2012 Thanksgiving Weekend

I always intend to blog about our holidays and never seem to find the time to do so!  I figure it's too late to blog about Halloween, so instead I'll share about our Thanksgiving whirlwind of events!

1.  Wednesday:  We drove up to Yukon late Wednesday afternoon to Greg's aunt's house.  We had time to visit and hang out with family which was fabulous.  Parker entertained everyone with his rock-star glasses (I forgot to take a picture and he broke them yesterday.  Boo!) and guitar.

2.  Thursday:  We enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving lunch with our family.  Everything was delicious, but my mouth keeps watering for some more of grandmother's cornbread stuffing that she added bacon too.  Yummy! 


Greg and cousins Harper and Ashley

Me and my cousin Halsey

Parker cracking up his cousins Hillarie and Harper

After Parker's nap we drove to Norman so we could spend a few days at Greg's mom and step-dad's house.  That night after I put Parker down I decided to brave the Black Friday craziness!  The plan was to meet up with some girlfriends, but that didn't last long as we were all in the search of good bargains.  I started out at Target and got the first three Twilight movies for $4 a piece!  Yay!  From there I went to Wal-Mart where I had a lot of success!  I bought the entire Harry Potter DVD collection for a little over $20!  Yay!  I also bought a wii for $95 and a new TV stand for our living room for $87!  Yay!  After I left Wal-Mart I ventured over to Best Buy and braved the cold and the wind standing in line for an hour.  I should have got there sooner because the TV we wanted to buy was already sold out (I walked in the door at 12:15 and the doors opened at 12:00.  They were only letting 50 people in at a time).  Boo!  The guy had a TV that was an inch smaller that he said he would sell to me for $250, but I figured Greg would gripe so I said no.  We were wanting to buy a 40" for $187.  To console myself I bought The Lorax DVD for $4.  We recently rented it for family movie night and Parker loved it so I didn't feel as pissy when I left.  I think I climbed into bed that night morning at 1:30.

3.  Friday:  After we got up and around, Greg, Parker and myself headed to the mall.  I needed some new foundation at MAC, I had to get my wedding ring inspected (and cleaned!) to maintain my warranty, and I wanted to find Parker a pair of Christmas pajama's for his Christmas Eve present.  I got a pair and a sweatshirt for him at The Children's Place for $12!  Yay!  We had a nice lunch at El Chico and then left the mall.  It actually wasn't as packed as the stores were the night before.  From there we braved Toys R Us, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart.  Wal-Mart turned into a major score because Greg has been dying to buy a bike with training wheels for Parker.  We got the last one in his size for $29.  Yay!  Parker was with us and rode it all the way to the check out stand and the whole time he kept saying, "Daddy, I want to take this home".  Poor Greg was ready to give it to him right then and there (and he still says he doesn't want to wait until Christmas), but I told Parker that we were just picking it up as a favor for another little boy's parents. 

From there we went to Best Buy.  Greg told me I was crazy for passing up the TV offer the guy made me the night before.  I was obviously getting sleep deprived because I didn't even think about just buying it and returning it if Greg didn't like it.  Luckily, the same employee who told me about it the night before was still working and they had three left!  There was a sign on them that said $299, so they adjusted it at the register for us.  We are now up with the times with a flat screen TV in our living room!  Yay!  (Is it just me, or are there a lot of "yay's" in this post?)  From there we want back to my in-laws house to relax for about an hour before we met some friends for dinner at Red Lobster.  That night after Parker was already in bed, Greg and I left to go watch the final Twilight movie at the theatre!  It was great and I'm so glad that Greg was such a trooper during the entire Twilight series of movies!

Saturday:  I'm not sure if any one has noticed, but I added some new items to my Bucket List recently.  On Saturday, I had the pleasure of marking another item off of that list!  We went to the OU football game!  And not just any game, it was the Bedlam Game!  I know a lot of my family on the East coast may be reading this and wonder what all the excitement is.  Well, Oklahoma doesn't have a pro football team.  Instead, our state either roots for the University of Oklahoma (OU) or Oklahoma State University (OSU).  Bedlam game is OU vs. OSU.  So, it's a pretty big deal!  One of my best friends from high school has 4 season tickets and they invited Greg and I to join them.  We were thrilled!  It was a great game that ended with an OT Sooner win!  BOOMER SOONER!

 

After the game, Greg was anxious to drive the two hours back home.  He is in the middle of fifty million different projects at our house (OK, more like six or seven, but they are all big under takings!) and was ready to go home so he could knock some of the projects off his list on Sunday.  We got home tired and exhausted around 10:30 that night, but were happy to be home with all of our goodies!

Sunday:  I went grocery shopping, cooked lunch and dinner, and tried to complete all of the un-packing (I failed).  Greg and I both put together our new TV stand and then he installed our new TV, along with hooking up our surround sound and the new wii.  All I can say is I was even more excited than usual to watch Revenge and 666 Park Ave that night!

