Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

Wow. Where do I even begin? Thanksgiving was a blast and boy o boy to we have lots to be thankful for. Food, Family, Friends, a roof over our heads, clothes on our back, a Loving Savior who forgives all our nasty sins. Those are just a few off the top of my head, but lets face it, we are blessed beyond belief.

Brandon and I hosted our 5th Thanksgiving dinner in our home this year. Thanksgiving is my absolute #1 favorite holiday of all. I just love the season, the cool weather, the beautiful fall colors, the family and friends all gathered around eating some of the most delicious homemade foods, and most of all I love all the thankful hearts reflecting on the many blessings God has given us. Its just an amazing feeling to me. Anyway, we had 12 adults and 3 kids this year. So much fun. It was us and our two kids, my parents, my mother-in-law, my aunt and uncle from Nevada, my sister, brother-in-law and niece, and our very good family friend Gavin and his mother. It was a wonderful day and we had tons of delicious food.Best of all there was a lot of laughter which is always so much fun! Okay, enough rambling and onto the pictures. As always, I have way way way too many pics so there are a ton, you have been warned.

I seriously have about 140 pictures from the day so I will try and narrow them down but you all know me, it almost impossible for me to make decisions, so more likely than not there are gonna be a lot. Anyway, I will start off by showing you all the Thanksgiving table….

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The main centerpiece on the table was Owen’s Thanksgiving Turkey. He got to chose 5 things that he is thankful for. So precious to see and hear what a 3 year old is thankful for.

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It was so nice to have everyone sit at one table together, no kids table in this house! We put a 6 foot table on one end of our dinning room table and it worked out perfectly.

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A few table highlights. On the left we have personalized place setting cards and on the right are flower vases made out of wine bottles. I wrote a few of the fruits of the spirits on them and then spray painted them one solid color. Guess where I got these two ideas….Pinterest!

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My three favorite kids in the whole world!

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So, before all the guests arrived I attempted to get a nice sweet picture of my kids together. Yeah right. It is nearly impossible to get a picture with a 3 and a 1 year old looking at the camera at the same time. The picture above was the best one I could get. Here is a little clip of my attempts…

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Hahaha. They are the picture perfect siblings. They equally drive each other CRAZY!

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Owen being silly. His specialty.

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Left: My adorable Mom and Dad in their nasty Cowboys cooking gear before dinner. Right: Me and My Hubby after dinner (hints why I look bloated & exhausted!)

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My Beautiful Mother-In-Law Becky and Brandon. I am so so so happy Becky got to make the trip down from Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with us!

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Ham & Turkey….The main event!

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My parents homemade Red Chili, gravy and the delicious ham.

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Stuffing, Lemon Green Beans with Almonds, Mashed Potatoes, Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallow Topping O My!

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And of course you can not forget Cranberry Salad and Dinner Rolls.

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Thanks to Pinterest, I could not have normal pies this year for dessert. I came across this idea to make mini pies in a muffin tin. I loved the idea because it was a great way to portion control your thanksgiving dessert after you over eat your dinner. And it was an added bonus that no one had to argue over who was going to cut the pies. They came out super nice and delicious but I do have to admit they were a bit time consuming to make.

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I made Apple and Pumpkin mini pies. Yum yum yum!

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The Feast!

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After dinner there was lots and lots to clean up and things to put away. Some were on kid duty, some were on cleaning duty, and the rest were on relax and watch football duty. My mom and I, the major clean freaks, were on clean up duty, go figure!

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Auntie JoAnn and Mimi were on Kid duty. My kids had a blast playing with these two. They played babies, dress up, and even went on a pretend camping trip. Lol.

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Here is part of dress up time.

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Poor Auntie Kiki wasn’t feeling very well. She did a little clean up and a little play. She was a trooper!

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Abigail LOVES her pampo!

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Left: Our very good friend of the family Gavin and his Mother Cathy. Right: Autumn and her purse and Uncle Chris in the background on Football duty!

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After dinner, play time, football and clean up we played a very intense game of Catch Phrase. A Thanksgiving favorite. We had so much fun and laughed hysterically which was a great way to burn a few extra calories since we all ate way too much!

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Owen insisted on sitting on Gavin’s lap during the game. He said he was “helping him win the game”. Owen just loves and adores Gavin and I believe the feeling is 100% mutual!

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Once the games were finished, we all kind of melted into the couch and complained about how full and tired we were. A sign of a very wonderful and successful Thanksgiving.

A big Thanks for all the wonderful Family and Friends who traveled to spend Thanksgiving with us in our home. We love you all more than words could ever express. Also a huge thanks to everyone for all the wonderful delicious dishes that were brought and for all the help cleaning up. 

I hope you all also had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Safe Travels.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

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