Thanksgiving 2011

Yes, I am blogging about Thanksgiving in the 2nd week of December.  At least I’m blogging about something other than pregnancy.  I SOOOOO did not want to be that blogger that got pregnant and everything was about that, but trust me, it’s hard for every blog to NOT be about that when so much is going on at that time and outside of all things pregnancy, you just don’t even have the energy to do anything that’s really blog worthy, hence my lack of checking anything off my 101 List since getting pregnant!

So Justin and I kicked off our Thanksgiving on Wednesday when we went to the farm in Scottsboro.  Two of my very best friends in the whole world have a family farm up there and their whole family was there; spouses, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, etc.  And I know everyone in their family and LOVE them as if they were my own family.  We weren’t able to go for long, but we drove the 2 hour drive up there after our doctor’s appointment and we spent a few hours with them before having to drive home that evening.  Here’s some pictures.

We went on a hayride tour of the farm.  Even though I’ve been friends with Lindsey and Lauren and their family for over 17 years (HOLY COW WE’RE OLD), I’ve never been to their farm, so this was my first time and I was getting the grand tour via hay!!

Heart them.

Lauren and her husband, Garrett, came down from Seattle to be with the family for Thanksgiving.

My and the hubs…with a donkey in the background.  Justin is dying for us to get a donkey.  I have no idea why.  We don’t even have anywhere to keep one!!

Garrett (Lauren’s husband), Kelly (their mom) and Lindsey feeding the donkey.

The next day was actually Thanksgiving and we went to my aunt and uncle’s house in Tuscaloosa to celebrate with my dad’s side of the family:

Soon to be parents…kind of a scary thought.

My amazingly fabulous grandfather.  Love him.

All the young boys!  Walt, John, Anderson and Cayden

My grandparents with 2 of the grandkids…Paw Paw isn’t great at looking at the camera on 3.

Lydia wanted to give Carter a kiss….she is going to be such a sweet cousin!!

Immediately after lunch at my aunt and uncle’s we packed up and headed to Chelsea for Thanksgiving dinner with my mom’s side of the family (this is what happens when your parents get divorced – holidays become hell).  I was so exhausted at that point that I ended up not taking any pictures at mom’s house. 

On Friday, Justin took the men on my mom’s side of the family hiking in Oak Mountain and I went back to my mom’s house and spent the morning and afternoon with my mom, Lydia and Lindsey.  Lydia wanted to watch Tangled so we put it on in my mom’s room and she wanted to brush my hair while watching it.

How cute is she in her “boots with the fur”!!!

Love that little girl!!

And that was our crazy Thanksgiving.  We didn’t do anything with Justin’s family because they were in Russia.  Our church sponsors an orphanage there and a few of the church members go out there every year around Thanksgiving.  Gordon and Debbie go every year to check on all of our orphans.  Justin and I sponsor one and so does his sister and her husband.  It was almost a blessing because had they actually been here, Thanksgiving would have been that much more difficult!!  Eventually we’re going to have to just start picking families to visit and dropping one a year because I will NOT be doing that kind of travel again with an 11 month old!