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

An Unconventional Thanksgiving

I know that Christmas is right around the corner, but it's not too late to write about my Thanksgiving is it? This years Thanksgiving proved to be quite different from years past. Typically Greg and I visit a family members house for Thanksgiving. But not this year! Instead my sister and her family drove all the way up to Colorado to help us work on our house. And boy, did they help!

I tend to get the impression that most families spend Thanksgiving getting together for a huge lunch and then the men retire to the living room to watch football while the women clean the kitchen. Well, not in this house! Amazingly enough, neither my husband nor my brother in law, Andy, are sports fans! Which is a good thing since the only working TV was in the nursery/temporary guest room. When we bought our house, since it was a foreclosure, there were no appliances. And although my husband bought a microwave and oven when he went on his big Home Depot trip, we didn't think we would have any of them installed by the time Thanksgiving rolled around. The week before we went ahead and unpacked the microwave and had it downstairs in a random room (it's one of those "hang over the stove" kind in case you're wondering). So when I prepared my menu for the week (yes, I am that girl) I was forced to come up with a creative Thanksgiving meal that didn't require a stove.

Let me backtrack a little. Since I now work from 2-6 every evening, I'm starving by the time I get home. Keep in mind this preggo is used to eating dinner at 5:00. So, for the last three weeks, I've been cooking with my trusty crock-pot during the work week. I even purchased a new crock pot cook book, and believe it or not, there were several recipes in it for cooking a turkey! I settled on one that I thought sounded pretty good, and it only involved a turkey breast. Sounded simple enough! I also decided we'd eat cranberry sauce (from a can, but who cares, right?), Country Crock microwavable mashed potatoes, and a new coleslaw recipe I learned from my father in law's girlfriend the week before. The meal was complete with a frozen cream pie from Edwards. There! Thanksgiving from a crock pot and microwave!

Now, if there is one word for me to describe my husband, it would be a toss up between "workaholic" and "the energizer-bunny". That may be more than one word, but you get the picture. I also tend to tell him he's a slave driver. Getting a better picture? Since we had so many people coming to visit us and help us work on our house, the workaholic in him went into overdrive. The great thing is that my brother in law is the exact same way! My family had arrived Tuesday night and by the end of the day on Wednesday Greg and Andy had ran the water line for the fridge and the new gas lines for the oven. (I discovered while living "life on the road" that I absolutely love cooking with gas! And my husband was awesome enough to surprise me with the gas stove I really wanted, even when I told him I could live with electric! Gotta love him!) Once that was completed my sister, Sheila, and I tackled putting new plastic shelving liner in all the cabinets and drawers. Then came the joyous task of trying to unpack and organize our kitchen. After I went to work they worked on some overgrown yard work that the neighbors commented on. It wasn't exactly on our schedule, but it did need to be done. Don't get me started on our lack of a housewarming from our neighbors.....




When Thanksgiving rolled around, my sister and I had to make a quick Wal-Mart run (again, something I've never done on any Holiday). Since we officially had a working oven, I decided to pick up some rolls and decided why not make "real" mashed potatoes?! Since the guys aren't sports fans, lots of work took place in our house that day! Andy painted our office and most of the upstairs hallway while Greg textured the wall we had to strip wall paper from in the living room and the dining room. Once the texture was dry, they primered those walls and painted the ceilings. Sheila was a trooper and brought load after load of "stuff" from our trailer into the basement. By the time dinner rolled around we were all pretty hungry....and thankful that our Thanksgiving dinner from a crock pot turned out pretty darn good if I do say so myself!





Unfortunately for us, no shopping was done on Black Friday. But, the guys painted the living room and the dining room, and hung new lights in the living room while my sister continued to bring in load after load of "stuff" from the trailer. Believe it or not, it's still not unloaded all the way! (And to think that a lot of people don't believe anyone can actually "live" out of a travel trailer!) Despite all the work going on, the kids were pretty good about entertaining their selves. Greg turned the box that our oven came in into a "Box Castle" which also occasionally turned into a coo-coo clock and a choo-choo train. They also had a blast playing on.....the stairs! Who knew!



All in all it was a great Thanksgiving week! The gang left the next day and I was so sad to see them go. THANKS SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HELP GUYS!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

I'm So Thankful!

Greg and I had a GREAT Thanksgiving break! We headed out on Tuesday afternoon and were fortunate to spend the evening with our friend Nell who lives in Canon City. Canon City is located on Hwy. 50, so we did not go out of our way at all! On Wednesday we woke bright and early and continued our journey up to Rangley. We arrived mid afternoon and enjoyed visiting with my brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces throughout the evening.

Thursday was Thanksgiving. And I couldn't wait to eat! Most of my sister-in-laws family lives in Rangely so there was a good size crowd and LOTS OF FOOD! No wonder I love Thanksgiving! Karen (my sister-in-law) makes the best home made dressing and rolls! Yum-o! Karen was also hosting a book party for me with The Body Shop at Home so I set up a display of products so everyone could sample and smell. It was a big hit! I even recruited one of Karen's nieces to become a consultant!


After we ate David (my brother) took Greg and I on a short sight-seeing drive. Afterwards we were able to settle down for the evening with more visiting and we even tried to watch a movie.

