Giving Thanks

It is the very best gift to marry a man from Sacramento because that means that you get to spend Thanksgiving in the dreamiest place full of fall color and crisp autumn air. I am pretty sure God created me to live in a place where I can experience the seasons, because there is nothing that gratifies my soul more. Dustin and I were out jogging the other afternoon at a nature preserve close by his parents' house and I said, "I am so glad I married someone from here."

One of the other things I love the most about spending our Thanksgiving week up north at Grammie's house is that I have no cleaning, organizing, or work beckoning to me. It is a daily battle I face at home to be present with my kids.  Here, I have no other choice but to play, relax, laugh, and eat more than humanly possible with my family all day long. It's a gift and I do not take it for granted.

This is me... beaming from within because it really truly feels like fall and I get to share it with my littles. And here are about 30 more pictures of our week so far:

 

 

Wishing you all a Thanksgiving that affords you the time to pause and recognize the abundance of blessings that surround you.

Donovan turned Four

On to February! Donovan James turned four years old on February 1st. Four! I Still can't believe he is FOUR! Grammie flew down to celebrate with us and Oma, Grampie, and Oma Oma came over for a sweet little celebration of our boy. 

 Donovan showed off his birthday book to Oma Oma. 

 And Grampie got to be in charge of our cranky girl. 

 Thankfully her dramatic tantrums didn't last too long. 

 Donovan enjoyed his requested vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting and lots of presents including a couple of board games, all things Cars, and a real baseball bat from his Daddy.

 We finished off the party with our balloon wishes sent up to the sky in our little guy's honor. 

But that wasn't the end of our fun. Around nap time, Grammie, Daddy, Mommy, Donovan, and Emmerson piled into the car and headed off for a 3 day adventure at Disneyland!!! Grammie had bought us 3 day passes for Christmas and we thought this would be the perfect week to use them. 

 We checked in to the Grand California Lodge and quickly unloaded our bags so that we could get into the park. Although Donovan had been before his second birthday, he had no memory of being there. It made this trip so much fun because every. single. thing. was magical to him!

 Our first stop, of course, had to be at California Adventure to see the new Cars Land! Even I was excited to see the books and the movies come to life and it did not disappoint! Every little detail was so well thought out. Donovan was beside himself soaking it all in. 

 The first thing we stopped to do was take a picture with LIGHTNING MCQUEEN.  Donovan knows every single thing about Lightning McQueen so I figured that when he saw him, he'd be ecstatic. Instead he was a little lot freaked out. He kept asking questions as we waited in line, "Is he real, guys?" "Is he really talking?" "Do I have to stand by him?" But when it came time for the picture, he was starting to warm up to the idea. Lightning wished him a Happy Birthday complete with a Ka-Chow! And with that we were on our way to the next stop. 

 A few more rides in Cars Land. 

 Then off to the paradise Pier for some Mexican food dinner. "Cheese!"

 As the sun began to set we walked through the rest of the park, jumping on rides whenever the lines weren't too long.

And right before we left to head back to the hotel for the night, we walked right up to the California Adventure Parade that had all of Donovan's favorite Disney characters in it.  

A perfect way to spend your fourth birthday if you ask me.