Thanksgiving Weekend (now with pictures!)

Happy Very Belated Thanksgiving! We had a great, busy weekend. Allen's mom and little sister Laurie joined us for the weekend and we had a great time.

Earlier in the week we also decided to tackle some home improvement projects this week. On Tuesday and Wednesday night we painted Carter's bedroom. On Thursday morning we TOTALLY broke tradition since I didn't watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade (a tradition from my childhood) and Al didn't play football (a huge, huge tradition from his childhood). Al was pretty bummed that he missed the ward Turkey bowl but it started a couple hours earlier than he thought. Anyway, we spent the morning setting up all our office shelving and unpacking our hundreds of books. Incidentally, Allen has finally decided he can part with his engineering text books and even some of his books from MBA school - hallelujah!!

Allen's mom and sister came down at about noon and we headed over to our friends the Nobles house for dinner. Al's family and the Nobles have been friends for decades and we have hung out with them a lot since we've moved to Phoenix. It was SO nice to be invited to have Thanksgiving with them. The best part for me is that I didn't have to do ANY cooking. Al's mom made 8 pies and I provided some ice cream and toppings and that was IT!! We had a great time. The weather was great, we got to eat in the back yard (in the 70s and quite pleasant), the kids got to play with their friends for hours, good food, etc. Here we are before dinner:

On Friday, LJ decided to brave some Black Friday shopping with me. We actually only hit a few places so it wasn't bad. I finished up ALL my Christmas shopping except for a few things for Allen. It's so nice to be done and know I don't have to brave the crowds unless I want to. We went to Costco, Gymboree and a little home decor store here in town and that is it. Early Friday evening we headed to Mesa to eat at yummy Rosa's (my SIL Tess' favorite AZ restaurant)

and see the lights at the Mesa temple. It was so much fun and we were actually COLD. It's funny because it was in the 50s but it felt really cold to us - I guess the climatization really has begun for us. The kids had a great time and loved the lights. Carter in front of the manger scene.

Saturday was just a whirlwind of projects. Al, LJ and I finished up Carter's room -- I seriously love it so much I could cry. I cannot wait to share pictures of the kids' rooms as soon as we get everything on the walls. Al's mom was a real trooper and kept the kids totally entertained for most of the day by taking them shopping and out to lunch and then later to the park, etc. We had a nice family dinner and spent hours visiting.

Yesterday was so super busy. Al and I spoke in Sacrament Meeting and I taught Relief Society on Elder Oaks' amazing conference talk Good, Better, Best. I made homemade chocolate chip cookies for the entire RS to illustrate the principle of Good, Better, Best (good =Chips Ahoy, better=toll house premade cookie dough, best=homemade cookies). The ladies LOVED it and I was happy with how both the talk and lesson went. We were both so relieved when church was over yesterday and spent the rest of the day together as a family. Now we're ready to tackle decorating for Christmas and finishing up the kids' room. We had a great Thanksgiving and are grateful for all of our abundant blessings. Hope you had a great one too!

(ETA: I'm still having major issues uploading to blogger-hence the missing pictures. Would really love to throw the router out the window--except I like surfing the internet from the comfort of my own bed occassionally. Anyway, LJ has better pictures of the family that I will get from her and add later.)