Turkey Day with Gammy

The Zyrieks loaded up and flew out to South Dakota for Thanksgiving. I have only missed two Thanksgiving Day holidays with my family in my entire life. I am just a home body I guess!! The girls were so excited to spend a few days with Gammy and play with all the toys she has at her house. We arrived on Wednesday and spent time catching up with Mary and getting settled in. Mary invited a friend over for Thanksgiving dinner which Mary prepared and it was delicious. She even found her own mother's recipe for good old Southern dressing and I was very pleased! That is one of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal. I have even learned to make it myself compliments of a recipe from Southern Living. Mary did not disappoint with all her creations.

the girls having fun in mary's basement with all the toys!

anna made the table decorations

my sweet family

mary with her son and granddaughters.

beautiful view from mary's deck

I decided to sleep in on Black Friday but fully participated in Cyber Monday upon returning to Memphis!


Gary and I took in the Auburn/Alabama game from the local Chili's since Mary does not have loca channels at her house. We were so excited for 58 minutes of the game....and then the lucky Crimson Tide disappointed us and our upset hopes.

gary and enjoyed hanging out watching the auburn game....boo bama!!

After the game we headed up to Hill City to take the old 1880 Train to the "North Pole" We rode the train for about an hour and were served cookies and hot cocoa by Santa's elves and met Santa halfway through the ride. Anna was doubtful that we were truly in the North Pole but Caroline was very much in on it. Caroline is warming up to Santa but did require Gary to be in the picture with her.

the girls are literally hanging out the window looking for santa

anna enjoyed having a snapshot with santa

Saturday Mary took the girls with her to the paint a piece pottery studio to make some surprise Christmas gifts and have lunch too. Gary and I were able to knock out some errands for Mary and a little bit of shopping for Christmas. Then we took in a late afternoon showing of The Blind Side. Highly recommend it and not just because the story took place in Memphis. It was great and well done. The theatre was packed and we wondered if the Rapid City folks even recognized half of the SEC coaches shown in the movie.

Back home on Sunday and back to reality. We enjoyed relaxing, resting, visiting and taking in the scenery. Gary took his mountain bike and rode a few times with one of Mary's doctor friends. It was well worth the effort as Gary claimed it was gorgeous scenery and the terrain his bike was made for.

gary had gorgeous scenery for his rides



We have much to be thankful for and we truly enjoyed our trip!!

Feasting with Caroline

Gary and I joined Caroline for her classroom feast. She was decked out in her pilgrim hat and very excited to have us join her. The food was very yummy and the kids liked doing something different. Caroline is so crazy she keeps us on her toes. After lunch she organized some of the kids for a game around the basketball goals in the gym....I guess she must do that a lot because when I picked her up yesterday from school she was in timeout for "climbing up the goals" per her own words!

One funny comment from Caroline during lunch was when they tried to put cranberry sauce on her plate. She said that was "turkey blood" and she was not going to eat it. She is hilarious.

Gary and I are so thankful for Caroline and all the excitement and of course occasional frustration that she brings to our lives. I can't wait to see what she grows up to be one day!! I know she will make us proud and laugh.....

caroline's "i am thankful for" turkey...love that i am first!

caroline with mya and ava

gary and i with our little pilgrim

Thanksgiving Thoughts

We are off to South Dakota for Thanksgiving tomorrow morning bright and early, ok, not so bright if we take off at 6:00 AM!!! Call me crazy but that flight was the cheapest ticket available. We've done it before and the girls did very well. It gets us to Mary's house a litle after 10am with the time change. We have been packing and thinking ahead about our trip. Last night at dinner I asked the family to tell what their favorite part of Thanksgiving was and here are the responses:

Gary: Spending time with my family and this year my mom

Anna: Eating good food and seeing my family

Caroline: Not eating pumpkin pie and hugging my family

Lisa: Eating pumpkin pie and relaxing

This year will be a little different since we are out of town but we will truly enjoy God's glory in nature when we relax at Mary's house in the Black Hills. We may be able to sneak in some Black Friday shopping....there are a few stores out there : )!!

Final thought....Gary's mom has turkey and deer on her land that the girls really enjoy watching and feeding. Caroline asked me this morning if we were going to eat the turkey from Gammy's backyard....Of course we are not but I can already sense a small protest on the part of Caroline in case her plate includes what she fed last time we were in town!!

Happy Thanksgiving....I have so much to be thankful for.

