Thanksgiving

We were blessed with a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and were able to see more family in this one week than the new release "4 Christmases". We were able to see (in order of appearance) my dad and Brenda (Papa and BB) in Dallas, Sarah's parents (Papa and Granny) in Junction, her mother's father (Papa) and her cousin Dustin also in Junction, her sister Tammi's family (Nate, Ann, and Daniel) in Austin, my brother's family, my sisters family, and my mother (Granny) all in Temple. After seeing three Papa's in a few days, Jude now refers to all old men as Papa. Thanks to some car trouble in Fredericksburg, I got to eat Altdorf's authentic German cuisine twice, and got a bonus trip to San Antonio to pick up a car part. I am extremely grateful to Tammi for giving us a ride from F-burg to Austin, and my brother for giving us a ride from Austin to Temple, and then taking me from Temple to F-burg, then to San Antonio, then back to F-burg, then back to Temple. Without their sacrifices, we would have been stranded.

Jude is sporting Gary's Navy hat
(also pictured is Jackson Smith's better half)

On the Road to Texas. We left Sunday night after church and drove to Texarkana. We would have gone further but Jude was too excited to sleep. He kept saying, "Papa...Granny". Even after finding a hotel around 1am he didn't go to sleep until about 3am. All the while talking about who he wanted to see.

We met Papa #1 and BB in Dallas for an early lunch at Quiznos.

Granny Evans jumping on the trampoline, which she's not allowed to do by herself...so we sent Jude with her

Jude and I throwing rocks into the river at Granny and Papa Evans'. It is becoming more apparent that Jude is taking after me. In eye color, facial expressions, and most obviously, his love for throwing rocks into water. He sat there and threw rock after rock for over an hour. Then as we walked back to the house, he had to stop and throw every rock he came to.

Jude is also much like his mother and Granny Evans in how he loves to Snuggle.

Esther is helping with the cooking. She had just finished taking out a pot of hot grease, and is now trying to help with the baking.

Cousins

Kitchen Staff

Sliding at the playground at Emma's school

Here's our pick for Thanksgiving's most handsome boy award (Jude won Halloween's most handsome and so is disqualified for this holiday).

The ride home was a little more difficult because Jude knew he was leaving his cousins. So we had to resort to headphones and chocolate.