Happy Thanksgiving!

Were you getting bored of just weekly photos on the blog too? Good, because I missed this past week. I was a little busy eating, baking and shopping till I dropped. Everyday. Which will also explain the appalling lack of photos of the week. So sorry. I’ll be back to weekly pregnancy photos next week. And then I’m going to have to get a little creative until Christmas…because I got nothin’ else blog-worthy going on. ;)

Anyway, we had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend with my family in Virginia. I actually went down with my mom last Friday since she got the week off of student teaching and didn’t have to go back up for those few days before Thanksgiving Thursday. Those few days before John joined us Wednesday were filled with shopping and baking and crafting. My parents splurged and got a 12ft (fake) Christmas tree for the family room (with its 18ft ceilings) to decorate this year. The thing is HUGE. And since it was the only 12 footer Lowe’s had left – it was the display – it didn’t come with a box or a bag to store it in. The nice Lowe’s guy gave them $50 off…but how they end up storing when it comes down after the holidays remains to be seen. ;) We decorated early in the week because of some plans (which I will tell you about in a minute) on the Friday after Thanksgiving and the house needed to look all spiffy and decorated. But seriously, did I mention the tree is huge?! I mean, I’m only 5’ 1” but this should help give you some perspective on the ginormousness of this awesome tree:

Isn’t it beautiful?! It totally looks like one of those fancy trees you see in fancy hotel lobbies ;)

Mom and I had a girl’s crafting get together with some friends and neighbors and we made cookies and ornaments and a personal favorite – Hershey’s kisses trees!

There was more shopping and decorating, and my mom confessed that she can’t go out shopping with me anymore because I make her buy all sorts of extra stuff. Not true. I only make suggestions ;)

John joined us Wednesday night and it was so wonderful to have him with us! Thursday was of course, our Thanksgiving feast. My dad got a smoker for his birthday and smoked the turkey this year. We did have to put it in the oven after a few hours, but it turned out super tasty. We stuffed ourselves silly and without even bothering to do the dishes (though we did put the leftovers away) we all crashed and took naps. We cleaned up afterwards ;)

It was a good thing we took our naps, because we had a crazy night of shopping! Now, I don’t think I would normally go out Thursday night for Black Friday shopping (weren’t we supposed to be thankful for what we already have on this day?!), but Mom and I were on a mission. And I am still feeling quite thankful for all my blessings ;) Walmart had some sales events happening Thursday night on items we were specifically looking for. My laptop shorted and crashed several weeks ago (would have had to replace the motherboard for the price of a new laptop – blech), and I was desperately looking for a good deal on a new laptop. Bingo! Walmart was selling HP laptops for a killer price starting at 10pm Thursday night. Mom was looking for a specific gift (that I will not mention) for a member of my family (who will remain anonymous) and a printer. Both of which went on sale at Walmart for a limited time Thursday night.

So Walmart on Thursday night it was. And it was crazy. There were people and pallets of product EVERYWHERE. The biggest challenge was finding where they were selling the laptops and printers and things because nothing was sold in its normal spot. And the poor Walmart employees really had no idea where anything was. I found my laptop at the jewelry counter. And I got the very. last. ticket. They had a limited number of laptops and was giving out that same number of tickets and I got the last one!! Feeling pretty thankful about that too ;) So I scored my new laptop and just finished getting all my favorite programs and files and things on it today. Hurray!

Once we got back from Walmart, we still stayed up for an online sale for my Christmas present from my parents to go live at midnight. I’m getting a Silhouette CAMEO!!!!!!!!!

I. am. so. excited. You know my lovely cricut machine? That I cut all my vinyl on? It has had a good long life (it still works) but I’m getting an upgrade! The CAMEO is like the Lamborghini of die cut machines. And the site had 50 machines to sell at their awesome Black Friday price. And I got one!!!!!!!!!! Only to get an email later that morning saying my order was on hold because my credit card had been denied (crazy Black Friday purchases) and would be processed as soon as I gave them the correct info (it was correct). THEN I saw on the Silhouette website that they had a better deal. So we canceled the first order and bought the one from the Silhouette website. So we didn’t even have to stay up till midnight. Oops. ;) Oh well. But overall, I’d say the evening/stretched to the next morning was a SUCCESS! So excited about my new toy coming in the mail in a week or two!!

Friday was the reason the house was already decorated for Christmas. It was time for our annual Come by for Pie party! (I made this for the invitation on Photoshop :)

We had a cute little poem to go with it too. Because we’re cool like that. And I suppose I’m obligated to mention (this is for you, Amy) that we had more than just pie. We had cheesecake and banana bread and sugar cookies. But they didn’t fit in the poem! ;) But the pie party was a success, unless you count my apple pie’s filling overflowing onto the floor of my parent’s oven and smoking up a storm…AFTER guests had arrived. *how embarrassing!* The pie was fine…the oven is not… so sorry mom… :S But we had a wonderful evening visiting with friends and eating pie..and cheesecake, and banana bread, and cookies… ;)

Saturday was cleaning up and relaxing and after far too long, I got my hair cut. My bangs are now once again under control. Thank goodness! We spent the afternoon going to see Wreck-it Ralph and we loved it! Then it was time to pack up and get ready to go home the next day.

I am feeling so grateful for my Savior, my friends and my family this year and especially for this amazing opportunity to have our baby. We are so very blessed and I hope all of you have had a wonderful holiday weekend!