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.