Thanksgiving 2012

The more Thanksgivings I experience the more I love the holiday. It is all about family and food, how can you not love that? I have always had the good ol' fashioned Thanksgiving with tons of food, surrounded by all the people I love. My mom always decorates the table with candles and Thanksgiving themed decor.  All the food goes in beautiful dishes. It is picture perfect. I just don't get this once in a while but every Thanksgiving. Whether with my family or the Strobelts the day turns out perfect every time. I consider myself blessed to have so many wonderful Thanksgiving memories.


Of course no Thanksgiving is complete without a little... BLACK FRIDAY. I have been planning since September. Checking out ads online and getting so excited. When Emily came over on Thanksgiving (she celebrated with her Flake family) to get ready to go and we both started screaming. Giddy excited! Then we ran around the house doing a happy dance. We LOVE Black Friday. I love the crowds and the hype and the adrenaline and the crazy people. I love everything. We even talked Caity and Clarah into going and being our "driver" and "line waiter". It seriously cut the time in half, more than half actually. We were in and out of Walmart in 45 minutes. Oh, it was crazy and I was yelling and running around grabbing everything and yelling at people with small children and taking things from peoples cart. I go crazy, do not mess with me when I am in Black Friday mode. Emily somehow managed to get right up front in line and boom we were out of there with a trampoline, bike, tons of toys, scooter, books, play tables, and toothpaste (I needed some). Oh, it was crazy. Then we did Target, ran home and nursed some babies, and finally Kohls. We crashed at 2 am and up at 7:30 to do some serious damage at Gymboree. I got every size 3T and 12month pair of jammies in the store! It is the best 12 hours of my year! Next year we are doing it and Brady and Kim are going to be there, so mark it on your calendars! It will be epic

Photos of bowling with the Strobelt/Camp family. We started this tradition a couple years back. We meet up Thanksgiving morning and have some fun before dinner. It gives the women some quiet time to cook:)

Alice is famous

Yes, Ron Strobelt is a pretty good bowler

She loved putting the ball on this contraption and watching it roll off and hit the pins. She also like to use it as a slide:)

 My favorite: sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and apple/pomegranate salad

The amazing chef

Black Friday planing. It was intense. I would periodically scream with excitement.

 She got so messy eating dinner that I just striped her down and plopped her in the sink

My love! She adores this baby and would hug it all day if Scarlett did not rip it from her baby hands

Saturday morning Nick and I took the girls on a very small hike. The end had gorgeous views of the city and tables for lunch, how convenient. Scarlett was in heaven climbing on all the rocks and being dangerous. She did not whine or complain once and refused to be held when she got tired. Miss independent