Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

We had a very fun and busy Thanksgiving weekend with my parents in Colorado this year! We arrived late on Wednesday night but the kids were so excited they were bouncing off the walls for a couple of hours before we could get them to bed.

Thursday: We got going on food early in the morning. Allen and Carter went to play in a turkey bowl with my cousin and his friends while we watched the parade and cooked at home. After they got home, I got busy with my kiddos making these turkeys for our favors. They were loads of fun to make and EASY. The kids also colored placemats for the kids table for everyone. We had a YUMMY dinner late in the afternoon with my cousin, his wife and 6 kids. Pathetically I did not take a single picture the rest of the day. It was a great time though.

Friday: Allen and I were up at 4:00 a.m. for some Black Friday shopping. We hit about 5 stores and were home by 6:30. We got everything we were looking for and had a really fun time together. The rest of the day was spent at the park, helping hang up Christmas lights, more shopping with my mom, grabbing a quick nap, etc. We had a babysitter for the kids (my cousin's daughter) and went to dinner with my parents at the White Chocolate grill. YUM!

Saturday: Another early morning as Al and I did an early morning session at the temple. After lunch my mom, Makenna and I headed to downtown Denver to attend the matinee performance of the Nutcracker. It was so, so, so fun. Makenna enjoyed every second of it. I'm so glad that I bought a simplified Nutcracker book a couple of weeks ago so she could be very familiar with the story. She knew exactly what was going on during the entire show.

After the show there were quite a few dancers down in the lobby and Kenna got to meet them all. She LOVED it and gabbed their ears off about their performances and costumes (she looooved the costumes)
Saturday night we were able to have dinner with our dear friends the Howell's. It was such a fun night. We talked and talked and finally parted ways after nearly 4 hours. We love getting together with them and only wish it were more often. Melissa and I know each other from my mission but we've thrown our husbands together on enough occasions that they enjoy getting together too. Good thing they both really like sports :)

Sunday: My birthday! Allen let me sleep as long as possible (7:30 a.m.) and then I was woken up by the kiddos and their cute homemade birthday greetings. We quickly packed our stuff and were out the door by about 8:45. We were able to stop by and see Allen's Aunt and cousins (who he lived with in Denver the summer we met/dated). We also drove out to the Denver Children's Hospital to visit with Allen's cousin Shaina who is at the hospital with her new baby Kimble. He was born 4 weeks ago with a severe heart defect but is doing MUCH better this week and gets to go home soon (check her blog for more details). Shaina and I have become blog/facebook buddies but had never met until yesterday! Allen and I even got to hold Kimble for a little while. I could have held that baby all day long, he was the sweetest thing ever! We're so grateful we got a chance to have a quick visit.

After the hospital we stopped by Panera bread to get some lunch and then got on the road home. We made it home just in time for bedtime. It was a wonderful weekend spent with so many people that we love so much!