Tag Archives: chase

Wrestle Bowl Fest 2010 (Chase turns 8)

Posted by on June 21, 2010 Comments Off
First ever Candle vs. Chair match!

Wrestle Cake!

For Chase‘s 8th birthday we decided to make him a Rasslin’ Cake. He’s pretty much the biggest wrestling fan on the planet right now and Jess and I are bound and determined to elevate or cooking/baking arsenal. So, after several failed attempts, scouring of the interwebs for the perfect recipe, several trips to hardware stores and/or cooking supply stores, and countless hours standing in front of the oven, we made the best cake we could. It may not have been the perfect cake, but to our 8 year old, it was magical.

The party itself was a ton of fun. We had it at the bowling alley in Griffin. Chase and several friends spent the day bowling, playing arcade game, eating pizza and cake, and generally having a great time. He got a ton of cool presents. Everyone had a great time! In addition to all the kids having fun, the adults did as well. Speaking of adults, this was the first time Jess‘ mom and my parents got to meet. They seemed to get along really well! I have a feeling they’ll be seeing a lot more of each other at future functions!

This was my first birthday with Chase and I can’t tell you how great it felt. I really did feel like a dad. Getting to watch him interact with the other kids, watching the joy on his face when he opened all his presents. Cheering him on while he bowled. Helping him try to get that elusive strike. It all just felt right. I can’t wait until 9, 10, 21, 30, etc. He’s such a great kid who deserves the world, and I intend on being there to give him that.

The Pics:

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

Muthaz Day!

Posted by on May 9, 2010 No comments
SniperChef

Sniper Chef

Today was Mother’s Day, and I have to admit, it was the best one in recent memory. I got to spend it with my two favorite mothers, my own mom and Jess. What made it so great was that it was low-key, stress-free, and full of love.

This morning, Chase and I got up and made Jess a fantabulous breakfast (biscuits and sausage gravy). Then we sat around and just chilled before heading over to my parents. Usually an afternoon at my folks is filled with stress and hustling and moving food from here to there and dozens of family (which I love the family, don’t get me wrong) and all the usual stuff, but today was different. It was just Me, Jess, Chase, Mom, Dad, Heather, Jason, and the twins. We grilled up some burgers and dogs while Chase ran around outside. Then we had a lunch and just enjoyed some time chatting and playing with the kiddos. After helping with some stuff around the house, it was time to head back to Sniperville and enjoy some downtime with my own little family.

We took a short little nap before Jess jumped right into her first writing assignment for her masters program. I have to commend her on sticking with it. She’s been out of the world of writing and learning and going through the learning process for a while, but she did it. I read her paper and it sounds like she hasn’t missed a beat.

After the paper was done, we put Chase to bed and just enjoyed the rest of the night on the couch watching some TV and just being together. It seems like only a shot while that Jess and I have been together, but at the same time, it feels like a lifetime. She means the world to me. She is a fantastic mother to her son and she is a great woman to me. She is strong, independent, caring, understanding, patient, and eager to grow with me. She’s there for me when I am down and need some help getting back up, and she let’s me help her when she’s not at her peak. We work together, listen, understand, and strive to make every day better than the previous.

I love this woman who has come into my life. I love her for everything she is and everything I know she will be in the future. I will try my hardest to remind her every day how special she is to me and how much I truly do love her.

Thank you Jess for being you. I love you.

Tags: , , ,

Related posts

Take me (us) out to the ball game!

Posted by on April 22, 2010 No comments
Chase with game ball

Game ball!

Being from Philly, SJ’s mom gets tickets to the Braves vs. Philly’s game every year they are playing in Atlanta. It just so happened that this was one of those years. Also, with Jess’ spring break coming up she decided to take a look at the Braves schedule to see if there were any games that week we could take Chase too, it just so happened that the Braves were playing the Philly’s that week. Jess gave her mom and ring and come to find out, she had 4 tickets. We totally jumped on board with that and were all set for some good old fashioned ball game fun.

Chase went to the Braves game on Sunday with his dad and was totally stoked to go to anther game, but he wasn’t sure when that would be. We didn’t tell him we were sitting on 4 (3 + Jess’ mom) tickets. When he got the news, he just about passed out. He was SO excited. The look on a seven year old’s face when they get something as cool as 2nd row baseball tickets is just priceless.

