Happy Thanksgiving!

Another Thanksgiving season has come and gone. I truly loved this fall and Thanksgiving! I am overwhelmed with how blessed we've been this year. There were a lot of answered prayers this year! I never thought we'd be able to live in Idaho again, let alone so close to family. We were so blessed with Brett's job moving us back close to home. The job itself is also such a huge blessing! Brett comes home so happy and stress-free everyday. He loves the job, the atmosphere, the coworkers and the many benefits! We were so blessed to sell our house so quickly. We are blessed with happy, healthy children that are adjusting beautifully to our new home. We are blessed to have the Gospel and our testimonies of it that continually encourgages us to be better people, parents, and spouses. We are blessed to see our family so often! My list could go on and on, but suffice it to say, we are very blessed and have much to give thanks to our Heavenly Father for. I'm even thankful for the trials that life brings and the lessons that accompany said trials. I'm grateful for opportunities to grow and learn and stretch. 

To emphasize our gratitude, we put up a Thankful Tree on November 1 and all four of us put something we were grateful for every day until Thanksgiving. Kayla named a lot of people that she loves. We basically chose things for Tyson that he loves. It was good for us to think of something new everyday that we're grateful for. Kayla and I also had some fun doing some Thanksgiving crafts. We made a Native American headband, a handprint turkey, and colored lots of pictures. We talked a lot about the pilgrims and Native Americans and what Thanksgiving is all about. It probably didn't stick too well, but I love that she's old enough to discuss such things. 

 

The night before Thanksgiving, we drove through a snow storm to get to Pocatello. I'm glad we went when we did before the snow got too bad but I'm also so happy there was so much snow when we woke up Thanksgiving morning! 

  

We took the kids sledding on ISU campus and they both had a blast! We tried to build a snowman but the snow wouldn't pack well. Kayla improvised a little and made herself the snowman. She even walked around singing, "thumpity thump thump!"

We had a great day hanging out with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jean! 

The meal was beautiful and delicious in true RaeJean fashion! I love being able to spend time in the kitchen learning from her. We also had a lot of fun doing Dubsmashes! 

 

Kayla loves playing at Grandma's house! She has a room full of awesome toys and Kayla can't get enough of it!

On Friday, we did a little shopping without the kids and even got to go dancing and have some dance training with Brett's Nielsen cousins. It was a lot of fun!! That night, we left the kids with Grandma Jean while Brett and I went to the Forgotten Carols with my dad, Sheryl, Haley, Jon and Sheryl's family. It was so good to see everyone! Also, there's no better way to ring in the Christmas season than with the Forgotten Carols performance. I love the music and the message! 

On Saturday morning, we drove to Soda to have a second Thanksgiving with my mom and Haley and Jon. The boys put up all the Christmas lights while we cooked dinner and got some stuff done inside the house. We also helped mom put up her Christmas tree and some of her Christmas decor. It was a great day and the kids had a lot of fun! I really love that we're able to spend time with our entire family for the holidays! I love having Brett off work for the entire holiday season as well! Life is good and we are truly blessed in so many ways!