thanksgiving '18

@TheOodlesOfDoodles

happy (late) thanksgiving! this last week was very eventful! we had 18 people (including us) in our house. it was a little crazy to be honest. but i really enjoyed the fact that we were all together and that we spent time together. it was much needed. the whole week, it was 45 degrees. i was freezing! it was too cold for me!

thanksgiving day was pretty chill, we woke late (pretty much everyday) and we went to the river and fished. when we got back, mom and alla started cooking dinner. let's go back for a minute and discuss what happened with the turkey and ham. the turkey and ham were delivered to us because we don't have a working oven. so my mom saw the deal online and bought it. but we didn't know they both were so small until we took it our of the box. we laughed pretty hard about that. but in the end we had a lot of food the next day. 

when we were ready to have dinner, we all went outside to the deck. mom had decorated the table with pumpkins and fall stuff and as our seats she bought hay bales. here is a picture of how it looked: 

on Friday we went to 12pm mass and came home. we had leftovers for lunch and watched movies. another pretty chill day. 

 my favorite part about the whole week was going black Friday shopping with Roy, Ryan, Kiersten and baby Raphie. Ana, Noah and I went, just us 3 kids. we had such a great time, we haven't had time like that with them in awhile. Uncle Roy was our private chauffeur, it was great! we walked around all the stores and went to johnny rockets for dinner. at dinner we all got really giggly. i have never laughed so hard at stupid things in my life. i wish i could have froze that moment because it was so perfect. here is us at johnny rockets:

everyone left this morning. i got emotional at the airport because i knew i was gonna miss everyone at home. but we will see them all soon! looking back on this week, i feel we all have grown closer. i miss them already! its not the same without hearing Tia Kiersten's laugh, hugging baby Raphie or hearing Uncle Roy's farts lol. 

thanksgiving is a holiday to give thanks to God for the people we have in our lives. i know that sometimes it's hard to love those family members who are different in spirituality or politically.  but this holiday is a great way to get in touch with the people you love, even if they are far away. every family has its problems but we need to see past that, love them and move on. that is the only way we will heal our wounds. 

like my grandfather says: "we don't pick our family, but we can pick our friends." 

what does this mean? this means we are stuck with the people God gives us. we can like it or hate it, it's our choice. so the next time you want to complain about the people around you remember God put them in your life for a reason.

i hope your thanksgiving was fruitful and fun! until next time, give thanks! 

here are pictures from this past week:

its our birthdays 

the godfathers

thanksgiving dinner

dinner at your pie

on our way to do our nails

Ryan and Josh breaking up wood for the fire

Roy, at his favorite place

the grandparents

i love you, Nemo!