So the day came, and off to Turner Field we went. Traffic was typical for game day, but it was all good since the weather was perfect and we were all in such great spirits! We got to the park, and started walking down to our seats. It was then when I realized just how close we were. I had been to several games before, but nothing like this. We were literally within arms reach of the field. So we sat there, cheering the Bravos, enjoying some beers and dogs and just having a great time.

The Braves lost that day, but that was totally over shadowed by the look on Chase’s face, when he got a game ball. This wasn’t one of those balls you can buy from the souvenir shops, this was an actual ball that was in the game. I swear he couldn’t put the thing down. He just kept twirling it around, examining every scuff and grass stain and marveling over it. The smile on his face totally made the night. I can’t wait to take him back to the park for another game.

So that was the Sniper’s first ball game together. There will be many, many more. Not sure if anything will top this one. Thank you Kathleen for the tickets and the experience.

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

A Very Turner Easter!

Posted by on April 14, 2010 No comments

Here are some pics from Easter! It was a very Turner Easter indeed. The SniperJess family still has some things to work out as far as ‘holidays sans domestic disbutes’…so we kept it the three of us. We also went to SniperBen’s family’s church cabin for food and egg hunts!

We started the holiday off by dying easter eggs. This is a childhood tradition for me (and most really) so it’s something I would love to pass down to Chase. We made striped eggs and pretty pastel eggs and the ever so crucial ‘everything’ egg which turned out much prettier than I remembered! We had a few mini hunts around the apartment for Chase then hit the kitchen…

Ahhh…our happy place. We are getting SO much better at planning and carrying out our big meals lately. This holiday called for cupcakes and muffins! I’ve been addicted to making cornbread muffins and putting creamed corn in the batter. They turned out delish! We also whipped up some stellar cupcakes. SB on the cake…SJ on the decor! They turned out so cute!

Lunch at the church cabin was traditional Easter lunch but very delicious..then the kids grabbed up what felt like 483290483 easter eggs from the field. We all had fun, got lots of great pics, and enjoyed the warm weather. In fact…after the egg hunt we stopped by for some swim suits and had our first swim of the year. The pool at the apartment is lots of fun and I anticipate some bloggin about the good times to come there.

So that’s it! Regular ol’ sniper fun on Easter. Hope yours was sniperrific as well!

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

Impromptu Royal Rumble!

Posted by on March 5, 2010 No comments

The other day Chase got a new wrestling ring for his “wrestle guys.” While at his dad’s he’s got another kid to play with and they’ll spend hours in their room playing with the toys and what not, but up in the D-Wood, there’s just Jess and I. It can get a bit boring for a seven year old, so to help keep everyone in good spirits we decided to have our very own Royal Rumble. Since we only have four wrestlers, we had to improvise. So we busted out an assortment of toys from Chase’s toy box and got everything set up.

It was a lot of fun and I reckon we’ll have another pretty soon. We might even have a championship match. Either way, it was good to see him smiling and having a good time. With the weather being like it is and at least one of us being sick every day it can get tedious and rather depressing around the house. We can’t easily go outside and ride his bike or hit up the pool. This summer should prove to be a nice change of pace. For now, we’ll have wrestle guy matches, puzzle time, SMB parties, and do what ever we can to keep us all smiling and in good spirits.

Tags: , ,

Related posts

What a Winter Break!

Posted by on February 22, 2010 No comments

I have had the last week off of work and it’s been B.L.I.S.S. With a sick day AND a snow day prefacing it…it feels like Christmas Break all over again. There is SO much to blog about! SB took care of our Vday weekend with his previous post. It really was a magical weekend for us. It was our first Vday that counts, but I truly hope we continue to have weekends like that for a long, long time. :)

When we got home SB was off for President’s Day. We stayed pretty busy in Chattanooga so it was nice to have him home to rest up and unpack from the trip. We also realized though, that if we were going to try to go car shopping together, today was the day. So off we went to Gossett VW in Alpharetta. I had my sights set on a Jetta…but drove it and just felt….meh. Next was a Passat and as soon as we got 1/2 a mile down the road we look and each other and just knew. This was the car! I’ve had it for a week now and I love it! Old Greg is gone (for $500!) and the new car needs a name. One will find her soon. :)

The rest of the week stayed pretty busy! My break’s usually fly by, but honestly I usually spend them being lazy as ever. I got a LOT done! My new driver’s license is on the way with my maiden name and I found a new doctor in Dunwoody and the whole office is awesome. Wednesday we planned on going to Snow Mountain, but waited too late to realize they are only opened on the weekends. doh! SB had the day off anyway so we enjoyed some family time at home. We went to dinner with SB’s parents for his dad’s bday and had some delicious food at Red Lobster. Our week of getting shit done continued on until the weekend rolled around and BAM! We were hit with some beeaauuutiful weather! Blue skies, slight breeze, sun shining in the 60’s. Chase and I drove around to look at schools earlier in the week and came across an awesome park that is literally around the corner from our apartment.

