Los Angeles + Thanksgiving

So much has happened in just the last week. I feel like I've been on a whirlwind travel schedule (and yes, I'm writing this from the airport on another trip, again!). First of all, a big thank you to UPS for sending my friend Patrice and I on a once in a lifetime, outta-this-world trip to the American Music Awards!

The trip was complete with behind the scenes visits to the American Music Awards, where we watched the artists really hone their crafts. It was incredible to see these very young people fully participate and direct their brands. Also, they sound pitch perfect without any help. They just opened their mouths and it was as though they had been fully sound corrected ... only they were raw, just them, solo. That alone was worth the trip.

In a completely empty auditorium, the music reverberated through us, through our seats and through the floors. I cannot begin to express what an almost-spiritual experience all that harmony and perfect music sounded like at such an intense volume. Everyone in our group found themselves blinking a few extra times to absorb the additional moisture that had magically appeared in our eyes.

UPS treated us to manicures, pedicures, limos and a police escort to the awards. The police escort was off-the-charts cool; they stopped traffic for us (!!!). People on the streets were staring and wondering who was in the limos (spoiler alert: not stars!).

Patrice and I were super excited to get front row seats to Fox's Cause for Paws taping, their animal rescue show. Their 2 hour live show taped a couple days early and took a bit longer than 2 hours to tape (cough cough). We were not prepared properly and were both cold and hungry. It was an impressive showing by a star-studded cast that kept us entertained and feeling blessed to be there. And it was super fun to watch ourselves on the big screen later!

We came home to our kids, so happy to be there. We both teared up on the airplane when we saw a little baby, about the size of our youngest girls go by.

And then, it was time for thanksgiving prep! We were lucky enough to host at or house and were so happy to have Baby Alise join the family in celebration and thankfulness. That little baby is so loved and so wanted, even by her cousins!

Grandpa brought games to play with the kids. Jamisen did not like the dice game of 'chance' so he said, 'I have an idea Grandpa! Let's do this!'" and he proceeded to make up his OWN game with his own rules. His rules made sense. You could only roll a one. And if you could only move one space. If you rolled anything besides a one, you changed your die to show one dot only and only moved your player one space. Thus, it became a predictable, reliable game. By the end of the weekend, Jamisen was playing it the way it was supposed to be played but the jury is out on if he liked his more orderly game better.

We loved Thanksgiving this year with our full family and happy kids. We have many blessings to be thankful for and our family and our health is top at that list.

Shout out to Grandpa Winston and Grandma Kelly for the adorable outfits on Jamisen and Lily. They love their knits!