Two years running, Jeff and I have escaped the cold and rain to spend Thanksgiving in a hot locale with his family. This year, it was at Jeff’s parents’ snowbird home Fountain Hills, Arizona, and last year was Cabo, which is near impossible to top. Somehow I didn’t end up taking a bunch of pictures of our activities – I was too busy soaking in the relaxing, fun times with the Krasses in the 80-degree heat.

Thanksgiving offers a great opportunity to reflect on how lucky we are. Seriously, sometimes I worry that the bubble is going to burst – we’re just so happy and blessed with so much. (The one exception is the Coop cancer thing, but even that is seemingly going well for now.) I’m lucky I love my in-laws and Jeff’s whole family, and of course my family and friends (and Jeff’s friends) are the best, too. We’re in great, stable jobs at one of the coolest companies in the world, and live in a city we adore, full of crazy, interesting, nice people, including a bunch of wonderful friends and co-workers. You can’t ask for much more. We’re so thankful!

Back to the trip: we spent some quality time with Jeff’s extended Krass fam during our four-day stay in Arizona, spending Turkey Day morning at the only parade in the state, the underwhelming Thanksgiving Day Parade in Fountain Hills. We ate a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at Uncle Dick and Aunt Barb’s place, and then followed up with round two the following day at cousins Lindsay and Shane’s new place. The guys golfed a couple rounds, the girls hit the gym (including a hot yoga class, yay!) and the spa at CopperWynd Resort, nestled right inside the Krasses’ housing community. We wandered around the Scottsdale Shopping Quarter, snagging a tasty healthy lunch at True Food Kitchen before visiting iPic, the swankest movie theater I’ve ever seen, to watch Lincoln. Bob and Chris won a few hundred dollars at the Talking Stick Casino and Resort, and we finished our visit with an early dinner at Tee Pee Mexican Food – delicious fare made even more enjoyable by our Michigan-born waiter/bartender. 🙂

A gorgeous morning for the Fountain Hills Thanksgiving Day Parade

My vantage point during the Lions/Texans Thanksgiving Day game. Ah.

Amy with Lindsay and Shane’s adorable son Easton

Chilling on Uncle Dick and Aunt Barb’s patio

Brother and sister: cousins Phil and Lindsay

Jeff, sporting his Movember moustache, playing with little cousin Easton (who we obviously need to outfit with Nike clothes) 🙂

Getting our euchre fix with the Krass family

Lunch at the True Food Kitchen in Scottsdale

Drinking cocktails at the Tanzy Restaurant connected to iPic movie theater

We probably ate 10 pounds of these delicious pistachios over the holiday weekend – available at Costco

Serenity at the CopperWynd Resort lap pool