Saturday morning we got up, I went for a run, then we picked up some lunch and headed to the park! You would have thought they were giving away gold! People were just as in love with the weather as we were and it was packed. As we sat in the sun, ate our lunch, and watched the families, dogs, and our Chase, play and swing….it was just a great way to end the week.

But wait!! We have one more in us!! We were going to Snow Mountain dangit!! After two failed attempts (saturday time slots were sold out), we finally got a time slot at 6pm Sunday night. It seemed late for a school night, but it turned out perfectly! There was a small crowd at first but by 7:00 we were going straight up to the slides and tubing away! I was so nervous for Chase b/c I’m telling you…those things went fast! He loved it though…and I learned again that I need to let go just a little bit and let him be a boy. We have some great pics from the week. Now…if the next 9 weeks would just fly by so we can have Spring Break! :)

Tags: , ,

Related posts

On top of Stone Mountain

Posted by on December 31, 2009 No comments
It was totally snowing that day

Our family adventure begins

A few weeks ago Jess and I decided it would be nice to take Chase to Stone Mountain to see all the Christmas decorations, the laser show, the Atlanta skyline at sunset, and the building of the Snow Mountain area. Despite living in Georgia my entire life, I have never been on top of Stone Mountain. I know…it is a shock to me too! We packed up the camera, got bundled up, made a quick stop to get a snack, and we were on our way.

The park was NOT crowded at all. Then again it was a Monday afternoon and people still had to work I reckon. We walked around for a bit, checked out the Snow Mountain area, snapped a few photos, then decided to take the sky bucket thing to the top. I was pretty excited. I mean, it’s the top of Stone Mountain! I had heard how beautiful the city was from up there, but I never imagined it would’ve been as beautiful as it was on that day.

DSC_0072

Got'cha!

Chase pretty much took off running as soon as we got up there. Jess and I just took our time and enjoyed the view. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day. Yeah it was cold and the wind was kickin just a bit, but the sky was perfect and the view was amazing. There were a good deal of people up there, but not too many where we couldn’t just sit down in a nice cozy spot and enjoy it all. Chase had fun jumping over puddles, climbing on trees and rocks. However, he got a little ambitions and slid off the side of a big on. Luckily, Jess was there to catch him. Using her Super Mom abilities, she pulled him to safety! To celebrate, we decided it would be a grand idea to walk down instead of take the lift.

I had always wondered what it was like walking up/down the mountain. I mean…where did it go? How steep was it? Were there steps or was it just huge rocks you had to navigate around? Would there be bears or timberwolves? Perhaps there was a great chasm that one could fall victim to if you stepped in the wrong spot! Unfortunately there was no such thing, instead it was a gentle walk down a steep graded rocky mountain. Don’t get me wrong though, the walk down, far outweighed the ride up.

DSC_0104

The sun never sets on happiness

Neither one of us were really prepared for the mountain excursion we had just embarked on, but we weren’t going to let some mountain get in the way of our fun. So we took off and every once and a while would stop, take it all in, enjoy the view, holler at Chase for going to fast, slip on a slippery rock, or race each other to the next tree before realizing we were running down a mountain…and there were slippery rocks all around. About half way down we paused at a clearing and watch the last few moments of the sun set. It was beautiful to see the sun just slowly move out of view before saying goodbye and dipping just below the horizon. It was definitely one of the best sunsets I’ve witnessed.

Once we got to the bottom we realized we were now standing in a random parking lot on the other side of the mountain. The train was no where in sight and there didn’t appear to be any easy way to get back to where we started. Never fear, Jess and I are not one to let a little diversion stop us from having a good time. So we pulled out our map and decided on the best course of action, which was simply to walk back around to the front of the park. Chase was tuckered out from all the scurrying around, but that was nothing a quick piggy back ride couldn’t alleviate. We finally made it back to the front and were all set to walk around the shops, get some hot chocolate, and fill our bellies with what ever wonders the great people of Stone Mountain Park could come up with. Unfortunately, the only thing they could come up with was an additional $26 PER PERSON to just walk into a shop. Wait…what?! Yeah. In order to walk around the “towne” we had to pay MORE money. If we wanted to go into a shop and buy a glass blown ornament of a fat Santa snoozing in a chair or a snow globe of Stone Mountain it would cost us about $80. Even if we DIDN’T buy anything, it would still cost us. We couldn’t even walk around the village and look at the lights!

