Some Thanksgiving Loveliness.

Ah, Thanksgiving.  The holiday where everyone Instagrams at least 2 of these 5 pictures: the cute baby or kid in the extended family, someone carving the turkey, their plate of food, their Christmas tree, and great Black Friday finds and/or lines. 

Everyone has their Thanksgiving traditions and favorite foods.

Well my Thanksgiving tradition got changed 3 years ago when my parents retired and moved to the Black Hills.  So now I go there instead of going to Grandma's house in my Minnesota hometown.   This year my aunt and two cousins made the 10ish hour drive out there as well. 

Family, beautiful scenery, and food?  Check.

The first morning the cousins and I hiked Lookout Mountain. It's not technically a mountain.  But it sounds more legit if you say you climbed a mountain rather than a hill, so mad props to whoever named it Lookout Mountain. 

Then we drove through Spearfish Canyon and walked down to the bottom of a waterfall. And it was snowy and beautiful and I kept singing Walking in a Winter Wonderland.  Mostly just in my head. Don't wanna be too embarrassing.

Then we went to Devil's Tower. It's so bizzare.

Here's my cute parents.
I like them.

Then we had to go say hello to the Presidents' heads.  Because when you're in the Black Hills, that's what you do.



Because it gets dark out so early now, they advertise the "Lighting of Mt. Rushmore!" in the local media.  So we went at dusk to see that.  They kept announcing the countdown until the lighting over the intercom.  So we were expecting something grandiose and "Ooohh! Ahhh!" worthy.

Nope.  They just...turned on the lights.

Oh look! We dressed up.

Headin' to the Hills for some Christmas tree hunting!!

Here's a video. 
I had one of my dad actually chopping the tree down, but long story short, you get to see this one instead.

After chopping down our tree, we stopped at Chubby Chipmunks for some truffles.  $3 each and worth every penny. I like to support local businesses. 

Especially when they have as cool of a name as Chubby Chipmunks.

Here's my little tree I got for my apartment :)

Yep, I have a blast whenever I get to come to visit my parents in Spearfish.  It's only a 6 hour car ride from Denver, so I'll be pretty sad when I move to Seattle and am ALOT further away.  But...it is what it is.

I sure do have a lot to be thankful for!

Oh, and Quincy loves being at his grandparents' house. He's the spoiled first grandchild and loves every minute of it.  He's on a diet though so was paranoid about all the apple and pumpkin pie he was eating.

I will leave you with this little slice of hedgie happiness.