Thanksgiving

Due to a promotion I received a few months ago, I hadn’t taken any time off work, so when I finally had a few days off for Thanksgiving weekend, I was definitely grateful. Dylan and I spent Thanksgiving Day at my parent’s new house. This was Dylan’s first Thanksgiving with my family since last year we went to Utah to be with his family. We talked about the different side dishes that our families make. His family always makes green bean casserole, which I just learned is a traditional Thanksgiving food. As far as I can remember, we have never made green bean casserole in my family. My favorite dish is always the candied yams. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

After stuffing ourselves, Dylan and I decided to head to Prescott for the rest of the long weekend. As I mentioned before, Dylan grew up in Prescott, but now he is the only one of his family that lives in Arizona. Still his parents own a home and guest house in Chino Valley, so we spent this past weekend there. The cool weather and open prairies make the trip worth it every time. We spent most of the time playing board games (our current favorites are Ticket to Ride and Farkle). We also hiked around Watson Lake and the Granite Dells.

Prescott is one of those snow globe cities to me. If I collected snow globes, I would want the layout of Prescott in one because of the memories and the feeling of wonder I get being there. It’s the place I fell in love with my husband. Before meeting Dylan, I only remember travelling to Prescott once.  In the 6^th grade I went to a leadership camp; I’m not even sure where it’s located but I always say Prescott.

Since Dylan was living in Prescott when we met, I ended up spending a lot of time there all of the sudden. Luckily the house he was living in had a spare bedroom, so I could spend the whole weekend there with him and his roommates. Dylan would come to my parents’ house some weekends as well, but he only had a couch to sleep on.

Watson Lake and the Dells

One of our first dates in Prescott was hiking in the Granite Dells. Dylan just made up a path through all the rocks and took off. I remember trying to keep up with him as we scrambled over boulders. We also went to the best Chinese buffet ever. Now I am pretty sure I really only think U-Like Buffet is the best because of the snow globe effect, but even today it seems like the best $10 meal a person can get. Other memories like geocaching, game nights, and Aroma’s pizza are also tied to Prescott.

One of my favorite funny memories happened on a date in downtown Prescott. We went to the Courthouse Square. The Christmas lights were still on all the towering trees and it was a cold night. We meandered through the local shops musing over the souvenirs and relics of the Old West. Then we stopped for some ice cream because even on the coldest night, I want ice cream. My hands were freezing trying to hold that ice cream cone. Dylan and I would hold hands and stick our hands together in his coat pocket while I use the other hand to eat ice cream. After a minute or two, we would swap hands so the other hand could warm up as we walked around.

 Later, he drove us up a little hill to look at all the city lights. We were chatting and enjoying the warmth of the car heater. Dylan was holding my hand and then leaned in for a kiss… on my hand (he held out for the first lips kiss for a while). I saw the gesture and just figured that my hands were too frozen to have actually felt the kiss. We continued talking.  Then after a few minutes, Dylan said, “wait I think I kissed my own hand!” I died laughing. Apparently instead of kissing the back of my hand, he actually kissed his own hand and I was too cold to know the difference.  This is still our little joke, and we commonly kiss the back of our own hands for fun.

I definitely enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday and the opportunity to relive those fun memories of falling in love. If only it could all fit in a little snow globe; luckily it’s all not too far away from our current home.