Then came Black Friday! We all got up bright and early so we could make the one and a half hour drive to Grand Junction to spend the day. The drive there was beautiful! There was just enough of a light snowfall the night before to make everything pretty!




We hit the mall first and it was crowded, but I think that's part of the fun of Black Friday! I didn't buy anything, instead Greg and I took turns shopping with each of our nieces so they could buy each others Christmas presents as well as birthday presents for their mom. Once everyone had shopped til they dropped, we cruised on over to Famous Dave's for some tasty bar-b-que! (This Southern gal never turns down a bar-b-que dinner!) It wasn't quite as tasty as my hubby's bar-b-que, but then again, maybe I'm just a little biased. ;) From their the gals went to some cute downtown boutiques and then we all met up again at a Christmas craft fair where Greg and I took this cute pic with our nieces Emily and Braylee. They are just too precious!



After the craft fair we headed on over to the movie theatre where we watched "Four Christmases". And let me tell ya, that movie did not disappoint! It was knee-slappin' hilarious! Greg and I actually want to go to the movies and watch it again. It's that funny. I guess it doesn't help that I love Reese Witherspoon and Greg loves Vince Vaughn. It was a two thumbs up for me!

The movies were followed by a quick trip to the pet store (just for fun!) and to a sporting goods store. Afterwards, everyone was tired so we headed back to Rangely and capped the night off with some yummy Thanksgiving leftovers!

We left around noon on Saturday afternoon and we decided to take a different route back to Lamar. We thought it would have been fun to take I-70 into Denver and spend the evening there. Oh if only I had a magic crystal ball.....

Shortly after we passed Glenwood Springs we got stopped in traffic for over two hours. It was horrible. And the reason was because the interstate has two separate roads, the road for the westbound traffic is slightly higher on the mountain than the eastbound road. Well, a semi went over the westbound highway and lets just say there was a major wreck.

From where we were parked we couldn't see any of this. But, the guy parked next to us happened to be a wrecker on his way to Denver so he was able to talk to the wreckers to find out what was going on. He did tell us that there was one fatality, which was really sad. I'm not sure what time the wreck happened but it must have happened shortly before we got there, because a guy from the Department of Transportation made everyone crunch in together so wreckers and ambulances could get through. We happened to stop before the accident to get lunch and fill up on diesel, so it really made me think, "that could have been us".

As if that wasn't enough, after we were finally able to get back on the road, about an hour later we were driving through the town of Avon. I was telling Greg a story about how much I hated that town because of an experience my sister and I had when I was driving through it several years ago. Not two minutes later, the next thing I know we were lost control of our truck and were sliding over both lanes of traffic. We ended up in the meridian and I just knew we were headed straight into the oncoming traffic on the other side. I freaked out! Luckily Greg manages to stay calm in the most stressful of situations so he clicked it into 4 wheel drive and asked (um, yelled) for me to tell him when the lane was clear. He knew if we stopped we'd be stuck. Somehow we got back on the road safe and sound. How we didn't hit anything is beyond me.

Unfortunately, things didn't get any better from there. I was pretty shook up about the whole near death experience and I was ready to just call it a night. Even though technically we had only driven three hours. But Greg insisted that the roads would be worse in the morning. I glanced at the map and noticed that we had to go over Vail Pass, so I called David to see how dangerous the pass was. (Greg warned me before I called not to tell him that we almost died, because according to him everything was peachy keen). So I kept the drama queen inside of me in check and my brother said the same thing that Greg did and that we should really make it to Denver. *Sigh* There's really nothing like the feeling one gets when one is driving down an icy road on a mountain in the dark. To say that it sucked would be putting it mildly. And of course my stomach was in knots from our near death experience, so I really had to pee. Like, bad. But, before we could exit at the next town, wouldn't you know, we get stuck in traffic. Again. This time we were at a stop for an hour and then it turned into a slow crawl. All I could see were red lights from the other cars brake lights. I have never considered peeing in a cup so bad in my life. How I held it is beyond me. Men are so lucky.

Needless to say, we never quite made it to Denver. Around 9:00 P.M. I knew we were approaching a hotel that we had stayed at back in April, so I convinced Greg to just stay there. We were tired and hungry. Not even the brand new Irish Pub with delicious potato and onion soup could revive us, so off to bed we went.

Sunday wasn't much better. The roads were extremely foggy until we got into Denver. (We were only fifteen miles away). The roads in Denver were wet but very easy to manage. That is, until we got past the airport. Then we were greeted yet again by icy roads. Luckily, we knew how what to do, so no damage was done! It did take us about an hour to drive maybe twenty miles. But after that, the roads were miraculously clear and dry! However, the wind speeds decided to reach 60 mph, so we had to laugh at all the tumbleweeds that crossed our path! I swear, I've never seen so many tumbleweeds in my life until I moved to Colorado! Who would have thought!

To sum it all up, normally if someone were to ask me what I'm thankful for around this time of year, I would say the normal things: good health, friends, family, blah, blah, blah. This year, however, I'm so thankful that we have not been in a car wreck!!!!