brink thanksgiving

friday afternoon diana and i headed up to grand rapids to visit my family for thanksgiving.  we had already had two thanksgiving meals, so we were ok with the fact that mom said she wasnt going to have any turkey while we were there.  no problem at all!  friday night we got there around six in the evening.  enough time to chat with mom and dad for a while and play a couple games of cards with mom (which is, of course, the real reason mom wants us to come and visit...).  saturday was nice and relaxed.  we had a little bit of shopping to do, so we went all four of us.  it was nice to spend the time with mom and papa.  papa and i went to home depot to get a few things i needed for the house while diana and mom shopped for some clothes that would fit diana during her pregnancy.  then we splurged on a fancy lunch at arby's, which is always a favorite!  later in the day we went to baker bookhouse and i finally got to spend my gift certificate money that i had gotten last christmas for that place!  it was a great gift, but diana and i are just never in grand rapids when the place is open!  well, i got myself a couple of cool cds, so i'm set for a while on good music again.
sunday morning we were up and off to church.  its always a highlight to go to mom and papa's church because jill, tim, and the kids go there too!  since we hadnt seen the kids yet, diana and i were especially eager to sit with them during church.  one problem arose from this eagerness though, i got in trouble from jill and mom because i kept trying to talk to the bubba during the service, distracting him.  pretty bad when an 8 year old's uncle behaves worse than he does in church, huh?  by noon everyone was over at mom and papa's for a good old fashioned sunday dinner!  the food was delicious, as always, and after the meal we played around with the kids for an hour or two.  the girls always love to take diana up to the toy room and play games with her, so bubba and i were able to have some time with just the two of us, no girls interrupting us or anything!  as the afternoon drew to a close, we said our goodbyes and eagerly look forward to seeing them again at christmas.
(more pics)