Friday, November 30, 2007

Thanksgiving Weekend

This Thanksgiving we had the opportunity to go home to Michigan. We normally head home for Christmas, but Don's job passed a new set of rules that prohibit employees from taking the same holiday off two years back to back. So, with my freedom of working from home, we packed up and headed north! We arrived late Wednesday night. Thursday morning, we woke up with anticipation as the weather forcast had called for SNOW overnight. Don's first reaction was to open the blinds and sure enough - SNOW! It continued to snow for the remainder of the morning. It was a great welcome home from "mother nature".



I had turkey duty, since Mom was working that day. This only being my second one to stick in the oven in the history of my life, I was a little nervous, but all went well.




My Audience


Godiva's Thanksgiving Dinner - Licking our nephew, Braden, until his hair was wet!


The next day Don and I awoke at 4:30 a.m. to get to the stores for the great deals. We normally are able to get all our Christmas shopping done in one day and get great deals in the process! It has become our little Christmas shopping tradition and we look forward to it each year! We didn't do as well this year as we normally do, but we still did quite well. We headed home for a small nap before the excitement of heading to my first Pistons game at the Palace of Auburn Hills. That was a lot of fun. I guess, the crowd was a little lame (this came from the experts who have been to many games - Mom & Dad), but we still enjoyed being there.






Pre-game Warm-Up



Erika - Anticipating the big game!



Mom, Dad, and Sean (watching the game)



Final Score! - Michelle and Greg were there too, we just didn't catch a photo of them for some reason!


A few weeks before our trip to MI, we received an invitation to my brother's 30th birthday party. It ended up being on the same weekend we would be in Michigan. Since it was only a three hour drive to be there at this monumental occasion (which I still can't believe he's that old), we drove over to my side of the state to have some time with my family as well. We ended up surprising Shane & Patty - there were many factors that could have clued them into our arrival, but they were VERY shocked to see us there - as well as many members of my family! It was a lot of fun! It was a 70's theme and we dressed up as best we could with a quick trip to the local Goodwill!


My Jan Brady look!



Don's Saturday Night Fever Look!



The guest of honor - no, I don't mean Elvis. Shane (the big 3 - 0) and his beautiful wife, Patty!


We made it back home late on Monday night, exhausted, but still kicking! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

9 comments:

Jenny said...

Love the costumes! Very funny. And who has an Elvis cutout in their house? Hilarious!!!

Tim, Kristen , Megan, Emily, and Anna said...

Sounds like you had a blast. That is really cool that you got to go to a Pistons game. Thanks for letting us stay at your house. As always, Tim brought the playstation (is that the right game??) and he played some game where you fire bombs and such. It is the game with goofy looking players?? I do not know what to call them. (Does Don know which game I am talking about?) N-ways we do appreciate being able to stay there. By the way, we are staying here for Christmas..maybe doing a weekend trip somewhere, but not sure yet..

Anonymous said...

We were sooooooo bummed that we missed seeing you guys. Didn't get your message right away (another story), then one of us who shall remain unnamed (me) forgot that there was a message (another story), so by the time we called you back, I'm sure you were on your way back home. It wouldn't have worked out anyway--we were in Pennsylvania at Ben's sister's for Thanksgiving. We didn't leave to come home until Sunday morning. So once again we missed each other. Sorry. Glad you had such a great time, though. Maybe one of these times, meeting up will actually happen.... :-)
Abby Hyink

S said...

looks like you had a great time. hope you're feeling well. have you guys decided if you're going to find out what you're having?

Ben and Carissa said...

Sound like a great time. I always love going to Michigan for holidays. It must be something about Ben's parent's house. I always feel so relaxed! It sounded like a very eventful trip. Turkey...70's party...shopping at 4:30am...Piston's game. How fun!!

jeileenbaylor said...

Wow ! It looks like you had a blast :o)
It was so nice to talk to you the other day. I'm glad that all is going well!
Love you and miss you!

The Horaks said...

I'm glad you had such a great holiday! You look like you are doing so well! :) I just loved your outfits for the party! You guys are great!

~Jenn

Emily said...

Glad you had such a nice time! You are so creative at coming up with great costumes! At least you were brave enough to try fixing the turkey--I had never fixed one in my life the first Thanksgiving we hosted (I could barely cook then), so Paul cooked it. He has done it every year since, so I'm still not sure if I've ever baked one! :)

T.J. and Shannon said...

Don, loved the birthday costume!! We're so glad you were able to spend time with family for Thanksgiving. Looks like you had a fun-filled time! Miss you guys!