Tour(key) of Texas

How do I get so behind on my blog?  Actually, at the moment I do know the answer and it is freaking Tony Soprano.  Ryan and I are about 10 years behind the general population and for the last few months we've been watching all the seasons of the Sopranos.  When I get home it's very difficult to make myself write words when all I can think about is whether Adriana and Chris will actually get married in the next episode or whether someone will actually give Paulie the whack upside his head he needed.  We finally just finished and I'm uber disappointed in the ending, but I am off on a digressing tangent.  So... back to Thanksgiving.

For those of you unaware, Thanksgiving took place recently.  Kind of a big deal in casa Martin.  It is my second favorite holiday behind Christmas and Ryan's second favorite behind opening day of college football season.  A love that strong can not be celebrated but just once, obviously.  So, we devoted Thursday to stuffing ourselves silly with the Martin family and Friday was reserved for over-eating with the Boarmans.

Wednesday evening and Thursday morning were spent with my awesome in-laws.  I enjoyed one of my favorite Martin family traditions - making sausage balls.  I am not sure that the monster-sized ones that Ryan rolled would have passed muster with Granny, but I have no doubt they entertained her.  We also all had a ball watching Tweedle Dee (Kylie) and Tweedle Dum (Lola) chase eachother around, watching bad TV and hanging out with eachother.  It goes without saying that the food was delicious, but obviously I'm going to go ahead and say it.  Best in show: sausage balls (tooooootally unbiased opinion) and the green bean casserole- mmmmmm.

Me?  In trouble?

Photographic evidence that Lola thinks she's a lap dog.

Being in the kitchen really brings out Ryan's enthusiastic side.

Lola is helpful.

Purdee tablescape.

In order to really solidify our own family comradery, Ryan and I made the bold decision to attend the UT/A&M game in College Station on Thursday afternoon.  Grandpa was kind enough to let us go with him and use his 2 spare tickets.  I expected this to end in Lola being the product of a broken home, but surprisingly we survived the game unscathed.  I attribute this to the fact that from kick off to the time we were finally outside city limits we said 0 words to one another.  Silence is indeed golden.  While I'll miss the tradition of posting up in front of the TV on Thanksgiving to watch the game, I hope that this will lead to a more harmonious dia de Turkey, and less fanny packs, for yours truly.  Thanks for all the memories over the years!

Before the great silence.

Ms. Laura and I's last minute hook 'ems.

Kyle Field.

Friday morning we woke up early, packed up our belongings and our whisker-face and headed to Conroe for Thanksgiving: the Sequel.  Again- the food was amazing.  Best in show here was Mamacita's homemade stuffing.  Love that stuff!  The remainder of the weekend was spent enjoying a Boarman family bonfire, a wild game of Taboo and trying to keep Lola from stealing Abby's belongings.

Champagne and string cheese.  I married a man of culture.

Luckily no eyebrows were lost in the making of this photo.  My Dad is 6'5", for reference purposes.

A little excessive for s'mores.

"You use this to travel through Europe...."

Taboo is exciting!

Overall, it was another Thanksgiving for the history books.  Ryan and I are so thankful for our friends and family.  Thank you for all that you do... and all that you feed us.  I hope that everyone else's Thanksgivings were equally as fun-filled.