Thanksgiving at Home

We were so excited for Thanksgiving this year because Will and Jenni told us that they were planning on coming to Idaho.  We love it!!  Not only were they coming but Gracie was coming home and Seth and Ali were going to be able to join us.  We've spent several wonderful Thanksgivings in Baltimore with Daniel and Dalynn's and Luke and Jenn's families so staying home alone was not an exciting thought.  You can imagine how excited we were to find out we were going to have company right here at home.

One on our first thoughts were ~ we need a new table; one that would seat us all!  Actually, we needed a new table anyway.  The good, old table we had had served us since our days in Chiloquin and was standing on it's last leg (almost literally).  Our mainstay table that my parents had given us back in the Thomas days was long gone having fallen almost completely apart a few years ago.  My family had used to most of my growing up years and then my parents gave it to us when we build our Thomas home and had 5 kids.  It went with us to Paisley, Chiloquin, Drain and came back with us to Idaho Falls.  It had seen it's years and been a great service to our growing family.  Now, we were looking for another such table.  Perhaps a table that we could pass on to another growing family one day. 

Dan and I went looking one Saturday evening.  We were wanting to be careful and buy only the best table that we could afford.  It needed to be sturdy and still look nice so we visited every furniture store in Idaho Falls; maybe 5.  Anyway, we made our decision and at the last minute before the store was to close for Labor Day weekend, we struck a great deal and bought ourselves a new table to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner on with family.

We decorated the new table for everone's arrival...

 

and the annual candy corn was set out for remembering our blessings

Will, Jenni and the boys arrived and got all settled in the large room downstairs.  Alisha and Grace shared the family room or the upstairs couch and Seth and Ali used Alisha's room.  It was more than exciting to have family home again!  It warmed our hearts and we so enjoyed Preston and Taylor with us.

Everyone pitched in and helped with dinner.  Ali was amazing and I might have to hire her for  every Thanksgiving from here out.  I loved all the help and it made things come together all the faster.

 

I made rolls and Gracie set the table.

 

The boys waited patiently ...

 

had a little snuggle/nap time with Dad and then

finally we began to gather at the table.

 

After prayer Seth carved the turkey...

 

and we all enjoyed dinner together.

We wanted a close up of Dan's smile.

The next day we had cereal and smiles for breakfast

before going to see the show "Frozen".

I had to go to work after the show but the others went home and Will stopped at Lowe's for a surprise for Dan.

He replaced Dan's bathroom toilet before they headed to Utah.  We were all going to meet up down there the next day for Sitani's baptism.

 

Thank you everyone for coming home for Thanksgiving.  We were more than thankful to have you with us.