Thanksgiving 2009.

This past Sunday, Aaron, his dad, and his brother took off on a 12 hour road trip to north Texas for their annual hunting excursion. I anticipate this trip all year long, but when this time of year actually rolls around, I'm always caught off guard by how lonely things get around here. This annual trip won't always fall during Thanksgiving, but as long as one of them is in school, they have to schedule around exams and/or fall breaks, which leaves me flying solo either during Thanksgiving or New Years Eve each year. Because there is a very real chance that either Clark will be here or on his way around New Years, this was obviously not an option, so I will eat turkey without my hubby. How sad.

The events that lead up to this trip are definitely something to write about. These three guys spend all year keeping an eye out on the latest, most innovative hunting gear on the market. They spends hours researching scopes and other gadgets that can be attached to their gun. They obsess over the deer they saw last season and how much each one would have grown in the past year. Our house becomes blanketed with camo, guns, doe pee, and its actually pretty insane how worked up they get about this trip, but whatever. I guess its just something I, and all Rice women, just need to learn to accept.

I am using this week as the perfect opportunity to pack mine and Jake's belongings and head to Jackson to be pampered and spoiled rotten. My family will be celebrating Thanksgiving in a big way and I'm pretty sure I'm going to eat just enough to send me into early labor. I plan on doing a lot of sleeping, maybe some last minute Clark shopping, and definitely a lot of catching up with friends and family. I also plan on taking advantage of a gift certificate to Trio's and making an appointment to get a prenatal massage and/or a facial, and that experience will probably be worth an entire blog post of its own.

Back to Aaron. They are hunting in the boonies of Texas where there are zero cell phone towers and when I said goodbye to him on Sunday, I knew I wouldn't really get to talk to him until next Sunday, or whenever they decide to start the painful road trip back to Mississippi. Well, a 12 hour road trip would be painful to me, but from what I understand, those guys actually enjoy it. They get to talk for 12 hours about politics, current events, hunting, and other manly things. It's pretty rough not even being able to talk to my husband for an entire week, but its okay. Before he zipped up his bag, I slipped a stack of letters (one for everyday he is gone) in there that he is supposed to open every morning so he can get his daily dose of Kelly. I know how cheesy that sounds, but I don't want him to forget about me. Or Jake. Or Clark. It is likely that the letters got smashed down in the bottom of his bag and he never reads one of them, but I can't say I didn't try. They were sappy love letters anyway and that might get in the way of his manly manliness.

When Aaron gets back on Sunday, he will immediately go into final exam mode. I think his first exam is on the 4th, and its supposed to be a doozy. I don't know how much preparation has gone into this round of exams, but I can rest assured that I'll see him next week about the same amount as I'll see him this week while he's in Texas. I guess a lot of the blame falls on me, since he generously gave up his home office so Clark could have his own nursery. So he will spend next week huddled up in the library equipped with many cups of coffee and his ipod. When December 16th rolls around, I get him back.

My last day of work is tentatively scheduled for December 11. That gives me two or three(ish) weeks to pretty much do nothing but mentally prepare for baby. I haven't had that much down time in a really long time, so I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to pass the time. I'm going to predict that this blog will probably be senselessly updated every single day with the not so exciting events leading up to Clark. And then they will start getting interested as I publicly blog about how I have no idea what I'm doing.

Jake and I hope everybody enjoys this Thanksgiving. We'll be back on Sunday and I'm sure I'll have something interesting to write about, even if its just a blog dedicated to how lazy and unproductive I was. Enjoy your turkeys and pumpkin pies. Until next time.