Thanksgiving

 I only have one picture from Thanksgiving weekend in St. George. And it's not a good picture but it's a pretty funny one.

I'm sure my sister Kaci would not be happy that I'm posting this picture. But I love Will's face. Here we are at Thanksgiving dinner at Players. Will and Ethan don't really want to have anything to do with any of the food. But Aaron is insisting that Will eat so many bites of sweet potato before he can have any pumpkin pie. So here Will is, crying his eyes out, while he gags down a few bites. I should have gotten the after pic when he was happily eating his pumpkin pie-----tears still in his eyes. 

Holidays sometimes bring out the very worst in kids….and parents. 

Thanksgiving 2012

Grandma loves her kitchen helpers.

Unfortunately there are only 2 pictures from our Thanksgiving festivities at the ranch this year. We had a good time though. Darin and Peter and family were missing but that was it. 

The stomach flu came through and hit Grace, April, Ford, Emmy and Montana. It hit Indy and Emerson after we left. Luckily it was pretty quick----about 24 hours. But it's still not fun to be sick especially at the ranch. 

The food tasted unusually good to me this year. Not sure why.... Still thinking about that yam soufflé and pretzel salad.

Thanksgiving Pool Party

You would think by the look of these pictures that the weather was nice and balmy in St. George...... Wrong! It was so cold! But Mom was determined to let the kids swim in the pool even if it "costs us $1000 to heat". They had a great time. The only bad part was getting out!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year our Thanksgiving was spent in St. George with Mom and Dad, Jay, Cami and boys, and Aaron, Kaci and boys. It was a relatively small group. But we had a great time.

Mom and Cami putting the turkey in to brine.

Buttered-up and ready to cook.

The kitchen in full cooking mode.

The kids waited so patiently to eat!

Dad carving it up.

It was a tasty dinner as usual. My favorite part was the green bean casserole! I definitely missed the sweet potato dish that is a ranch classic but it was probably better that way considering how many calories it has.

Many Thanks

This Thanksgiving I am thankful for many things!

....a home to live in

food to feed our children

a healthy body

a strong relationship with my husband (celebrating 20 years married next month!)

parents.

And those are just a few. I also have to say that I am thankful the frigid winter temperatures happened this year when Duke was home in our house-----not last year when he was trapped in our neighbor's garage. He surely would not have made it to this year with those cold of conditions. Who knew I would ever be grateful for a dog.

The Feast

This year our Thanksgiving was celebrated at the new Brian ranch house in Grover. What a fun time we had. It was so nice to have TONS of room in the kitchen for all of us to spread out and cook our various dishes. We now have a dining room table that fits all the adults comfortably.

Oooh the pies-----apple, buttermilk, pumpkin and derby!!!

The turkey was to die for---so tender and juicy!

Grandpa wanted the boys looking nice for dinner. Obviously that didn't apply to Finn's hair!

Darin's heavenly rolls.

Gratitude #2

I am grateful for my in-laws. I appreciate the fact that they have taught their children to work hard. I am thankful for the awesome new ranch house that they have built and can't wait to spend Thanksgiving there next week! Love you Pat and Sherry!

Gratitude

Today I am grateful for Finn and Indy and their willingness (not always happily.....)to do all the work necessary to get so many merit badges last night! I am thankful that they have gained a little bit of appreciation of the value of earning their Eagle. Finn is getting very close and Indy is well on his way. All the work will be worth it boys----I promise!

Skipping Thanksgiving....and possibly Christmas

No, not really. But you would think so if you were to take a look at this blog! Half way in to December and I realize I haven't even posted anything about Thanksgiving! I was caught so unprepared for this holiday season.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in St. George. Thanksgiving day was cold and rainy but the rest of the weekend was sunny and quite warm. Our family just bought a new home in St.George and this is the first time we were able to use it for a holiday. Everyone was there but Dave and Lindsey and Sunne and Flynn. We spent quite a bit of time shopping and doing odd jobs around the house. It is so great! The kids have a bunk room all to themselves. There are plenty of bedrooms for everybody. We look forward to spending lots of time there in the future. In fact, we will be down for a half marathon in January. I am sure it won't be warm and sunny then!