Thanksgiving!

     After work on Wednesday I picked up Kristen and Elise to drive home to San Diego.  We left Provo at 5 pm and we drove straight through the night- only stopping twice for gas. When I have made this trip before by myself it was so boring- just me and my music.  There were moments that I would feel the fatigue and once I needed to pull over for a power nap.  But THIS time, with Kristen and Elise to talk to, I never ONCE felt tired.  I drank Mountain Dew just 'in case' and it hardly felt like 10 hours at all.  

We arrived at my house around 2:20 and everyone but Karen was up or woke up when we got there.  Actually at one point I think I DID see Karen- but just for a moment. 

I still couldn't even stop talking to Elise even though we were both in bed and her brother was going to be picking her up in 3 hours.  She was just getting a nap before going home to surprise the rest of her family.

      I woke up around 10 and Karen and Mom were getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner.

The other Reads had dinner at Chris and Vanesa's while at our house we had the Sensenbaughs, Eric and Lora, and three Young Adult friends, Cara, Kevin, and Kevin's brother, Ben. 

It was a very good Thanksgiving, with good company, great food, and lots of fun.  I am so glad that I got to come home for that.  It is looking like I might not be able to come home for Christmas because I only get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off work.  So this was a precious Holiday.  But I am excited to having a Utah Christmas and I have a LOT of family and friends in Utah, so I know I will have a great Christmas anyway.  

But back to Thanksgiving:  before dinner we all wrote down something we are grateful for and then after dinner was served we played "things" or as we call it "things in a box".  It is a game where you have to guess what people said.  I thought it was a very clever idea to make dinner a bit more fun and to remember to recognize the things that we are grateful for.  I didn't say this on my paper, but I am so grateful for my family- for the household that I grew up in.  It may have taken me 24 years to figure out that my home has made me into who I am, and I like that person.  Sometimes it takes leaving home to realize how great home is.  You don't know what you've got til its gone, right?  

I am grateful for my niece, who is just too adorable for words.  She makes everyone smile and it was especially cute to hear her walking around the house because she has shoes with squeakers.  You always know where she's going even if you can't see her.  Most of my pictures are of her, obviously, because every moment brings something new with her- that's what being young means, and I love to capture those moments.  Also- adults aren't so happy about having a million pictures taken of them while babies don't care.

So anyways- I hope everyone had an equally lovely Thanksgiving with family or with friends.  And now we can finally bust out the Christmas stuff!    

Three proud and adoring Aunts