Thanksgiving

This year we were lucky enough to host Thanksgiving at our house!  It meant we had a full house with my parents, Alan & Hannah and their kiddos, Faye and Sam, Camille & Jake, and Ryan, but it was definitely worth the chaos.  The cousins don't get that many opportunities to see each other and hang out, but when they do they jump right in with no reservations.  Between running around like crazies, doing crafts together, and just hanging out they had a fantastic time.  I'm glad they had fun inside because it was freezing outside that weekend! 

Since all of our crew flew in or drove in from Utah, we did all of the prep in my kitchen.  There was a lot of Thanksgiving food to cook up, and even though we were busy it was a lot of fun and not too stressful to be enjoyed.  Snacks to tide everyone over while we cooked up the feast.  

Jeremy and I picked up a new dining room table for the occasion (and to fit our growing family), and it was used for the first time while everyone was here.  It was awesome being able to fit everyone at the same table.  The box the table came in.  

I admit that I'm proud of how pretty the table looked when it was all set.  I, however, forgot to take pictures with my camera and am waiting for other generous souls to send me the pictures they took of the evening (hint, hint :)  After dinner we all helped ourselves to pie!  We made short work of the six pies that evening.  Kelton decided that forks were too much of an inconvenience.  

On the morning of black Friday we loaded up a couple carloads of shoppers to do some deal finding, that is, after we scraped a frozen ice cap off my parents' car.  Nice work boys!  

The only thing we were really on the hunt for was a new TV for the basement.  The guys wanted to watch some movies, play some games, and set up the "man cave" before it could be claimed by children's toys.  I think they were pretty proud of the results.  

The girls went out later to look for shoes, which was equally exciting!  After a successful round of shoe shopping we picked up mugs of hot cocoa to warm up.  I think this should definitely become a tradition.  

We were really sad to see everyone leave on Sunday.  Kelton felt the loss pretty strongly the next day when he realized that not only were his cousins gone, but his sisters were at school all day.  I'm so glad everyone was able to come celebrate with us!