Thankful for a perfect Thanksgiving

After the turkey trot, we headed home to prepare our Thanksgiving feast and enjoy the rest of the holiday.  I have a couple of favorite sounds on Thanksgiving day: one is kids laughing,

 

...one is all of the women chatting while preparing dinner amid the whirring of beaters and kitchen timers,

...and another is the cheering and groaning of the men while watching football.  For some reason it is a real homey combination for me. 

Preparing dinner at one house with one oven requires some good planning and coordination of dishes.  But the final feast was worth every dish dirtied and washed (and believe me, we washed a lot of dishes).  Doesn't it look tasty?  I'm glad you're drooling, because we were too.

After we feasted on turkey, home made stuffing, Lion House rolls, sweet yams, deviled eggs, spinach salad, cranberry Jell-O, lemon-pimento broccoli, and a little sparkling cider, we walked across the street to enjoy the Thanksgiving twilight. 

We tested out Ryan's new Frisbee. 

We played on the playground. 

And just enjoyed the absolutely most perfect weather Thanksgiving has ever seen. 

In fact, the entire holiday oozed perfection.  My entire family (sans Sis. Camille Johnson) were able to come out to our home.  There was a moment when we thought my dad would have to stay home alone because he was sick, but he made a truly miraculous recovery and we were so blessed that he could make it.  It wouldn't have been the same without my dad.  It was also the first year that Jeremy and I were able to host a family party.  We finally have space for everyone in our new home and it was so wonderful.  Family, food, and fabulous weather...it was a truly perfect Thanksgiving and I couldn't have hoped for anything better.

Turkey Trot

This year my family came out to visit us for Thanksgiving.  It was an absolute blast and one of the best Thanksgivings ever!  We decided to try something new this year and signed up for a local 5K Thanksgiving morning; hello Anthem turkey trot!  Alan, Hannah, Ryan and I signed up for the family 5K.  Basically the four of you run then they take your total time to compete for prizes.  We didn't care about the prizes, we just wanted to have fun-and I think we achieved it. 

We drove to the race in my dad's rented red Mustang.  We were way too cool for the other runners. 

As we were waiting for our start, my mom started taking some pictures.  Ryan may look grumpy in this picture, but let me assure you that he is just faking being grumpy.  He was actually having a good time. 

And here are Alan and Hannah at the start.  Unplanned, they are both wearing Riverton race T-shirts; it made them easy to find. 

While we were running, our cheering squad was waiting for us to show up.  They played with cat tails and posed with Grandma. 

Baby Faye came too and loved watching her mom and dad run their race.

When we came around the final turn, we were very excited to be done so we could go home and eat pie.  I finished in a 21:18. 

Ryan finished in an awesome 21:26.  And I have to say it is pretty incredible considering that it is his first 5K and he threw up twice during the race.  (We can blame it on the spaghetti he ate for breakfast.) 

Alan and Hannah came around the final turn holding hands and looking so cute.  What a cute couple! 

After the race we struck a victory pose for the camera. 

There was a kids' 1/2 mile race that we failed to sign Cambrie up for, but the event was so low key that I quickly pinned my bib on her shirt and ran with her across the finish line.

  She was so excited that she ran her first race and earned her very own mini Gatorade bottle.  We will have to officially sign her up next year.  I would have to say that it was definitely one successful turkey trot.

Laugh and take a picture

What to say about little Miss McKenzie?  To put it lightly, she is quite the adventure.  A couple of weeks ago she spilled yellow nail polish on the carpet, punched a hole in the dry wall and spilled a container of bubbles all over their bedroom floor...all on the same day.  This week she hasn't been nearly as destructive, but she still manages to keep life interesting. 

One day I decided to let the girls have Lunchables for lunch.  McKenzie built a tower out of hers and gave me a cheesy smile for the picture.  So much for eating them. 

Every few weeks we babysit Addy while her mom teaches preschool.  The girls get along great and are each other's best friends.  It's adorable.  Normally I don't have to worry about them getting into trouble.  But this particular day I had gone downstairs to finish a painting project, and when I came back upstairs I saw that they had helped themselves to grape Popsicles.  McKenzie opened the freezer, Addy opened the Popsicle bags, and the girls were in frozen heaven.  What a mess!

McKenzie has also learned how to open things that twist.  Yes, that's about everything now.  But this morning she opened my mascara and applied it herself.  I just burst out laughing when I saw her little racoon eyes.  My make up is now hidden on an upper shelf of my closet. 

After all of this destruction a bath was definitely in order.  That girl... :)

My giddiness

These are my new skis.  Do I want to use them?  Oh yes I do!  Please let snow cover the mountains.  Please let a babysitter magically appear at my door.  Please let it be Christmas so I can officially claim them as my own!

Pottery Barn Owls

While browsing for ideas for my girls' room, I found these adorable owl book ends. 

They are super cute and would match their room really well, but I didn't want to spend $30 on them.  So I made my own, for free!  I pulled out some old scraps of fabric and some ancient pinto beans and ta-da!  Pottery Barn knock offs.

Little Leaf Cyclone

If you live in Colorado, you might have noticed that it's windy today.  The wind left us a pleasant surprise on our driveway, a pile of leaves!  Because of the way the wind was circling by our garage, we had a nice and neat pile of leaves for the girls to play in.  And I didn't even have to rake it up!  So before we ran out for a few errands, the girls got to play.  I love leaf pictures.

Find the Munchkins

When it's quiet around here, I begin to worry.  I thought I heard them playing with their Thanksgiving window clings, but they weren't there...Or were they? 

Surprise!  Nothing to worry about after all.