thanksgiving point

Growing up, my cousins lived in Connecticut, Oregon, and Montana.  Needless to say, I didn't see them as often as I would have liked.

A few years ago, a couple of them moved to Utah to go to school.  And then a couple more moved.  And a couple more.  Some of them have now moved to other places again, but a few of them still live in Utah.  Which means, for the first time in my life, I have cousins nearby.  And I'm loving it.

My cousins are the kind of people that you brag about in casual conversation.  [Oh wait...I'm the only one that does this?!]  They are accomplished and cultured and musical and they married people who are accomplished and cultured and musical and they are having prodigy children who are accomplished and cultured and musical.  I would be totally intimidated were it not for the fact that they are also really nice.  I just wish they hadn't hogged all the good genes!

Last week, I drove down to Herriman to see my cousin Meg and her two boys.  Meg and I aren't actually blood related, but the good-gene-hogging principle still applies.  We decided to drive over to Thanksgiving Point.  I'd never been there, and Meg has a membership, so we thought it'd be fun to take the kids.

But who am I kidding?  I probably would have wanted to go whether we'd had kids with us or not.

We went to the Farm Country portion of Thanksgiving Point.  It reminded me of being in 4-H and I was pretty much in heaven the entire time.  Ellie enjoyed pointing out animals and trying to make animal noises.  Which, all bias aside, is the cutest thing in the world.

First, Ellie and Meg's oldest son got to go on the pony ride.  Oh my, I thought those were amazing as a child, but they're even more fun as a parent.  Ellie was scared at first [read: terrified], but once the ride started going, she relaxed and just smiled and made excited noises the entire time.  Life is better when seen through a child's eyes.

Next, we got to go for a carriage ride.  I couldn't help but think of the scene in Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow.  Sit back, and kindly refrain from the intimacy of whispering!

 Sorry this one turned out so blurry!  My bad.

After the carriage ride, we just kinda walked around and looked at all the animals.  I say "just" but really I mean, WE GOT TO LOOK AT ALL THE ANIMALS AND IT WAS AMAZING AND OMG TIM DO YOU WANT TO BUY A FARM?!  Ellie better like animals when she's older because otherwise she'll be one very unhappy 4-H member with one very happy mama.

 This is Ellie's "I'm contemplating life now" face.  It happens a lot.

The turkey was Ellie's new animal sound of the day.  ["Gah gah gah!"]

We had such a fun time!  I loved talking to Meg, and her kids are adorable.  

And well, the animals didn't hurt either.