thanksgiving 2017.

thanksgiving day started out nice and early. james got up and got ready to go play in his annual turkey bowl, but not before he picked up a load of donuts beforehand. the girls and i stayed home, baked cookies, watched the parade on tv, and painted our nails. oh, and i packed for all of us (girls). a couple hours later, as soon as james got home, we hit the road headed for cokeville!

this is probably the most disappointing year as far as pictures go. why on earth am i so bad at getting pictures anymore?! anyway, the food was absolutely delicious, we loved getting to sit downstairs with all of our fellow cousins with (and without) kids. the girls loved having so many cousins to play with and i rarely saw my two oldest the entire weekend!

my grandma always rents out the high school gym that evening so that our little ones (and big ones!) have somewhere to run off some of that turkey! my girls look forward to this every year and made sure i remembered to pack their 'gym shoes'.

the next morning, james and i started a new tradition with the girls: christmas pillowcases (that i sewed!) with a picture of Christ inside (and a festive shirt). we explained why we celebrate christmas and that Christ is at the center of it. they were excited and have the pictures hanging in their rooms.

saturday afternoon came with much anticipation! my mom really wanted all of us girls to get together and go see the nutcracker. brooklyn was so excited about it! our tickets were really cheap, but the view was great! it really brought the magic of christmas and it was the perfect way to kick off the holiday season! i loved being there with my mom and sisters (and brookie and livi) and hope to make this a tradition for years to come!

after the nutcracker, we grabbed soup/salad/sandwiches and then brooklyn and i had another thanksgiving dinner to get back home too. and of course, no pictures of that event! i am promising myself i'll do better next year. anyway, we enjoyed another big thanksgiving dinner with james' mom's side of the family and then watched a christmas movie afterwards. 

thanksgiving weekend holds so many dear memories and it always goes by way too quickly. i love that it's followed right up with the christmas season so that i don't have to be too sad about it being over for another year. grateful for so many blessings in the life, especially james and my three little ladies i get to mother. we are so blessed and i'm so thankful for this crazy little life of mine!