Giving of the Thanks

Well, my second favorite holiday of the year has come and gone.  I really can't believe that this year is almost over.  Are we sure that's right?!  I remember when I was young and my parents used to say that I kiiiiind of thought it was just something adults said to create conversation.  I certainly never felt like my semesters were going very quickly.  Of course, when you have to learn about space every single semester, it's easy to see how one might feel that way.  (Yeah, yeah- North Star and Orions Belt.  Got it.)  Turns out my parents really did know what they were talking about though because time as an adult is flying.   Who'd have thought?  ;c)

Back on track... this year Thanksgiving rudely placed itself in the middle of Ryan's bad week at work.  Bad week = working days Monday through Wednesday and nights Friday through Sunday.  Thankfully, he at least had Thanksgiving and most of the day Friday off.  We made the most of it by hitting up both the Martin and Boarman family abodes in that short span of time.

We started out on Thursday morning at Ryan's parents' house in the dirty branch.  The morning and afternoon were filled with delicious scents, lounging around and watching football.  Kylie kept us all entertained with some newly acquired colorful vocabulary (thanks Texans), shoe sharing and making sure that we were all appropriately covered in the way of band aids.  A delicious meal of turkey, sausage balls, pink stuff, green bean casserole and stuffing capped off what I would definitely call a perfect holiday. 

Who needs the green beans when you can just eat the fried onions by themselves?  Why has no one else thought of this?!

Lola & Harley are excellent turkey carving supervisors.

Kylie pie showing off the newest addition to her line of seasonal animal noises.

Turkey coma or lack of turkey pouting?  It's very hard to say.

Kylie making my shoes look goooooood.

The absolute best part of family meals- lounging around on the sofa together afterwards.

Uncle Ryan looked like he needed to accessorize that stinky foot with a Disney Princess band aid.

After Thanksgiving feast #1, Ryan, Lolers and I hit the road to head to Conroe for the evening.  Upon arrival we were immediately greeted with wine (or in baby & I's case- blueberry grape sparkling juice) and even MORE delicious smells.  While most people choose to follow a meal with dessert, Ryan and I opted to follow it with another equally large meal because that is how we roll.  After round #2 of turkey, homemade stuffing, fruit salad, corn casserole, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie we finally tapped out of the eating game for the day.  I may have spoke somewhat questionably of the lack of zipper/button on maternity pants in my last post, but after experiencing that wonder during the biggest eating day of the year... I'm beginning to think they may make an appearance annually.  We went to bed that evening full of both amazing food and gratitude for the wonderful families and friends we've been so blessed with.  

The next day we spent most of the morning and afternoon car shopping with Jules and just lounging around the house.  After Ryan left for work in the late afternoon, my parents set up the fire pit we'd given them last Christmas for it's maiden voyage.  After all, any opportunity to bust out the awesome denim Gallery Furniture jackets we have is one that the Boarman's choose to seize.  It was so relaxing to sit around and gab with the family.  It's so rare that the 5 of us all get to be in the same place at the same time.

The reason Caddy & JJ probably look so in awe here is that it's the smallest fire they've seen in probably 2 years.

No fire trucks involved in the making of this photo.

The remainder of the weekend was filled with more talking, laughing, football and general family bonding.  Oh, and we bought a Christmas tree.  :c)  The Boarmans are not typically known for their amazing tree-picking skills.  Over the years we've been known to think we've found "the one" only to arrive home and realize one side of branches appears to have been attacked by a wild pack of squirrels, a completely crooked trunk and/or a Dolly Parton-esque shape which makes you terrified to add any ornaments to the upper half.  While I don't have any pictures of the final product this year yet, I truly believe this year we may have bucked that tradition.  

Caddy doing some very precise measuring.  Thankfully she was in charge of the mental math portion of this excursion, not me.

Matt looking very enthused about the prospects of this ol' fir.

All in all, it was an absolutely perfect Thanksgiving.  I know that I say this often, but I truly mean it- Ryan and I are so much more blessed than we deserve to be.  Thank you to all of you in our lives who make it that way.  Special thanks to our families for sharing their homes, their food, their hearts and their graciousness with us.  We love you all!

I think this picture perfect encapsulates the weekend.