Thanksgiving

We had such a great Thanksgiving! 

Here are a few highlights:

1.  Meeting Brendan’s girlfriend Alisha for the first time!  She came up to KC for a few days with him and she got to meet his HUGE Mormon family.  She’s absolutely wonderful and the kids adored her.  And all of the children loved the extra attention from both of them. 

 

I love how Brendan makes an effort to create memories with our family and children.  I love how he still loves to visit – even if we’re all old, married, and boring.   

2.  Thanksgiving Turkey

Oh my gosh.  Let’s just say the Turkey this year was SO DELISH! 

Anthony smoked his very first Turkey – and it was absolutely amazing.  So tender, so flavorful, so smoky, and so easy!  Yep, I can say that cause he did all the work, lol! 

[And if any of you ladies are looking to get your man a present, let me tell you, this is a wise investment.  Ours was a lucky garage sale find, but anything to get men interested in cooking – I fully support.]

I also made a traditional turkey too – loads of butter, broth, and seasonings, and it too was in a whole new league of best turkey ever.  And I’m not a Turkey person yet this was SO good. 

Rylee ate her weight in Turkey, but she wasn’t the only one.  We made nearly 40 pounds of Turkey – and it was still the first thing gone!

 

3.  Helpers!  Help comes in many ways, helpers in the kitchen, which is always a plus!

Tanner contributed by writing a recipe for us to follow.  He read it to me, asked if he did a good job, and when I said how good he did – he then insisted we follow it.  Haha!  He was SO proud!

It’s hard to read, so I’ll type it here.  Too good to pass up!

• Get a turkey from a stor.
• Before you cook it  you need to put stuffin in.
• Cook the turkey on the Smokr for 50.
• The turkey is done when put sum littl spisis on the turkey and yumy stuff.
• You can eat it with piy and ptoatos and lots uther stuf.
• For dessert you can eat pukin piy.

Brooke was HAPPY to help…breaking bread into pieces for stuffing

To Keith to Brendan helping with the amazing ROLLS, thanks Kristan!  Now, if only we would have heard the timer on the microwave ;)

ALL the food was amazing.  Katelynn made the best ever sweet potato casserole and cranberry jelly made completely from scratch.  Chelsea made awesome green bean casserole and stuffing. 

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner is so much easier this year, probably cause we only had to do the turkey! With everyone else helping with the sides, I actually could relax most the day.

Here’s some more pics of the feastival feast!

These two little butterballs are pretty irresistible too!

Tanner was upset about something, and Brooke showed up her normal princess attire.

Growing up, Lance used to always complain about having to sit at the little kids table on Thanksgiving Day.  Cause no matter how old he got, we were always still older.  So this year, we saved him a spot!  

 

After dinner, Jon organized a mad game of kickball outside.  With all the babies asleep and kids busily occupied outside, it was quite blissful. 

I also wish I would have captured a picture of my mom – who was able to join us just a few short weeks after having a major surgery to replace her hip.  She got out of hospital and rehab just in time.  She was up and moving entirely on her own, such a HUGE blessing!

4.  Gaming!  We love to get together and play games.  Keith generously shared a new game with us – COUP.  It’s a cross between Clue and Poker, and we must have played over 100 rounds over the weekend.  We quickly became obsessed!

Even Tanner learned how to play, and when Brendan was trying to call his bluff, hoping to get Tanner to tell the truth and openly reveal his character, Tanner responded with his straight poker face, “Are you CHALLENGING me?!”  It was SO EPIC!

We also got together a few other times to play games – this one being classic Settler’s.  And in typical April fashion – I DESTROYED them, mahhhhaaahhh.

Brendan actually confessed that he wishes he had more Mormon friends in Dallas – so he’d have a reason not to DRINK and actually play real strategy games.  Nope – just have to come to KC!

5.  Union Station Tree Lighting Ceremony

We headed to Downtown for a tree lighting ceremony.  A bit overcrowded and anti-climatic, but it was still fun to be together with family.  

Union Station was BEAUTIFUL with the lights draped from the ceilings and magnificent tree.  If only my camera would have been in focus! 

 

But Keith and Kristan’s pics turned out beautifully!   

And if it wasn’t for these two, there’s a very good chance we would have come home with one less kid!

We debated waiting in line for the young ones to ride the Christmas train, but the lines were NOT worth it.  Instead, we went to the KC Railway miniature train exhibit – including Thomas the Train and sets made entirely out of Legos.  Yep, they were loving it!

     

Getting to see real life trains zoom past right in front of them may have been their favorite part.

Just a few minutes prior to the tree lighting, we got a phone call our VAN was going to be delivered to our house.  It wasn’t supposed to arrive from CO until 2-3 days later, but Anthony dropped was he was doing, headed to the bank to get $$$, and we FINALLY, after 6 long weeks of repairs, HAVE OUR VAN back.  No more hitting, hair pulling, or anything of the sorts.  A van that we can all safely ride in.   YES!  I’ll take it!!

6.  Pumpkin Pie Playdough:  This has become a new tradition, and the kids couldn’t get enough of this amazing playdough.  It smells so yummy you ALMOST want to eat it.  Pretty sure Rylee tried to at least!  She couldn’t resist.

These two had fun making turkey-lurkeys.  Aren’t they so cute!

