Thanksgiving

We headed to Snowflake for Thanksgiving, like we always do.  This year we stayed with my parents, and Rob, Tina, and Christian--along with my niece (Rob's daughter) Shalae and her husband Porter, and Melanie, Tyler, and Jade were there too.  It was fun to take a break from life and get away for a few days.  Nate and I got to go to the temple while we were there and do a session.  It was very nice to go, especially because it was the first time we had been able to go since the church changed the video. 

I had previously rounded everyone up and got them in on a 5K Turkey Trot run.  So on Thanksgiving morning, Dad, Rob, Tina, Mel, Tyler and I headed out to burn off our day's calories in advance.  When I decided to do the run and get everyone involved, it didn't occur to me how cold it would be in Snowflake at 8 a.m. at the end of November.  It was 34 degrees.  It was cold.  But really, it wasn't too bad and I think all of us actually wanted to take layers off during the run.  This picture is from afterwards.

I felt like my run went really well.  I didn't feel like I was struggling at all and it felt easy overall.  It was also nice because Tyler happens to run at exactly the same pace as I do, so we ended up running the whole thing side by side.  We ran it in about 30 minutes.  The timing got messed up, so we don't really have exact numbers.  Now here's the deal, when you run races with Melanie, you usually have to wait around for the awards.  :)  Melanie was the women's second place winner.  After the race, we waited, and waited, and waited.  Everything was finished and we weren't sure what the holdup was.  It was at least an hour since the last of us had finished and it was still very cold outside and we really wanted to go home.  Finally, they got to the awards.  Melanie may disagree, but for the rest of us, it was worth the wait.  So what exactly do you get for getting out of bed on Thanksgiving morning, running over three miles in freezing weather, and winning??

 

 

A turkey hat, that's what!  I've never been so happy in all of my life to lose at something.  It was so funny watching all of the winners trudge up to claim their prize...  It still makes me laugh to think about it.  A turkey hat.....  (which our kids absolutely loved and played with for the rest of the day)

We had a nice Thanksgiving meal a bit later.  Then in the evening, I went with Melanie and Tyler to Walmart to do some Black Friday shopping.  Rob and Tina went too, but it was a complete madhouse there and I'm not sure I ever saw them.  Moving through the store was so impossible (I'm not kidding...) and frustrating that I abandoned almost everything on my list because it just wasn't worth it.  I got the stuff I really wanted and was ready to get out.  After the really good experience I had last year at the very same store, this one was maddening.  I think they must have changed management or something. 

But to end on a good note, we had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed being with family.