The thing I'm thankful for right now, is elastic waistbands.

Ahhhh...that time of year again. The time when we get together with family and eat until we can't move, then we watch football, then we eat again. This my friends is Man's favorite Holiday. Thanksgiving. As Kevin James once said..."Thanksgiving, man. NOT a good day to be my pants." Hahahaha!
I must say though, I love this time of year as much as the average sports watching turkey glutton for so many reasons. It seems like as soon as Thanksgiving hits, Christmas just fills the entity with the spirit of Christmas. The air is crisp, and it's freezing, but I just don't mind it so much because there's something snug and comforting about hot cocoa and Christmas music in the background, while researching this years hottest Christmas toys online.
I'm getting ahead of myself though. I need to update what we've been up to.

First,

We had our 3rd Annual Itri Pre-Thanksgiving Pasta Pigout.
We started the tradition 3 years ago when the Itri boys who were all spending thanksgiving with in-laws wanted to have their own day this time of year when they could all see each other and enjoy the art of inhaling a nourishing cuisine. It turned out to be pasta themed since, as Italians, it's what they do best. Everybody brings a pasta dish they know how to make and we all enjoy it as a whole.

This year there was made from scratch Lasagna...courtesy of Scott and I.


Dan and Kelsey made an impressive meatball sauce that went with their angel hair pasta:


Todd made a chicken giblet pasta, that entailed heart, and liver mixed into the pasta. Some weren't brave enough to try it, but I thought it was tasty.


Aunt Jill, J. dee and Jason, and Jen brought the desserts, plastic-ware, and salad.


After eating and hanging out for a while, we played the game "What If" which when you play with Itri's, can fun and daring all at the same time...then we watched the movie "Inception" since several people in the group hadn't seen it yet.

After dinner discussions:




Dani and Linkin....SOOO cute!!






Anyway, good times were had by all.

Note: This pasta feast happened the night before Thanksgiving...so yeah. We've been eating a lot this week.

ON TO THANKSGIVING!!

When we're in Utah, we usually spend Thanksgiving with my parents, BUT they went to Vegas this year to my brother Mike and his wife Jenna. Although we were invited, we had just driven to Disneyland and were sick of driving with the kids, plus we spent over 400 bucks on our car getting new tires for the snow and such, SO we passed.
In a way, this was really exciting because even though we've been married almost 6 years, it was our FIRST Thanksgiving without in-laws on either side of the family. Check us out, we're grownups!! Look ma, we did it all by ourselves!!



This is the day I realized that we don't own any super fancy dishes, and we have yet to buy them. For some reason, it never occurred to us to buy the fancy stuff because we always ate the fancy dinners at one of our parents houses. Still, for what we had, it wasn't bad. At least the food was good. Next year baby.


Every Thanksgiving, Scott, me and the kids put up the Christmas tree. This is the kids favorite part. If you ask Crystal, Thanksgiving is more about putting up the tree than the Turkey.









Later on in the evening we decided to join the Itri boys at their Aunt Jill's house to hang out


Even though it was fun to hang out at Jills, we were all a little worried and sad because Jon and Dani's little boy was sick and had to go to the hospital. We were really thankful though that little Linkin seemed to be doing well while in the Hospital though, and that he was able to be treated in time. He's been in our prayers for the last two days, though we heard he's doing good now and is back home.

Okay, so this is the mushy part where I talk about what I'm thankful for, so please skip this part if you wish because I understand if it's boring.
I'm most thankful for the people in my life who love me. My family and friends who truly know me and love me in spite of my weaknesses.
I'm thankful for a husband who loves me in spite of myself. He makes me feel pretty when my hair is messy and I'm in sweats, and wearing glasses and no makeup. He makes me feel like I'm the only girl in the world, and every other girl is just in the background...even when we're not getting along. I know that if I were to cut my hair, dye it purple, and gain 150 pounds and stop shaving my legs, he would still adore me because he loves me for who I am...and a guy like that is nearly impossible to find. Scott and I are opposite in a lot of things...but we're best friends. We have the same goals in life, we have the same love for comedy and fine foods, we love our children like crazy, and we love each other. He takes good care of me, and I feel safe when I'm with him.
I'm thankful for the two most adorable, most hilarious children in the universe. I love my kids so much that it could be considered borderline madness. Even though I'm exhausted at the end of some days, I miss them when they're not around me, even if it's just a few hours. I constantly catch myself staring at them while they're cuddling under blankets on the couch in front of the TV, or talking to their toys, or pretending they're Princesses and superhero's because I can't believe how amazing they are. I can't believe they're mine, and that those two, perfect little beings actually love me, and they love me with all their hearts. There's nothing like feeling little arms around your neck, or slobbery little lips kissing your cheek, or hearing the most wonderful sound/sentence in the world, "I love you mommy."
I'm thankful for my true friends who I've laughed and cried with over the years, who've been there with me during my ups and downs and stood by me through thick and thin. I'm not talking about the friends from the mothers tales who jump off a cliff and you follow...I'm talking about the friends who if, out of your own stupidity you jump off a cliff into the river...they get in a canoe and start rowing your way so they can save your dumb butt. THOSE are friends, and I'm thankful for their dumb butts as much as they're thankful to have mine. There's a quote that says "I believe that friends are quiet angels who sit on our shoulders and lift our wings when we forget how to fly." That's how I feel about my true friends.

Yes, I'm thankful for my material blessings, a good home, my husbands job, my job, etc...but mostly I'm thankful for the people I love, who love me back...all the other material stuff means nothing without people who love you.

Hope you all had an awesome Thanksgiving.