Something to be thankful for

On Wednesday, November 26th Kevin and I prepared for the worst. We made sure to pack lightly, fitting everything in our carry on baggage and we arrived a little over an hour early to make sure we could make it to our gate on time. Then we walk up to the ticket counter. No, I mean we literally walk right up to the ticket counter get our boarding pass and walk to the security area. No line there either! We couldn't believe it. The airport was pretty dead. Thanksgiving weekend is notorious for being one of the craziest time to fly, but not this year. we had the easiest most stress free travel experience ever.




Our final destination was Cookeville, Tennessee. It is a small town about an hour outside of Nashville. Both my sister Lezlea and my brother Brent's families make their home there. I was really excited to take this trip because my family hasn't been all together like this since my wedding two years ago. The only one that couldn't make it was my sister Tamara, but that's a whole other story.




One thing I love about my family is that we like to play games together. I had seen a board game based on the TV show "Don't forget the lyrics" and I thought that would be perfect for the Archer clan. We split up into two teams (brent and I on opposite sides of course) and had a blast.



Another activity we did was play laser tag as a family. Most of us showed up in black shirts ready for war. My dad kept teasing me that I was going down and he was going to be the one to put me there. The way this particular game is set up each player is assigned a code name. Mine for example was superfang for one round. These names allow the other players to see who they have been hit by. I kept getting shot by the "Hammer". I was getting so frustrated and when it was all over I asked aloud "Who the heck was the hammer?" I look around and my mother raised her hand and said "I'm the hammer." I thought that was awesome. Sure, my dad may have beaten me, but my mom beat us all! it just goes to show it's always the quiet ones you need to watch out for. :)


There has been two new additions to my family since my wedding two years ago. So I was excited to get to meet them. One was my nephew Adam. He is Brent and Dana's youngest and right now the only next generation namesake. (No pressure Adam :) He is a real cutie. It took him a while to warm up to me, but when he did he sure became a cheeseball. The next addition was my new brother-in-law Ted. He and Melissa got married this past April and since they put it together so quickly we weren't able to make it out to the wedding. Ted had to work through the Thanksgiving holiday, but drove all the way from North Carolina just to meet Kevin and I. We only got to hang out for a few hours and then we flew out the next morning. I thought that was really nice of him to put forth such effort just to meet us. He is such a nice guy. He treats Melissa so well and I can tell he makes her really happy. We are gonna have to go visit them sometime so we can get to know him better.


I was sad when it was time to come home. Not because I don't like my life out here in California, but because I love and miss my family so much. Hopefully, we can all get together again next year.