Saturday, December 6, 2008

Thanksgiving in Colorado

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful! We just got back from Colorado a few days ago. We were visiting Ben's parents who live there, and the rest of the family that came up to visit them as well, namely David and Debbie, who live in Utah, Natalie and Ted, who live in Utah also, Eric and Monica who live in Colorado, and Daniel and Andy (who live here in WA) were there too. It was really great to see so many of Ben's family all together and hang out and have fun. The highlights of the week, for me, were Thanksgiving dinner (of course), going to the Zoo, playing racquetball, and celebrating my birthday. Ben says his highlights were also the zoo and racquetball. So I'll start with those.

Thanksgiving was a feast, naturally, and the most fun part, for me, was all the women in the kitchen trying to get everything ready at the last minute. I know it kind of stressed Ben's mom out, but to me that's always a part of Thanksgiving, is cooking together, hurrying to finish the food on time, and sneaking bites of everything as you make it and put it on the table! Ben's mom makes really really yummy rolls (dipped in butter!) and mashed potatoes, and a really yummy jello dessert that everyone looks forward to, and those were probably my favorites. I made the deviled eggs (which we forgot about, so they weren't on the table, lol), the green bean casserole, and the stuffing. I was really proud of myself for making the stuffing. It's my mom's recipe, and she couldn't tell me exact measurements for things because she's been making it so long she just throws it together. So I was a little nervous, but it turned out really good, and everyone said they liked it. Yummy stuff. I like Thanksgiving!

On Friday we went to the Denver Zoo, and it was awesome! Ben had been telling me for awhile that it was a lot better than the Woodland Park Zoo here in Seattle, and I was really looking forward to it. I wasn't disappointed. All the animals were really easy to see, which was great, and they had quite a few different animals too. Lily's favorite was the ducks! :) There was a huge pond with tons of ducks and geese and a few more exotic birds like pelicans too, and when we'd pass it she'd stretch towards it and start chanting "du, du, du, du" (which is how she says duck). It made her happy, and it was cute. She also really liked the fishies. Ben's favorite animals were the lions, and my favorite was probably the lions too. They were so close, and it was really cool to see them so clearly.

I really like racquetball, even though Ben and I don't get too much opportunity to play. But when we hang out with Ben's dad we get a lot of opportunity because he really likes it too. He's the one that first got into it, I think. Anyway, so we played quite a few times with his Dad, and various other members of the family. It was tons of fun. I was probably one of the (if not, the) worst people playing, but I definitely improved between the first and the last times I played. I liked it so much I had Ben go and buy me my own racquet. Ben and I are looking into a place where we can play around here that's not too expensive, so if anyone knows a place, give us a heads up.

This is getting really long, so I'm gonna do another post about my birthday after Sunday, when I celebrate with my family. I haven't even mentioned how adorable Lily and all her cousins were together. I'll do another mainly picture post where I talk about that. Anyway, again, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break. We sure did!

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