Thanksgiving in Texas-Wilson Thanksgiving Meal

The next day we started out by going to Krispy Kreme. Eli and I were quite fascinated by the donut making process and watched the assembly line for a long time. It was the perfect way to start our day. After Krispy Kreme we picked up Grandpa E and headed to Cabela's so Eli could pick out his birthday present from E. After looking around the entire store Eli decided on a bow. He tested it out in the store and was in love. He couldn't wait to get home to practice. 

 

I dropped the boys off at Grandpa E's house and then I headed to the store to get food for our Thanksgiving meal the next day. I found a little slice of heaven when I went to the freezer section. Most of you know about the Blue Bell famine of 2015 and this was the first time for me to see Blue Bell in stores in months. I was just a tad excited!! I showed great control and only bought one half gallon of homemade vanilla. I didn't know when I would see Blue Bell again so I made sure to document this very important historical day. 

The next morning I started cooking all the sides (Josh's dad ordered a Honeybaked Ham for the main dish) for our Thanksgiving meal while the boys went outside to watch Eli practice shooting his bow. After a few practice shots, he had it and was hitting his target every single time. 

My little turkey hunter :)

Josh's brother Ian and his family came over around lunch time and I forced everyone to take family pictures before I would serve food. Hey, when you are part of a family who hates pictures desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Ian and his daughter Sophie

The Wilson men

Ian, Tasha, and Sophie

The Wilson Family

We ate a delicious Thanksgiving meal and then went to the park for the kids to burn off some energy. 

We spent the rest of our Thanksgiving day sitting around the fire pit talking and hanging out together. It was great to catch up with Ian, Tasha, and Sophie. The next morning we had to come back home but before we left I squeezed in a quick ten mile run at a local park. The St. Jude half-marathon was quickly approaching and I knew I needed to put in the run time. The park I went to was so beautiful. Even though it was very chilly in the beginning it quickly warmed up and ended up being a great day for a run. 

We said good-bye to Grandpa E and to Texas and headed back home. It was a great visit and I can't wait until we can see him again! 

Thanksgiving at Grandpa E's

Thanksgiving day was lots of fun for our family. It was the first time we had ever spent a holiday with Josh's dad at his house. Plus, we got to spend a lot of time with Josh's brother, Ian and his family. It was a day full of great food, laughs, and fun.

Eli's day was made when Grandpa E gave him his belated birthday present-a new bike. He was so excited to have a bigger bike in his favorite color. He spent the majority of his day riding around Grandpa E's neighborhood testing out his new ride.

Josh's dad ordered a turkey and ham from the Honey-Baked Ham store just down the street from him for Thanksgiving, so all Tasha (Ian's wife) and I had to do was make the side dishes. I made the Pioneer Woman's basic cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, pecan pie and sweet potato pie. I also had my dad send me his recipe for his famous sweet potato soufflé. Tasha made some appetizers, macaroni and cheese, and potatoes. We rounded out our meal with some lima beans, creamed corn, and purple hull peas from our garden this summer that I had frozen. It was such a wonderful meal and we all ate until we were stuffed. Ian, Tasha, and Ed (Josh's dad) all said how much they really enjoyed having fresh vegetables from our garden to eat. Since they live in the city, they don't get to garden like we do. Ian's already asked Josh if we can set him and Tasha up on a monthly delivery system of fresh veggies from our garden :) 

After our meal, we all went outside for the obligatory Thanksgiving Day pictures and then the kids played some more. Ian and Tasha's little girl, Sophie loved playing with Eli. It was such a fun Thanksgiving and I'm so glad we made the trip to spend it with Josh's family. Hopefully, we'll do this again soon!

ICE at the Gaylord Texan-2014

This year (and of course by "year" I mean 2014 because I'm as slow as a turtle stampeding though peanut butter when it comes to blogging) for Thanksgiving we all traveled to Texas to have Thanksgiving with Grandpa E and Josh's brother Ian and his family. Josh had to work Monday and part of Tuesday so we left late Tuesday afternoon. We were about an hour into our trip when we ran into a huge line of traffic that was backed up for about a mile because of a really bad wreck. We ended up waiting in the traffic for about an hour before deciding to take a detour (about an hour out of the way) to go around it. Needless to say, we got to Grandpa E's house VERY late Tuesday night, but I was thankful we were there and all in one piece. We slept in late the next morning and then made plans with Ian to meet them at the Gaylord Texan to go do the ICE exhibit. If you're ever in Grapevine, Texas around Thanksgiving-New Years, you need to go do ICE. It's such a fun experience for everyone! If you don't know what ICE is, here is a brief synopsis: Artisans from China come to the Gaylord Texan every year and spend hours upon hours carving 2 million pounds of ice into beautiful and amazing ice sculptures! They've done it now for about 7 years and this was our third year to attend. While the crowds were much worse during Thanksgiving than they are at New Years, it was still lots of fun. I hope we can go every year they offer it. 

Us with Grandpa E

Eli and Sophie

This year's theme was Frosty the Snowman.

Wearing the required parkas they give you because they keep the ICE exhibit at a chilly 7 degrees :)

Having so much fun!

The most crowded area inside the exhibit is always where the ice slides are. 

Kids, parents, grandparents, aunt, uncles, cousins, and random strangers are all gathered around watching the kids and adults sliding down the ice slides.

Grandpa E and Ian

Eli sliding down the ice slide.

Last year when Sarah and I took the kids to ICE during New Years we basically had the place to ourselves. This year we went during opening weekend. CRAZY, CRAZY, CRAZY! You can see in the picture below the line of people on the right waiting to slide. It's worth the wait, but because we started getting really cold Eli was only able to slide 3 times instead of as many as he wanted to like last year. 

The last exhibit is always the nativity where the gospel is proclaimed every single minute to thousands of believers and non-believers alike. They have a recording that reads the account of Christ's birth from the Bible and they use spotlights to show each sculpture during the reading of the story. I love how the people at the Gaylord Texans are committed to sharing the true meaning of Christmas with everyone. 

Another year of ICE is complete. I can't wait to see what next year's (or actually this year's) theme is going to be! I hope we'll be able to attend :)