You know I love it

You know how I feel about Thanksgiving.

Read about it here, here, here or here.

In fact if you have read those blog posts this post will feel similar since we take our Thanksgiving traditions pretty seriously. So if you are feeling a little deja vu while reading this post, don't be alarmed, our Thanksgiving looks pretty much the same year to year,

and I LOVE IT.

This Thanksgiving brought a few mixed emotions for us this year. We've been working on some projects in our house and we weren't sure if we were up to hosting PIE NIGHT amidstthe craziness. But knowing this would be our last year hosting with my high school friends we couldn't NOT host. I'm so glad we did. I love being with this group of friends. I feel like I can completely be myself with these girls. We've got a lot of history together and I love seeing how we have all moved across the country, grown up, had kids, gone onto careers but can still connect and laugh the night away.

Husbands did come but we wanted a picture with just the girls. LOVE THEM.

Thanksgiving morning brought a beautiful sunrise and a quiet moment of reflecting on what I'm grateful for. I won't go into details but it was a much needed, humble moment. Perfect way to start of the actual day of Thanksgiving.

Just a simple reminder that I have a lot to be grateful for.

As you know the annual Turkey Trot is one of my favorite traditions of the holiday. This year I convinced more of my friends to run the Sports-am Cold Turkey run and we had an absolute blast! I'm lucky to have so many active friends. I knew I would have no problem getting these ladies to come join in the fun. All of them had a great race. There's nothing like seeing a dear friend cross the finish line...

for the first time,

finish strong while being pregnant with twins,

get a PR,

finish third in their age group,

or run again after having serious knee problems.

All of these girls had their own success with the race, and I was humbled to be part of it.

Such hot mommas!

I'll miss running this race next year with my girls.

Hopefully I'll have some new recruits in Cincinnati. (Lauren B, hint! hint!)

And really what would Thanksgiving weekend be without a little football. Front row seats, 3 hours with my hubby, hot chocolate and a hot dog? I'll take it.

Best way to watch football if you ask me.

This year I told Mike I'm not missing out on gingerbread houses at my grandmas. This was something I always looked forward to doing as a kid. And since we've moved back from Chicago I've had to miss it or leave super early due to other commitments. Not this year. We were going to go and make our gingerbread houses this it will be awhile before we get to do it again! I told Mike I would be in charge of entertaining Charlotte, she could help with my house, so Mike would have the opportunity to decorate his own gingerbread house. (He's never done it at my grandmas and I couldn't have him miss out) That Mike Walker made a pretty impressive house if I do say so myself! In fact all my cousins and aunts were astonished at his fine work, they didn't know he had an artistic side. Just another reason to love that boy, as if I need another one.

We had a fine Thanksgiving meal at my parents house, went bowling with the Walker clan, ate pizza with the Walkers and did lots of napping but of course didn't take any pictures of those events. I really do need to be better at taking pictures. I guess I was either too busy enjoying myself or too full and lazy to take more pictures which now I am regretting. Regardless this was a Thanksgiving to remember being surrounded my family and close friends.

Cincy, City of Cin, Cincin-nasty, home sweet home....

Mike and I went to Cincinnati over the weekend, (yep, ALONE! No Charlotte, just Mike and I)

and truth be told, I'm already in love with the city.

I'm not kidding, I was giddy over the weekend thinking about moving to this beautiful place.

Who knew Ohio was so pretty? I didn't.

Oh and it was pretty much perfect weather all weekend, another reason to love this place.

Mid 60's and sunny? Yes, I'll take it!

Cincinnati is filled with old, charming suburbs each with their unique "down towns". Too bad the really cute, charming areas will be a little too pricey on our fellowship budget. :) We'll just have to visit and window shop the darling boutiques and shops on the weekends.

One of the best parts moving to Cincinnati is my friend Lauren who lives in Chicago will only be a 5 hour drive away. But wait it gets better, a lot of her family lives in Cincinnati, which means she has all the more reason to come visit! Chicago is so close, she even came down to spend part of the weekend with us.

Love this girl. She showed us the ins and outs of the city. Mike and I feel so much better acquainted with the city because of her help! Plus she took us to her uncles specialty running store in the heart of the city. Nice to already know of a good specialty running store!

We also went to the famous Graeter's Ice Cream. Didn't know it was famous? Ok, I didn't either but apparently this is a very popular ice cream chain that has been featured on the food network and Oprah herself is a fan of it.

The ice cream was very good. Much creamier and softer than any kind of ice cream you can buy at the store. Lauren introduced us to Buckeye ice cream. A buckeye is a tasty chocolate treat that supposed to resemble the nut of a buckeye treat, another fun fact we learned over the weekend. And between the three of us we devoured all that ice cream.

Downtown at night. Quite the pretty sight if I do say so myself.

Over the weekend we visited a couple of the hospitals where Mike will be working. So exciting to see his new work place.

We also visited the University of Cincinnati campus. Although Mike will not be attending the University, (he's been done with any kind of school for 3.5 years!) we still enjoyed walking around campus and checking out the sights. While walking around we both commented on how old we felt. It's been awhile since either of us went to a university class. Not to mention we are both a good ten years older than a lot of the students we saw walking around.

Funny fact, the stadium goes down into the ground and was completely open. We could have walked right onto the field and ran around had we wanted to. Those Ohioians (not sure what you call people from Ohio, so Ohioians it is!) are trusty people. I like it.

Cincinnati is set on the Ohio river which divides Ohio from the state of Kentucky. There are nine bridges across the Ohio river connecting Ohio and Kentucky. One of the bridges is for pedestrians only, called the Purple People Bridge. Nice name huh?

It was a lovely little walk across the bridge.

One of the things I'm most excited about Cincinnati is all the hills. You know how I LOVE my mountains in Utah, it's one of the things I will miss the most when we move, so I was happy to see Cincinnati is not completely flat. There are rolling hills ALL OVER. And SO MANY trees. Seriously I was in awe over how pretty it is there.

Check out that hill, one of the many near downtown Cincinnati.

Downtown Cincinnati feels a lot like Salt Lake's downtown. Not too big and overwhelming but not much going on either. :) However there are three professional sport's teams we are excited to cheer on while we live there.

The weekend was really good for Mike and I. First because it was just US. Yes we love and adore our child, but every couple needs alone time and alone time we got! It was also so good for us to check out the city. We spent a lot of time driving ALL OVER the city looking for potential suburbs to live in. We now know where we would like to live once we move there, which will make finding a home slightly easier. We also met a bunch of other residents while visiting over the weekend which was super helpful.

I did feel overwhelmed at times, thinking of all the new changes coming our way, but I feel so much better prepared moving there than I did Chicago. As hard as this move is going to be, things are falling into place for us and neither of us can help but feel like this move really is meant to be.

Our little bug

Since we call Charlotte "bug" so often,

we decided a lady bug would be the perfect costume for Halloween this year.

Halloween was a blast this year. We had the perfect weather for trick and treating, low 60's and sunny skies. Charlotte loved going door to door, asking for a treat and putting it in her bag.

Practicing getting candy out of a bowl and putting it in her bag at Grandma and Grandpa Walker's house.

Hanging out with the cousins. Best shot we got.

She's either smiling but not looking at the camera, or looking at the camera with a blank stare.

We sure love our little bug.

Don't worry Mike and I have already eaten nearly all of her candy.

PS did you see this funny video?

Yes, we are those parents. :)

Stylin

According to Charlotte,

this is the ONLY way to wear your headband.

I don't know whether I like her nose and eyes showing through the holes perfectly or her frown smile better.

What can I say? She is such a trendsetter.