thanksgiving....

the beginning of thanksgiving day started off with the turkey trot in Gruene with my sister, my cousin and some of her family. It was a great place to start and end a 5K...here is the end of the 5K with my sister L with her head turned going towards the finish line. It was fun to get to spend time with my cousin and catch up since I haven't had a chance to spend any time with them since they moved to Dallas. Then we ran home to get ready and headed to my aunts house in New Braunfels.

Here is my dad and I....I love my dad so very much. I love his laughter when he thinks he is so funny. I love every time you walk by his chair he wants to give you a high 5. I love to hear others tell me funny stories about him -- today about how my cousin idolized him as a child because he ate 5 hot dogs in one sitting. I love when he pokes at you for little things you do, being funny and of course, never letting you live any of it down. I love going out in the back yard and playing horse with him....still. I just love him. So. Very. Much.

Here we are with my older sister LL....it was so great to have her in town, especially since my twinkie K couldn't make it as she was in Costa Rica on a mission trip. We laughed so hard last night because it is SO cold in this house and she was saying I better hurry up and get to bed to warm it up...I thought she said warm HER up so I jumped in and flung my legs over here...which of course were freezing and we were laughing like little girls about how cold we were and she was telling me to get over to my side of the bed....and then me just stinking my feet over on her legs and laughing as she squeals. I love moments like that.

Here is us with Mom....I'm pretty sure we were laughing as my dad was trying to pinch my mom's butt and so we were all laughing telling him to STOP IT and quit making us all laugh so hard...I'm pretty sure we had to take like 5 pictures to get one. They just crack me up.

Here is my mom and my sweet aunt J. Her and my uncle C came in to celebrate Thanksgiving with us and it was so great to get to spend some time with them. Especially because they are just like our parents...and love on us and joke with us just the same. This weekend I got a lot of flack for playing farmville. I know it is awful and addicting, but I can't help it. So every time I had my computer open, I was asked what I was harvesting and then they would throw something ridiculous out. Mean people. But so stinking funny. I love that about my family.

Today I went outside and there were SO many butterflies around. I ran back in and grabbed my camera and tried to catch them in action. The first one was so great -- there were actually two of them that kept on flying around and playing together but I only got a picture of one of them.

Then there was this black one that was so pretty...it was attracted to the yellow flowers and just sat there and let me take lots of pictures of it! It is hard to see here because it looks like a shadow.

Then some of our cousins came over for a bit. It was so great to get to see them. The boys and I spent some time out on the sport court jabbing each other, trying to block each others shots and just playing around with each other. I just love those boys. I miss them being in Houston so much -- I loved getting to go over there and play with them when they were younger...now they live in Dallas and are just a little too far away to just "pop on over".

All in all, it was a great couple of days with the family. It was full of laughter and joy, lots of smiles, and even more love.....it was exactly what I needed.