Giving Thanks

We headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for thanksgiving and spent time with Jason's parents and sister and her fam (we missed Annie's fam..sniff).  As always, we squeezed lots of chaos with hardly any real agenda into our few days together.  And Jason's mom always does the food up right!!  It was a great time to give thanks for our family and all God has and is doing. I tried to capture some memories of our time together...

snuggle time with Babu

some sort of football watching

new toys..(Abishai is obsessed with saying "ball")

and old ones

Bibi out did herself in the kitchen as usual (I think she needs to sleep for at least 3 days)

Prayers before we dig in

kids at the fancy table means a lot of silliness

dessert spread

ok, ok...he did NEED a haircut

after all that eating there may have been naps

my favorite activity this year was a thankful game where we each wrote down things we are thankful for and took turns reading them and trying to guess who wrote each one. So much goodness.


Auntie Jorie is always is demand and I don't think she minds


after we had lounged around and attempted a walk that lasted exactly one block because it was freeeeeezing we decided to break out Engstrom-opoly. It is a real thing y'all.

Can I get an Amen that Movember is finally over? hehe

so fun listening to the family stories...

and watching a new generation hear all the family history and memories...

and as I clicked my shutter I thought how blessed I am to have married into this amazing family.

and how awesome it is my kids get to be a part of this

Yep, I just kept smiling and thinking about what a legacy this all is...


It was a good night.

And because our girls are shameless and unrelenting in their requests (read they BEGGED) for Bibi's Swedish pancakes she acquiesced our last morning there.



We may be a bizarre bunch (we ll at least in this picture..and Joel..I die with the brilliance) but I'm grateful we have each other. Hope your Thanksgiving was filled with friends and family and food and hearts bursting with thankfulness.