Thanksgiving!

I figured I should probably go ahead and post our Thanksgiving vacation before Christmas arrives, so here is a quick recap of our trip to the Ranch!

Madison and I had some bonding time on the trip down. It was good practice for our 13 hour drive we'll be making for Christmas.

The kids were great sports and endured the cold better than I expected. Some of their activities included:

Madison practicing walking (more my idea than hers-it just seemed like more fun than crawling and eating dirt).

Eric and Madison loved the rocking horse Grandma has down at the ranch. (I think Eric preferred the four wheelers though!)

We bundled them up in a wagon and they loved the bumpy ride. Both were constantly trying to dance as well as jump out!

We kept pretty busy keeping them entertained while the men were busy hunting and working on different feeders and cooking the acquired game!

Here Brian demonstrates the precision used in hunting with a bow

His form paid off and I was impressed to learn that he killed an 8 point buck with his bow. He also shot two turkeys and a pig with his rifle.

Here we are cleaning the turkeys. I agreed to help pluck the feathers but that was about as far as my service was extended!

And then we feasted! Harold deep-fried a delicious turkey and we also ate some of the pig that grandpa cooked in a pit underground. It was so tender!

And the best part about Thanksgiving was that it was also Jamie's birthday! It was so much fun driving around the ranch following the scavenger hunt Paul planned with her gifts.

Jolynne brought a yummy cake and Jamie opened all her gifts. She is demonstrating her delight of finding several dollar bills in a box [one of my favorite gifts if anyone feels like being generous :) ]

On a more serious note though, this vacation was so much fun because we truly got to be surrounded by nature and ponder all the wonderful blessings that we have.

And here are two of the greatest blessings in my life. I am so thankful for Brian and the extremely caring and considerate husband he is. I am so grateful for Madison and the blessings as well as patience that I have gained from being a mother. They are so amazing!

And we are so thankful for our FAMILY! We sure did miss seeing my parents and are very thankful for them. The Black's and Smith's are also amazing and it was so much fun making memories with them as well as being uplifted by each of them. I was especially grateful for the devotional that Jamie and Paul gave on changing our lives by pondering the decisions we make. I have been blessed this past week as I have tried to change my choices from just good and better to best and have already noticed a change in my attitude and overall happiness! Thanks also to Jolynne and Hal for making everything possible-you are so very generous to our family and we are so thankful for all you do!

Hope everyone is enjoying this holiday season and may we each remember the Lord's hand in our lives!