Turkey Day

Burke, Chance, Stacy, Greg, Chad, Alexa, Trace, Ethan
(L to R around the table)

Dad, Mom, EllieNiki, Wade, Dad, MeEllieJosh

(top) Ellie, Chance, Chad, Alexa, Mason (bottom) Trace, Ethan, Burke

I will be the first to admit my shock to Thanksgiving being my FAVORITE holiday. I'm such a family oriented person that there's just no other holiday that makes me feel as close to them. Christmas is nice, but it's just too chaotic with all the presents and such. Once Mason is older, it will be more fun, I'm sure. For now, I'll just stick with good food and my family. You can't go wrong with that. We had our Thanksgiving dinner at my sister, Nicole's, house. What a huge undertaking to host such a dinner and yet, Wade still wanted to cook the turkeys too. He really is an amazing cook, so we all agreed with his request. The rest of us pitched in with all the other food. It was all very yummy! I didn't take a single picture, since Mason was being grumpy. I'm glad my sister, Stacy, took a few.

We ate and then most everyone headed over to my parent's house to hang out. Mason had little interest in ANYTHING today. He's been running a low-grade fever off and on for 3 days now. He is very needy and whiney, which is SO not like him. He would actually cry (with tears) when Josh would put him down today. Very odd behavior for Mason to be clingy to either of us. Anyway, we decided to take Mason home for a nap and I napped as well. I joined up with my family later on and left Josh and crusty Mason at home.

I enjoyed looking at the ads and discovered (much to my dismay) that there is an item on sale at WalMart that I would like for Mason for Christmas. Ughhhh. I hate Black Friday shopping. Me and my nephew, Chance, decided we'd meet up and hit the store at 4:30am. Again, ughhhh! Basically, there is no point in going to sleep, since I wouldn't fall asleep before that without some serious sleep aids.

There are many things that I am thankful for today. I got so caught up in the craziness of the day, that I'm glad I have some down time to really think about what I am grateful for.

• My family (both on the little scale of the 3 of us and the grander scale)
• My testimony and my relationship with Heavenly Father
  
• My friends (old or new, my friends mean so much to me)
• Good health for me and my loved ones
• Being able to stay home with Mason each day (and Josh's stable job!)
  
• Memories/Photos/Journals/Blogs, etc.
  
• The nice things I have (home, cars, jewelry, electronics, etc.)

My list may not appear to be very in depth, but they are still very important for me to remember and be grateful for. Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!