A Time of Thanks

This Thanksgiving we have so much to be thankful for! We are so grateful for our many wonderful friends and our family, and for our little Gemma. We are grateful for our home, for our jobs, for electricity, indoor plumbing, & our health. For the love that we have for each other & for our eternal marriage. For this great country, the freedom that we have, & for all those who have given so much to keep us safe & to secure our rights and freedom. But most of all we are grateful for the gospel in our lives. To know that we are children of god, having the priesthood & the spirit constantly in our home. For our wonderful Prophet and leaders of the Church, for the many missionaries preaching the gospel to others. For our savior Jesus Christ and his atoning sacrifice for us all. For his humble birth and the exemplary life he lived.

This year we were able to travel up to my parents house. The trip up seemed so long - I was so glad that Gemma did so well traveling. We brought a blanket with us and she crawled right under it and slept the whole way. For Thanksgiving the next day we went over to my Aunt & Uncles place to eat dinner. My DeLeeuw Grandparents were also there. It was so good to see everyone & the food was so delicious! Both Brent & I ate way too much!

On Friday we hung out & watched movies. We didn't want to wake up early for the madness of "Black Friday" so we waited until we knew the rush would be over before we went. We didn't get much besides movies for Christmas. That night we went to the town light parade. It was short but fun to watch, they had a lot of clever ideas. They had the Polar Express, a bunch of Who's from Whoville & of course the Grinch and Santa Clause. We took Gemma with us ... she loved being warm & snug in Brent's coat.

On Saturday we went up to see Brent's parents. It was really nice to see them & some siblings. We ended up helping Karen make her wedding announcements (which turned out really cute). When we got back to my family's, we watched Star Trek & played the longest game of cards ever with my brother Cameron and his friends. It was really fun & we all laughed so hard!

On Sunday, Mom made muffins for breakfast. After we ate them all we had a hilarious fight with the foil liners. We turned a bunch into Frisbees & even more into foil balls. We were all laughing & running all over the house. Mom & Cam were being especially silly!

It we such a great weekend! I loved seeing & hanging out with so many family members. It will definitely be hard to go back to work and to snow after such a wonderful trip!