Thanksgiving weekend

We had a wonderful time celebrating Thanksgiving this year. We loved focusing on the things we love the most - our faith, family and friends. We enjoyed a visit from Allen's youngest brother, Jake and his wife Erica who spent their break in Seattle visiting with us and Erica's two siblings who live in the area. It was great fun to have them in our home for a couple days during their visit and they enjoyed taking a tour of MS with Allen, playing football together on Thanksgiving day and hanging out with us at night after their sightseeing. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of their visit but we loved having them with us. 

We joined Erica's family for dinner for Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed getting to know them better. Our family before dinner:

 After dinner we drove down to Vancouver to spend the rest of the weekend with my sister and her family. As soon as we got to Vancouver (at about 10 p.m.) Allen dropped me off at Target to meet my sister and older nieces to start the black Friday shopping madness. I'm thoroughly disgusted that stores are starting their shopping earlier and earlier and encroaching on families spending the day together but there I was shopping anyway. It was fun to be together until the wee hours of the morning and we stood in line for nearly 2 hours to make our purchases but it is a fun memory.

On Friday the little kids stayed in their pjs for most of the day and played games together and generally ran amok. My sister and I braved the mall for some more shopping and I was amazed at the stamina of my teen nieces. We got some good deals and had fun. The Jackson's very graciously cooked a 2nd Thanksgiving dinner for us so we could enjoy the meal together. Seriously yummy food!

On Friday night Allen, Carter and I joined the Jackson's at the Forgotten Carols. I have seen it several times but it was new for Allen and Carter. We had a great time and loved the message of the play.

 Saturday morning we got up and took the little girls to see Pinaklicious, the Musical. I was so excited when I found out it was being performed in Portland because I had heard so many great things about it. It was DARLING and did not disappoint at all. It was a small cast and only about 1 hour long so it was a great length for a younger audience.

 At the performances on Thanksgiving weekend there was an all pink Santa that you could have your picture taken with after the performance. It was adorable. We went out for treats after the performance.

We had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend and enjoyed so much being together with both sides of our family during the week. We are grateful for the abundant blessings in our lives.