Life Within the Cuckoo's Nest: Thanksgiving 2014!

Our little trio, soon to be 4!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving that was full of love, life, and laughter! We had originally planned on spending the holiday in St. George at my Grandma Wiegel's house but she had some drama going on and it ended up being easier for us to host it again at our house instead. At first I wasn't very happy about the situation because I was really looking forward to getting away, messing up someone else's house, and going rock climbing around Zion's National Park. But everyone chipped in A LOT and we had a really great time!

The food was seriously to die for! Maybe it was just the pregnancy making it taste so good, but I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! Or maybe it tasted so wonderful because we fed Austin first and then sent him up to bed for his nap, allowing me to actually enjoy a meal for once! He didn't sleep long, if at all but it was long enough for me to enjoy my meal in peace before round two began. The company was a lot of fun too! Austin, as always, was the center of attention and was acting so silly! After dinner he started playing a game with all of his Grandmas where they would roll a plastic cup across the table and he would try to hit it. I don't know why but that game made him laugh so hard! Which in turn made the rest of us laugh uncontrollably.... there's nothing as contagious as baby laughter!

After cleaning up dinner, we all sat around for a while trying to digest the massive meal we had just eaten. That was when Grandma and Briana started giving Austin piggy back rides! He took it so seriously, it was so cute! It was like he knew the consequence of falling off the horse and there was no way he was going to let that happen!

As the evening progressed, we packed up the pies, said goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa Porter, and headed off to Aunt Heidi's house for party #2! Nathan and Josh decided to stay home and have guy time. Neither of them are fond of big crowds and when you get with my extended family, it's one gigantic, loud party! I loved every minute of it! That's where Josh and I are very different. At our second party, we ate pie and talked/laughed until we wanted to throw up. At least I did anyway! Austin had fun with Heidi's dog and exploring the new surroundings, but towards bedtime he started asking to go home. He kept pointing at the door and saying, "Go!" I was sad to pack up and leave because I have craved the happy social interaction of my family so much, but I also didn't want to deal with the impending tantrum. So we said goodbye to everyone and headed home to Daddy.

At home we finished watching the 49'ers game with Josh and ate some more food. I don't know where we put it all, but yes, we ate more! Briana then headed off to go Black Friday shopping with her friends, and my Mom slept over at our house. I was happy she did because I had fun with her the next morning doing some online shopping of our own together for Christmas!

This Thanksgiving was its usual fun charade, but it had deeper meaning to all of us due to a tragic death in the family..... An extended cousin's 17 year old son committed suicide just days previous and the sadness of it hung heavy over us all. Yes, I come from a family so close knit that I actually know and have memories with my second and third cousins! This tragedy brought on a solemn and almost reverent feeling of love for me towards all of my loved ones. It reminded me that life is short and even more precious than we realize. I couldn't help but tear up when I thought about losing anyone at that Thanksgiving table, or even those who weren't able to make it! Basically, what I am saying is I couldn't be more grateful for family. They are the cornerstone in who you are, the support system you turn to when your world is falling down around you, and the people you want to share your happiness and success with.