Thanksgiving Day

We start out with a cutie pie! Ryder is becoming quite mobile.

The food was yummy as always.

As was the smoked turkey, a Nettles favorite.

It was a chilly day, so we were able to start up the fire right away.

{At least, it was a good excuse}

But, as soon as possible, the Annual Horseshoe Tournament must start if we are going to finish before dark. This year the points scale was a little more generous so that the tourney moved along quickly and boy did it ever.

Good form.

Don't miss the horseshoe, barely visible above the prickly pear cactus.

Emma was shanghaied into taking a few shots.

Even with back surgery coming up soon (hopefully in January), Keith and his new throwing form did quite well.

The boys had something to do when they were not playing in the tourney. John brought out his beloved creepy crawler sets and the boys got to make bugs.

There wasn't a Easy Bake Oven to entertain the girls when we weren't playing.

{I'm just sayin'}

We had two ringers and a leaner!

The last game for the championship was John and Keith vs. Lori and Jesse. Quite the game and John and Keith had the come from behind win.

I think John was extra pleased with his win because he only had to give away one silver piece.

There was a lot of joking about Keith's back and his new throwing style helping him win, but let the record show that Keith won last year with Paul as his partner and the year before with Josh as his partner. Quite impressive, hon!

And, since we finished up so quickly, we got to enjoy the firepit and story telling a little bit longer this year.

Grams & Paul

John ran a little scavenger hunt for the kiddos.

Chase was handing me my camera all day long. I'd set it down to throw horseshoes and he'd hand it to me. What was really cute was when he handed my John's phone {his grandpa's} when we were sitting by the fire pit.

Apparently, that is what I am known by.

{there are worse things than that to be known by}

Guess who just lost her first tooth?

This year, for whatever reason, I ended up taking no pictures when we gathered at my parents' house the next day. Justin & Emma had already left for Flagstaff for the big game {more on that later} but Leah joined us. But we sat around the table and talked. So much so that the xbox with the new kinect was never hooked up and tested out.

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year;
to the honest man it comes as frequently
as the heart of gratitude will allow.
~ Edward Sandford Martin