Thanksgiving 2018

Well, the holidays have officially kicked off and I'm absolutely in heaven. This is definitely one of my favorite times of the year!

We had a lot of fun over Thanksgiving weekend! This time is so special to me, especially when shared with family and friends!

Jason had to work on Thanksgiving day, but Brayden and I were able to celebrate it with his side of the family. We had a huge luncheon with a ton of family! The food was delicious, too.

On Friday, my usual crew of friends (plus one this year) went Black Friday shopping. We started our morning around 5 a.m. and had a blast checking out the fairly empty stores. Although there were a lot of good deals out this year, none of us really "needed" much, so we didn't purchase as much as we have in years past. We still had a ball, and we've already started brainstorming new shirt ideas for next year!

After a full day of shopping, we celebrated Thanksgiving with my family that evening. Talk about worn out...but we still had a fun time together! 

For our annual Friendsgiving, we started off with part one at a local crafting shop called "Junkin Gypsies". I've been here once before, and that's where my door hanger came from. This time around, the owner offered a 2 hour workshop at different times throughout the day where people could create a choice of five items. Shown here are our works of art and three of the five options that were available that day. This really was a ton of fun! I can't wait to go back to make another!

Last but not least, our friends got together yet again for our Friendsgiving part 2 celebration! At the last minute, we decided to move the shindig to my house so we could watch the LSU game and relax. Although LSU lost, we still had a great time! And yes, those are matching sweaters, because nothing says friends forever like matching sweaters! Amiright?

Also, I decided to do my weekend version of vlogidays once again! I had so much fun doing this the past two years and I've loved being able to look back on our family and how much Brayden has grown and changed over the years.

Here, you'll find weekend number 1 for 2018!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Did you do anything exciting this past weekend?

Vlogidays Weekend Edition #2

This past weekend was filled with so much fun that was jammed into just a few short days! We had a blast sharing a "Friendsgiving" event with our friends, having Thanksgiving with our families, going Black Friday shopping, and ending the weekend with a visit to Magical Winter Lights, a light display right outside of Houston Texas!

Join us for my own little weekend version of vlogidays where we share all of our fun and special times with you!

 I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! 

If you missed out on previous vlogiday posts, check them out below! :)

• 2017 Vlogidays Weekend #1 - It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Thanksgiving Weekend and Black Friday!

This holiday season, I'm trying a little something different!

Once a week for the remainder of 2016, I'm going to post vlogs to YouTube (and here) of our holiday weekend adventures! It's sort of my little take on "Vlogidays"/"Vlogmas"....weekends only! I'm also looking forward to sharing Brayden's first holidays with you!

It all began this past week with Thanksgiving and will continue throughout the upcoming weekends....you'll see a few races, out of town travels, Christmas events, parties, etc...

This past weekend was filled with a lot of fun times spent with family and friends - Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, and a Gilmore Girls reunion party!

Check out our fun-filled weekend below! :)

I hope you and your family had a blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

How did you spend your holiday?

Thanksgiving Weekend and Black Friday Shopping Part 1

This past weekend has flown by and it's hard to believe my 4 1/2 day work break has come to an end. Our Thanksgiving this year was filled with lots of fun and a birthday for Jason which made it even better!

On Wednesday afternoon, I began my annual baking tradition. This year, my list included pumpkin pie cinnamon rolls, pumpkin muffins, chocolate caramel dessert, and corn for Thanksgiving dinner. Since the rolls are from scratch, I put them together the night before Thanksgiving, then pop then in the oven that next morning. If you're interested in the recipe, you can find it here!

After finishing up with the cinnamon rolls, I decided to call it a night. While browsing facebook, I came across the facebook page of our local newspaper...who stated they were in a local grocery store parking lot, selling Thanksgiving papers out of a uhaul! Say what?!

I mentioned it to Jason and his response was, "Let's go!"...I didn't argue. 

Sure enough, not five minutes down the road from our house - there they were! I am so grateful because that saved me a 4 a.m. wake up call of going down to the local gas station for a paper!

YAY!

It didn't take long to discover my husband's ulterior motive for going with me to pick up the paper - that's the Best Buy add he's looking at, by the way....

On Thanksgiving morning, I headed out for a Turkey Trot of my own. This was the first year my area wasn't hosting a Turkey Trot of any kind which made me super sad...whomp whomp. Oh well, guess I'll just have to find something else next year. I was excited to find the Fit Mouse Podcast's Thanksgiving episode, so I listened while I ran! :)

After the run, we had our annual brunch with my parents! 

Delicious as always! 

These cinnamon rolls really are amazing! 

Love my family! After everyone left, I finished up the Christmas decorating (mainly the tree) and looked through the paper to map out a Black Friday plan!

On Thanksgiving night, we had a dinner of spaghetti at my dad's house, because my brother and sister in law wouldn't be in town until Friday. 

Before  I knew it, Black Friday morning had arrived! My friends and I met up around 4 a.m. to hit the mall and look what we arrived to.....

