Thanksgiving as "grown-ups"

This year was Jason's and my first holiday without any family. All growing up, I had Thanksgiving with my family and my sweet Grandma Wendy. Grandma Wendy is now in heaven, and so last year was the first Thanksgiving without her. My parents ended up inviting Jason's family to Chicago, so we didn't have to "choose" which family to be with. It was awesome! We both have the coolest families, and they all get along so well! So, this year, my parents invited them all again. The only problem? Jason and I, the whole reason they are all even friends, weren't going to be able to make it. How completely unfair is that?! Um, hello? did you all forget about who is the reason you did that for? Well, that's how I felt at first, but wrongfully so. We are so blessed and thankful that our families get along so well, and it really couldn't be better.

Once I had accepted the fact we weren't going anywhere, I decided to fully embrace it. I had the whole week off from work, and I had worked way ahead into my classes while Jason was on his FEX, so, for the first time in a while, I had a large chunk of free time! It was so refreshing too. I was able to spend time with friends, preparing the food for the big day, and doing all the crafts I could dream up. I even was super wild, and drove to Temecula (about  a half hour away) so I could once again experience the fantastic, magical, Hobby Lobby. Pretty sure when I pulled up, I actually screamed "It's Hobby Lobby!" I think we were there for 2 hours (I went with my sweet friend Bridget), and we both agreed this would have to be a regular occurrence.

My excitement could not be contained

We went the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. It was perfect, I had plenty of fun Christmas decor to make while Jason watched football and ate all day long.

We love Koolaid.

 We had more than enough food. We did a little 6 lb turkey, and it turned out great! We didn't have any cooking malfunctions, other than that I put my makeup on, and then chopped the onions, which left me looking something like this:

It also left my hands completely black. it was awesome.

We had such a lovely long weekend together. We are so blessed to have each other. Jason is totally my better half. We are also beyond blessed with our wonderful families, whom we got to Skype with on Thanksgiving. We love the church we have found here, and that is such a gift! I can't even begin to express all the things we have to be thankful for. We have had a year of blessings overflowing.

Saturday Jason and I drove to Camp Ironwood, near Yucca Valley. It was about 3 hours away.. We rented a truck so we could pick up this little beauty for Jason for Christmas:

Boys and their toys, I tell ya. It was actually a blast though! Jason worked at Camp Ironwood about 5 years ago. He found this bike in the junkyard, and the guy told him he would sell it to him for 200$. It's a 1971 Ducati, and according to Jason's research, in the state it's in, it's worth at least 1500$. He put 40 bucks down way back when, and recently called, curious if they still had it. Sure enough, they did, because they are in the middle of nowhere, and so we went to get it! It was fun to do it together, and it was even more fun to get a tour of Camp Ironwood. They have some really gifted people there, and God has been doing so much work there! What an encouragement.

Overall, we have had a great kick-off to our grown up, all alone holidays, and have already done alot of fun things! Looking forward to celebrating the Messiah all the Christmas season long!