November: Thanksgiving

Three. Three pictures of Thanksgiving 2011. (SPOILER ALERT: There are a whopping four of Christmas.) I guess that means I'll have to paint the picture of Thanksgiving in Valentine with my words.

A week and a half after we came back from Valentine, we jumped in the Escape to return. We made the 11 hour journey there in one day, and surprisingly, it wasn't that bad. Blaise was quite the little trooper. We spent almost 4 days in Valentine, mainly hanging out with the family, and eating lots of Mom's home cookin'. Which really means I can't remember exactly what we did, but I know we had fun. How can you not have fun in the Heart City? So much for painting a picture, though. Here are some real ones:

Hanging out with Uncle John

Kicking a ball with Aunt Amy

I can't remember if this happened the first time we were in Valentine in November or over Thanksgiving, but either way, I don't want to forget it. Aaron and I woke up to Blaise fussing, ready to get up and start the day. Neither of us was as chipper, so imagine our surprise when the bedroom door opened and an eager grandma appeared to whisk Blaise away. Aaron said, "I wish that would happen at home," and rolled back over. I couldn't fall back asleep because I was laughing so hard.

Back to our Thanksgiving vacation. We left Valentine for Omaha on Saturday morning for the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Brian McMichen. Aaron was an acolyte for the Mass, so I wrestled Blaise solo. It was a workout, but he did let me see the most important part - the vows - which Aaron and I concluded were the most intentional ones we've witnessed. They were beautiful.

At the reception, we were able to tell more of our friends the news of our newest baby. I loved seeing everyone's reactions. We hopped in the car around 10pm for a quick 3 hour drive to Topeka where we spent the night at the Ramada Inn. Somehow, by the grace of God, Blaise slept in the next morning until 9ish, something he rarely did. The last leg of our journey - the 4 hour drive to Tulsa - was the L-O-N-G-E-S-T part of the trip, even longer than the first 11 hour drive to Valentine! Probably because we were so close, yet so far away. After we finally made it home, we took a quick nap, and then ended our Thanksgiving vacation with 6pm Mass at St. Mary's.