Wow. Black Friday sure has lost the excitement it used to hold! Oh well...that meant less waiting time/lines for us! 

Let the fun begin! 

We stopped by Kohl's and Bath and Body Works, then drove through Starbucks for breakfast. 

At Target, I got a few deals for Baby Seal including a jogging stroller and a video monitor!

Carter's also recently opened up in our town (literally last week) and I definitely did a little damage in there. Apart from those mentioned, we also shopped at Bed Bath & Beyond, Academy, Michael's, and JCPenney! 

The Black Friday Team back at it again!

At JCPenney, we were the first in line for the final year of Mickey/Disney snowglobes. Whomp whomp. I own at least one from every year and am only missing a few of the "extras" when they gave out more than one style during those early years (2000/2001).

Our store's supply was INCREDIBLY small this year, too!

Mission accomplished! Woohoooo! 

After 12 hours of shopping, we decided to call it quits! We had a blast as always and I look forward to this day every year! Next year, I'll have a 7 month old! So crazy and hard to believe!!

Since this post is so long, I'll finish the rest up in part 2! :)

Do you Black Friday shop? What's your favorite places to go if so?

The Black Friday “Team”

Black Friday is one of my favorite days of the year apart from Christmas. I love the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and Black Friday is such a fun day to be out in it all! (If you’re into that sort of thing, that is!)

Over the years, stores have changed their operating hours and most are open on Thanksgiving Day now. We’ve done the overnight shopping thing where we started at 10 p.m. or midnight on Thanksgiving Day and shopped into the next day. This year, most stores opened their doors on Thanksgiving afternoon and to be honest, we just didn’t have it in us. Spending time with family was the #1 important thing on all of our lists, so we decided instead to wake up super early on the official Black Friday day and begin our shopping excursions from there.

There was one exception to this, however. If you remember from years past, I’ve been collecting JCPenney Mickey snow globes since the tradition started back in 2001. This year, JCPenney began handing their snow globes out at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, so I drove into town and stood in line for a few minutes, waiting on the doors to open.

My mom met us after she got off work.

When the doors opened, instead of being handed snow globes, we were given coupons. We asked several people where the snow globes were located (in the past, they’ve been handed out at the door) and we were told that we had to first make a purchase in order to receive the globe. No worries – I had a few kids to buy for so I did just that and was in and out of JCPenney in under 20 minutes! Mission accomplished!

Black Friday morning was when the real fun began!

We’ve been talking about making shirts for years! This year, we finally decided to make it happen!

Most of these ladies spent the night at my house and we began our day around 4:30 a.m. First stop was at Starbucks for breakfast and coffee!

I had my coffee and I was ready to shop!

When I say that the stores were “dead” at 5 a.m. ON Black Friday, I mean it.

This was taken at Walgreens. I was asked to watch my friend’s purse and I had to laugh at the lack of people in the store. Kohl’s was the same way – we were able to get in right in line to checkout with no wait.

Great deals AND no waiting in line? I love it! (Around 10 a.m., we noticed the crowds picking back up again, which made us glad that we started early!)

Guys, I LOVE this thing! If you’re a runner, you need this. It massages your calves and feet and feels AMAZING.

We had fun shopping and goofing off at the mall, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Best Buy, but we were in Target when “it” happened.

I momentarily separated from my friends and when I met back up with them, I asked if they noticed the news camera near the women’s clothing. They said yes and they saw the reporter filming a few clothing items. I thought it was strange to see them out because – again, literally – the stores were dead. All of the “crazy” things and crowds happened the night before.

After stopping to say hello to a another friend, we saw the reporter pass by – we made eye contact and said hello. She also said hello and started to continue on her way, then she did a double take. “Hi ladies! I’m with the local news station…anyone want to be on TV?”

Before we could even take a breath to respond, Melissa’s hand was in the air! It was hilarious!

She then asked if more of us would be willing to speak, because she wanted to use our “story” for the 6 p.m. news. Of course we said yes, and just like that, we were on our way to our 30 seconds of fame!

We didn’t have a buggy at first, so we piled all of our merchandise on the floor.

After speaking with each of us, she followed me to find a buggy.

This was so strange. I felt like I was on reality TV! Hah!

We filmed a few speaking segments with Monica and a few shopping shots, then we said our goodbyes!

We finished shopping around 4 p.m., (AND got a lot of good deals), then returned to my house for coffee while waiting on the 6 p.m. news.

Texting family and friends to watch!

To make things even better, were were one of the “top stories” of the evening. Sounds like there wasn’t much else going on around town to me…haha!

Did I mention that Black Friday was also Jason’s birthday? Well, we were finally all together for our official Thanksgiving meal as a family and we took a little time to celebrate Jason’s birthday as well!

(He bought this for himself on Black Friday….but don’t tell anyone!)

If you're interested in seeing our news clip, check it out here.

What a fun and memorable Black Friday, we had! I don’t know if another could ever top this one!!

Are you a Black Friday shopper? What do you think of the crowds?

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