I want a Thanksgiving like you see in the movies!

These past few days weeks have been a whirlwind...but more specifically these past few days. I must say that even though I LOVE this time of year, Thanksgiving has never really been a holiday I look forward to...not for any particular reason but I'm just not into casseroles (of any kind), and since I'm such a picky eater, it's just never been a big deal. Not to mention that it usually ends up being just my mom, my grandma, and I...and not that that's a bad thing...I'm VERY thankful I get to still enjoy holidays with my (now) 90 year old grandmother and I always love spending time with my mom...she's one of the people I'm most thankful for, but I have always wanted it to be like you see in the movies with tons of people, laughing, games, etc and this year I finally got my "movie." Since my grandmother's birthday party was the Saturday before Thanksgiving, we still had family in town so we decided to have a big Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Joe's house this year...(no kidding there were probably 15 of us there) but for me, the more the merrier! The day was filled with good food, some Moscato (not to be confused with Boscato...which is what I kept calling it...or maybe it's Boscato and not Moscato)...anyways, tons of good conversation, a wonderful prayer my uncle prayed and all of us just enjoying one another and hey, my mashed potatoes and peach dump cake even turned out (which is a miracle in and of itself)! After dinner there Jared and I were off to Birmingham to stay with his brother and sister-in-law (who also had a house full) but again, the more the merrier! We stayed up late Thursday night playing games with everyone and enjoying everyone's company us girls being tortured by watching the Outdoor Channel (or some guy channel for longer than I'd like to admit) and then it was off to Huntsville to see Jared's other brother and sister-in-law Friday through Sunday. The weekend was filled with tons of babies, young children, laughing, playing, sleepless nights, great conversation, wonderful God moments, and wonderful memories that I'll always cherish because I finally got my movie Thanksgiving! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the past few days! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too!

Vineyard 2011 Highlights

SO, again it has been too long since I've blogged but I thought I'd take a few minutes and give a few updates. The weekend of Halloween, my church took our middle schoolers to a place called the Vineyard. It's in Alabama and has always been one of my favorite places to go, not only because it's in the middle of nowhere and gives you a chance to get away from all the distractions, but this time was especially enjoyable. Here are pictures of some things we did while we were there....
1. We worshiped (this is everyone congregating before worship...they look thrilled, right?!).

2. We kayaked/canoed (the leaders even raced!)

3. We had s'mores

 4. We were silly

5. and last but NOT LEAST...we did the slip and slide