 

Country Club Plaza lights tour from the comfort of our car.  And of course, Tanner fell asleep and didn’t get to enjoy any of it.  But it’s just the beginning of Christmas so they’ll be lots more lights to see!

And here’s a little happy dance, just for a little pick-me-up!

Now you can see—we have much to be grateful for.  For an amazing, fun, crazy family.  For a Savior who loves each of us, individually and collectively.  For healthy kids, for Anthony’s amazing dedication to his family, and a job that let’s him do so. For yummy food to eat, for warm home and beds, and even warm butts in the car.  When I complain and think life is hard, please remind me.  My problems are NOT real problems.  There’s so much to be grateful for, this year and every year!  

Girls Trip

One of the highlights for me was to do a girl’s trip to Dallas to celebrate my bestie’s birthday. 

I still can’t believe I got to fly solo!  For TWO whole days!  Anthony’s had a few guys weekends this past year so it was my turn to cash in.  Anthony agreed to watch the kids (with anxious hopes to give Rylee a much needed crib/sleeping intervention).   Rylee kept holding out, not taking a bottle or sippy cup, yet she slept the WHOLE night long.  But when returned, she rewarded me by not letting go!  One night…up at least 5 times…and one interval more than an hour long.  But she did have an ear infection…so at least there’s a logical explanation to her illogical behavior.  , in which it worked beautifully one night).

But back to the TRIP!  We had so much fun talking, shopping, laughing, eating, relaxing, EATING some more, and catching up on what matters most in our lives...

Seriously, I felt like I was a teenager again – shopping with a friend and no kids! We literally shopped til we dropped.  I bought some new make-up at Ulta, got my first pair of jeggings (maternity inspired, for sure, every girl needs some stretchy pants!).    We tried on so many clothes, laughing along the way, wondering why the heck you have to jump and wiggle to get them on.  

Found the deal of the century at Nordstrom’s Rack – designer Paige denim jeans for only $0.01.  I thought for sure it was a mistake but since they were in clearance section I figured they’d still be a good deal.  And laughed when she said “Yes, it’s only a penny!”  Apparently others have reported similar stories – so it’s a Rack thing.  Who needs thrift stores when you have the Penny Rack?!?

Pretty sure I gained ten pounds in 2 days eating at all my faves – Bubba’s fried chicked in Snider Plaza, Good-to-Go Tacos, brunch at Breadwinner’s.  So when I don’t fit into any of my clothes, don’t feel sorry for me!

Oh, and that doesn’t include Ruth’s birthday dinner at Texas de Brazil.  I’ve laughed WAY more than I have in a long time.  Told old friends joined us, Brianne and Karie.   Not sure what tipped us all over, but it was somewhere between the server telling us the chop of meat was “laaaaamb” (almost as if he was baa-ing at the same time, lol!) or telling us the chicken had a bone in it when we couldn’t cut thru it.  Anyhow, lots of good times reminiscing, talking about our kids in school, comparing notes, and talking about our overly social or anti-social hubbies, stuffing our faces full of food and repeating the same thing each time someone disappeared to the salad bar.  Oh man, it was fun times!!!

We did miss Marilouise at dinner too who happened to be away at med school interviews in Lubbock (sometimes its hard having to be responsible, right?!).  But we did get to chat the next day, even when she was tired and not feeling well, she still managed her normal rock star behavior, baking yummy cookies and rolling with more laughter.  Yep, I have pretty awesome friends!

But it really wasn’t about what we did but who I was with!!  I love Ruth to pieces and it was so great to catch up and talk about things so near and dear to our hearts!  I love her!!!

When Ruth first moved to Dallas, we were instant friends, like we’ve known each other our entire lives and nothin-is-going-to-change that kinda of friends.  More like a sister really.  Except I really don’t ever remember being upset or mad at her…so maybe even better than a sister ;)

Throwback to 2012 – Baby shower for baby Brooke And I love that she’s open and vulnerable.  Her mind is brilliant and watching her, I got to many great ideas for my own family.  Great parenting books to read, activities to do with kids on-the-go (purse packed with fun travel games – brilliant!) and the list goes on.

For family night, I implemented one of her ideas.  After a quick lesson on the 10 Lepers – we made Gratitude Chain.  Each of the kids were given a few strips of paper to write things they were grateful for – families and candy may have been repeated more than once.  But the next morning, Tanner and Brooke were being extra cute, and Tanner on his own added a new strip to our chain that read “I am tank you for sisters!”  Happy, cheerful kids – that’s what I’m thankful for!!!

Another awesome idea is that she’s creating a gratitude journal that she writes in daily, and even doing one for her children too.  The other day I was trying to tell my sister about how Ruth read what she wrote in her journal one night [and it was about me], but I couldn’t get the words out.  I got all chocked up and all I could say was, “and she said we’re invited on their next family vacay!”  lol!

Ruth shared this quote ~ pretty much sums it up.

But since I have a hard time deciding…and because I can’t put emotions in words…here’s a few that explain how I feel:

     

Ruth – Thanks for being my friend.  Thanks for sharing yourself and your time with me.  Thanks for being real!  Thanks for so many memories!  

October’s Daily Musings

Phew, we made it, one more month of fun!  We were so busy this month, lots of memories, big and small, to share!