So thankful!

Thanksgiving was AH-MAY-ZING this year!  We traveled north about 70 miles to spend a few days with our new friends, Mitch & Elaine and their family.  They invited us to come out Wednesday night, which was such a great idea!  We also trailered Si out there...so stay and work for a while.  He hasn't been getting very much attention lately and someone on the Rex Ranch is down on horses, so it was a great opportunity for Si to have some miles put on him during the winter!  I think I need to hang a "NOT for sale" around his neck though!  So...Wednesday night is was SO cold, I think it was 9 degrees without the windchill.  The wind was brutal!  I brought taco soup for dinner and it was nice to sit and eat with so many people.  We had their basement to ourselves and felt like family!  The Siler's also came Wednesday night and had the "cowboy shack" all to themselves.  It really isn't a shack at all...but it is a fun name.  We stayed up until 1:30 in the morning talking, cooking and preparing for the big meal.

Elaine and I *planned* on getting up at 5:00 to get the turkeys in the oven...but it was nearly 6:00 by the time I rolled out of bed.  She already had hers going and the house smelled amazing.  While the women were cooking...the men went out to kill some birds.  Ducks, geese, pheasant...whatever they could find.  Our big hunters came back with ONE pheasant.  I dare say they still had fun hanging out and just shooting stuff.  The kids (8 of them) were AWESOME playing games, the Wii and watching movies while the adults were otherwise occupied.  I REALLY enjoyed being surrounded by great ladies all day long!  Trissh, Elaine, Drew, Nicole, Amanda, Siara and Elizabeth were so much fun!  We sat down for dinner at 1:30...right on schedule!  As with a lot of families, their family tradition is for everyone at the table to take turns expressing what they are thankful for.  We were all emotional as we listened to each other. 

Mitch, Matt, Bishop & Nathan

our amazing cook and hostess, Elaine

the "adult" table

the "kid" table

Our meal was spectacular!  Two turkeys, ham, gravy made from SCRATCH, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes (that I even ate), SEVEN dozen rolls, 10 pounds of mashed potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce, relish tray, 12 layer jell-O, and EIGHT pies!  Now that is how you feed 23 people!

After dinner it was chill time.  The ladies started to plan our attack for Black Friday shopping.  Do we only go to Scottsbluff...do we go to Sidney and Scottsbluff?  Finally it was determined that we would divide and conquer.  Trissh was awesome and did the shopping for Elaine and I at Wal*Mart at midnight and we did her shopping in Scottsbluff.  We went to bed at MIDNIGHT and woke up at 2:45 AM!  INSANE!  We were at Target by 5:00...then Staples, then in line for Menards for 20 minutes until they opened at 6:00.  Mitch was such a trooper and drove three crazy shopping ladies all around town.  I think he might have been smiling the whole time too...or laughing at us.  Either way it was a good time!  I found some AWESOME deals for me at Murdocks...75% off some beautiful "cowgirl" shirts, hat and jeans for B.  Merry Christmas to me!  I was able to almost finish all of our Christmas shopping...that is a relief.  We finished our day of shopping with lunch at a very good Chinese restaurant which totally hit the spot.  Amanda offered to stay with the kids while Matt and Nathan went out hunting again, totally saved the day!  After 12 hours...we were back at their house, exhausted and happy!  We could barely fit in the car with all the purchases made...success!  Next year...we decided we are going to make shirts that say...

"Shop online or get out of the way"

Black Friday shoppers, that is all I have to say...

The boys didn't bet back until after dark...so we stayed another night.  It was another late night of talking and movie watching.  It was so great to just hang out with great people!  I'm pretty sure that Brayden has a little crush on Amanda! 

Saturday morning we said our goodbyes to Nathan and Elizabeth who live in North Platte and Mitch and Elaine...until Sunday!  Si wasn't sad that he was able to stay.  He was very excited to be with another horse.  He better be a good horse and behave himself and work hard!

I had such a great time with this lady!  We were constantly laughing and talked nonstop for 3 days.

I think our husbands may be glad we're separated now.

the kids loved climbing in this huge wood pile and looking for treasures in the meadow.

I loved the scenery on the ranch.  I especially loved to look out the window and see my horse in the pasture.  That is something I could get used to!

Si with his cute winter fuzz

There is a talk from General Conference on Gratitude that I read this week from President Thomas S. Monson.  I didn't want to forget some of the quotes, and thought you might enjoy them too. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 “The grateful man sees so much in the world to be thankful for, and with him the good outweighs the evil. Love overpowers jealousy, and light drives darkness out of his life.” He continued: “Pride destroys our gratitude and sets up selfishness in its place. How much happier we are in the presence of a grateful and loving soul, and how careful we should be to cultivate, through the medium of a prayerful life, a thankful attitude toward God and man!”


 “When you walk with gratitude, you do not walk with arrogance and conceit and egotism, you walk with a spirit of thanksgiving that is becoming to you and will bless your lives.”


"A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Often we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don’t get around to it. Someone has said that “feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”