So rather than hang around any more, we chose to pack up the kiddo and head on back home. After a stop by Garcia’s for some delicious Mexican food, we got home, got warmed up and settled in for a long winter nap. Well, more like a few hours, but still.

And there you have it. Our first trip to Stone Mountain. I have to say that it is an adventure that I’ll not soon (or hopefully ever) forget. There were so many “ahhhhh” moments that I can’t even begin to recount them all. Despite the fact that we had to walk around the mountain to get back where we started and the steep price to pay for some extra fun, we found our way. We got back to where we needed to be. We made our own adventure. We made the trip ours.

:)

Thanksgiving break-2009: Sniper Style Part 3 (The next day…)

Posted by on December 15, 2009 No comments
DSCN0148

Not just 1 or 2, but 3 dancing machines!

Our week of thanksgiving bliss was trucking right along. I had good food and traditions with the Turner’s and lots of rest and cooking in Dwood with the boys, so the only thing left was turkey time with the Birney’s (Sniperjess’ family). For those of you that know us…the Birney house is always an interesting experience. It’s untraditional, and slightly unorthodox…but it’s always a good time with genuine intentions from all. My growing time in Dwood lately lead to what I would call a “catch up” session when we got there. The adult beverages were poured and we chatted about the previous week and just life in general. SniperBen had leftovers, but I was somewhat tired of turkey so I passed (which I would later regret…aLOT). SniperBen got yet another look into the life I grew up in. Our holidays are about celebration and believe me…we celebrate. There was laughing and jump roping and Madonna tunes blaring and dancing. I won’t sugar coat it…things get a lil crazy. It’s a lot for a person to take in if they are not accustomed to the Birney house, but SniperBen held his own. (and later held my own….blegghh). I will admit I may have over done the turkey day festivities, but I was still very thankful to have my guy there to load us up and take us home at the end of the night. (Sorry you had to tomtom your way back to my apartment babe…I owe you one! ..or two.)

DSCN0165

Aww, we found our perfect tree!

The next morning (after some much needed Tylenol on my part), we had plans to get our tree! Going to the tree farm and cutting down the perfect tree is tradition I have always had and I could not wait to share with the boys. Believe it or not, this was the first time SniperBen had experienced this tradition! That made it all the more exciting for me. Chase ran around pointing out his favorites, and we scoped the place for the best tree. Of course…we found it! Ben cut down his first tree like a pro and we headed home to watch some football and trim the tree…sounds simple, right?

Um… no. We got to my apartment and fought with the #$*& tree for about an hour (at least). We put it in the stand, everything looks great, let go and…wait for it…lean. Try again! Loosen this part…tighten this part..wait for it..it looks great!…wait…lean! GRRRR! This is a classic scenario where SniperBen’s patience is just what I need to keep me from throwing the damn spruce out the back door and getting another one.

Merry Christmas from the Snipers.

Merry Christmas from the Snipers

A deep breathe, and big ol’ hug, and that smile of his and I was laughing about it with him. He suggested dinner and a new, snazzier tree stand. While we were at it…I decided to switch up my boring ol’ theme and have a multicolored party tree!! And that we did…in addition to jazzing up the outside of the apartment too! I love our Milner tree and I love the decorations. We finally rested that night in a warm, cozy apartment filled with the glow of our hard work from the day. It’s the first Christmas I’ve had in a few years now that hasn’t felt like a chore. It’s an absolutely awesome feeling and I can’t wait to make more Sniper adventures this holiday season! (and believe me…stay tuned b/c they are coming!!)

You know we can’t do anything with out taking a ton of photos. So here’s the rest of the photos that help tell the tale of our very first Thanksgiving week together.

Tags: , , , ,

Related posts

Thanksgiving break – 2009: Sniper Style pt. 2 (Thanksgiving Day)

Posted by on December 7, 2009 No comments
Rosevelt the turkey

Roosevelt, meet Turner

In true Turner style the morning got started with a big plate of food and a lot of scrambling around. After breakfast Jess and I started in on the turkey, gravy base, and more chopping of vegetables. You’d think that after like three days of preparing food, we’d have all this mess done. That wasn’t really the case. There always seemed to be more carrots, onions, celery, taters… oh wait. No potatoes to cut up those had already been taken care of and were in the fridge setting up. Oh, the taters! Let me describe the ways I love thee. Ok, I’m done.

