A Blessed Thanksgiving Weekend
This past weekend was wonderful! It was also a good reminder of just how truly blessed I am and how I need to remember each day, not just Thanksgiving and my birthday, to sing His praises and not take anything for granted.
We spent this Thanksgiving with Jason's aunt and uncle in Austin. We started the day's festivities with a traditional turkey trot (Jason and I have done one the past three years and plan to do one every year if possible).
Afterwards we helped get ready for the big meal! Jason and I made a carrot souffle from the recipe in the cooking class I took two weeks ago. It was amazing!! There was a full house with lots of little ones running around and we enjoyed getting to know new family.
Then there was the traditional Black Friday shopping - the ladies spent time looking through all the ads and mapping out the plan of attack. Jason and I made a list of our top picks and practiced our motto - "Buy now, return later, elbows out!" ;-)
All in all it was a successful night! We visited Walmart, Kohls, and Best Buy. Our top finds were a sewing machine travel case that wil be perfect for the sewing class I'm taking next spring, a bluetooth keyboard for the ipad, and five seasons of Criminal Minds for just $15 each. It wasn't without effort though! Here are a couple pictures from the night - the Best Buy line is stil at least two stores down from the Ross you can just barely see in the distance.
At Kohl's the line wrapped around the side of the store and along the back. It was ridiculous.
Friday morning we headed back to Houston, but not before stopping at Shipley's to get a birthday donut!
On the way back we stopped in Brenham to see if the Blue Bell creamery was open for tours. Unfortunately it wasn't, but the gift shop and ice cream store were! We got a scoop of a new seasonal flavor called Christmas sugar cookie and sat outside enjoying the nice weather. (Hey, calories don't count on your birthday right?? Hmmm, well, good thing I ran 19 miles on Sunday...hopefully that helped!)
Friday night we had a birthday dinner with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law at our favorite Houston restaurant, Ruggles Grill. It was delcious and I was thankful to be able to spend my birthday with family!
Afterwards we went to drinks at Anvil. The only person missing was my sweet niece who was at home in bed with her grandma and grandpa. Hopefully I get to see her again soon!
Jason got me Adobe Creative Suite (woohoo student discounts!) and a birthday cupcake from my favorite store, Ooh La La.
My sister-in-law knows me so well. She made me a icing cupcakes - JUST ICING! Amazing! :-)
Saturday was spent doing odds and ends around the house. I made homemade turkey noodle soup with the leftover bones and turkey from Thursday.
I used my laminator (yes, I own a laminator. But amazingly enough, not a label maker...) to make garden labels for the different plants. The beans are still growing like crazy and we are on our way to having a second cucumber soon! We've started harvesting basil and freezing for future use because there is so much!
It was an absolutely amazing Thanksgiving and birthday weekend. I have so much to be grateful for and so many blessings in my life. Here is just a small list of some of the things I cherish and am blessed to have in my life:
- A personal and ever-growing relationship with Jesus Christ
- An AMAZING husband that works incredibly hard at school and work to provide for our us
- Family - as widespread, unique, and complicated as they are (we have four families in four different states)
- Lots of friends that are incredibly supportive and uplifting
- Jobs that we enjoy and that more than adequately provide for us
- A house that has room for us to grow someday (in five years ;-) )
I hope your Thanksgiving weekend was just as blessed and memorable as mine was! :-)
