Thanksgiving

Mat and I had a very busy, very happy Thanksgiving! We spent the first part of our break in College Station with my family. I wish I had a picture of this Thanksgiving. There were about 30 of us at my aunt's house- including 5 small children! It was crazy and tons of fun. We had fun as always playing lots of games, eating lots of food and enjoying catching up. It is hard to get us all together, and I am thankful that we are able to do it as often as we do! Here is a picture of most of us last April:

Last year Mat's family rented a beach house in Galveston, and we had so much fun they decided to do it again! On Friday, Mat and I left College Station to meet up with them in Galveston. We had more great food, played with our precious niece Kadence and had a few more games to enjoy- including a family game of Risk. (I watched but did NOT play!) Grammer, Mat's grandmother, took him out of the game first!

Mat and I had a chance to drive around and check out how Galveston is beginning to recover from Ike. Some parts of the island are recovering and rebuilding, but the devastation of the hurricane is still very evident. Last year we spent an afternoon shopping on the Strand in downtown Galveston. It is a street lined with historic buildings and neat shops- including Mat's favorite, La King- the old fashion soda fountain and candy store. This year, the shops were still there, but they were completely empty. Many of the stores had signs saying things about rebuilding and coming back. We're excited to see the Strand back to what it used to be!

We had a great time with our family and were reminded of all of the things we have to be thankful for!