Thanksgiving 2013

Hey, everyone!  I hope your Thanksgiving was GREAT!  Joe and I got home yesterday after spending the holiday with his family.  We've been busy since then getting the house all decorated for Christmas.

Let's take a look at how we spent Thanksgiving.

Wednesday
Before heading to Gainesville, I got in a run.  I felt really good during this run and was excited to get the exercise before eating so much on Thursday!

We got to Gainesville, then went straight to Dragonfly for some sushi and our friend Jazzy's birthday dinner!

If you are looking for a great restaurant to eat at in Gainesville, FL, Dragonfly is one you should try!  The food is great, the atmosphere is sophisticated and fun, and the staff is fantastic.  We had a great time catching up with some of Joe's friends from high school.

The celebration continued at a nearby bar.  They had karaoke there, and I LOVE singing karaoke.  I usually go sing a song or two, but this time Joe asked if I wanted to sing "Love Shack" with him!  He NEVER does karaoke, so I jumped at the chance!  Here's a little clip:

Thursday
I got an early start on Thursday because I needed to get some cooking done!

I made pineapple casserole and cornbread casserole (double recipe) to bring to Joe's grandparents' house.  They were both ready right when it was time to leave, so I wasn't able to get in the run I had planned.

We headed to Joe's grandparents' house (which is also a horse farm) and spent some time helping prepare for lunch and catching up.

Cousin Caitlyn, SIL Katherine, me, and cousin Grace

The meal was great, the conversation was entertaining, and I enjoyed my first Thanksgiving with Joe's family!

After lunch, we took a walk out to the barn to see the horses.  There are still 3 horses there (they used to have a lot more), so we fed them peppermints, some people rode them, and took pictures, of course!

Can you tell horses make me nervous?

All the ladies at Thanksgiving

My phone was dead at this point, so I'm using the pictures from my sister-in-law, Katherine's, phone.  After our little walk/playtime with the horses, we had some dessert then headed back to Katherine's house for a movie.  We watched The Heat, which is incredibly funny!  You need to see it if you haven't!

Friday
We got a slow start to our Friday, but I got a lot done thanks to some online Black Friday deals!  Thankfully, Joe and I are almost done with our Christmas shopping!

Once we got some lunch, Joe, Katherine, and I went for a hike at the Alachua Sink La Chua Trail.  The trail is 3 miles long and goes through a prairie around the sink.  It was a beautiful day with great scenery!

I got quite freaked out when we saw huge alligators that were right beside the trail!

We had a great time on our hike, and it was very nice to get some exercise after all the food.

For dinner, we had a Friendsgiving party with one of Joe's friends from high school.  His fiance cooked up some Thanksgiving favorites, and we ate well while catching up.  Afterward, we had a low-key evening just talking and watching some basketball games with Joe's mom and friends.

Saturday
We had another slow start to the day, then packed up our things and went on our way.  We stopped by the Tangled Oaks Winery on the way home and picked up our favorite wines from our visit in May.

The rest of the day was spent watching football (both our teams won!  Yay!) and babysitting the same 3 kids we watched back in April.  What a fun and well-behaved bunch!

There you have it!  Thanksgiving weekend in a nutshell.  We've been busy today getting things ready to get back to the grind.  Only 3 more weeks of schools before time for Christmas!

Question for you:  What was the highlight of your holiday week/end?
I think the highlight for me was spending time with the in-laws and sharing in their traditions.  I missed being with my family, but I really enjoyed seeing his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.