The Johnson Family: Thanksgiving at Dad's "Farm"

About a month ago my dad left big city Atlanta and moved to a tiny little town in Vermont, called Woodstock. He's always dreamed of having land and living a quiet little existence and now with his career winding down he jumped at the chance to live his dream. We thought he went crazy until we saw the place (we still think he's a little crazy). The population of the town is 1700. It is a picturesque, quaint little town and now with his land and his farmhouse and his tractor, etc. etc. my dad is a self-proclaimed "fake farmer." He has the land and the barn, just no cows to milk or sheep to graze...He lives in a cute farmhouse, built in 1790. Yes, you read that right. It is adorable and charming, but very funky. None of the walls or floors are straight, flat, square or perpendicular. If it weren't so dang far away I would go there every chance I could get. There aren't direct flights and the closest airport is a 1 1/2 hour drive from their house, so let's just say that flying/layovers/long car rides and Lily don't exactly paint a pretty picture. The first picture in this post is of how we survived our flight: tylenol before and sugar during (exemplary parents, we know). While we were there we had lots of fun with things that have wheels: atvs, motorcycles, tractors, etc. We each gained an embarrassing amount of weight for such a short trip because of my step-mom's fabulous and fattening cooking (Thanksgiving dinner was just the tip of the iceberg). The highlight of our trip aside from being with family we rarely get to see was driving to Sharon, Vermont to the birthplace of the prophet, Joseph Smith. We attended church and visited a monument erected in his honor and the small plot of land where his birth home rested. The peace and the spirit surrounding that place is hard to describe. Loved it! It was a great way to end the Thanksgiving holiday and made us so grateful for all that we are blessed with.