Thanksgiving 2016

We stayed in Texas for the holiday and began cooking the day before. All in all we probably spent 10 hours in the kitchen. The kids helped a bunch and it was nice to have a little break. I took the kids to Mardel during a kitchen break on Wednesday and they got to spend money they had earned- so fun!

I can't say that my first turkey roasting was a success: it was raw the first time around, and we ate the meal without it. I thought we had retrieved all the innards, but in the final picking meat off the bone we found we had cooked the plastic sack of gizzards in the turkey- oops- wrong kind of stuffing! Made delicious bone broth from the turkey though.

The gravy and rolls were amazing, and our pumpkin and apple pies provided many a breakfast and snack for a couple days following.

Beautiful and bright for whole berry sauce

I'm starting a puzzle tradition for cooking days. We've had these two since I was a kid.

For turkey brine

Pretending that Taylor needed a haircut even more than he did

Pumpkin rolls are the most fun to help with

I must always make pumpkin rolls. I will never forget Christmas Eve 2004, when my mom was making pumpkin rolls at the house on Gulley Rd. She asked me to set some rolls outside to rise more slowly in the cooler weather. I took a couple trays to the back porch and set them on the picnic table. Next thing we knew, Stormy, my parents' dog was foaming at the mouth and heaving. She had consumed a dozen raw rolls. Bria and I took her to the veterinary ER in Springdale and hung out in the lobby while she hung out in the back room regurgitating said rolls. The check-out sheet they gave me said she "delivered a loaf." The assessment: "dietary indiscretion and indulgence." That sounds a little like many of us around the holidays! Ha!

Not quite all the food.

Patrick's apple pies baking

Josie's table work: She appointed herself assistant decorator.

Just before eating with our friends Elizabeth Smith and Yiyi Gao

My yummy plate

Reading a thankful note

Throughout the year (but mostly November) we have a jar to put little notes of things we are thankful for. We encourage our guests to fill out some cards too, which we then pass around the table to read. A swelling of gratitude fills my heart as we reminisce about special and ordinary blessings.

This year's list, as written:

Well-marked roads at night
My home
Feathers and acorns in my purse
Juli!
Air conditioning
Family
Toys
My motorcycle
Getting through school
A husband that gladly pulls night duty with sick kids
My husband who loves me always
My children and the time I get to spend with them
Jesus Christ and growing in the knowledge of His gospel
My heritage
A house
The health I have
Technology
Getting to teach Spanish to my kids
Friends by the side
Parents
The church I've been brought to by the grace of God
My daughter and her children
King books
Bord games
Wonderful kind friends the kids have
So many friends (the Church people)
When the kids are too asleep to hear the package open
Food
Josephine
Simon
Kyle
Taylor
Games
Mom and Dad
Lazer
Reading books

 We spent the evening playing games and stuffing ourselves even more at our friends the Greens'.

I finished the weekend with an early morning temple trip with a couple friends. A great place to be!