to San Diego at the end of September but his parents wanted us to come out for Thanksgiving anyway.  We left Monday, Nov. 23rd early (about 7:30) and had to drive the 3 1/2 hours to Salt Lake, park the car, take a flight to Denver, switch planes and take another flight to Omaha and then drive 2 hours to the Wilker home.  It's about 12 hours total which makes for a LONG day, especially with 3 kids in tow.  I was expecting the worst that day and was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the day went.  We were also very grateful for good weather and flights that were on time!  We got there at about 8:30pm and were all very happy to be there!

Salt Lake City airport

Tuesday we just hung out at home and let the kids play.  Preston, Tyson, Abby, Papa and Steve all went fishing for a bit (which was cold, but they still had fun trying it out).  They dropped off Abby at home and then all the boys went to shoot some bows and arrows which they all enjoyed.

Tuesday evening, the city of Norfolk was having their downtown Christmas celebration and tree lighting.  We bundled up and headed down to the shops where we got to see Santa, hear Christmas music, and most of the stores had cookies or hot coco.  The boy scouts had little bonfires set up where you could make smores and have hot chocolate, so fun!  We got to go on a hay ride pulled by a tractor before seeing the tree lighting.  (the tree was pretty underwhelming but made us all chuckle!).  It was a fun night!

Cute, right?!  When Santa asked Preston what he wanted he said he wanted his cousin Tyson to live closer.  Just broke my heart to hear him say that.

Wednesday we hung out some more and helped Angie who had organized a whole Star Wars party for his birthday.  We told Preston that Angie had a party to go to and we were helping her get things ready but didn't tell him it was for him.  Thankfully he wasn't very good at putting two and two together, haha.  Abby and Angie had gone early to the church and set up the whole party.  Preston was pretty surprised and excited!  She did an awesome job with the decorations, themed food, games, a pinata, and cupcakes.  It was a great party and I think Preston had a lot of fun and of course he got some fun presents too.  Can't believe my boy turned 7!!

Oh I love my boy!

Thursday was Thanksgiving (Preston's actual birthday) and I was excited for a relaxing day and yummy food.  Unfortunately Tyson threw up most of the night before and then I didn't feel well.  Uh-oh!  I managed to eat just a little of our yummy meal before taking a nap.  When I woke up it was my turn for the stomach flu.  It was awful, I just felt so sick and throwing up is the worst!  Come about 8pm and it was Preston's turn, poor kid, and then Abby threw up at about midnight kicking off her turn.  We all threw up several times and Steve got sick also.  It was a long night for the 4 of us with Steve in charge of Abby and me in charge of Preston.  It was terrible.  We still didn't feel great on Friday and were all exhausted so we sat around and just watched movies all day.  Preston even put himself to bed for a nap and slept 3 hours, holy moly!  It was a pretty pathetic day but I did manage to go do a little shopping that evening with all the girls.  (Oh and I took zero pictures on Thanksgiving, sad!)

Troublemaker figured out how to climb up on their chairs and table.  She was pretty proud of herself.

This was Preston on Friday before his nap.  He just looked so sad and laid there for about 30 minutes before he put himself to bed.

Although Kaley didn't get the stomach flu she was still pretty off for about half our trip and even had a fever all day on Tuesday.  Apparently we were just full of germs!

Saturday, thankfully everyone was feeling better and the kids were back to their loud, happy selves.  Unfortunately we had to leave at about 1pm that afternoon for our 12 hour trek back home.  We made it home at about midnight and we were all so exhausted but so happy to be home.

It is always great to see family and we are so blessed with families that make it possible for us to come see them and that we miss when we are not together.  This, however, was not our favorite trip because of our lovely stomach flu.  We feel like we wasted a lot of time and didn't do a lot of the things we wanted.  I feel like I missed Thanksgiving and didn't get to savor the holiday and didn't get to make Preston's actual birthday special.  Oh well, what can you do?!  We are all excited about the Christmas season upon us now!

On a side note: this stomach flu (and then traveling right after) is no joke!  Although the vomiting part was done in about 12 hours, it has taken us days for our tummies to fully recover and to not be so tired anymore.  We are hoping that we checked that box for a long time and don't have to do it again anytime soon!