Give Thanks

This year we had a lot to be thankful for. God has truly blessed John and I with amazing friends and family.

My parents picked me up Tuesday after work and we drove to SC. John joined us Wed. after work. John's uncle, aunt and cousins were there making a total of 11 house guests and lots of fun. They have so much fun playing with our dogs and it’s quite the entertainment for the rest of us. John's uncle Stevie is a wonderful cook. We kid him that he should have been a cook instead of a doctor. :) He cooked us a wonderful feast of scallop appetizers, beer battered shrimp and fried white fish and tilapia. It was wonderful.

jumping with leaves on the trampoline!

I caught Brooke using her brother's mp3 player. Hers has nursery rhymes on it...Brandon's has "low" by Flo-Rida on it. I asked her what she was listening to and she said, "apple bottom jeans jeans."

Raleigh puts up with a lot when the kids are around. :)

isn't this the cutest ever? Blake just admiring Jax.

Thanksgiving dinner was perfect. We had it at John’s grandparent’s house. One highlight was during the prayer the youngest cousin Blake (2) wasn’t happy John was holding him and trying to keep him quiet. I could barely hear the prayer because all I could hear was Blake telling John, “don’t make me cry.” It was hilarious! I glanced over at my dad who was shaking trying to keep from laughing out loud. After lunch the whole family ventured out to see “Blind Side” at the theater. It was great and a perfect family movie!

poppa David

John & his dad

Kim & Stevie
Julia with a plate of food

Grannie Dot

Brooke giving me some love

Friday we decided to do something none of us have done before…shop the black Friday sales. John and I are in need of a washer & dryer and my parents need a new one so we figured that was worth getting up at 3am for! BestBuy was having a deal on some Samsung steam front loaders. We didn’t know how many they planned to sell since our previous investigations talking with the BestBuy employees showed ZERO in the warehouse or in the store. We decided to hit up Sears first since they opened an hour earlier than BestBuy and get the Kenmore front loaders they had for a great deal. We ended up getting both sets! We canceled our sears order after we got the ones we really wanted at BestBuy.

waiting in line

That evening John and I went with my parents to Charlotte to see some of my family. We first saw my grandmothers sister Mabel who is 88 year old. She is such an inspiration. She still lives alone and her mind is as sharp as a tack. She is probably the most godly woman I know and I enjoy anytime I get to visit with her. We then ate at Olive Garden with my aunt, uncle and three cousins. It was good to meet Marcy’s new husband, Ryan. Ryan is a hunter so he and John were immediate buds.

mom, dad, Tommy, Marsha, Logan

me, John, Tyler, Ryan, Marcy

Saturday we decided to cancel all plans and stay home to relax and watch Clemson get whopped by the Gamecocks (congrats Meagan, sorry John). We watched “The Proposal” that evening and just relaxed and visited.

Jax soaks up the attention from dad.

We decided to stop at the Commerce Outlets on our way home and then got stuck in the awful post Thanksgiving traffic. We had no choice but to go through Atlanta since I-40 and Hwy 64 are BOTH closed due to rock slides. All of you southerners can feel my pain…Atlanta is awful. Instead of it taking around 3.5 hrs. it took closer to 6. boo.

BUT that won't ruin our time with family. We had a wonderful extended weekend and can’t wait to do it again!