Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.  Psalm 107:1

Old holiday with memories stretching back for a lifetime - for some that is just a few years and for others many.  Memories of gathering with family and friends.  Memories of good food.  Memories of being thankful for the many ways that God has blessed us.  Those things all remain no matter where we gather.  This year brought some new things for our family.  We typically gathered in my parents home in the mountains.  We have many memories tied there from Thanksgiving Day to picking out our Christmas tree to the Christmas parade and more.  

Since their house has been sold, we gathered in a new spot.  We made memories of our family gathered together.  We enjoyed delicious food.  We are thankful for the many ways we are blessed.

Rebecca made 4 pies this year (not pictured is the Key Lime Pie).  Bottom are some gluten free cupcakes that have not yet been frosted.

I love how she decorated this one!  Its fun seeing her creative side in ways that I just never would have thought to do myself!

Rebecca and her cousin Keri made these cute turkeys from Oreos.

I tried taking some casual photos - some people were not as cooperative as they could have been.  LOL

Yes, that is a finger in the photo.  It does not belong to the photographer.  Any guesses on who it does belong too?

There wasn't a table big enough for all of us to sit at, so we ended up migrating to different places.  This was not my favorite part of the day.  You know though, we were still together and I'm thankful for that!  Christopher and Brad enjoying football.

The younger kids wanted to sit out on the balcony.

It was a beautiful day so who could blame them.

Especially with a view like this!

My sister and her husband, Kurt.

My Dad and sister.

I had a lot of help in taking photos.  This is not unusual at all.  This one was my favorite.

We had amazing weather while we were out on the beach.  We arrived on a Wed and stayed until Sunday.  Enjoying every day!  The sky was the most incredible color.

My children love the sand.

Just thought this was a beautiful shot.  I love the light on her face.

It really wasn't warm enough for swimming.  I thought by not packing swimsuits that it would discourage getting too wet.  I was wrong.  I'm not sure if you can tell that Eliana's pants are soaked.  She fell a couple of times while playing the waves until she was about fully soaked - and thus time to go in.

The beach is such a great place to play games.  There was very little wind and it was so nice.

I love taking pictures of all of these people that I love.

I love watching and just enjoying being together.  I often try to soak in the memories in my head so that I am fully present right where I am!

Yes, these are the two who ventured into the water every day.

Cousins are so much fun!

I have always loved the beauty of the mountains in the fall.  The beach this time of year also has its own beauty.  I can see the hand of God in this amazing creation.

We like walking to the pier.  I love the views.

Doesn't really look like  November in these photos, does it?

Its always a great time to work on sand castles.

Love seeing my guys having fun together.

One night we went for a walk ...

and the setting sun was truly glorious.

And it just kept getting better and better.

I kept turning around and looking in all directions as it was just hard to believe the colors!  It was truly as if God had painted the sky - and was continuing to paint and change His masterpiece.

I love to go for walks on the beach.  Its my favorite thing to do there.  I'm glad to have others that want to go with me!

Eliana and my Mom.

The rising sun was pretty amazing too.

On our last day there, we went for a walk to the pier and saw a jellyfish.

As we continued to walk, we saw more and more.  We started counting at some point and realized that we saw more than 30!  (It really isn't that far to the pier.)  Later in the afternoon when the tide was further out, we walked to the pier again.  This time we counted 165 jellyfish on the beach!  I was really glad that nobody was swimming that day!

We walked on the pier.  The children were free and it was just a couple of dollars for me.  Its fun to look out to see what you can see.  On this day, we saw more jellyfish.

Not sure what Eliana was doing here, but it did tickle me!

There is an arcade at the pier which my children love.  All of them.

It is pretty cheap fun and we stopped to play some games.

Some of them really like getting the tickets which can be traded for prizes.

Getting a ride home with some new found friends.

One last attempt at a family photo.  Its so hard to get everyone looking - and smiling.

Using a tripod as there wasn't anyone around at the time.

Happy Thanksgiving.  I hope yours was blessed too - with sweet memories of being with people you love.  

Blessings

Leslie