Turkey Time! Gobble Gobble!

Sooooooo much food! SOOOOOOO yummy! We did it all buffet style! Enjoying our dinner!

The "kids table"
Ireland and her friend Maddy!
Uncle Jamie and Sue
Aunt Marilyn and Sue
Papa and Nana
I loved this picture of my parents so I had to put the both of them in! SO cute! I think they should make this a Christmas card!
B and Sue. I am looking a little rough! (Like I just made a huge Thanksgiving dinner:) But I love love love my new sweater my friend Jen gave me!
This is my brood! So pretty.
I will claim these ones instead!
Cousins! I love that my kids get to grow up around some of their cousins. Juliet and Journey and Jeremy all love each other and love to play together. Jeremy LOVES Max! The feeling is mutual!
Juliet thought it was still time to be goofy!
Juliet is wearing the turkey shirt that my mom made Darby. So far all my kids have worn it! I think I can get 2 more Thanksgivings out of it then it will be retired!
Best buddies!
SO sweet!
The boys LOVE their cousins.
Jeremy and Journey LOVED Papa! They loved that he only had 1/2 a finger! Even Ireland was amazed! :) Jeremy followed him around all evening and at one point wanted my dad to hold him and walk around. No one can ever take Papa Keith's place for these kiddos but my dad felt honored to have them call him papa for this day! So sweet.
After dinner and bingo was over the girls sat down to read and snuggle with Aunt Marilyn. THIS is what Thanksgiving should feel like!
Then Juliet decided to read to Journey!
Best buddies again! (don't let those doll faces fool you though....they can fight like they are sisters!:)

This is how we get ready for Thanksgiving!

We put together a puzzle (that will be up til Christmas and I freak out and destroy it or at least threaten to) It may or may not be every ones favorite tradition!
We eat peanuts and pistachios getting the nuts all over the floor!
We sneak rolls from the kitchen.

We set the table with all paper products so the clean up is easy on mommy!

Thanksgiving prep

This year Brandon's Grandma Ellen sent us a recipe that they have at their Thanksgiving every year. We decided to add it to our traditions as well! Dash is helping me make it the night before! It was REALLY yummy! (and easy)

One other things we love to do is make Cornucopias! We put an ice cream cone on a graham cracker and fill it full of candy corn, popcorn, peanuts and runts! So cute. Then they are a little place setting on our table. My mom used to make these for my classes growing up!


So yum!

pardon the blogging barf!

I have a LOT to catch up on before the end of the year so we can get our blog published! You will have to pardon all the blogging in one day! I promise I am going to be better! :)

mom's new hair do!

This is the hair Jen did! LOVE IT! It is perfect on my mom! Look how happy she is with it! Seriously, the BEST!

Parents come for a visit!

My parents came to spend Thanksgiving with us. I loved EVERY second of it! They were here for a whole week. My dad has NEVER taken that amount of time off. He works. A lot. It's what he does. BUT now he is on salary. SO no overtime for him no matter how much he works making it a great time to take your first real vacation. Ever.

While they were here we did a TON of things. We went to a movie. (their first in over 14 years. My dad couldn't smoke in movies so they never went. He doesn't smoke now so we ventured out.) It was a great date with them! Just me and them. So much fun! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture of them. Seriously soooo cute!
Juliet is doing Nana's hair. Nana is so patient to let her go to town! The next day Nana got her hair done by Jen. (the best) Take note of the before and after pictures. Her hair is cute but once Jen got a hold of her it was a whole new ball game! ADORABLE! (photos to come)

Kim's mom, Pat came to visit Kim's brother and while she was here we got to take her downtown with us. We had the best day! I just adore her! Kim and I have wanted to get our moms together forever because we knew they would just love each other. They had a great day together and I think if they lived near each other they would be best friends! :)
Pat hates getting her picture taken but I forced her and promised I wouldn't put it on fb but I had to put it on my blog for my books! She is a good sport!
me and my mommy!

only in L.A.

This is the car that was parked in front of my house before Thanksgiving. It was soooo crazy I had to get a picture. Yes that is a coffin. I decided it was for the new Breaking Dawn movie. For sure no one REALLY have that car. Right? seriously......

Youth Pizza Party!

I love to open my home up to the church. I love having everyone over and feeling the spirit with them all. When we got into this house I said right away that we would use it to serve the Lord and those in the gospel! Do I have to tidy up a bit more? Yes. Do my carpets get a little dirtier? Yes. Is it worth it? EVERY TIME!

We have had countless opportunities to share our home with the youth and I think that is my favorite! This time they had a pizza cook off! It was a ton of fun to see what they would come up with. I got to be the taste test judge! My favorite was Austin and Tylers. They made a stuffed crust with string cheese and they added extra seasonings to the sauce. Very yummy! They were all so creative!

I think they all had a good time!~ I wish we were having their Christmas party here but alas, we have to share them with others! :)

Turkey bums!

These are one of our favorite Thanksgiving traditions. They are called turkey bums! The first year we did them daddy wasn't home to cut out a perfect turkey so mommy did it. They ended up looking like turkey bums. This year the kids asked me to make them because they loved the "bum" effect! No! Daddy did them again. Free hand. I sort of hate him.....until it is time to do a science project or a Halloween costume....then I love him again! :)

You write what you are thankful for on the feathers. Everyone gets 6 feathers....I get 7 :) too much to be thankful for! When you come to our house you get a feather to add to the wall of what you are thankful for. I love this tradition. A wall of thanks and gratitude. It should be up all year! It is a great kick off for the holiday season! Love love love it!

Max's turkey bum.......my kids all think of what they are thankful for on their own. We don't even suggest to them. I like to see what they come up with on their own and what they are REALLY grateful for. I was so happy when each of my children had aspects of the gospel that they were thankful for. (except Juliet....who is honestly a little shallow for a 2 year old) :)

the wall of turkeys......I didn't get an end of month picture but this wall is covered in feathers by the end of the month.!
Brandon's turkey bum.
Darby's!
Juliet's.....
Dash.....this year he wrote his very own. I was so proud of him. My favorite feather of his is Heabenly Father. :)
Suzy's.....