Thanksgiving weekend

What a wonderful weekend!  We celebrated one year of living in Minnesota by staying right here at home.  Fortunately, everyone else came to visit us.  Over the course of the 4-day weekend we had 16 different guests in our home, but not all at once!  We also had a total of 7 dogs and 5 cats around at different times.  It was lively, to say the least.  These two little kittens that Mike's sister brought won everybody's hearts!

 The other main attraction during the weekend was the frozen slough by Paul and Sharla's place.  This is the same body of water seen in the sunset pictures just a few posts ago.  It has frozen solid, so it made a perfect recreational area.  The kids loved sledding behind the snowmobile.  The dogs got a good workout, too.  Here Mike pulls Zach, Ellie, and Dane.

 Grandpa loved to see his grandkids having so much fun!

 My parents and Ben and Jen came Saturday to play.  Here, Ben and Jen are riding the 4-wheeler while Mike pulls Dane and Grampy on the toboggan.

 Today, the ice was perfect for the skates that Hugh and Melodee found for the three oldest cousins.  (Paul and Sharla's pretty place in the background.)

 Dane's first time on skates.

 My fun on the ice came to an abrupt end yesterday when my lip became a cushion between my top teeth and a sled.  Four little stitches brought things back together nicely, but I don't know why everyone thinks that plump lips are so fabulous...

I should have taken pictures of our amazing Thanksgiving meal on Thursday, of all 6 cousins together, of the wonderful times our kids spent with both sets of grandparents, of Ben and Jen enjoying their "hay ride" out to the ice, of my cousin Carissa and her husband Ed who stopped by for a few hours... the list goes on.  Thankful for the wonderful memories that no photos could ever replace.