Giving Thanks in '09

This year I made the drive up to Idaho so we could spend Thanksgiving with some of my family. It was a super long drive, but the girls were pretty good (if I ignored the "it's taking so long," comments from Maryn every 15 minutes), and it was so worth it. Kade had to work until Tuesday, so he flew in later to join our festivities.

Here's my rather ravishing mother, showing off her Thanksgiving apron, while slaving away in the kitchen over our feast. And, my little sister, Marybeth, joined us as well.
(Thanks for taking such an awesome picture of yourself with my camera, so I could post in my blog!)

One thing that I love about my parent's house (or any of my family) is that I never worry about going hungry when I come to visit. My mom is a great cook, and always has lots of delicious food around. I come from a family of snackers, and I think there is non-stop eating when we get together. Look at that yummy food.

Since I had the camera out, Maryn had to show off for us:

Actually, I blame Kade for this. He paid her $1 to do it.

Ailee's look portrays it all...she was pretty wiped out by the time we sat down to eat, so she gobbled up her food like a good little turkey and was off to bed.

It was fun to have lots of time to spend with family. Two of my other sisters live in Idaho, so we had lots of late nights playing games, early mornings to go shopping, piano concerts to see, and even a baby blessing to be there for. I feel like I'm still catching up on sleep. Maryn LOVED playing with her cousins. I wish I had gotten more pictures of them all, but this is all I have:

Maryn, Johnny, and Ailee

Maryn, Paige, and Hailey all dressed up, with no place to go.
I love the boots, Maryn!

It was a fun-filled week and a half. I was sad to leave. And sad that I had to make the long drive back. It got a little spicy when "lunch" didn't settle too well with Maryn. (I put lunch in quotations because grody pizza from a gas station is not a good choice of food) What made it worse is that when you drive on I-80, there aren't a lot of rest areas around. As Maryn put it, we were "in the middle of no where." An emergency bathroom break left us no choice but to leave a little but of us behind on the side of the road. Maryn was a good sport about it.

Also, while we drove back, Vinny (that's my car) hit a big milestone. About 27 miles before I took this picture, he turned 100,000 miles!

I rewarded his years of faithful service with a nice car wash the next day, and he thanked us by getting a crack in the oil pan the day after that. I'm so excited to sink a bunch of money into getting that fixed! I guess I should count my blessings...at least I was only 3 miles from home, and not 700.
It was a great trip filled up with family and old friends. Though she suggested that "Grandma and Grandpa should move to someplace where it's warm all the time," Maryn keeps talking about our next trip back. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for letting us come!