Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we decided to surprise the Kings and show up at their house the Saturday before Thanksgiving rather than meet them at my uncle's house on Wednesday like they thought. To get there at a reasonable time we left VERY early and just transferred Van from his crib to his car seat....

When he woke up he was a little confused about what was going on...
He was a very good boy and didn't cry once the whole 9 hour trip! I'm sure it was at least partially because Dad kept him so entertained. These two boys love to play in this "fort". This is not the first time they have made it and it definitely makes Van laugh every time!

When we arrived my parents were sure surprised and delighted to see us! Okay mostly excited to see Van, it took them about 30 seconds to be on the floor playing with him.

Grandpa read Van a bedtime story that night.

He saw snow for the first time!

Van spent a lot of time hanging out with uncle Kyle...



...and met Uncle Tyler for the first time!! For those of you who haven't heard, my little brother got sick while on his mission to Guatemala and was sent home two days before Thanksgiving. He didn't tell us much about what was going on until it was so bad he had to come home so it was a surprise to us all. We heard he was coming home on Saturday and picked him up at the airport on Tuesday. Of course it was bitter sweet. We are concerned for his health but it was exciting to get to see him. Here is the first ever meeting-

I think they like each other!

Van also enjoyed playing with his crazy Uncle Jon.

They made quite a team playing pinochle.

I think Van needs to work on his poker face a little!

We were in Wendell for a couple of days surrounding Thanksgiving. It was great to see so much family and the food was wonderful as usual. There were actually a lot of cousins that were unable to make it but we still had 22 adults, 3 kids, and 1 baby for the festivities. One of Brian's favorite activities (besides the basketball and eating dinner of course) was the shooting! Everyone brought their guns and after a couple of hunting trips the men had a shooting contest. Brian won! Here's the equipment..

Jon went a little crazy.....

After a week of fun we had to pack up and make the long trek home. Van volunteered to do some of the driving! (don't worry, we were parked, just playing during a pit stop;)

I had to put these pictures in because he was being really cute on a gas and stretch break.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too!