Thanksgiving at the Darby Cabin

I've been procrastinating to write this entry because we took 344 pictures! I know there are a ton, but this is my attempt at summarizing an amazing holiday. The cabin is located on the White River in a nature reserve right outside of Stuttgart, Arkansas (duck hunting capital of the world). Here is our view from the deck:

The cabin is awesome! It's out in the middle of nowhere....no phones, no people....just nature. A perfect place to escape especially in this madness of holiday season. All of our fam (and the pups), Andrea & Brandon and the 3 boys, Deb & Darby, and Andrea's mom and brother came for the Thanksgiving holiday. We had a BLAST! The kids were in heaven. The guys were in hunting heaven and the moms were so happy to have help.

Here are a few family pics:

Pops got in TROUBLE for messing around during fam pics. It's nearly impossible to get 6 adults and 5 kids to all take a good pic. Way to go POPS!

Carson was the center of attention and loved every minute. He met most of the family for the first time at the cabin:

Okay, I'm DONE with all these pictures...seriously!!

Here is a cute pic of "the boys" posing:

And....5 minutes later: (please don't hate me babe-- too funny!)

----

Kids at play:

Alex playing peek-a-boo with mommy

Alex and Caden-- adorable together.

Alex learning how to use a pop gun!

Stud Caden using his bow. Can't believe he is 8 years old.

Alex & Dru playing with the box. Yes, we brought toys for them :)

Dru & Alex thought the pups would enjoy it too!

Eston & Alex having a precious moment on the dock. They are 5 months apart in age. So dang cute!!

Sharing smores

Poor Uncle B trying to catch a nap after a long day of hunting....

---

And then there's Alex...the mess, as usual. The guys came home from the morning duck hunt and all of us lined up at the door to greet them. Alex went running outside and grabbed a duck out of Pops' hands. Clearly, she thought they brought her back a fun "prize" b/c she was cuddling with it (ew) and singing "rubber ducky, you're the one"...and yelling "quack, quack, quack" at the top of her lungs. It was hilarious. We all kinda just had to sit back and laugh at her innocence:

---

Finally, here are a few pics of the Darby men hunting:

Nathan & Brandon practice.

Here they are at 5am ready to go.....why would anyone wake up to intentionally freeze and kill animals??

Dinner! (not for me)

And finally...a video of our strapping men "calling in the ducks." We were in tears watching this!! Nathan needs to get into it a little more-- haha!!

I adore our family. We have so much to be thankful for. We spent 5 days in very close quarters and couldn't have had a better time!