Much to be Thankful For...

This past week we packed up all the kids (and what seemed like half our house when all was said and done) and headed to Pittsburgh to spend Thanksgiving with Jason's family. Although the time spent on airplanes with potentially screaming children is never fun, this is a trip that always turns out to be more than worthwhile. The kids did fantastic on the flights and during the trip. Its amazing that not one of them ended up sick (I seriously think this is the first time we have traveled anywhere without one of them fighting some sort of illness.) And although we spent a good bit of time indoors thanks to the rain and cold weather, no one can deny how beautiful this place is.

Here are some shots we took from the front of Jason's parents house.

The creek and "J's tree" that is right outside the house he grew up in.

An accurate picture of their closest neighbors...and there isn't another house to be seen from any direction.

End of their driveway. I was amazed at how green everything was since I was so used to how bad/brown this summer was in Texas.

Dad and his mini-me playing outside. She could care less that is was 45 degrees out.

Checking out memaw's planting and trees around the house...

Kids of "the loop" to date. Gavin, far left, is the most recent addition to what was thus far our family clan. J has a group of guys from back home that we're very close to and we've been waiting for everyone's lives to catch up to ours..its finally starting to happen. We can't wait until Pat and Chris's baby boy joins us next year!!!!

Playing WII dancing games in the basement. No one was more excited than beck. notice he has a ''fake'' controller because he couldn't be trusted with a real one with all the thrashing and dancing he was doing...

Papap and Ky in the wood shop working away on a bird house.

J's grandma with Keith, Jason, and the grandkids. She was so happy she cried when we surprised her with a visit once we arrived.

Uncle Keith and Beck jamming out on the guitar...

Memaw and Beck

Uncle Keith got to meet Stratton for the first time!

Ky and Jacob, these two were inseparable the entire time we were there. here's their ''pose for the camera'' pic.

We even got a chance to drive the 2 hours up to du bois to see my grandma and some of her sisters. Its always neat to go back to places I remember visiting as a child...

Kylie riding papap's tractor. She's always been too afraid....its amazing what a daredevil little brother will persuade you to do...

Stratton with his indian hat hanging at the window trying to keep warm during tractor rides...

Beck LOVED every minute of the tractor. And I'm pretty sure if papap told him he could drive it, he wouldn't have hesitated a single moment..

Beckham playing with the cars his daddy and uncle played with growing up. This was really neat for me. I love sentimental things like this...

With the introduction of over 70 new (rather, old) cars, you can probably imagine beck was very busy and very focused all week.

All in all, we had a blast! I wish we could have stayed longer, but I'm not sure we've ever left thinking that we were there for enough time. We both got to see our grandmothers, spent time with family and friends, and even got to play a little pick up soccer one evening (something I'm still trying to recover from thanks to the soreness).

In fact, Beck did great on the flights home (not taking a nap which he has every day since he was born) until we landed in Dallas and we got off the plane and he asked where memaw was. You can imagine the fit to followed after I explained that she wasn't with us and that we were headed home....

What a wonderful way to spend Thanksgiving, hanging out with family whom you're so thankful for!