Thankful Thanksgiving

Chris and I traveled to Kearney, NE on Wednesday to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family.  This trip was long over due, as the last time we were visited Nebraska was last Christmas.
We arrived in time to have some dinner, and get reconnected.
On Thanksgiving morning Chris and I did our very first Turkey Trot.  I've always wanted to do one, and although it was freezing, I'm so glad we did it!  They offered a 2 mile option or a 5 mile option.  I wasn't comfortable doing the 5 miler, so we opted for the 2 miles, which I'm happy we did, because it was pretty cold and windy. 
We jogged a lot of the first mile, being at a lower elevation, and part of the first half was downhill made it easy.  The second mile however, was much more difficult.  We were walking into the cold wind, and it was all pretty much uphill.  Not fun.  But we did it, and it was a great memory for the both of us.

 We enjoyed a huge Thanksgiving spread courtesy of Mary (my mother in law) and Aunt Mary (Chris' aunt, and his Dad's sister).  Aunt Mary came to celebrate with the family from Kansas City.  We enjoyed all the Thanksgiving fixings, and shared our blessings.  My main blessing of course, is being pregnant, and carrying a happy and healthy baby!
Throughout the trip there was a lot of visiting and conversing.  This is a big difference in Chris' family that I love.  At Chris' house people gather in the living room and just talk.  It's so nice, compared to at my parents house where my dad is always in the living room watching TV, my mom in her room watching TV, and usually with me in my old room watching TV.  At my in laws house the only TV is down in the basement, and during our trip there was only about 30 minutes of TV watching.  I'll admit that Chris and I are big TV watchers, we probably watch too much TV.  But it's the exact opposite at his parents house.  Although it can be overwhelming at times, just sitting and talking is truly a wonderful family experience and memory. 
We did some shopping, and Marty (my father in law) took us on a tour of Kearney.  I believe he said Kearney is currently about a population of 30,000, but it's growing in every direction.  So we went to all corners of the little city, to see the expansions being made with both commercial and residential growth.
We played many games with Aunt Mary and Alice (my sister in law) on a couple of days.  And just had a great time.  Lifelong memories were definitely made.
Overall it was so relaxing.  We hung out with a couple of Chris' friends, and lost track of the time and day.  A vacation is truly a vacation when you don't have to keep track of time.
One morning we went on a family walk with the family dogs: Grace and Hope.  It was so beautiful.

Overall a great trip.  To have so much family and relaxing time made it a perfect Thanksgiving holiday.  As we drove away Sunday morning I started crying as I realized the next time we see them we'll have a baby, and they'll be grandparents.  It's so overwhelming to think about, that when I do, I can't help but get emotional. 

I'm beyond thankful for Chris' family.  I've been truly blessed to have some pretty awesome in laws.  Marty, Mary, and Alice are all so excited for this little baby, and I'm so excited to be apart of this exuberant family!