GIVING THANKS

This year we spent the Thanksgiving holiday here in the NW with Ryan's side of the family. It was a truly enjoyable week for all of us. The kids could not WAIT to get out of school on Tues. because they knew the next day they were going to Nanna and Grandads for three whole days! Our boys absolutely treasure the time they get to be in W.L. with the Eddingtons and Nanna and Grandad. Ryan, A.J. and I headed over Thanksgiving day with a car load of pies, stuffing, and vegetables. We were greeted by a slew of smiling kids and a warm house decorated beautifully for fall and smelling of roasted turkey and freshly baked rolls. As soon as the final touches were put on dinner we all sat down to a feast for the ages! We are so blessed with such an abundance of food and shelter and it is never more apparent than at the Thanksgiving table. It was really a great meal and after Nanna and I cleaned up while the rest of the crew headed outside for horseback riding and four wheeling. After an hour or so, they started trickling back into the house for dessert. Everyone but Caden, Emma and Aunt Marnie. Sometime later Aunt Marnie made her way inside and said "Caden is a horse riding machine". Caden was right on her heels and popped in with a triumphant grin and exclaimed "that was THE best experience of my life so far!" Wow, I said , tell me about it. He and Emma went on and on about which horse handled which way and Caden said "mom, I trotted on Sandy" and Emma said "Aunt Alli I cantered". I looked at Marnie with a what the heck is the difference between a trot and a canter?? She rescued me and helped to bridge the gap of my obvious lack of equine knowledge. I have a feeling that Caden will be signing up for horseback riding lessons this summer with Aunt Marnie. A.J. fell in love with riding "the bike" as he affectionately called the four wheeler and Jack loved it all. After lots more visiting, perusing sale ads and football (maybe there was a little cat nap too) Ryan, A.J. and I headed home. On the drive we discussed how greatit is to have such loving, generous, enjoyable families on both sides, and how much we love the fact that we are able to give our kids opportunities to really get to know, make memories with and develop relationships with all of their extended family. It doesn't matter if it's the W.L side of the family or the out of town family our boys are always thrilled when an opportunity arises to visit with either. That is truly a blessing.