A Lot to Be Thankful For!

Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends! We had a a great holiday here in California, but of course we missed everyone at home too. It was my first holiday not being in Michigan, and also the first time that I've ever cooked anything for the feast. We were in charge of making a green bean casserole and pecan pies, plus we decided to make some snacks to have during the day as well. I was lucky that Jordan didn't have to work all week, so he could avoid the crowds and do all the grocery shopping for us. We were pretty good about prepping early. Sunday we made the meatballs and black bean roll ups and stuck those in the freezer. On Wednesday I made both the pies and we got all the ingredients measured out and ready to go to take the next

morning.

We had to get up bright and early on Thursday morning, since we were participating in the 5k/10k Turkey Trot family challenge! I did indeed finish the 5k with a time of roughly 31 minutes! Nothing to write home about, but I was pretty proud of myself :) Jordan ran the 10k and of course finished first among the guys, even though he claims he's out of shape. I might regret saying this in a few months, but I'd like to try to run a 10k next spring/summer and maybe, just maybe, I'll sign up for a half marathon sometime after that.

After we got home from the race and got cleaned up, it was time to eat, eat, eat! There were so many snacks around to munch on that by the time the meal was ready, I wasn't even that hungry. But ohhh was it good. I've never been a huge fan of turkey so it's all about the sides for me. There were three kinds of stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, yummy green beans (if I do say so myself), brussel sprouts, deviled eggs, and probably several other things that I'm forgetting. It was so good. We also were not lacking in the dessert department - there were four pies, two cheesecakes, and a pumpkin roll to share between 9 people. Good Lord. It must have literally caused a food coma for me because I fell asleep on the couch before we even pulled out any games for the night!

Yummy.

The BEST part of the holiday weekend though was Saturday, when we got to watch the boys in blue beat OSU. HALLELUJAH! Jordan and I are a bit bitter that we just happened to be students during the dark years at UofM, so this was a sweet victory for us. And, it will give me bragging rights at the Freels Christmas, which is much appreciated. We had everyone over to our place for the game, including Jordan's cousins and aunt & uncle, and even 2 dogs! I'm crossing my fingers that we get in a good bowl game. But either way, Brady Hoke is my new favorite person and I'm looking forward to next year's season already. We're really going to try to make it back for a game!

Happy for the win!

The only bad thing about the holiday break was that it had to end :( Only a few more weeks until Christmas and we'll be making our way back to Michigan!