Here’s a side note on the Potatoes Gratin. In planning for this meal, we decided that it would be nice to branch out and try and new dish. Something that would take this whole feast up at least one notch. Well, I found a recipe for some potatoes gratin. So we got everything ready, including roasting our own garlic, making this cheesy cream stuff and boy did it smell good. It was assembled with great care and loaded up in the car in such a way that if a little were to spill out it wouldn’t be that bad (we sat it in a cookie sheet then placed it in the back seat floor board). Well that would’ve been great had the whole pan not erupted all over the place. About three miles form apartment, we both noticed an abundance of garlic smell. Upon further investigation it was discovered that the most epic potatoes on the planet were all over my car. So I pulled over and in a feat of great restraint decided to not throw the entire pan into on coming traffic. Instead I put them in a box I had in the back seat. This proved to be even less successful than I imagined in my head. Once we got to my parents house I discovered that I now had garlic cheesy cream sauce in the back of my car AND in the floor board of the back seat. No worries, we’d simply clean up the mess and put them in the fridge and they would be PERFECT for our lunch the next day.

Roosevelt

Roosevelt!

Back to Thanksgiving day! We got everything cooked and boxed up and the house was smelling unbelievable and damn…we forgot to cook the potatoes! Deep breath… Ok, box’em up and we’ll cook them while we eat and have them at dinner. So we get to my aunt’s house (a short walk from my parents) and after chatting for a bit, and getting stuff set up, we start in on what turned out to be one of the best Thanksgiving lunches I’ve ever had. Eventually I smelled something that didn’t smell that fantastic…oh, that must be the potatoes that are now charcoal in the oven. Yeah…after all that we burned the taters. Fail. Oh well, everything else was perfect. From the apple cake that people couldn’t get enough of to the deviled eggs that went faster than you could spell deviled eggs. Everything was just perfect.

DSC_0169

Decorating the fence

For years, the Turner tradition has been to decorate my grandmother’s fence after we eat lunch. This year was no exception. The temperature was a bit cold, but we’ve been through much worst. It actually turned out to be pretty amazing out. The kids got to run around and play, the “adults” decorated the fence and we got it all up in no time. I was really glad Jess got experience it this year. She and Chase seemed to just fit right in. Watching her interact with the family and seeing Chase run around and laugh and play just brought a warmth to my heart that I’ve not had before. The day was perfect.

After the fence was done we hung out and chatted for a bit before heading back to the apartment. The plan was to get home, unpack everything, rest up for a bit and then go see a movie. We left it up to Chase since we figured he wouldn’t want to see 2012. Eventually he decided on Planet 51, which turned out to be pretty funny. We had a good time out and about and it was a great end to an outstanding day.

This Thanksgiving day will not be one soon forgotten. Everything fell into place. All the things that were most important to me where with me and I couldn’t have asked for things to go any better. I know it’s been over a week since Thanksgiving and we’re now a few weeks from Christmas, but it’s all good. Sometimes a sniper doesn’t always take the first shot and waits for the right time.

Up next… the Birney Thanksgiving festivities, our first tree, and the end to a nearly perfect week.

Tags: , , ,

Related posts

Thanksgiving break – 2009: Sniper Style pt. 1

Posted by on December 1, 2009 No comments
New Moon Queen

Maybe YOU should relax

It all started with a trip to Burger King for some New Moon paraphernalia. I got Jess’ place and we got ready and headed off for some sushi, time with friends, and a gaggle of tweens and/or begrudgingly happy boyfriends and husbands. The movie was ish at best. It was better than Twilight, but then again, Twilight was a pretty terrible movie. There were some decent fight scenes, a fast car or two, some sparkly “vampires”, enough emo looks to make a rainbow cry, and and then some credits. That pretty much sums up the movie, or at least what I recall of it. The night wasn’t a total wash however. On the way to Milner, Jess got word that one of her friends was looking to unload some UGA tix. We jumped at the chance, I stopped by the ATM, got some cash and in exchange, we got tickets to what would be our very first GA game!

uga tickets

UGA vs. KU tickets

Saturday was spent kinda laying around since we were up late on Friday. With this being our first game, we decided that we needed some GA gear so we’d fit in with all the other Athenites. In addition to the new shirts, we went ahead and picked up a new camera. No sense in lugging around the big camera the whole night. The ride out there was pretty quick and after finding a good parking spot, we made our way to Sanford Stadium. The game went as expected, with GA bending over for Kansas and the echo of “Cox’s pass is incomplete” on loop throughout the night. After witnessing a girl getting vomited by a drunk guy hanging over the ledge of the upper level and our asses being frozen off, we decided it was time to head out. The game didn’t get any better after we left, but that’s all good. Jess’ put on a show with some cartwheels on the way to the car.

