Thanksgiving Break Part 2

Thanksgiving break was a lot of fun!  Not only did we get to do a race, but we got to see family and eat good food.  Here's the rest of what Thanksgiving break had to offer.

After running the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving day, there was only one thing to do...EAT!!!  And that's one thing the Smith family knows how to do!  My mom, sister and wife are three of the best cooks I know, and they didn't disappoint again, because the Thanksgiving meal was AWESOME!  Here's what we had:

• Candied Sweet Potatoes
• Green Bean Casserole
• Winter Salad (It has apples, nuts, cranberries and feta cheese...Everything is betta with feta!)
• Pear Jello Salad (We actually forgot to put it on the table and had to eat it the next day. Haha!)
• 2 Kinds of Dinner Rolls
• Mock Turkey Loaf (Here are the ingredients)
• Celery
• Onions
• Chicken Seasoning
• Eggs
• Oats
• Vege Chicken
• Sour Cream
• Bread Crumbs
• Walnuts

As some of you already know, I'm a vegetarian, so that is why we had Mock Turkey instead of a big bird sitting on our table.  I always get a kick out of people when they hear that I'm a vegetarian and say things like, "But you eat fish and chicken right?" Nope, that would declassify me as a vegetarian.  I've actually never had any meat (other than an accidental bite of a "bean" burrito at Taco Bell that actually was beef).  It's just how I was raised and it stuck.

Here are a few pics of the food and its preparation:

YUMMY!

I love me some Jello!

My Mom

My Sister-Mindy with the Mock Turkey Loaf

After stuffing ourselves and downing some delicious Apple pie and Pumpkin Cake, it was nap time and go-on-a-walk time with the dogs.  Once again, Thanksgiving was a winner

On Sunday, my dad said, "Matt, want to go see the Falcons play the Vikings?"  Well, I'd never been to a football game, so the answer was an obvious, "YES!"  We snagged some nose-bleed cheap seats off Stubhub.com for $9 and headed to Atlanta.  As we approached the Georgia Dome, we drove through a sketchy neighborhood and watched a group of about 25 people get ready to brawl.  One guy ran over to a house and busted out the railing slats to use as weapons.  Needless to say, we got out of there really quickly!

The game was fantastic...especially because the Falcons won 24-14!

What do Falcons do?  Rise up!

Then, Monday morning, Jenn and I started the LONG drive north back to Michigan.  We like to leave at the butt-crack of dawn to get home and still have part of the day left.  We actually had enough time to set up the Christmas tree.  All the ornaments are from Jenn's mom who has given her (and me) one every year.  It's pretty cool.

Last night, we drove to South Bend to get another trainer.  We basically ride the trainer every day, so there's a big chunk of time that we can't hang out while we separately ride.  We had to remedy this, so we picked up a Cycleops trainer off Craigslist for $75.  I think that was a pretty good deal.

It's nice to have a basement to just sweat it out any time you like!

This is the last week of class for me with finals next week.  It'll be a bit crazy getting everything finished.  Thanks for reading!