Gobble, Gobble

We enjoyed a nice long trip to Iowa for Thanksgiving this year. Ben and I were both able to cut out of work early and get a head start on the drive Wednesday afternoon, but it still took us an hour to get out of the city and through the 'burbs. We were kickin' it in a classy rented Chevy Cobalt, courtesy of our pal Jasmine at our rental car place. We rent there so much, we're like old buddies by now. On Thursday we visited my parents and cute Grandma (she's 91 and sprightly!). My dad gave Ben and I his old golf clubs, so I hope to become like Tiger Woods once spring hits. I do have a pretty sweet putt when mini-golfing. We also checked out progress on my parents' new townhouse and got some treats served up Grandma Karen-style (cheesy poofs, macadamia nut cookies, and cappuccino), before heading off to our Thanksgiving dinner at Beck's. The day was fun, cute, and very typical of my family, in a good way.

Friday we met some friends, Jen, Chad, Jami, John, and their kiddos, Addy and Sid, at the O.P. We gorged ourselves on pizza...seriously, no place has pizza like the O.P. Can anyone tell me why taco pizza doesn't exist in Chicago, or outside of Iowa for that matter? Inquiring minds want to know. I am tempted to open my own franchise of the O.P. here in the city.

Katy, Jami, and Jen. Our bellies are full of taco pizza.

Later that night we hit the town with Ben's brother Cory, his wife Gretchen, and Ben's friend Cody. We made a triumphant return to Main Street in Cedar Falls and were amazed at the sweet deals that haven't increased since our college days Y E A R S ago. Ben and Cody also reminisced about the time back in the day when they were offered the chance to buy the bar in the Black Hawk Motel for $4,000...unfortunately that didn't happen; they would've been a huge success now that downtown CF is booming!

Cody, Ben, and Cory. Why are both Cody and Cory both wearing purple shirts?

On Saturday, we officially celebrated the holiday with Ben's mom and stepdad, Susan and Ron, Ron's parents, and Cory and Gretchen's family. We had a really nice non-traditional Thanksgiving meal of ribeyes (courtesy of Ron, the grill-master), sauteed mushrooms and onions, green beans, Susan's cheesy potatoes, Gretchen's cornbread, Donna's cranberries, and my pumpkin cheesecake. I'm not sure how beach body friendly all that food was. Susan, Ron, Cory, Gretchen, my parents and Ben and I are getting ready to hit the white sands of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic pretty soon, so we spent a lot of the time talking about our upcoming vacation. Later that night, we helped Griffin decorate a beautiful gingerbread house.

Sunday Ben and I headed back to Chicago pretty early so that he could get prepared for the premiere of "Nothing Like the Holidays" that was going down on Monday, which he was in charge of. His company and clients say that the event came off really well and I'm very proud of him. I spent the night decorating for the holidays and I hope to post some new pictures of our place soon.

Our handiwork. Gretchen was a good foreman and kept the roof from falling in. Don't ask Susan about the icing.