Thanksgiving!

Whoops. This took way too long.
There were too many pictures to sort through!
We took the trek up to Idaho for Thanksgiving again this year! It would be just us joining the Idaho Merkleys (Mom, Dad, Shawn, Jaden, and Heather), and it was a blast! The most relaxing and laid back Thanksgiving I've ever had.

We surprised everyone by getting there early on Wednesday instead of late, late Wednesday night like we said. We showed up at Dad and Shawn's work and it was really funny to see their stunned faces. We spent Wednesday hanging out and getting some cooking done.

There was a lot of basketball playing.
  This picture represents the weekend pretty well. LOVED IT.

Thursday Nathan and I woke up early to get our rolls and side dishes ready. Shawn's friend, Megan, joined us as well as one of Heather's care-takers, Becky. We had so much delicious food! I wish I had 3 extra stomachs, because I just wanted to keep eating forever.

I, of course, spent lots of time with the Merkley animals. Their two cats, Bobrze and Link, and their two dogs, Molly and Zoe. Link is the chillest cat in the world. He will just sit on your lap for hours. Molly is not chill. She is the most hyper dog in the world. But I love her.

Heather came out to join us after dinner and she was in a hilarious mood! One thing I love about her is that she loves to make jokes. You ask her how old she is and she says, "Seven!" and laughs hysterically. You ask her what Nathan's name is and she yells, "Nephi!" and cracks up some more. I just love being around her. She has so much energy and joy. She was upset that Zoe was chewing on the ham bone though. She kept saying, "Not for dogs! Might choke! Gimme that!"

 How handsome is this guy? He's gonna be a lady-killer

After some relaxing and digesting, we took a beautiful sunset walk through the fields behind the Merkley's property. It was gorgeous. And it made me feel better about consuming 40,000 calories at dinner. We set up the Christmas tree when we got home.
This is the Merkley's backyard. Pretty sweet.

 My brudders! I love my buddies.

My love!

We came home for pie and cake and then watched Monsters University. I hadn't seen it yet, and now I am obsessed. Shawn and Nathan kept me up way too late like always. But that's okay because the next day was the laziest day ever! Nathan and I rolled out of bed after 11 and we all did a little online Black Friday shopping. Then Shawn, Jaden, Nathan, and I headed to Burger King. Keepin' it classy. But I laid around in my pajamas all day until after dinner when we decided to go out in public. We saw Frozen. Suuuuuuper cute.

On Saturday, Nathan, Shawn, and Dad did some maintenance on our car. I love free labor. We went out to the most delicious Pizza for a dinner/lunch. I'm not kidding. This pizza was the bomb. We worked a little on the garden at home, and Shawn gave rides around the yard on the lawn mower. That night we had a game night. Apples to Apples which Shawn won, and Cranium which Nathan and I won, all thanks to my backwards-spelling skills and Shawn's inability to guess the scenes that Jaden was acting out. I should post the video of Jaden acting out "water bed," because it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Shawn, Nathan, and I got drinks and candy from the gas station and had a Parks and Rec marathon that night.

Can you guess what we're acting out? Me either.

Jaden and his bowl of water.

They played some beautiful pots and pans music.

 Zoe came to the gas station with us for treats. She was so scared.

Sunday we went to church and came home to celebrate Heather's 30th birthday! Her apartment is attached to the house and her caretakers went home so we could have her all to ourselves for the day. We went in and opened presents first and she was so excited! We got her a Monsters Inc. ball and playdough. She kept kissing the ball, it was so cute. Then Dad brought in her Christmas tree and her face light up! We all helped decorate it before cake and singing. She kept going around to everyone and saying, "Happy Birthday, Kaitlin! Happy Birthday Dad!" She was so excited. I just love her. And she was especially loving me that day and kept asking for me to color with her or sit with her. I didn't mind, Heather has always been my favorite Merkley :)

 Such a Heather face.

 It blows my mind how much they look alike, when Jaden is adopted. He really is a Merkley :)

 Shawn decided exercise-bike-riding was better than decorating the tree

 Bouncing the ball we got her.

 Heather's not a big fan of taking pictures.

 But she looooooves Zoe!

 This picture makes me laugh so hard! It may look like she was being force-fed, but believe me, she loved every bite.

We headed home after the party and saw a beautiful sunset and a field on fire. All in all, it was a wonderful break! I love my Merkley family. Especially this guy.