So Thankful!

There was SO much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving! A trip home to be with family was among them :D

As I mentioned, we drove up with Kristen, AJ, Carter, and most all of our belongings. It proved to be an interesting journey, but a lot of fun too. Since it took us 17 1/2 hours, we didnt get home until 1am and we were beyond exhausted. Of course Carter was excited to see grandma and grandpa! We were ready to hit the hay! 

Wednesday we slept in some and then got ready to go and meet my new boss, sign some paperwork, and find a place for us to live. The Martins had graciously agreed to let us stay with them for as long as we needed, but we didnt want to intrude on them. So it was on our to do list.

My  new work place is wonderful! My boss seems really nice, as do the other people I met that I will work with. One of my new co-workers showed John and I some apartments and then we met with my boss to discuss pricing. The deal was just too good to pass up and so we chose the apartment I posted about in the last post! It was WONDERFUL to have found a place so quickly. Definitely a huge answer to pray. It really felt like everything just kept falling into place. :D Wednesday night we went back to the Martins and ate some dinner, hung out, and relaxed some. We were both so tired still. We also got to meet Julie's new boyfriend Joel! He is REALLY nice and fit in very well with us.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! I got up and made some of my mac and cheese and then it was almost time for lunch. Of course we stuffed ourselves :D It was all so very yummy. Then we played some games and lounged around all afternoon. That's what Thanksgiving is for, right?! I ended up taking a long nap because I wasnt feel good. I think my body is trying to fight off getting sick. Thursday night we went to my Mom's house. We had dinner with them and played some more games! I am excited we will be living so close soon so our visits can be longer :D

 Our Table :D 

 The food! Carter was so excited..

 

More food!

 Joel and Julie (I forgot to take pictures after this one. whoops) 

Friday we got up and had another big day ahead of us. My job was going to let us go ahead and unload our trailer into our new apartment (HUGE blessing!) so we got up and headed over there. I had to turn in some paperwork and then I got the keys. It only took us about 45 minutes to unload everything since there were so many of us. Afterwards, John and Brad took back the trailer while I went over to AT&T to get information about adding a line to our plan. (PS. I can walk to almost anything I want or need! The grocery store is behind the clubhouse I work in and right across the big road (which is RIGHT there) is a HUGE shopping center.) Of course John had to be at AT&T with me, so I walked over to Rack Room and bought some shoes. haha. Then we went and got some lunch at Red Robin with Brad! Always fun :D And finally headed back to AT&T. We decided to go ahead and get me a phone and new number to help make everything easier and to cross one more thing off our list. :D 

After that adventure we went back to the Martin's and got ready for the NC State Basketball game. Steve had gotten us free tickets and we couldnt pass them up. We met up with him and Anna Patton (a friend from college) there and watched the game. We played terribly, but at least pulled out a win! We also took Carter to play with Bailey while we went- they had a fun play date! 

Our seats were waaaay up there! Fun though!

Waiting for a toy...haha

Saturday, I got up bright and early to make some mac and cheese bites for our tailgate. They were DELICIOUS! Then we dressed in some warm clothes and headed out at about 9:30am to get a good spot. We ended up having about 21 people at our tailgate and had such a great time! Everyone brought something different to eat and I must say it was the most grownup tailgate we have ever had! haha. We had so much stuff. It was SO much fun and it turned into a celebration that we were moving back :D So thankful to have such great friends! It seriously made us feel like we were home. 

GO WOLFPACK!

 Anna Patton, her friend, and Steve

 Some of the tailgate gang

 LOVE him!

 I bumped into an old friend too! (we actually bumped into a bunch). Jeff was one of my "boyfriends" in 6th grade. haha

 Love this statue!

The game was FREEZING and John and I ended up leaving during the 4th quarter since we had to get up so early to drive home the next day. We grabbed some dinner and then headed to the Martins. I seriously fell asleep within 15 minutes of getting there. I was pooped. We had planned to get up at 3 and leave about 4- but of course we left later at about 5:30/6am. We really wanted to beat traffic since it was so bad last year. We were lucky and made the drive in about 12 hours! YAY!

We decided to leave Carter in Raleigh with Johns parents. We need the room in the Tahoe and we just didnt want to make him ride in the car for another 26 hours. He would have hated it. It was funny because he could tell we were leaving, but he was with grandma and grandpa so he seemed confused. haha. He's doing great there now though! He even jumped up in bed with grandpa one morning. He's making himself right at home. It is lonely here without him- but I know it's best. 

Anyway, we had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving and we have SO much to be thankful for! Cant wait until next year when we have more time to spend with each family :D