We flew back into Nashville, spent the night, and drove to Texas.  Are we crazy?….yes.  But I’d really like for someone to tell me how to fly to Mexico for 2 weeks, have to check an additional bag for work purposes which means we only get to check one bag each, and then go to Texas in cold weather for 10 days, and also transport Christmas gifts…without having to come back to Nashville…ok, I’m already confused again. Anyways, we had to come back to Nashville to travel to Texas, solely because of luggage.  We decided to drive and I think we hit the jackpot with $1.50 gas the whole way.  It made the expensive Thanksgiving plane tickets all that more expensive and it made our trip so much easier to have our own car.

Anyways, my Grandfather had a 90th birthday party the weekend before Thanksgiving in L-Town and the whole family (30 including the little Tardy on the way), was there.  I know it meant the world to my grandparents to have everyone there and despite being just a little crazy, it went really well.  It was great to also get to see my parents and siblings because we will not get to see them for Christmas.  I decided after this trip, however, that I have not changed all that much in my life.  Big groups of people are fun to me, but I always leave feeling very drained and tired whereas Daniel gets energized off of big groups.  So, by the time we got back home, I was EXHAUSTED.  I feel like the little ball in a pinball game the whole time and I’m constantly trying to keep up or recover from the last thing I just hit.  Am I the only one?

My grandparents after the big party

Gran Gran being cute and funny.

We had just “crowned” him with our name tags.

My parents

We spent the rest of the week in Dallas with Daniel’s family for Thanksgiving.  I did not take any pictures of our time together which makes me sad.  It was very fun to see where both of Daniel’s brothers and their wives are living since they both moved to the Dallas area this summer.  We were planning on visiting them in February but we now have some other plans which are taking precedence.    So, Thanksgiving worked, too.  A few of Daniel’s siblings ran the Dallas Turkey Trot and we had two different meals with two different sides of the family on two different days…both incredibly good.  It was absolutely nonstop and I think we drove all of Dallas in the few days we were there.  We also were able to see our friends Matt & Micahl which is always fun too.  Micahl threw me a baby shower on the Saturday after Thanksgiving which will have to be its own separate post but is the final reason we drove to Texas.  Whew!  Through all the whirlwind, I did not have much time to reflect but I guess more than anything, the theme of this Thanksgiving was being thankful for family.