Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year. We drove down to LA the Sunday before to start the festivities. This year was my family's turn for Thanksgiving, but now that everyone is in the same city again, we were able to bounce back and forth and spend time with all three families. And aside from the yummy food all week, we were able to attend the recording of The Voice, a Laker's basketball game, go ice skating, see Skyfall and go miniature golfing. Needless to say, we were a little spoiled... and loved every minute of it. 

Heading in to The Voice taping

The show was really fun to attend live. The performances were so good, it was hard to choose a favorite.

Kenzie, is still in London for study abroad, so in her absence, we made this life size headshot of her to include in our pictures throughout the week. We didn't tell her about it and just let her find out when we posted and tagged pictures to Facebook. I thought it was pretty hysterical.

We spent Tuesday with my mom in Thousand Oaks, where we had lunch, went to the book store and attempted ice skating with Westin... not the easiest activity with a three year old.

It took about an hour,a lot of breaks and pep talks from Ryan (and some major back pain), but by the end Westin was able to go around the rink by himself holding on to the rail.

When Westin took his breaks, mom and I skated like superstars.

Tuesday night was the Laker's game - Westin's first. Uncle T got him his own Kobe jersey just for the occasion.

Couldn't forget Kenzie

We really lucked out and got the NBC suite (thanks papa Steve) and were able to invite Trevor, Shalice, Adam and two of my brother's friends. It was a par-tay!

Wednesday we spent the day at the Richs. Not the whole family was here, so dinner was a little more low-key, which made for time to rake leaves and see Skyfall that night.

And when I say low-key, I mean spectacular!

On Thursday, we started our day with a hike through the hills in Studio City.

We then came home to start the cooking... Loni and me, that is. The boys kept Westin entertained and enjoyed some football.

Dinner #2 was also fantastic. Loved the new sweet potato casserole Loni tried (made with coconut milk instead of butter and cream which gave it a super creamy texture and great flavor - you actually don't taste the coconut. It also has nutmeg and cinnamon in it, paired with a granola crumble topping).

Since two Thanksgiving dinners is more than enough food, we opted not to do a third with my mom on Friday. Instead, we went miniature golfing and dined on Mexican food that evening at one of my favorite places, Lupes. Miniature golfing is always fun with Westin, who always wins. Second place was Ryan and my mom took third place. Pretty impressive, mom!

Westin got two holes-in-one... he really is a pro at this game!

Saturday we saw the Richs again and then took off north. Doug and Jan gave us the heads up that driving back to SF on Sunday would be a nightmare... like a 9-hour nightmare. They saved us!

Thanks to all our families for such a fun, memorable week!