Thanksgiving 2012

Our Thanksgiving this year was pretty great...as great as it could be with out our families.  I started the day off with a early 6 mile run.  It was the longest run I have done since I was 6 months pregnant with Asa.  Stacia joined me and we did a remote route that I ALWAYS enjoy.  After running I got the boys up and ready for the ward Turkey Bowl.  Nash was so excited to go play football with daddy.  Darin on the other hand wasn't so excited and ended up pulling a muscle that keeps acting up.

Nash didn't know what was going on.  He was just happy to be running around.  Madden on the other hand was in HEAVEN!  I don't think he knew he wasn't a big kid, in his mind he was the star of the game...and I HE WAS!

Oh I love this sweet bundle of Asa joy!!!

We decided to have Thankgiving at our house.  We invited other orphan families to join us.  It was hard to believe that this would be our last year here in Pennsylvania. :(

I had a bit of fun with our table...it was inspired by Nash's preschool party. I love the Macaroni Grill for the fact that you can draw on the table while you eat.  So that it is what I decided to do.  Instead of going around the table asking what everyone is thankful for, they had to draw it. A bit cheesy I know but it was fun for the kids.

Our cups were little mayflowers. :)

Darin is my dream come true.  I think after being married to me for 7 years he has learned that I get a bit stressed out when we have things at our house.  He lightened that load by volunteering to make the Turkey and both hams.  I was determined to make the pies but then he said he could get them free from the hospital and came home with them.  ...maybe he is more afraid of my cooking...no I am going to think he was my knight in shining armor!

This year Darin tried the brining method.  Which was great, but then the turkey would NOT cook and it was getting close to dinner time...and well we burned the turkey....OOPS!

But the to tell you the truth it was a great tasting turkey!

Asa was pretty great helper.

We had pretty yummy food and there was A LOT of food!

And the guests.  My favorite part of the first picture is Riley and Alana have the same face. :)

 My favorite part of this picture is I am smiling for the camera in the mirror...hehe.

Darin is thankful for our house and Riley.

 Elli is thanks for food, clothes, swimming and much, much more!

 This drawing on the table was an EXCELLENT idea.  How do I know, little chatty Bella didn't make a peep the entire dinner.  She was so into her drawing.  I took a picture of all the drawings but they are not loading for some odd reason.  There were so GREAT artists in the group. ;) 

 After dinner we made it to the basement for some xbox fun.  Nash was in heaven playing with everyone.

We had such a fun time.  Thank you Dowling, Ockerman and Long families for coming!

Nash the Pilgrim...

Nash's preschool had a cute little pilgrim celebration for Thanksgiving.  I REALLY love his teacher this year.  She is so fun and the kids LOVE her.

 Some parents are pretty creative.  Maybe someday I will catch that bug. :)

 Mrs. Cowell had the kids act out the story of the Mayflower as she told it.  Nash smiled the whole time.

 Then then sang 5 little Turkey's which Nash was SO EXCITED to sing. He kept checking to see if we were looking at him.

 Asa was pretty happy to be there too.

Nash was convinced that I didn't hear the Turkey song the first time and made Mrs. Cowell give me a personal performance. :)  This is why I love his teacher so much.  No matter what she stops what she is doing to make him feel so special, like he is the only thing that matters in that moment.  What a great teacher.  I need to learn how to make him feel that way.

Asa's Baby Blessing...

While we were in Denver and had the family together we decided to have Asa's baby blessing.  For those of you who read our blog and do not know what this is you can learn about it HERE. Darin performed the ordinance and gave Asa the name ASA COSBY WILLARDSON to be known on the records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The blessing was very sweet and Asa was a good boy during it, besides the fact I almost dropped him handing him over to Darin...good one mom! The men who stood in the circle: Darin, Grandad Cosby, Grandpa Willardson, Uncle Troy, Uncle Trevor, and Troy's Bishop.

 (yes I did make myself look skinnier...hey it is my blog I can look as good as I want! haha)

 Check out Asa's face.  He is totally smiling for the camera!  Thank you everyone who came.

(Back row L to R) Rachel, Trevor, Tonya, Troy, Alex, Nathan, Darin, Christina, Jannice, JD, Sasha, Dennis.  (Middle L to R) TJ, Taeya, Saebra, Carly Asa, Eli.  (Front L to R) Olivia, Halle, Zachary, Natasha, Jake, Nash.

 We had the oldest grand-son (18 years old) and the youngest grand-son (5 months) there.  Alex leaves for the Navy in January.

Jake and Nash - Two peas in a pod.

 My mom and dad traveled by train to Denver.  We are so happy they made the trip up! When I was pregnant we told my dad the baby would be named after him.  We asked him what the middle name should be Dennis or Cosby.  He said he would wait to see what the first name would be.  In the end we gave Asa the name Cosby because that is my middle name as well.  My dad did not want me to have a middle name so when I got married I would keep his name too.  

Fun facts about our little family:

Jon Darin  born 2/19 

Christina Cosby  born 8/23

Nash Darin  born 5/23

Asa Cosby  born 5/19

(Do you see the trend of the birthdays.)

  We have wonderful parents that have helped us every step of our marriage.  I hope someday we can repay their kindness in helping us better our lives.  Thank you so much for everything, we love you guys!

 I feel pretty blessed to have such a beautiful family.  I think all the time about how Darin and I came together.  There were so many things that could have changed that New Years night.  I know that we were guided to one another by a loving Heavenly Father.  How great it is to know we have a Forever Family.

Grandkids...

We had 14 out of the 22 grandkids in Denver.  We are missing Olivia in this picture, she was taking a nap.