Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was spent with the Hanson family and it was a SUCCESS!!  

I was sad to not be in Utah with the fam, 

but we had such a FUN & YUMMY Thanksgiving, so it made it all okay.
That morning, I carried out the tradition of running a 5K
I was by myself and on a treadmill, but it made me feel a little connected to everyone back home (even though they didn't do the race this year due to MN-like temps).
But it was fun and it takes away a little of the guilt for eating SO much later in the day.
Who am I kidding?  
It's Thanksgiving!  
There isn't an ounce of guilt for over eating on Thanksgiving- 
for me anyway.

As you can see from the pics below 

(and they don't do the meal justice), 

we had quite the spread.  

We seriously had enough food to feed an army!  

I somehow missed getting a picture, but Dave smoked a turkey.  

I don't love turkey, but it smelled divine!  

We also had all the traditional fixins; mashed potatoes, 

sweet potatoes, stuffing, jello salad, rolls etc.  

We started with some tasty appetizers and ended with a few delectable desserts 

including these cute turkeys that Carolyn made for the kiddos.

 

Below is the table equipped with Vienna Sausages for Jeff.

He loves them and that has become kind of a joke around here.

Mmmm... looking at that plate of food is making my tummy rumble.

I could go for some of those sweet potatoes right about now.

After dinner we all let our dinner settle and allowed the tryptophan to set in by watching movies.

We got in our cozy clothes and turned on 

Chipmunks "The Squeakwel"  for the kiddos downstairs

and the adults watched "Blades of Glory" upstairs.

It was definitely a Thanksgiving to go down in the books.

We really have so much to be Thankful for.

This year I was especially grateful to be in a 

new place surrounded by new, and amazing, friends.  

I can't tell you how nice it was, even though we were away from family, 

to be with our new Minnesota family.  

The people here really make you feel like family. 

It is a great and comforting feeling.

The Hanson's are no exception!

We LOVE them and are grateful to have them as great friends.

Later that night, after the festivities had wrapped up 

and all the kiddos and hubbys were nestled in their own beds, 

Carolyn and I ventured out to do a little BLACK FRIDAY shopping.

We only hit Walmart, but found some good deals on a bunch of stuff we really didn't need.

Well, some stuff we did :)

I also spoke in church that following Sunday.

My talk was on Gratitude.

I have spoken in church only 3 times my entire adult life.

All 3 times my subject has been GRATITUDE.

I guess I still have something to learn on it.

I ended my talk with words from one of my all time favorite Josh Groban songs.

My poor family gets so sick of this song this time of year 

because it's on his Christmas album and I play it over and over and over.

I love it!

 

Somedays we forget
To look around us
Somedays we can't see
The joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see.
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Look beyond ourselves
There's so much sorrow
It's way too late to say
I'll cry tomorrow
Each of us must find our truth
It's so long overdue

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And every day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There's so much to be thankful for.

Even with our differences
There is a place we're all connected
Each of us can find each other's light

So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be
And on this day we hope for
What we still can't see
It's up to us to be the change
And even though this world needs so much more

There's so much to be thankful for