Nate and Bethany: Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend filled with visiting with lots of family. I got surprise visitors on Tuesday night- Erika and Amy came to spend the weekend with us and meet their newest niece. It was awesome to see them. We got to visit with them for a bit Tuesday night and then Wednesday they came with us to see Paige get an award at school and then we headed up to Seattle to go to the big Goodwill and enjoy some lunch together. That evening we just visited and they got some last minute things for Thanksgiving.

Thursday we spent the day at Dale and Margaret's house with all the Smiths. It was a lot of people but so great to see them all. Baylor was passed around all day and I pretty much saw her when I needed to feed her. Paige loved all the cousin time.

Dale decided that he wanted to deep fry a turkey this year and it was quite the gathering to watch it all happen.

All ready to eat! We all went to the church to eat dinner and it was so good. I love Thanksgiving and I am so grateful for the amazing food to eat and be surrounded by family that I love.

After dinner the kids had fun playing in the gym while the adults cleaned up.

Paige and Carly had lots of fun together- they are the same height even though Paige is a 1 1/2 years older than Carly. :)

Then we had some pictures:

Everyone in attendance

The Dale and Margaret Smith clan

Grand kids

Dale and Margaret with their 5

Then the siblings- we had lots of laughs throughout this part of the photo shoot

Then we had some sweet potato races- you had to push the potato with your head.

The kids came up with another race to do- slide on your back across the floor.

Then Friday was spent at Dale and Margaret's again just enjoying family time.

We went on a walk on the Soos Creek Trail with Mike and his boys.

Then the rest of the cousins came over after lunch and all the cousins had at fun playing at the park.

We had a big family dinner of turkey bone soup that Dale makes every year and that evening we just visited. I went to Trader Joe's with Erika and Amy before we headed home for the evening.

Saturday we went to Black Diamond to enjoy some donuts for breakfast with Erika and Amy and then walked around the little antique shop they have there and also a museum. We spent most of the morning there before we went to Ivar's for lunch until Erika and Amy left to go to the airport. Paige loved spending some time with her aunts and it was fun to have some Idaho family come and visit us.

That evening the Smiths that were still here all went to the Covington Aquatic Center for a family swim. Margaret rented the pool for an hour so we had it all to ourselves. I didn't swim even though I wish I could have but it was really entertaining to watch everyone.

This little cutie kept me company while everyone swam.

Then we went home and had some dinner and it was more cousin time for Paige and Baylor got some cousin time too.

These two have birthdays in December and got to get some money from the birthday money jar.

It was such a great weekend and I loved being with all the family though I am ready to get into a bit more of a routine and enjoy my little family of four.

I love seeing all the things Paige brings home from school especially during the holidays and here are some Thanksgiving things she did for school.

I thought it was funny that her third thing was forgiveness. That is a good one but I have no idea what made her think of it.

This one was a homework assignment and it was fun to brainstorm ideas with her in how to disguise her turkey. She came up with making it look like a cat. I gave her the idea of making the eyes look like cat eyes and make the gobble be a name tag but she came up with the rest. The name tag says "Cat's name: Thankful." I love that after she was done she added the meow signs and the food and water at the bottom. She is such a creative girl! Her turkey got first place at school and she got a coloring book as a prize.