Thanksgiving-full

One week ago today I found myself full - and dangling my toes in a hot tub : )

The day started off great - my momma came in town the night before and helped me with final prep the night before. We woke up early {okay, early or me, 7:30} and Dan got some good shut eye until a bit later : )

We started on some more prep and then I finally looked at my phone - I 'randomly found out that' my life-long-friend/brother, Tyler was just hanging out for the day - so of course, I had to have him over.

It was such a blessing. The night before, I was up until about 2am - around 12:30/1ish I started a project making chargers for each place setting {they are the thing that go under the plates - not quite place-mats} I made 8 large ones for each adult and 1 smaller one for Layton. I was about done with the final one and I realized that we only have 7 adults. At that point, I prayed that we would have an 8th guest with us the next day. I had this great thought or vision of a person who was along for Thanksgiving and I thought it would be such a blessing to have him join us.

Low and behold - it was Tyler : )

And he was such a blessing - he always is : ) He even picked up a pound of mushrooms for me and wouldn't let me pay him back : )

Here are my favorite things about Thanksgiving this year:
Nearly EVERYTHING was organic : ) And it tasted soooooo good - and I am not just saying that because I helped make some of it!
The only mishap was that Martha said the Turkey breast would only take 1 1/2 hours - but it took 3..... Martha.....
Oh - when I say Martha - I mean Stewart. I picked out our recipes on her site : )
My mom, Aylana, Judy and I went crazy Black Friday shopping - after the hot tub, we rinsed, got ready and left. First Kohl's {where the long was literally 5x longer this year and the check out took over an hour} then Old Navy, Target, Macy's, Bare Escentuals, TJMaxx and a few stops to Caribou in between : )
I was awake for 41 straight hours {with about 20 mins of shut eye} and only running on 5 hours of sleep from Wednesday - but it was amazing and worth it : )

It was great.

But hard.

Yet okay.

Most days I'm pretty okay - and I was prepared for some heartache over the long weekend. I was also surprised at how many pregnant women were out shopping in the wee hours of the morning!

But overall - life is going well. It's slowing down a bit even. I can hardly believe we only have 2 weddings left in 2011 - then 2 in January - then a break!

Until then - we're praying for more weddings. Bookings are coming on a bit more slowly this year - but we trust that God will provide.

Finally, Dan is having Lasik tomorrow at 1 - he's excited - I am nervous {and not wanting to watch.....} I am sure it will be fine though : ) He is super ready to not use contacts : )

I hope and pray all of you had a refreshing Thanksgiving weekend - I hope to hear from you soon!