San Diego T-Day

My next most memorable Thanksgiving was 8 years ago.  

Memorable because it was my first Thanksgiving without my mother - she had passed away that spring.  

And Dan, being sensitive to my missing my mom AND Danny who was on his mission, 

 

thought we should do something out of the ordinary.  Something a little more fun.

So, we went to California for the Thanksgiving holiday.  We loaded up the car with all 7 of us (Danny was in Russia) and made the 7-9 hour (depending on # of potty stops) to Escondido, CA.

 The STAR of this memory is NOT Amelia - but she is one of the STARS.  

(Sorry baby girl!  Gotta share the spotlight once again!)

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Stone.

I even tried to make a low-fat pumpkin pie - but it bombed. 

(Don't try to worry about low-fat on Thanksgiving.  

Just go for the good stuff and repent later.  Or not.)

 
 After stuffing ourselves, we drove down to the ocean for a walk on the beach and the pier.

 

That's part of what made this memorable.  

It was just so much fun to be together and enjoy the beautiful day.  

 (plus, getting away from all of Amelia's boyfriends was nice!)

Even Mary was enjoying the water!

And we got to listen to some "hippies" playing their guitars on the boardwalk.

It was a pretty darn good Thanksgiving!!

(can't figure out why Loren isn't in any of the pictures - unless he stayed behind with his cousins?)