Thanksgiving Break

Our annual Boise Thanksgiving holiday break was a memorable one this year. The main reason was that our dd Melanie's boyfriend came along and took down two of my brother-in-law's trees. The first to fall was a pine in the very front by the driveway, then Daniel attacked the cottonwood tree. It doesn't look bad from this angle (see below), but the tree was leaning towards the house - a scary situation in a big wind storm. It was also sending out suckers from its roots in the neighbor's yard, becoming a nuisance. Daniel did a masterful job bringing down the giant!



I'm thankful the trees are down and Daniel and his helpers are unhurt! :)

DH, Kirsten and I stayed at the Doubletree Riverside hotel this year. Unfortunately I had no time to get out for a walk along the river - well I could have if I'd gotten out of bed earlier! DH did and got in some geocaching before spending the day with the family.

DH's dad and stepmother had just returned from a two-month cruise around the Pacific, so it was great to hear about their trip and just visit with them once again. Dsil's brother Vern is relocating to Boise after living in Oklahoma for many years, so he joined in the festivities. My sister and her family always join the Paulson clan at holiday time. She provides the cookies and pies and does an amazing job. Janeale is establishing quite a far-reaching reputation for her goodies - they are the best! I brought along homemade rolls and my cinnamon swirl bread for breakfast each day. There was a big turkey, smashed potatoes, and wild rice dressing, fruit salad - lots of good stuff and plenty left over to make cooking less a chore for the rest of the weekend.

That left time for shopping! I'm not a big shopper, especially on Black Friday, but Kirsten did need some new jeans and there were a couple of things I wanted at Cost Plus. So we braved the traffic around the Boise mall and successfully found all we wanted. Later Kirsten and her Aunt Paula did some more shopping. Aunt Paula needs some girl time now and then as she has only boys.

Much of the rest of the weekend looked like this:

Geoff and Brendan are seen here playing their games. The other boys were in the basement with other games, or watching movies, or just goofing off. I got in a little stitching. And on Friday we watched BSU blow out Fresno State to achieve an undefeated football season!

Saturday evening stepmom Aska made us a prime rib dinner with cheesecake dessert - then we rolled home on Sunday morning not needing to eat for a week!

I'm so grateful for the Thanksgiving holiday that gives us several days to spend with our families. God has blessed us indeed. :)