Thanksgiving

I had better blog about Thanksgiving otherwise it's going to slip by without a mention! For Thanksgiving, we drove to my grandparents' house in Northern California. Yes, it was a long drive, but we armed ourselves with plenty of Gracie's toys, Sesame Street sing-along videos, and snacks to make the drive bearable. We tried to lessen the drive by going a few hours after Boyce got off of work that Tuesday and stayed the night in Elko, and on Wednesday we got to Grandma's and Grandpa's in the late afternoon.

We had a great time catching up with my family. My dad drove down, and Kat flew in from Atlanta. Both of them arrived on Thanksgiving Day. Jane's brother Steve was there, and so was Jane's Aunt Nellie. It was great being able to introduce them to Grace, whom they'd never met.

Wednesday we really just spent chatting and catching up with everyone. And on Thursday, Boyce and I set to work to bake some pies and make our traditional sweet potato casserole and green bean casserole that we normally have at the holidays. Steve took charge of the turkey and ham (we had to have both because of the picky eaters in our family).

In the midst of all of the cooking craziness, Dad and Kat arrived. It was so fun to see them, and Kat soon joined us in the kitchen to help finish preparing dinner. I had printed off copies of the poem "Grace Before Sleep" because we had just sang it in Stake Conference, and I found it to be so beautiful, and its meaning is all about a meal of thanksgiving.

We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving dinner, and were all pretty much stuffed by the end. Grace sure enjoyed the ham, casseroles, and of course pie.

On Friday, we accompanied Dad and Kat on an early-morning coffeehouse run, and got ourselves some yummy hot chocolate. Then we decided to hit up the local Wal-Mart just to see if there were any Black Friday goods we were interested in. Kat and Dad managed to complete both Christmas and birthday shopping for Grace. :) The rest of the day we just lounged around the house. Grace and Grandpa sure bonded. She was so cute with him, and loved hanging out with him wherever he was.

Grace chillin' with Grandpa.

Dad, Grace, and Grandpa headed to Wal-Mart for some Black Friday shopping.

Just wearing Daddy's shoes.

Family walk down their driveway. :)

Saturday came quickly. We spent nearly all of the day there before needing to leave to drop Kat off at the airport. That afternoon, we drove up to the nearby golf course that overlooks the lake and let Grace burn off some energy from being housebound. For dinner, we went to the local pizza place and got some pizza to bring back to the crowd, and then said goodbye to everyone. We made our way to Sacramento to drop off Kat to catch her flight back to Atlanta, and we stayed the night there before driving home the rest of the way on Sunday. Like I said, lots of driving, but it was worth the trip to see all the family!

Grandpa pestering Grace; his favorite activity.

Having some fun at the golf course.

Aunt Kat and Grace.