THANKSGIVING

"When we think of Thanksgiving many of us crave turkey and gravy, consider football and family, and remember Pilgrims and Indians. While all of these things have become what Thanksgiving is, they do not represent the reason why we celebrate this day. The real reason was given by George Washington in 1789 when he make a proclamation to the Nation declaring a national day of thanks.
He said, "Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and—Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation" (George Washington, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation 1789).
Note the reason for the holiday is to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God in your life, and especially in his interposition on behalf of the formation of our nations. This day should be a day of acknowledging what blessings the Lord has given.

THANKSGIVING -We went over to Rigby to celebrate Thanksgiving this year.  The drive always takes forever.  Dallin had the right idea to sleep with his french fries snuggled close.  He already looks too big for his car seat.

We had a lot of fun the whole weekend.  We even talked each other in to some Black Friday shopping.  It was Ava's first time going and she was so excited about it.  She kept saying how awesome and fun it was.  We got down to the stores late and there wasn't that much inventory left and she still thought it was fun.

We stayed at my parent's house and had some family get-togethers over the weekend.  It is hard to believe this will be their last gathering at this house.  My dad had just shot a bear and had gotten the fur back and surprisingly Dallin was really interested in wearing it.  He wasn't scared of it at all.  He loved walking around with it on his back and trying to scare people.  My dad also had a special surprise for his two oldest grandsons - their very own bear skulls.  They both rode up to Swan Valley to get them at the taxidermist.  They were pretty excited.

We are getting to be quite the crew when we are all together now.  Ava looks like a giant next to all the littler kids.  She is a good sport and will play with them occasionally.  She really loves playing with the babies though.

One night we got into an arm wrestling competition.  It was fun seeing how strong the kids thought they all were.  I mean they all could beat me and I was even trying on some of them.

We also spent time out at Erickson's.  Grandma showed the kids how to make homemade ice cream.  They weren't interested in that at all.

This year was a smaller than normal Erickson showing to the party.  Everyone stopped by at some point, but there were only a few of us who ate together. Of course there were some immediate family pictures.  I told Jed I have no idea why you think I take a lot of pictures when his family takes more sibling and sibling/parent pictures than any family I've ever met.

The kids had fun playing and eating.  There was a new baby from someone.  To be completely honest, I cannot remember who's it is?!  It was a great-grand child of someone's.  It is super hard for me to remember who is pregnant and who isn't with the older nieces and nephews. Either way, we did enjoy holding a baby that day. Jana brought her bag of goodies and everyone was so excited.  This time she let the girls choose something and the boys got headbands and wristbands from the Utah Jazz.  Dallin was so excited  and rarely takes it off now.