Thanksgiving + Our Trip to the Mountains

We had a great Thanksgiving here at home! 

We started our day by watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Chase from Paw Patrol was of course the highlight. 

Then my parents arrived and my mom brought this coat for Ella. It used to be mine!

We had to take some pictures outside!

And then Bennett watched football with Daddy...

We basically were geniuses this year and thought to get the food catered! Trav and his dad deep-fried the turkey in our driveway, but everything else we ordered from Midwood Smokehouse. It was amazing, because I feel like making all of those sides is what creates the most dirty dishes...so many pots and pans! So this was definitely the way to go and I think we'll be doing more ordering out for future Thanksgivings :)

I kept our table decor super simple. The eucalyptus smelled so good! Ella saw a friend making place cards for her family on Instagram, so she wanted to do the same. 

Time to eat! Lucas ate everything...

...while Ella ate about 10% of what's on her plate there. 

And Bennett slept! I think next year he will enjoy the food a little more!

After dinner, we took some pictures!

Our family room is so dark! Please help me convince Trav to get all of the wood painted white. He likes the wood...ugh. Can we all tell him to paint it white, please?!

Then, Travis cleaned up pretty much everything!!! I was SO thankful for that alone!!! Best husband ever. 

My mom and Ella played games...

...while my dad snuggled with Bennett!

Then my mom and I went to Target at like 10 PM.

My mom stress-fractured her hip and isn't supposed to be walking on it, so we got her one of those motorized scooters at the front of the store. I WAS DYING. 

I know I posted like 25 videos on my Instagram stories of my mom running around Target in her little ride...but oh my goodness, it was so funny. We both almost peed our pants several times. 

Here she is after knocking over a whole bunch of slippers. I just can't. 😂

After a few hours of sleep, we decided to hit up the mall the next morning. This time, we brought Ella with us! 

And Bennett came too!

Then we made a quick stop at home to pick up the boys and head to the mountains!

Bennett was so excited for his first trip to the mountains!

We went to dinner, where Ella ate almost a full stick of butter...

...and Lucas put away his noodles like a boss.

The nest morning, this little moose was officially 3 months old! (3 month update coming soon!)

I was straightening my hair and Ella asked me to straighten hers too. She looks so old!!!

After hanging out at the hotel most the day, it was finally time for the main reason we came to the mountains: The Polar Express!

The last time we took a picture in front of this caboose, Bennett was in my tummy!

The train station was all decked out and my kids (especially Lucas) were SO pumped to go on the train!

We did the cheapest option (coach class) and honestly, it was perfect. I didn't feel like we were missing anything at all. And look how cute our car was decorated! 

Lucas was a little skeptical of the conductor punching his special ticket, ha!

Then, we arrived at the North Pole!

So, I would have liked if there was a little more to look at on our way to the North Pole...it was really dark and most of the ride was through the woods. I did like how they put some deer out to show that we were "getting close." But once we got to "the North Pole," thankfully it was very festive!

All in all, the Polar Express was a big hit! My kids all had a great time and they loved the hot chocolate and cookies they got! They also saw Santa and got a bell from him! I think this is definitely something we will try to do every year from here on out!

The next morning, we figured while we were in the mountains, we should get our Christmas tree! Bennett was excited about that!

So, on our way home, we stopped at Boyd Mountain Christmas Tree Farm. It was literally on top of a mountain that we had to walk up! And I forgot to bring the Ergo for Bennett, so that was fun.

All of the Christmas trees looked like this:

I thought they were a little skinny, but I figured my mind was playing tricks on me because surely they wouldn't all be so skinny, right?! Oh no, I was definitely right because when we got home, I realized how sad-looking our tree is. Womp, womp. 

Oh well! We still had fun cutting down the tree (Lucas was super into the chainsaw!) and my kids got to see a second Santa in less than 24 hours!

This Santa was super legit!!

We came home Sunday afternoon and I was immediately overwhelmed with all of the Christmas decor I had to put up!!!

Send help because it's still not all up yet! Hopefully I can get it up by December 25!! ;)