Sunday was more of the laziness factor of vacation setting in, only this time we went ahead and got all the stuff we would need for the week (dinners, breakfasts, lunches, Thanksgiving, lots of snacking, drinking, etc). Jess had to go pick up Chase that afternoon, so while she was gone, I made up a batch of my soon to be world famous OTP chili. It’s the kind of chili that people ITP can only dream about. The rest of the night was spent enjoying dinner, couch time, iCarly, Sponge Bob, iCarly, Sponge Bob, Suite Life of Zack and Cody, iCarly, and then some non-Nik TV. The first weekend on what was already becoming an epic Thanksgiving break had come to a close.

Chicken Florentine Lasagna

Chicken Florentine Lasagna

Monday was spent making lists, laying around, playing video games, watching cartoons, napping, cleaning, just being together. For dinner the plan was to make some awesome lasagna. Dinner did not disappoint. Jess whipped up a stellar Chicken Florentine Lasagna that pretty much blew all our minds. Well, it would’ve blown our mind some more had it not been for the inedible “garlic” bread that I made. I my overly zealous ambition to make something that could equal her dinner, I threw enough garlic to kill all the Cullen’s PLUS give Jacob a heart attack. Needless to say, we just at the lasagna and salad (and drank the wine). After dinner, we started in on the makings of the Thanksgiving desserts. Jess started in on her Apple Cake and I got to crackin’ on my Everything Fall Cookies. The cookies and cake took their toll on us and we were worn out. I mean, there’s only so much cooking one can do at like 8pm at night before you just need to sit down and watch iCarly or Sponge Bob.

"Big City" haircut

Tuesday morning was all set for some breakfast then off to get fancy haircuts in the “big city”. I had an appointment for 12:30 and since Chase needed to get a haircut, we got him squeezed in for noon. This was the first time he or Jess had been to one of them fancy hair cuttin’ places. So rather than an old man in a white coat bustin’ out some clippers and a comb from some blue liquid jar and giving you two pieces of double bubble gum after you hair cut, we got Cortex. After getting our hair did, we headed out. We popped in to El Azteka for some Mexican foodstuffs then decided it would be a great idea for Jess and Chase to be introduced to Ikea! As it turns out, it WAS a great idea. We got some really good ideas of some things we want in our apartment when they move in. We found a dining room table, some desks, a spring form pan, some paintings, a few pillows, and all and 6 insanely huge cinnamon rolls. Well, since the cinnamon rolls would’ve gone bad by the time Jan. 15 rolls around, so we decided to go ahead and nom on those. The rest of the day was spent enjoying each other’s company and prepping more food for Thanksgiving. Actually… now that I recall, the apple cake was made on Tuesday night. Either way it was a grand evening and just what we both needed.

Girl's got a cannon for an arm!

Check out that cannon!

Wednesday was spent getting MORE things ready for what was turning out to be the Thanksgiving meal to end all meals. We did some prep work in the morning, then headed to the park. We took Chase’s bike so he could ride around and not be so cramped up. The day turned out to be perfect. The weather was just right, there was no one there, we found some balls and tossed’em around a bit, and generally had a great time. It was exceptionally nice to just spend some time with Jess and Chase outside, not in front of a TV getting frustrated at Boom Blox or watching iCarly. After the park, we loaded up the car with all our fixin’s and headed over to my parents house. The plan was to stay there Wednesday night so we could get up early Thursday and get to rockin’ on the lunch. This turned out to be a great idea. We got there that afternoon, and started in on the prep.

DSC_0043

All that for 1 turkey?!

As I got started on gutting the turkey, Jess went to town on chopping up the veggies. She sliced like a ninja and cut like a razor blade through onions, celery, carrots, butter, herbs, and all manner of things. We got everything we could done and all set for our first official Thanksgiving together. All the pots were put away, the lists were double checked, the cookies had been nommed, and it was time for bed.

Next up is the adventures of our Turner Thanksgiving day, including decorating the fence, the most epic plate of food ever, and so much food that it would have been a pleasure to fall into a coma.