Thanksgiving with the Days

Justin!!!!

This year has been a year of many changes, life choices and well changes :) Thanksgiving was no exception!  My family headed off to Michigan this year to be with my grandparents.  Well, due to schedule conflicts etc. we were not able to go with them and instead decided to do our own Thanksgiving.  While I wish my family could have been there it was the right choice!  We had an amazing time... no wait amazing is to general of a word.  This was one of my favorite Thanksgivings in years! Our friend Justin was able to be with us this year from Canada.  It has been so much fun getting to know him and seeing him quickly become family! We started off the day frantically getting the turkey's basted, stuffed and in the oven.  Then we took off for church to participate in the "Mission Daystar Thanksgiving Project".

best friend!

Jon actually got to be home for Thanksgiving!

Since this is part of my job I spent most of the time taking pictures and interviewing anyone I could get in front of a camera.... this is way harder than it sounds!  Ken wanted some newer people on camera and it's a lot harder since I don't know them and can't man handle them in front of it.  :)  I'm such a nice person... I only slightly forced half of those interviews! Ha! Once all the meals were out for delivery we headed home to continue prep and rest for a bit. Then they began to arrive.  We had a total of 16 people there and one of them included my sister which was icing on the cake.  We took over my parents house because 16 in theirs is comfortable... in ours it would be suicide.  Everyone brought sides and desserts and we feasted... man did we feast!  I haven't seen that many leftovers in years!  We had an entire turkey left over :)  After we ate somehow everyone began watching cartoons... yes we had younguns there but the adults were as into them as everyone else :)  Toy Story 3, Beauty and the Beast, Enchanted and Mickey Mouse Club House were some of the entertainment featured at our party .... wish you'd been there now doncha!  Shortly after we ate the cards came out and the games began! We played apples to apples and 5 card Mahoney..... until LATE!  It was the latest we'd just stayed in one place for awhile.  At the end of the night as we were cleaning up I got one last parting gift... a broken toe.  In typical fashion I was moving too fast and my body went one way while my toe went into a chair.  The drink I had been taking to the kitchen went all over the wall and I just crumpled into it.  Everyone stepped back as they saw my face and I just hear this one voice saying... "why don't I just clean up that wall"... Thank you Mike Kern for cleaning the wall!!! As the night approached an end I found myself thanking God for the community he has begun to create around Steve and I.  That has become a prayer for us, to have a place where we completely belong and this was the beginning!

Suzie with us for Thanksgiving!

epic card game!

The next morning.... well if you can call 5 am morning Steve, Justin, Suzie and I headed out to VA beach to shop till we dropped at LynnHaven mall.  It was a blast!  It was crowded but we all stayed calm and had fun... well Suzie and I had fun.  Justin was apologizing to Steve as soon as we left :) We got great deals and didn't spend very much in the end! We headed home to recoup and then headed out that night for Christmas town!  It was the first night and it was beautiful! The lights were amazing and it was nice to just be with family for the night and enjoy the sights.
   

The four of us off to hit the town... Christmas town that is :)

True bromance :)

love him!

Saturday we got together again with friends to eat leftovers and play more cards!  Another great night that ended with Mya having to crawl through my dog door to let me into the house because my keys were MIA.  Ha, if you look at MYA and MIA they say the same thing... hahahaha. Ok moment over!

Mya!

All in all it was a great couple of days and I am thankful for them!