So Thankful

You might recall that we were stuck at home for Thanksgiving 2011 because I was on modified bed rest during my first trimester of pregnancy with Caleb. We were so grateful to be able to travel to Iowa this Thanksgiving and visit Eric's family. Eric was able to take the whole week off so we didn't feel like we had to rush around! To top it all off- it was BEAUTIFUL weather (for Iowa)!  It got really cold just in time for us to go home :)

We flew into Des Moines on Sunday and spent some time hanging out with Amy (Eric's sister) and Vickie (his mom).  Monday, we drove a couple of hours to Jefferson where Eric's dad and step-mother live. Caiden loved playing out in their big back yard and patio!  We could hardly keep him inside all week!

Tuesday, we drove another hour or so to Gilmore City where his grandparents live. They don't live on a "farm" per say, but there is farmland directly behind their house and the population is just over 500, so it's quite different from DFW! They were so excited to finally meet Caleb! They grilled us a yummy lunch with tons of food- do all grandparents do that? they always seem to make enough food to feed an army! Later, Grandpa got out his old tractor to show Caiden, but Caiden was a little scared with how loud it was.

Wednesday, we spent the day back in Jefferson. Eric's half-sister, Emily, invited us to her house where they are raising some pigs and to her husband's family's farm where they have goats, and cows and lots of cats. With all the animals, Caiden just wanted to chase the poor cats around :)

Thursday, of course was Thanksgiving Day, so we headed back up to Gilmore City to spend it with Eric's grandparents, mom and sister.

Caiden played and watched the Macy's Parade with grandma.

Later Caiden went outside to help move some pumpkins around.

Caleb was festive until his massive blowout!

And Vickie and Caiden crashed out after lunch.

They teased me for taking pictures of the food, but man was it good! And, as usual, there was a ton of it!

This is my favorite picture of them all. I asked everyone to go stand outside just so I could take it. Doesn't it seem like back in the day everyone took pictures standing in front of their house?  Maybe not, but it seems that way to me.

It was such a great week- no major travel problems and lots of good time spent with family!

Extra special THANKS to Doug & LeAnn for letting us use their van all week to save us the expense of getting a rental car.