Harding 5k

This past weekend Harding Academy held their annual 5k race/fundraiser. The school did a great job encouraging the kids and their families to sign up to race. Once you were signed up the kids were allowed to wear their long-sleeved race t-shirts to school with jeans on two different days last week. This was amazing to get 2 days off from wearing uniforms and Anna was thrilled. Anna wanted to run the 5k and asked me to run it with her. I thought it would be fine and stressed to her that we were not trying to win but merely finish what we started. She was amazing!! We finished with a time of around 41 minutes and she did not complain once. She ran 7 1/2 minutes to start the race and then alternated walking with running. We finished strong and she was so thrilled as was I. She wants to do more 5k's around town to get used to it and improve her time.

mom and daughter finishing together!

anna and mckayla both finished the 5k!

Cyp won 1st in his category and i won 3rd....lots of parents running with their kids! i'll take a medal any day of the week!

Then, it was Caroline's turn. To generate interest in the event for the "Little Lions" (ages 2-kindergarten) at Harding, they created the "5L" race. This was 5 laps for Little Lions. Caroline got her very own race shirt as well and wore it proudly to school last week when Anna wore hers. She was so geared up to put on her race number and tiger paw tattoos on Saturday. Her race was hilarious and she loved every lap of it. The laps were 100 yards each. Caroline was giving it her all and even gave a few of the parents high-fives as she passed them on her laps.

caroline the speed racer loving every minute of it

Fun day overall. Wish Gary's knee was more healthy as he could of joined us too. Just excited to see the kids enjoying being outdoors on a beautiful day and getting some great exercise as well.

Here's to a healthy family!!

It's pumpkin time!!

Anna's soccer practice was cancelled yesterday due to the downpour (why does it always rain on Tuesdays during soccer season??) so Gary decided to pick the girls up early and carve ALL the pumpkins we have at our house. We picked up 2 large ones at Cedar Hill Farm during fall break and Caroline picked up 2 smaller ones at the Harding Early Childhood pumpkin patch. Plus we have 2 pie pumpkins, but those will stay in tact! Gary prepped the pumpkins on Monday by carving the top and emptying all the contents. He carefully cleaned the seeds to roast later this week. If any of you know my attention-t0-detail (code for obsessive compulsive) husband, you realize that he washed EACH seed carefully as to remove all remnants from the interior of the pumpkin. Makes him happy and definitely did not bother anyone, so have at it, Gary!!

I was still at work while the kids decided on their creations. Caroline wanted a silly face and so she got a cross-eyed jack-o-lantern with one tooth. Anna wanted a happy one and drew the face herself for Gary to carve. Gary carved the largest one with a classic scary face. By the time I got home from work, the pumpkins were carved and dinner was on the table!! Now, how is that for a productive afternoon!!

caroline with her "silly" jack-o-lantern
anna has a happy jack-o-lantern

gary has an awesome scary jack-o-lantern


we had them all lit up but hard to tell here. great job, gary!

Trunk or Treat

Some friends from Highland Church of Christ invited us to their annual "Trunk or Treat" tonight. It was such fun for the girls. After a cookout and devotional, the kids did a parade of costumes and then trick or treated at all the cars. It was fun to see how everyone had decorated their tailgates, trunks or even our friends the Bakers that had a decorated RV!! The girls changed up their costumes from Friday night and wore their Auburn cheerleader outfits. They had a really good time and enjoyed seeing so many of their friends from school. We had a great night!

my friend rachel baker attends Highland C of C and won best in show for their western themed rv. we've known each other since first grade!!
fun displays really entertained the kids....this was a display of one of the kidnergarten teachers from harding....

the girls were getting ready to participate in the costume parade

the girls with sophie and lanie from school

Fall Fun Fest

The past two weekends we have had the Harding Fall Festival and the Hope Fall Fun Fest!! Both have been fun and Memphis has treated us with crisp fall weather both weekends. Harding had some fun games for the kids and surprisingly fun shopping for me. I was able to scoop up some great Christmas gifts while the kids were on the moon bounces or laughing at the dunk tank!! By the way, the teachers and other faculty that braved the dunk tank on a cloudy day in the low 50's were awesome!!

This weekend Hope Presbyterian hosted their annual Fall Fun Fest complete with moon bounces, a mechanical bull, rock climbing walls, quad bungee jumps and lots of games, food and candy. There was even a live game show called Kids Blitz. Gary was asked to be a stage manager and had a great time. Anna was disappointed to not be picked to participate on stage however she enjoyed it greatly! The girls were dressed up as Pocohantas and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. It was a chilly night but fun and we stayed for over 4 hours!

Looking forward to more fall fun times and of course trick or treat next weekend.

anna modeling her face paint
caroline and gary at harding's festival
the girls braved the wind and cool temps to model their costumes before heading up to church
pocohantas on the rock wall
gary as stage manager in kids blitz