Family

Happy Thanksgiving!! Today is a day that brings family and friends together to share in good food, good fun, and good times. The big holidays like this are the times when the reality that all of our family is far away and {in the case of my own family} spread out really hits home. We are lucky to have such wonderful families and love the visits that we get with them during the year, but do miss being able to share holidays like this together. We hope they ALWAYS know how much we love them and how incredibly grateful we are for the love and support they have always shared with us!!!

We are, however, incredibly lucky to have our own "local" family. With as many years as we have lived away from our families we have spent many holidays on our own, but we have never *felt* alone because we've been able to make many wonderful memories with friends as we have hosted some and been invited to others. The past few years we have celebrated MANY holidays with the Wilson family ... my dear friend Beth, as she's been referred to several times on my blog. They really are our family here and we love them all immensely - we have kids that "match up" age wise and they play for hours while the grown ups cook, talk, play games, and such. We also had the Hatch family with us this year which was super fun ... they are so cute and we have really enjoyed getting to know them better!

Here are just a few pics from the day. With my kitchen in complete demo mode, we ate at Beth's and it was so nice because the kids were entertained with the swing set and basketball hoop (and the Hatches) outside while Beth and I finished up the food inside ... yes, the kids were playing outside - without jackets. Have I mentioned I love living in Arizona? The weather can't be beat!! The guys were busy watching football and checking fantasy football scores and we worked on a puzzle throughout the day. The Black Friday ads were flipped through, but since I am not a Black Friday shopper I wasn't really looking for anything specific. In the end, we ate WAY too much {good thing I started off the day with a run}, and enjoyed every minute! I am so grateful for our families near and far who are always looking out for us and making sure we are well taken care of ... especially during the holidays ;)

P.S. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the rolls I made (I always volunteer to make rolls because I love them and love making them) were one of my finest batches ... I love when that happens!!!