Giving Thanks

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! We were lucky enough to have my sister and her family visit this year. I love the Thanksgiving season. It's always so nice to reflect on our blessings. The things that kept coming to mind for me were warmth and physical health. I'm so glad I have a warm, dry home to live in. I'm so thankful I am not hungry...that I always have food in my cupboards (even though it might be good if I let myself be hungry more often...haha!). I'm thankful I am healthy and well, so I can enjoy life (and especially this weekend). Raychel was so excited to see her cousin, Jacob.
James's party platter. He thought it would be a good idea to have a plate of cheese, meat and crackers. He personally selected all the cheeses. He even did the arrangement on the plate. He's so crafty!

Raychel writing out the seating arrangement.

Thanksgiving smile.

Full stomachs=nap time for all. Leah is pretending. Amanda is "resting her eyes".
Presh. :-)

Chris made himself comfortable in the play room.
Leah is not pretending in this picture. Papa is just so comfortable!

Anna and Jacob were too busy playing to slow down for a nap.

Raychel, Leah, Amanda, and Abby (Oh, and Raychel's earrings deserve to be noticed too.)

Mitchell

Grant being a turd.

Daddy and daughter.

So the other "fun" thing we did this year was fully participate in the Black Friday festivities. We left my house at 8:30 PM and went to Reno for the 10:00 opening of the mall. Then we came back to Carson to wait in line at Target. We all took 30 minute shifts waiting in the 9 degree weather. Four hours later we RAN to get our designated items (Can't tell you what my mom got. Grant may read my blog {ha! right!} and the surprise will be ruined). I hauled to the toy section, and loaded up on princess goods. I have a confession to make. Don't hate me. It's amazing how competitive you become in that environment. So there were these princess babies on sale for $4.99. I grabbed 3. As we were walking around, I was thinking, "You know, I really should put these dolls back. My girls don't even play with dolls. That is $20 I could spend on something else." Seriously, not 2 seconds later, a fellow shopper says to me, "Excuse me, I don't mean to be rude. Are you going to put those dolls back? Are you keeping them? They are all wiped out, and I need another one." I could have/should have been nice and given her the dolls. But alas, my competitive nature came to a head. I said, "Oh, I'm sorry, yes, I'll be keeping these." haha! Not very nice, I know. We got home at 6 am. I didn't go to sleep until 9 that night. My mind and body can't take that abuse like it did in college. Getting old is rough!