Thanksgiving 2019

This past weekend was a long weekend in every way.

The weekend felt more like a couple of weeks off from work.  I didn't realize how much my battery needed to be recharged until mid-recharge.

The long weekend left me feeling rested and ready to return to the real world.

Though it would have been nice if the alarm had gone off a little later than it did.

The weekend was long in that we dealt with a dog surgery for Lincoln.  I picked him up from camp on Friday and he was only home a couple of hours before he went to the vet.  He ended up staying in the emergency clinic and didn't come home until today.

We've missed him.

Tampons for Thanksgiving might not have been his best little doggy idea.

Stick to turkey!  It goes through a little easier.

Over the long weekend Andrew and I were able to have several different conversations.

We talked about our accomplishments this year , our goals for the upcoming year, what we were thankful for this year, and a host of other things.

A huge accomplishment for us this past year was paying off all debt.

For the first time in our married lives we are debt free.

We are so very thankful for God's provision.

Being debt free is huge, but it is not what I'm most thankful for this year.

As I thought about the past year and the different things God has done for Andrew and me, I couldn't help but think back to this time last year.

I wasn't pregnant AGAIN despite my desire for a Thanksgiving announcement.

I wasn't loving my job.

I was completely indulging in some serious self pity.

I couldn't muster an ounce of gratitude.

When it was my turn to share what I was thankful for at Weaver Thanksgiving, I passed.

I couldn't do it.

I felt like anything I said was going to be fake.

My heart was hard.

I wasn't thankful for anything.

This year....

Still not pregnant.

But my heart is able to find much gratitude.

God has opened my eyes to all He has done for me.

I can see Him working in the waiting.

I can see him using my wait and the loss of Jayden to encourage other women.

This year my heart is filled with thanksgiving.

And I'm thankful for that.

So this year...

I'm thankful to be thankful.

Sunny Southern California

After spending two very cold days in South Bend & Chicago, we woke up Monday morning in warm & sunny LA.   We changed out the winter gear for our short sleeves and shorts.

Always working...

The drive from Los Angeles to Palm Springs was incredible.

Our resort...PEACEFUL PERFECTION

Happy to be some place warm

After we got checked into our room it was lunch time.  

From the moment we decided we were going to California, Andrew has known one thing...he must feed me an In-N-Out Burger.  I had it once before and could not forget how GOOD it is.  He decided to "get it over with" on our first day in Palm Springs.

I could not have been happier with our lunch.

After lunch we got some not so great mani/pedis and then hung around the hotel.

Andrew drug me out to the putting and chipping green for a little practice.

We ended the day sitting on our balcony enjoying the gorgeous sunset.

We also did a little exploring in downtown Palm Springs.  We found some yummy food and some great purchases.

Tuesday brought a day at the pool for me and a day on the golf course for Andrew.

Wednesday was our touristy day.  We started the morning with a 2 hour horseback ride.  This was a lot of fun, but let me tell you if you are not used to riding a horse then 1 hour would be plenty of time on horseback.

  I rode Spanky, a sweet horse, who was hungry and suffered from FOMO.  He would stop to eat along the way and then get scared he was going to get left behind and take off trotting to catch up.  I was a little scared, but I tried to play it  cool.  Andrew rode Patrick.  Patrick was also a very hungry horse, but he didn't seem to care at all if he was left behind. 

We were a dusty sweaty mess at the end of this adventure so we took a quick shower back at the hotel before continuing our touristy day.

Next on our list was the Air Museum.

We were a little excited about riding the Aerial Tramway, but that ride up was more than a little scary to this girl.

I was freezing at the top.  The temperature drop was insane.

Thursday we spent the majority of the day laying out by the pool.  It was a little strange to be laying out in 90 degree weather on Thanksgiving.  Weird, but great!!  We had lunch delivered to us and enjoyed a completely non traditional lunch poolside.

 Andrew took a picture of me taking a selfie to send to my family.

We had planned to have a traditional meal at the hotel Thursday evening.  As we walked downstairs to the restaurant we talked about what we were thankful for this year.  We both said we were thankful to be living closer to Andrew's office.  It's nice to have him home in the evening again.  Andrew was also thankful that I'm loving my new job and coteacher and I mentioned our new fertility clinic.

We sat in the restaurant for over an hour without ever being served.  We finally left and started calling around looking for a place that would have room for us.  We found a table at this outdoor totally Californian bistro.  We had a traditional meal of turkey and dressing, but the environment definitely made it feel nontraditional.

Friday morning we woke up and got fancy for a photo shoot.  I'll share more about that later.  I think this post has plenty of pictures already.

Then it was time to start heading home.

We took one last picture on the balcony before saying goodbye to sunny southern California.

We took our time driving to the airport along the coast.  We even stopped to stick our toes in the very cold Pacific Ocean.

I managed to sweet talk Andrew into another In-N-Out lunch before getting to the airport.

We flew to Dallas and spent the night at the airport before flying the rest of the way home on Saturday morning.

It was an amazing week away with my man.  When I told him he should write this blog post he summed our trip up perfectly.

Warm.  Sunny.  Peaceful.  Perfect.


Palm Springs, we will be back!