A lot has happened in the month of November...so much so that we haven't had time to blog!

The first item of interest is my wedding dress. I went shopping for a dress early in November with Tony's mom, sister, sister-in-law and niece. We had a great day looking at dresses and having lunch together. The consultant at the dress shop thought they were my family and was genuinely surprised to find out that they aren't...yet! I think that's a pretty good sign that I fit in with the Masters clan as if they were my own. Here we are outside the dress shop. From left: Joan, Vicky, me, Barbara and Kayla.

We narrowed the dress down that day and kept notes on them for future reference.

The weekend before Thanksgiving, we headed to the mountains for the Masters/Hawthorne family retreat (and to celebrate Joan's and Vicky's birthdays). I'd never been to the mountains and was a bit disappointed when the weather was warm and sunny! I was looking forward to some chilly, cool furry boots-wearing kind of weather. The warm temps didn't stop us from lighting a fire and doing mountain house activities like puzzles and playing games and drinking beer. Here's me and Barbara working on a DaVinci Code puzzle. Many hands had a part in finishing that puzzle in roughly six hours, after which, Tony and I demonstrated the Stow and Go puzzle mat that miraculously keeps your puzzle together all rolled up!

My mom and dad came to town for Thanksgiving and to meet Tony's family. We think the meeting went rather well. Neither family has tried to get us to cancel the wedding yet, so I think we're in the clear. All kidding aside though, I think our families are pretty darn similar in their warmth and greatness. I can't wait to see everyone together at the wedding. My dad celebrated his birthday on Thanksgiving Day with a pumpkin pie that he shared with the rest of us.

The next day however, he ate an entire pie all by himself. I took my mom and dad to the dress shop to look at some more dresses and found the dress for me. I would post a picture, but Tony doesn't want to see it, so you'll all just have to wait with baited breath until the wedding. Or you can ask my mom to see the picture.

Tony picked out the tuxes later that same day and we even worked on the wording for the invitations. All in all, my parents' trip was very productive...for Tony and I at least.

Thanks for reading-
Jessica