Catch-up time!

Hello all!

I haven't really written much lately so I feel like there's about a million things bouncing around in my head. I think I'll take on Thanksgiving first. :)

Oh the Joys of Travelling!

We spent Thanksgiving with Ry's parents out in Willard Missouri and had a great time. Poor Ryan and his siblings decided to drive the 20-ish hours out there to save $. I think that at one point or another as they anticipated the trip back I heard all of them say something about checking plane tickets to see if there 'just happened to be a last-minute killer deal'. Luckily they made it there and back without any problems other than the usual leg cramps and get-me-out-of-this-car-or-I'm-going-to-kill-someone fever.

Reese and I flew, and while the time was considerably shorter (which I am ever-so-thankful for!), it was filled with its own sorts of challenges. It was Reese's first flight, and my first with a baby so. . .oi! Luckily she'd incredibly adorable (as many will vouch) so we made it through security in record time (you'd think I'd trained her to bat those baby blues at all the uniformed guys on cue!), had help onto the plane, and made it through 2 hours of her confined to my lap.

Bless the couple behind us who made faces for about an hour,

and the poor bald man who's head was poked repeatedly,

and the girl eating the Rice Krispie Treat who suffered brutal glares after she refused to share,

and the very posh LA marketing consultant sitting next to me who tried to read her book, but

was interrupted every five seconds by Reese popping her head in front of it saying, "Hi!"

and. . . well, you get the idea.

The Great Feast

So, as always when we get together with family, even though we made sure to pack the camara we totally forgot to take pictures with everyone. Oh well! At least I got a picture of Kathy's turkey- it was beautiful!

I was astonished when she told me that she just sprays the inside of a paper grocery bag, pops the turkey in, and bakes it 10 min per pound. It was one of the prettiest turkeys I'd ever seen- such great color, tasted oh-so-yummy, and hello utilization!


It was quite the spread, and dessert was 6 or so pies. We won't talk about the pumpkin pies ;), but they turned into wonderful milkshakes!


The rest of the trip was a very nice R&R. Ry and I have been running non-stop for the last few weeks as most of his important projects and papers have hit, and the bakery went into overdrive for Thanksgiving, so I don't even know how many naps we took, but they were wonderful- and with a house full of anxious babysitters, how could we not?

We made the traditional stops at Lamberts, Andes Frozen Custard, and Bass Pro- here are a few pics of us in front of the bear, watching the fish and the ducks, and Reese finding a just-her-size tent in the camping section. Also our Daddy's girl sampling the Key Lime Custard.

Ande's- Frozen custard heaven

Definitely our kid- she loved the camping section. I think she pulled something off every aisle.

Reese and I watching the ducks and the fish.

She kept doing her 'bath' sign, but unfortunately we didn't strip her down and let her jump in with them. Parents are no fun.

Reesey with Daddy and Uncle Josh at Bass Pro

Like I said, it was a great trip and I'm so glad we went. Ry also got to take a look at Lincoln (for those of you who don't know we're thinking about doing a Masters degree at University of Nebraska Lincoln), and he took several videos as they drove through so I got a chance to see it too. It seemed like a very nice town.

For lack of time to keep going I'll wrap up and hopefully come back with a few of the other funny details as well as Christmas cheer for all!