Wonderful Thanksgiving with a couple other Grad Students

So this is the time of year when you're reminded just how far away you are from your family.  I'll admit that it was much easier to be away from home this Thanksgiving than last year, but it was still a challenge.  My parents live in central Minnesota, and it just isn't financially possible for me to fly home from Alaska for a 4 day weekend, especially when 2 of those would be spend traveling.  So instead I spent the break house and dog sitting at my professor's home.

I love the balloons!  Ashley did her best to keep me watching the parade while I was running around fixing things for our feast... haha

I still had a Wonderful Thanksgiving though!  I had 2 fellow "homeless on the holidays" graduate students over and we baked up a Feast!  Ashley came over in the morning and we enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (I just found out one of my classmates that I graduated with from UND was actually at the parade... so jealous!)... Ashley and I worked on preparing the meal... and then we went to go pick up Austin.

Turkey after step 1...

Goofing around watching Christmas movies on TV and letting our tummies settle after the feast...

I cooked up a turkey (my best yet I think)... we make a ton of mashed potatoes... stuffing... Ashley brought veggies galore!  ... we had biscuits... rolls... cranberry sauce... Austin's amazing green bean casserole... and 3 pies!  Way too much food... and way too much fun!  We all paced ourselves ... each with a set gameplan to eat our favorites from our own families traditions back home. 

Ashley working on the veggies

Just part of our Thanksgiving feast!

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching Christmas movies... playing with Oook (the cute dog i'm sitting for)... and laughing harder than I've laughed in quite some time!  I love you guys!!

Oook... isn't he cute!  He kept stealing Ashley's boot... and I laughed a lot!

So it still turned out to be a wonderful holiday... and being away from home really makes you appreciate your family so much more.  Being up here in Alaska I know I've learned that I may have taken some things for granted when I was closer to home.  I've grown so much as a person in the past year and a half!

And in tradition of Thanksgiving... here are a few things I am thankful for:

• A loving and supportive family that always supports me
• Amazing new friends in Alaska
• Wonderful friends I've meet at UND, back home, through internships, and all around the world
• Employment at the International Arctic Research Center, and a full ride for my master's studies
• The incredible traveling opportunities and life experiences I've had this past year

Sunrise: 10:05 AM
Sunset: 3:11 PM
Total Sun: 5 hrs 12 min

Countdown to Minnesota: 23 Days!