Thanksgiving 2009

This Thanksgiving was just as busy as last, but it was great as always! We had three stops to make during the day. First, we went to Zach's mom's in Chattanooga and enjoyed lunch with her, Ashley, Marissa and Ella. We had a great time getting to see them! We had taken some pictures of all of us there last year and wanted to do so again this year, so it's kind of become a little tradition. Zach brought his camera along and took some really great pics of all of us. I posted a few of my favorites. I was actually thinking about using the close-up of us for our Christmas card this year...if our "photo session" with our dogs didn't work out. Luckily, we did that on Sunday afternoon after church and were able to produce about TWO decent photos (we took tons and yes, there were only two really good ones!) Anyway, I will post those later for your entertainment.

After his mom's, we traveled back to Fort Payne to my grandparents' house where we enjoyed a late lunch with my parents, two grandmothers, my grandfather, my brother and his sweet girlfriend Amanda. They decided to be unconventional this year and grill steaks. I liked the idea of being different, but it was just hard to have a delicious steak on the plate in front of you and not be able to eat much of it! We had a great time with them, as always. I am so thankful for my wonderful, loving family and how we're always growing! *Sidenote: I'm not implying anything here--just referring to Zach and Amanda as our additions to the family! I read this back and was afraid someone might assume something! Haha!! :)

Our last stop of the day was Aunt Gail's house where we had dinner with her, Zach's dad, his grandma Grace, and Gail's three girls and their boyfriends. We always have a fun time catching up with everyone there. We even played a game which definitely kept everyone laughing. We usually stay rather late when we're there since we don't see them as often, so we didn't get in bed that night until about midnight.

Just as last year, I wanted to hit the Black Friday sales hard with Mom and her best friend Debbie, so I woke up at 3:00 that morning. Actually, let me rephrase that...I "got out of bed" at 3:00. I didn't really "wake up" until later that day. We really had a great time and I think it was well worth it. (Believe me, I absolutely hate getting up early, so I wouldn't do this if it wasn't worth it.) We got tons of stuff at Old Navy and spent most of our time there where we stood in line to check out for 45 minutes. Needless to say, we had plenty of time to talk and I made a lot of friends with the people in line there, so that was a bonus! While I was out shopping, Zach got our Christmas tree and wreath for this year. It was so nice coming home, opening the front door and smelling the fresh tree. I argue every year about getting an artificial tree just because of the convenience, but when the real one is standing in our living room decorated and the house smells like Christmas, I forget all about it. That night, we went to Zach's dad's to have pizza and watch the Alabama game. All I'll say about that is this: Auburn really fought hard. If I were an Auburn fan, I would be proud of my team. Alabama thankfully pulled out the win in the end, which we were jumping up and down and yelling about, so it was a great ending to the day!

I caught up on my sleep on Saturday morning and then Zach and I brought out the Christmas decorations and turned up the Christmas music. It was so much fun decorating the house once again. I can't believe this is our second married Christmas! The year has flown by!