Give Thanks

Yes, it's a couple days past Thanksgiving and people are probably already have all the Fall stuff down and the Christmas decorations up (I did that today), but I can still post a blog about my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving.

It all started with my childhood.  Every year, without fail, Thanksgiving was spent with our family friends, the Bobo's.  One year we'd go to their house (wherever in the country that happened to be) and the next they'd come to ours (always in Aiken, SC).  We'd have our Graham-Bobo family line up which started in age, oldest to youngest, and then as we got older we added a line based on height.  Phil, the youngest in the Bobo family, ended up the tallest boy, and I, the youngest in the Graham family, ended up as the tallest girl.  Funny how that happened.  Anyway, when we were pretty young, we also used to do a pyramid. Description for those who don't know: biggest kids on their hands and knees on the ground with smaller kids on top of them in the same position in the shape of a triangle till we got one kid at the top which was usually me.  We have many photo albums of these lines and pyramids throughout the years and it's fun to see how much we've all changed and grown.  On Thanksgiving day we'd have a ton of yummy yummy food.  The next day we'd have leftovers, go to a movie, and eat pizza.  When the family who was visiting had to leave to drive back home, one of us would try to stow away in their car (which never worked! observant parents!) and the rest would run after the van as they drove away.  That's pretty much how it happened every year.  The oldest kids would drop out of the line as they left for school, went on missions, or got married, but we would still get together with them until practically all of us were out of the house.  Those were really fun times.  Sometimes I feel like I know the Bobo's better than my actual blood-family.  

Now, as we all have our own families we still try to find ways to get together with the Bobo's.  A lot of us ended up in Utah so that makes it a lot easier to get together.  My best friend growing up, Katherine, ended up marrying Phil, so that made it even easier to get together.  This year we had Thanksgiving with the Bobo's again.  We went to Katherine and Phil's house; another Bobo sibling was there along with two of my siblings.  We had excellent food and wonderful company.  It was like old times.  We even thought one of the young boys had stowed away in another family's van, which ended up not being true, but it brought back good memories anyway.  Phil made a comment about how he thinks our kids won't find out that none of us are actually related until they're like 14 which I thought was funny and really true.  We act like family even though we aren't blood related.  And I guess that's the point I'm trying to make with all of my rambling.  You can treat anyone like family, especially on Thanksgiving.  It's the time to come together to remember all that we're thankful for, eat good food, and enjoy the company.

Another reason why Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays is that this was the holiday 6 years ago that gave me the excuse to visit Brandon in Colorado while I was going to BYU.  We had met that previous August and I wanted to see him again.  Somehow it worked out that I would go out there along with one of Brandon's old missionary companions, and we'd stay for the weekend.  I'd really never done anything like that before, but I'm so grateful I did.  I'm also extremely grateful for Brandon's mom and dad who were willing to open their home to two almost complete strangers and feed them.  They're amazing.  That year, I also heard that they extended an invitation to all the single adults in their Ward who didn't have a place to go to their home for Thanksgiving dinner.  How wonderful is that!  I think that's a perfect example of their charity.  Brandon definitely learned how to serve with love from his parents. 

I'm thankful for this holiday so I can think of all that I'm thankful for.  So I want to give a big "Thanks!" to the following people:

• Everyone who've watched Kayla for us while we had to work or go on a date
• Craig Peterson and Phil Burnett for helping us get this wonderful home we now live in
• Mom who helped cover our tickets for going out to SC for her wedding
• Mike Graddy who is making my mother so happy and a lot less lonely
• Brandon's mom and dad for being so patient as they wait for opportunities to see their only grandchild (and for helping us improve our new home, you've done so much already)
• Katherine for hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year 
• Kayla for being so adorable even when she's sad
• Brandon for being the most amazing husband 

I could go on and on, but this blog post is getting long enough.  But I do have to add one more to the list: my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ, for creating this beautiful world that we live in; for giving us a Plan so we can live with Them and our loved ones again; for loving us even when we don't feel like we deserve it.  I Thank Them with all my heart.

So enough of my ranting and on to the pictures.  Clark, Lonnie, and MaKena stayed at our house for a few days, and I promised Mom pictures of the kids together.

Brandon wanted to show Clark our backyard, so they bundled up the kids and went out.  Can you see the family resemblance? :)

MaKena and Kayla

They look so different in sizes right now, but they're only 8 months apart.  As they get older I'm sure they'll become the best of friends (if we stay close enough to visit).

That face is so classically Graham.  She looks so much like Clark with those adorable ears!  And Kayla looks a lot like me.  I'm thinking the Graham genes are pretty dominant! More kids will tell! 

I think this is the closest we were able to get the kids together.  That's a good thing right now because they'll just hurt themselves otherwise. 

It was so much fun having them at our home to relax and play games.  We will be planning more of these as much as we can.  I love our family.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  Make sure to give thanks to those you're thankful for!