thanksgiving in oregon

So many great memories and so many pictures, yet looking back I wish I had taken even more! I truly believe there is no such thing as too many pictures. Here's what I did manage to capture of our trip to Oregon for Thanksgiving.

Dancing in the kitchen with Grammy!

A little breakfast at Grammy's bar.

Lots of things to do and people to see leads to crazy nap times and taking a nap whenever and wherever you can.  

Auntie Jan and Grammy prepared another amazing turkey dinner for us!

Grateful for all of their yummy cooking!

Our two little turkeys.

Liam's first Thanksgiving dinner. (Last year was a liquid dinner in a jar.)

A quick snapshot of our gathering. 

Then we headed over to Grandpa and T's for dessert. Addie and T played a little game of chess. 

Liam read the funnies. 

And Addie got a little thrill ride from Grandpa.

Then it was back to Grammy's to put baby boy to sleep and some more games!

Can you tell Addie and Grammy won that round?!

On Friday Kevin and I avoided Black Friday like the plague but were happy to be a part of the civil war game with friends!

We even got to get out with lots of friends on this trip! Again not enough pictures were taken! (Don't you love their beards?!)

And then we got to see Gramma Jody and Grandpa Bill!!!

We let the kids run around Autzen and then headed to the Science Factory.

Maybe just maybe, one day he'll be running on the field in the stadium behind him.

Love this picture. 

Much to see at the Science Factory!

And on our last night in Oregon, Grammy and Auntie Jan had a surprise for the kids...a little winter wonderland walk to see some decorated houses!

Then on our way back through we stopped to see cousins again. It was hard to say goodbye. 

Really hard.

our thankful tree

I think Addie is old enough to start understanding what it truly means to be thankful. So I grabbed some tree branches from one of our walks and placed them in a bucket. Then Addie wrote down what she was thankful for on each leaf and hung them on the branches. (My goal was to do it everyday in November but I didn't do such a good job of reaching that goal.) Addie's words on the leaves consisted of toys (so age appropriate, right?!), Liam, Daddy, books, food, school, our home and friends. 

I think we'll continue this little November tradition.

a sign of the times

Daddy had to be out of town last week but we still got to kiss his face!

leaves

It had been a busy day of work, running errands, dentist appointments, and then home to prepare dinner but thankfully I stopped and I grabbed my camera to capture this sweet fall evening in our backyard.

folsom history museum and pioneer village

I came across one of the best field trips I've experienced in a long time! It was lead by very sweet and enthusiastic docents who taught us all about the history and development of the Sacramento/San Francisco area.
I was a little worried Addie might be totally lost, so the week before the field trip, I began reading and talking to her about pioneers and the differences between then and now. She surprised me and was very attentive. I think she really got a good introduction to the idea that life was a whole lot different long ago.
As the docent was explaining the pony express route, Addie pointed out California on the map and said she lived there, then proceeded to point to Oregon and say that she lived there too! Love her!

mowing the lawn

It was another one of those moments when things just got too quiet and I noticed Liam wasn't right under my feet. So I went looking for him and this is where I found him...just watching his daddy mow the lawn.

chili partay!

We held our first chili-cook off partay! It was such a fun night of fall crafts, dress up, backyard tents, sitting around the fire pit, spiked cider and homebrew for the grown-ups! We can't wait till next fall to do it again!