With Thanksgiving

Well, it's been awhile.... and of course, I'm writing a post about Thanksgiving in December, so I'm obviously behind. November wasn't the easiest of months, so I'm thankful that it's over! There's so much to be thankful for this year!

I'll start off on a bit of a sad note, and the biggest reason why November wasn't easy. It's been a month since one of my best friends and mentors, Travis, died very suddenly of an aortic dissection. He was 32. I first met Travis when I started working at the Capitol. I'm not really sure when our first introduction was, he was just a guy I always knew. During the 2007 Legislative Session we worked some together as my boss was on the committee he was the Committee Clerk for and I was the staff member assigned to follow that committee. Then in the 2009 Session we worked together on the Corrections Committee. We were quite a team! Travis was a pretty passionate guy and we were always baffled as to how we made it through six months of working in such a small space together for such long hours without ever once getting into an argument or disagreement. He taught me so much during that time and I will never be able to thank him enough. Today, and every day, I am thankful for the friend and mentor he was to me. He was my very best friend in the Capitol and I miss him dearly. It's still hard to believe that I won't ever hear him yelling after me in the hallway or enjoy a lunch at Cisco's with him or see his smiling face. I'm thankful for his friendship, one that I will forever cherish. I am also thankful for the friends who were there and have helped me cope with this sudden loss.

I'm thankful for my wonderful fiance. I'm so lucky to have him in my life! It is such a wonderful feeling to know that you have a partner in life: someone to celebrate the triumphs with and to bear the hardships with as well.

I'm thankful for my wonderful family, both current and soon-to-be. We are so blessed to have loving and supportive parents and siblings and some of the cutest nieces and nephew around! Thanksgiving was so much fun because we got to spend time with each of the 8 kiddos that are in our wedding party. I played some quality "Just Dance" on the wii with Brooke, walked sweet Paige around the living room, we took Ella and Eric to see the Muppet Movie, and enjoyed fun time at the lake with Madelyn, Jace, Will (who can say my name now!) and Braxton.

On the wedding planning front: Save the dates have been mailed out! Bridesmaids dresses and flower girl dresses have been picked! We had a successful meet the family fish fry at the lake over Thanksgiving (minus the rain), so Steven's parents and sister's family could meet all of my aunts and uncles and their families. Came home from Thanksgiving to the invitation to our engagement party later this month in Lufkin, so exciting! We're less than 5 months out, people!