Last-but-not-least Thanksgiving!

The last part of Thanksgiving week we spent with Andrew's mother's side of the family. There were 21 of us total, and we had a really fun time hanging out, eating, and talking. We even crammed 11 people into Andrew's grandparent's smallish TV room to watch a great bedlam game between OU and OSU. Good times. Here are some pics from our time there.

Andrew with his little "Sweet Pea".

LOVE this picture of Parker and I.

Our lovely little family.

Watching Dora with cousin Abbey.

Some of the group at breakfast one morning.

The kiddos with Papa and Gram....

....and with their Nonni!

Some of the group (Andrew's sister and family had left the day before, and Gram is taking the picture).

We had a great time on our trip, and we are thankful to have so much family to share our holidays with!

Thanksgiving Strait style....

On Thanksgiving Day, we spent the day at Andrew's aunt and uncle's house out in the country. There was a grand total of 28 people there to celebrate. We had fun visiting and catching up with everyone, and I even shot my first *gasp* real gun! Andrew and some other family members were out target shooting when I went out to observe and got talked into it. I've always been a bit leery of guns, mostly because I didn't grow up around them and had never before handled them, but I am proud to say that I overcame my fears. Here are a few pictures from our day.

Andrew and the kids with Andrew's Grandma and Grandpa Strait.

Parker and Sadie with Grandpa.

Parker wanted to pet the horse.

Our family on Thanksgiving!



Thanksgiving in Enid....

For the past week, we have been in Oklahoma celebrating Thanksgiving with family. We started by going to Enid for a few days and spending time with my family. We had a relaxing few days playing cards, going shopping, and just doing nothing. Here are a few pictures we took from our time there.

The kids with my Grandpa and his wife, MaryLou.

The kids with Poppy and Grandma.

Our family.

Playing cards!

First snowfall!

Last night we had our first snowfall of the season! The kids were super excited to check it out this morning....

Fun at the zoo!

It has been unseasonably warm here the last few days, so we decided to take advantage of the nice weather today by going to the zoo. Our last trip (or attempted trip) to the zoo, which as a side note was exactly one year ago tomorrow, ended in our Jeep being totaled and all of us going to the emergency room for a few hours. We were definitely ready to move past that memory, and I'm happy to report that we had a great time. We went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo here in Colorado Springs, and they have a large giraffe exhibit. You can actually purchase crackers to feed the giraffes which is quite fun. Here is Parker feeding a giraffe.... 

....and Sadie feeding a giraffe. And yes, she tried to get the cracker to her mouth first. Emphasis on tried.

The bird exhibit was also lots of fun. You could buy little seed sticks, and a bird would land on your stick to eat.

Sadie was in a little bit of a mood all day long, but was actually pretty good considering her disposition.

Parker was SUPER pumped to see the hippos.

Parker and Andrew with some orangutans.

Riding the carousel....Parker was so excited about riding that he has a small meltdown when it was over.

Andrew and Parker. Can you spot the mountain lion in the picture?

Parker and I with a moose.

Walking with Daddy....

We have been to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo three times, and every time we have seen at least one deer wandering freely through the zoo at some point. Today was no exception.

Andrew and the kids at the lion exhibit.

All of us at the end of our fun day at the zoo!

My exhausted, little Big Boy.....