Party Weekend

It's been a fun weekend with friends and a great way to start off my favorite holiday week of the year!  Friday night we went to a going away party for one of Matt's co-workers, Megan.  I don't even work with her and I was totally bummed when I found out she was moving away.  She's one of my favorites to go mountain biking with and we will all miss her terribly so there was a big send off downtown at the Thirsty Fellow.  Saturday we hosted a Thanksgiving potluck at our house for our small group from church.  I can't say enough about how delicious the food was, I did manage to get this photo of some of the spread before we started digging in:

Alan cooked a 22 pound turkey, his first turkey ever, and it was one of the juiciest and most flavorful birds any of us had ever eaten. I think part of his secret were the fresh homegrown rosemary sprigs he used for seasoning.  We broke out both leaves to extend our dining room table completely for the first time, and were excited at how easily 10 people (12 if you want to get technical and include mine and Kristen's pregnant bellies) fit around it.  We may have to have dinner parties more often!

After stuffing our bellies we burned some calories laughing by playing Apples to Apples and Taboo.  Then we broke out the desserts and even though we were all super full it didn't stop anyone from digging into banana pudding or pecan pumpkin pie.  Our smallest guest, 8 month old Braden didn't get to taste any of our Thanksgiving feast even though he came wearing his adorable turkey bib.  However, he did get to be the first baby rocked to sleep in my glider.  Somehow he even slept soundly in our nursery through all the shouts during Taboo.  I'm glad to know the chair I love so much is baby tested and approved, it won't be long now before I spend lots of my time here:

Today we're relaxing, and probably still digesting yesterday's meal.  Only a few short days of work this week and then it's off to Tennessee for the holiday!  This year is going to be extra special since it will be the first time we celebrate Thanksgiving with both of our immediate families at the same time.  It makes me so happy that everyone was willing to adjust their plans so that we don't have to drive as far and still get to see our closest family members.  Going into this time of year I'm always overwhelmed with how much I have to be thankful for, and as I look back at a fun weekend with friends and ahead at time coming up with family and feel our baby squirming around happily inside me I realize that each year the list gets longer and longer.