Thanksgiving ~ 2013

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever"

We had a low key, nice Thanksgiving this year, celebrating with Kyle's family at his parents' house.  Admittedly, Thanksgiving is not my most favorite holiday but I do love an opportunity to take stock of our blessings and be thankful.

I am often most thankful for these two amazing blessings

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving ~ 2012

We had a fun Thanksgiving this year...it started out with a quiet morning at home, it was so nice to have slow start to the day with all four of us together.  It just doesn't happen much any more.

We headed to Kyle's aunt's house for dinner and enjoyed a delicious meal with Kyle's family.  The Simons were in town for Thanksgiving this year, so we enjoyed lots of quality time with them over the break.  It's always so fun to see all five cousins together.  I love watching them grow and change and really become friends.

Kennedy and Auntie Stacy had fun doing "stickers" ~ Grandma bought Kennedy a new Pinkalicious sticker book and she loved it!

Our family ~ guess this is what it would like like if we had another child :) 

I love that Bennett wanted to be in our picture too.  He's such a sweet boy and loves being with Carter.  Their little friendship is so sweet.

COUSINS!

Our attempts at getting all five cousins together for pictures weren't hugely successful this trip. 

We headed to Yuen Lui for our annual cousin photo shoot on Wednesday and then tried again on Thursday and Sunday.  I'm not sure that we ever succeeded in getting a good picture of all five.  Guess there's always next year!

And this is what I'm up against when trying to get a picture of my two littles. 

I typically will get a good smile from one and a silly face or turned head or "cheese" face or eyes not looking at the camera or...someday they might thank me for taking their picture, but at this point they don't appreciate it!

Almost...if I could just photo shop Kennedy's smile from the first picture into this cute one of Carter, it would be a great picture.

And this is how we ended the night ~ wrestling with Daddy.  I'm not sure Peg will want our craziness back for awhile.  Five kids, six and under, can cause quite a ruckus!

On Thanksgiving this year, I was especially grateful for a healthy family and good employment.  We have seen friends struggle with job security, and I feel so blessed to have weathered this national crisis with two jobs in tact.  We are so fortunate!

Thanksgiving in Boise

In all of the years that Kyle and I have been married, we have never travelled for Thanksgiving.  Kyle had always worked on Friday, so travelling wasn't really an option.  This year was different and we decided to make a trip east to Boise to visit my grandmother.  She had taken a few falls in the last month or so, and we thought it was important to make an effort to see her.  It ended up being a very enjoyable couple of days, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well the kids did with the drive. 

 Here we are all loaded up.  I had to laugh at the quantity of stuff that we managed to pack for a four day trip.  Notice the pineapple on the right side.  Really?  Kind of felt like the Griswalds.

 Happy Thanksgiving!

 Our attempts at family portraits are laughable!

 Pops and Kennedy playing angry birds.

My parents flew in from Arizona and arrived on Thursday morning.  We picked them up at the airport and then headed to GG's to visit.

Carter and his great grandma

 Kennedy and GG

 Pops definitely has a soft spot for this little one.  They had fun together.

Kennedy and Ella 

For Thanksgiving, we were fortunate enough to go to the Lowe's for a wonderful dinner.  Shane is my second cousin and he and his wife, Karen, were gracious hosts.  They had a 2 week old new baby and still managed to host dinner for 15!  I was impressed!  A fantastic way to spend the holiday!  It was a wonderful day and the kids had a blast playing with Ella and all of her toys.  The weather was nice, so they took advantage and played outside for quite awhile.

Our hotel had a pool, so the kids were in heaven!  I think they swam at least once every day and were usually down in the pool before 8:00!   

I cannot begin to say it enough, but I am LUCKY to have a husband who loves to swim with the kids.  I've got the easy part - sitting on the sidelines, snapping pictures!

On our last night, we all went out to dinner (sadly, I didn't get a group shot the entire trip!)  Carter is enjoying 'dirt in a cup' - a special treat of chocolate pudding, mashed oreos and gummy worms.  Always spoiled by Nana!

Counting our Blessings

As we celebrated Thanksgiving this year, I realized again how very blessed we are. We have two healthy, happy, beautiful children, wonderfully supportive and loving families, enough food to eat and clothes to keep us warm. When so many have so little, it's important to be aware of how truly fortunate we really are. I am so thankful for all that God has given us.

Our attempt at a family portrait on Thanksgiving, unfortunately our camera was acting up and the quality is not the best.

Kennedy and Auntie Val

What would Thanksgiving be without a little football?

The boys (Uncle Justin, Bennett and Carter) braving the cold to get out and play!

A smile from Kennedy...just one more thing to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

Auntie Stacy and her sidekick - these two have too much fun together. Although, after a few days together, Stace was tired. She says Kennedy wears her out in a whole new way :)

Carter and Bennett - such good buddies. Bennett already thinks Carter (or "Caillou" as he calls him) is pretty cool. Wherever Carter was, Bennett was usually close behind. They're so cute together.