Meet Me Here Monday: Insta-Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving, I made the executive decision to give the camera a little vacation, and decided to just take pictures with my phone. Which in all reality, I probably ended up taking more pictures than I would have otherwise. So, win-win for everyone!

Thanksgiving this year was a little different because Del's immediate family is still in China, so we only had one side to visit and eat with. It was kind of weird, so we are really looking forward to seeing them over Christmas. So since we wouldn't have any traveling between houses to do, we envisioned that we'd easily slip into "sweat pant purgatory", but thankfully that never really happened!

Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of lounging that took place...but there was also quite a bit of productivity as well!

My holiday baking didn't start out too strong. I decided to get a jump on the Pumpkin Bars while we were still in LR on Wednesday morning...but unfortunately Batch #1 had other plans.

Thankfully Batch #2 turned out beautifully....especially once they were topped with the delicious Cream Cheese Frosting!

We loaded up the car on Wednesday night, and headed north.

My mom and I spent most of Thursday morning cooking and baking....

...and then we packed it up and went over to my aunt and uncle's house for Thanksgiving lunch.

I'm not sure who was more excited about the feast we were about to devour!

Davis' Great Grandmother! :)

Once we woke up from our Thanksgiving-coma, Del and my dad decided to burn some calories by starting on their Thanksgiving Cabinet Project. They worked on it late into the night...but then had to turn it in so that they could get some sleep before the Razorback game the next day!

Friday morning, we woke up and....well....we just kept eating. Ha.

I made Paula Deen's French Toast Casserole....which was just the right about of sugar we needed to get up geared up for the game!

 ....Unfortunately, the Hogs didn't eat the same amount of sugar that morning....because the fire they had in the first quarter died out in the second, and they never got it back.

So, the men turned their frustration into productivity and made a huge dent in their project! 

On Saturday afternoon, we went up to Eureka Springs to celebrate my Great Aunt Elizabeth's 100th Birthday! Wow, what an accomplishment!

Grandma, Del, Elizabeth, and me.

Fun story, when I was 10-ish my Aunt Elizabeth {who was in her late 70's} and I water skied in a bicentennial  celebration for Holiday Island. It's a memory that I will never forget.

My Grandma and her three sisters. What a wonderful group of women! I'm so thankful that I've had the opportunity to live around them for the majority of my life.

After the birthday party, we went out to dinner for Del's 29th Birthday!

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like a good steak dinner, right?

{I have a feeling I know what you're thinking....and the answer is, Yes, we still haven't stopped eating at this point}

On Sunday, we met Ellen and Todd {Del's sister and boyfriend} for lunch, and then we drove up to the UofA and finally found my name on the sidewalk! So, Davis and I had to get a picture with it! :)

 Then we returned to the house and the men finished their project!
I think they did a pretty good job, don't you?!

 So, now we are back home and life has pretty much resumed as usual....other than it was really hard to get motivated after such a wonderfully relaxing break.

I'm 31 weeks pregnant now, and still feeling like Davis is trying to dig and kick his way out of my stomach. ha.
We prayed this week that Davis would have a great submission and reverence to the Lord.
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the Devil and he will flee from you." - James 4:7


We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and are now getting excited about celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Happy Monday!