Our Thanksgiving 2015

This was an off year for us as far as traveling to Utah for Thanksgiving. We figured we would just have our small little gathering all by ourselves like we do when we stay home. However, much to our delight the Weavers decided to make the trip out to spend the holiday with us.  The weather was a little shaky the day they were traveling, but they made it and we were THRILLED!! 

Emmy has been really into drawing Minions this week;)

There was plenty more decorating and by Thursday afternoon my fridge looked like this

 

 Our Thanksgiving meal was scrumptious! The menu included Turkey, homemade rolls, beans, stuffing, veggie tray (with sweet pickles of course), green salad, Scott's (to die for) garlic mashed potatoes as well as sweet potatoes and lots of yummy pies. I didn't even take a pic of our spread but we had leftovers for days.

 

Did I mention how fun it was to have family to share our meal with?

  

It snowed pretty much the whole time they were here and those crazy kids just couldn't get enough of it. Seriously they were outside playing in it way into the dark.

 

 They decided that the deck was the perfect slick surface to slide back and forth

 

 They came in every once in a while to warm up

 I had planned a scavenger hunt for the kids to find things out in "nature" but with the weather I decided to just do a Turkey hunt indoors. 

Those kids searched high and low for the turkeys

 

Hazen ended up finding the most {he also had help from the girl who hid them;}. Kole found the turkey with the special code on it. Chocolate for all .. .. Woo Hoo!

 

 The next day we took in a movie and tried out Tom+Chee for lunch. The food was decent for a pricey grilled cheese and tomato soup joint. It is always fun to try out new places though.

my apologies to Kars-this is the only one with everyone looking;0

 Every night seemed to end with leftover pie

 and a few rounds of Werewolves

 Saturday morning, Scott treated us to Sweet Potato Donuts. Oh my .... they were so good!  I don't particularly like sweet potatoes but I do like donuts and these homemade, warm, fresh donuts were divine.

The kids wanted more of the snow so we put on the snow gear, grabbed the sleds and headed to a hill at a park here in town. The snow was already starting to disappear some and after a few runs the grass was visible. It made no difference to these kids:)

 

 They all tried going down the hill snowboard style. I must say I was pretty impressed with my little Emmrey's skills

 Kars took a run on all fours and hit a rock that sent her flying several feet in the air. She landed on her chest and it knocked the wind out of her. I didn't see her airborne (Mark did), but I heard the landing and I think my heart stopped for a second. She didn't know what was happening and for a time I wasn't sure she was alright. It shook her up pretty bad. That is a terrible feeling to not be able to breath and it scared me good!  She sat it out for a bit but was back at it before long.

 They even convinced the adults to give it a run or two

I was ready to hang it up long before these crazy kids were. Even with snow covered faces they wanted more;)

 We went into Old Town Fort Collins for dinner with Jami and Scott on their last night in town. Bailee is a gem and was willing to watch all the kids so we could go. We ate yummy Mexican food at LaLuz and enjoyed walking around the shops a little. It was pretty chilly so it was nice that they have these warming spots where you can stand by the fire.

They have all  the trees lit up in Old Town giving it a festive feel. They were kind enough to humor me with a group selfie before we headed home.

The next morning they headed out early to beat any storm or road conditions that might pose a problem. We are glad they made it home safely and without any complications, but we were so sad all day. As we drove home from church the car felt somber and I couldn't help thinking how nice it would be if they were still at our house when we got home:) So THANKFUL they came and spent time with us.