Thanksgiving

Ryan and I have so much to be thankful for and one of those things was a great weekend with the family.

Wednesday- Wednesday night we drove to my Grandparents house in the Bay Area. It is half way between Santa Barbara and Reno. We stayed the night there to break up the trip and to say hi to my family.

Thursday- Ryan got up early and went for a Thanksgiving bike ride. He said it was the most fall he has had this year. Needless to say Santa Barbara is still very green and warm. It was foggy in the Bay Area and he saw all sorts of deer. After a wonderful breakfast with my parents, sister, and grandparents Ryan and I jumped on the road to head to Reno. We thought the traffic would be quiet but boy we were wrong. We finally made it to the Stodtmeister home and we were greeted by Ryan's whole family including Laura (our new soon to be sister-in-law). The only one were were missing was Kipp. (who we missed a lot.) We got there just in time to leave for Thanksgiving dinner. We went to Ryan's cousin's house for dinner and it was WONDERFUL. The food was awesome, the company was perfect, and the evening was relaxing. I love Thanksgiving food it is so delicious. After dinner we all came back to the house and played games.

Friday- My family always travels on Thanksgiving so this was the first time I have ever spent that Holiday in Reno. So this was the first time I ever got to experience the Stodtmeister shooting tradition. We drove to the middle of no where and practiced shooting guns. This was a big day for me because I had never shot a gun before in my life. They are scary and really loud but it was a fun time. I like the little guns because they don't kick as much and I was actually able to hit a target. We had a late lunch of left overs (yummy) and then we went to see the new James Bond movie. (I was glad it wasn't as violent as the last one.) We finished of the night with some new games and chatting.

Saturday- We had great blueberry pancakes (thanks Gay) and all got ready for the day. The day was filled with shopping and errand running. In the afternoon Grandma Stodtmeister had us come over and she graciously gave us a bunch of her Christmas decorations. (I am just tickled about them. They are beautiful and I love the fact that they have been handed down through the family. (I will post pictures soon.) Saturday night we had dinner to celebrate Alex's birthday and I finished sorting though Christmas decorations.

Sunday- We had one last breakfast together before everyone jumped on the road. We got on the road around noon and we didn't get home until 10:30pm. It was an extra 4 hours of traffic. We stopped in the middle to meet my parents as they were heading back to Reno. We had a hamburger and chatted for a little bit. (It is fun to live so close to family.)

Thanksgiving was wonderful but the weekend went by way to fast. Thank you Gay and Rod for a very fun time.